Penn State wrestling | Nittany Lions coach miffed by seeding for Big Ten tourney

Penn State has six wrestlers in position to be the top seed heading into this weekend’s Big Ten Wrestling Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center.

But it’s one of the wrestlers who isn’t pre-seeded first that is generating the most buzz.

Levi Haines, a 2024 national champion who is unbeaten this season and No. 1 in the coaches’ rankings, is second at 174 pounds in the pre-seeds released this week, behind Nebraska’s Christopher Minto.

Haines beat Minto 8-6 in a dual meet on Jan. 30.

Minto is 18-4 with losses to Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy, who is third in the pre-seeds, and Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla, who is fifth.

Haines, a Biglerville grad who is 18-0 this season and 90-4 in his career, has picked up bonus points in all but two of his matches this season.

“We’re relying on a system the coaches all thought was going to be a little better than what they came up with, unfortunately,” Sanderson told reporters.

“Stuff just doesn’t make sense. Anybody could look at it and say ‘You have an undefeated national champion (and) top-ranked guy that won head-to-head.’ “

Big Ten coaches agreed this season to use the WrestleStat Tournament Seeder System, which awards points for a variety of criteria, including head-to-head and common opponents’ record.

“In the past, our coaches spent a lot of time seeding the bracket,” Sanderson said. “We thought if a third party could do a good job ... but obviously what happened isn’t going to work. It needs to be a common-sense application. We’ve got to figure that out. I don’t know if it’s too late to reseed it as coaches, but maybe we should. It just doesn’t make sense.”

The official seeds won’t be determined until Friday, when coaches can challenge the pre-seed if an entrant is within 15 points of the wrestler seeded ahead of him. Sanderson doesn’t know how close Haines is to Minto in the points.

“We haven’t seen the numbers,” the coach said. “They could be all over the place or could be close.”

Penn State did benefit in one pre-seed quirk, as freshman Marcus Blaze, who is 19-0, is ahead of Illinois’ Lucas Byrd in the pre-seeds. Like Haines, Byrd is an unbeaten national champion who is ranked No. 1 by the coaches.

Luke Lilledahl (125 pounds), Shayne Van Ness (149), Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Rocco Welsh (184) and Josh Barr (197) join Blaze as No. 1 seeds for the top-ranked Nittany Lions, who are heavy favorites to win a fourth consecutive Big Ten tournament title. Penn State went 15-0 in duals, winning 139 individual bouts while losing just 11.

Penn State freshman P.J. Duke, who is 16-1 this season, is second in the pre-seeds at 157, a spot behind Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor, a returning national champion who beat Duke 2-1 in tiebreakers on Jan. 30.

Nittany Lions heavyweight Cole Mirasola is No. 4 in the pre-seeds while 141-pounder Braedon Davis is No. 7.

Despite his concerns about the pre-seeds, Sanderson shrugged off more questions about the new system.

“I’m not too worried about it. We’ll figure it out, but we do need to do the best that we can so that these guys get the seeds that they earned through the season,” he said.

“It’s the Big Ten tournament. You need to show up and be ready to wrestle. That’s what we’ll do.”

The tournament determines automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, which will be held March 19-21 in Cleveland.

The Big Ten will get 87 automatic qualifiers this season.

If the Nittany Lions wrestle to their pre-seeds, all 10 will qualify for the national tournament.