Pre-seeds released for Big 12 Wrestling Championships

Preliminary seeds for the Big 12 Championships were announced Monday.

The conference tournament and NCAA Division I national qualifier will be geld Saturday and Sunday at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Iowa State and University of Northern Iowa each earned two No. 1 pre-seeds in the list released by the Big 12. The initial seedings could be adjusted slightly, leading up to the event that begins Saturday at 10 a.m. (Iowa time).

Four-time Big 12 champion Parker Keckeisen (184) and senior 149-pounder Colin Realbuto are top seeds for the Panthers. Keckeisen, a 2024 NCAA champion and Big 12 Wrestler of the Year, has won the last four conference titles, extending UNI’s 184-pound conference championship streak to seven years. Drew Foster started the streak with back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019. Taylor Lujan won it in 2020 before Keckeisen’s streak.

Realbuto won an overtime thriller over Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson in last month’s dual, which propelled him to a top seed over No. 2 Johnson.

The Cyclones’ Evan Frost (133) and Cody Chittum at 157 are No. 1 seeds. Both Frost and Chittum were conference runners-up last season. Frost lost to Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix in the finals, while Chittum fell to UNI’s Ryder Downey, who is the third seed this year. Chittum defeated Downey in the conference dual at McLeod Center in Cedar Falls on Feb. 16.

Former Lisbon four-time state champion and two-time NCAA qualifier Cael Happel is the No. 2 seed at 141. He was a conference finalist a year ago and is behind Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez, who took an Olympic redshirt last season and won the 2023 NCAA title in Tulsa.

UNI had all 10 wrestlers seeded seventh or better. Julian Farber (133), Wyatt Voelker (197) and heavyweight Lance Runyon are all seeded third. Jared Simma is No. 4 at 174, while Trever Anderson (125) and Jack Thomsen at 165 are seventh.

Iowa State’s Jacob Frost is third at 141 and 184-pounder Evan Bockman is fourth. Nathan Schon (197) and heavyweight Daniel Herrera are seeded sixth, M.J. Gaitan (174) is No. 7 and Aiden Riggins (165) and 125-pounder Kysen Terukina are eighth for Iowa State.

Five former Iowa wrestlers and Iowa preps earned pre-seeds. Former Lisbon prep Cobe Siebrecht (157), Drake Rhodes (165) and Zach Glazier at 197 are all seeded No. 4 for South Dakota State. Former Southeast Polk prep Cade DeVos is No. 5 at 174. Bradley Hill, who wrestled at Bettendorf and Iowa, is seeded No. 8 at 197 for Oklahoma.

The NCAA released allocations for automatic national tournament berths for each qualifier last week. The Big 12 received 61 total allocations. Seven were given at 125, 141, 157, 165 and 184. Six spots were awarded at 133, 149 and 174. Heavyweight and 197 have four apiece.

Top Eight Seeds by Weight Class

125 Pounds

133 Pounds

141 Pounds

149 Pounds

157 Pounds

165 Pounds

174 Pounds

184 Pounds

197 Pounds

285 Pounds

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com