University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA Unveils Seeds, Brackets for Championships
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 11, 2015
The NCAA today unveiled the seeding and brackets for next week's NCAA Championships in St. Louis. Based on placement in last weekend's Big Ten Championships, seven Minnesota wrestlers automatically qualified for the field. Today, the NCAA shared another Gopher, 125-pounder Ethan Lizak, had been selected for an at-large bid, giving Minnesota eight wrestlers across the brackets of the national tournament, which begins next Thursday (March 19).
The automatic qualifiers from the Gopher roster include five seniors with All-American credentials. At 133, Chris Dardanes will arrive at NCAAs with a 23-0 record and this year's Big Ten title in his back pocket. His twin brother, Nick Dardanes, earned his spot in the field after finishing third at the Big Ten Championships. Dylan Ness reached the finals of the Big Ten Championships for the third time in four years last weekend, finishing as the league's runner-up at 157. Logan Storley punched his ticket to St. Louis with a fourth-place finish at Big Tens and remains one-fourth of a storied rivalry between Big Ten wrestlers that represent some of the nation's best at 174. Scott Schiller's third-place performance at the Big Ten tournament put him through to the national field as well.
Beyond those five seniors, two underclassmen in their first year as full-time starters will represent Minnesota next week. At 184, Brett Pfarr has taken on more ranked wrestlers this season than any other Gopher, and that experience paid off with a run to the title match at the Big Ten Championships. He's joined by heavyweight Michael Kroells, who took fifth at the conference tournament and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career. The tournament will also be the first for Pfarr.
In addition to the automatic qualifiers, true freshman Lizak will compete in St. Louis. Lizak was redshirting for the Gophers as recently as mid-January, but was pressed into action due to injuries at 125 and made his collegiate dual debut at a road dual against Penn State on January 25. He placed at Midlands and the Big Ten Championships, finishing seventh at both events.
As far as seeding is concerned, seven Gophers have been seeded in their brackets, with Lizak competing as an unseeded wrestler. A full listing of the seeds each Gopher earned appears below. Full tournament brackets are available as a PDF at the top of this page, and also can be viewed on NCAA.com.
125: Ethan Lizak, unseeded
133: Chris Dardanes, No. 1 seed
141: Nick Dardanes, No. 6 seed
157: Dylan Ness, No. 3 seed
174: Logan Storley, No. 6 seed
184: Brett Pfarr, No. 11 seed
197: Scott Schiller, No. 5 seed
285: Michael Kroells, No. 9 seed
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