NCAA releases No. 1 and No. 2 seeds across all weight classes for the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships

Feature photo of Iowa's Michael Kemerer courtesy of Iowa Athletics.

 This afternoon, the NCAA released the top two seeds across all weight classes for the upcoming NCAA Championships. The Iowa Hawkeyes, the No. 1 ranked team in the NWCA Coaches Poll, leads the way with four No. 1 seeds.

At 125 pounds, Iowa’s Spencer Lee unsurprisingly earned the No. 1 seed. Lee is a two-time NCAA champion, a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American and the 2020 Dan Hodge Trophy winner. This season, he is 7-0 with five pins and two technical falls. Sam Latona of Virginia Tech garnered the No. 2 seed. Latona is a redshirt freshman. He is 10-0 with two wins over NC State’s Jakob Camacho, including a, 2-1, sudden victory win in the ACC Championship finals.

Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix comes in as the No. 1 seed at 133 pounds. Fix, a redshirt sophomore, was an NCAA finalist in 2019. This year, he is 9-0 with eight bonus point victories. Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State earned the No. 2 seed. Bravo-Young was a 2019 NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. This season, he is 9-0.

Jaydin Eierman of Iowa earned the top seed at 141 pounds. A three-time All-American for Missouri, Eierman comes into the tournament with an 8-0 record. The No. 2 is Penn State’s Nick Lee, a two-time NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. Lee holds an 8-1 record, with his only loss coming to Eierman in last weekend’s Big Ten finals, 6-5.

Ohio State’s Sammy Sasso claimed the No. 1 seed at 149 pounds. Sasso was a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American as a redshirt freshman. He is 12-0 on the season. The No. 2 seed is Austin O’Connor of UNC. O’Connor is a 2019 NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. He holds an 8-0 record this year.

At 157 pounds, Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin is the No. 1 seed. Deakin is a 2019 NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. He is 6-0 this season. Hayden Hidlay of NC State earned the second seed. Hidlay is a two-time NCAA All-American, finishing runner-up in 2018, and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. Hidlay is currently 9-0.

Alex Marinelli of Iowa comes in as the No. 1 seed at 165 pounds. He is a two-time NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. This season, he is 5-0. Arizona State’s Anthony Valencia is the No. 2 seed. He is a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American at 174 pounds and a four-time NCAA qualifier. This season, he is 10-0.

Iowa’s fourth top-seeded wrestler is Michael Kemerer at 174 pounds. Kemerer is a two-time NCAA All-American and a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. Heading into the NCAA tournament, Kemerer sports a 7-0 record. The No. 2 seed fell to Utah Valley’s Demetrius Romero, a 2019 round-of-12 finisher and a three-time NCAA qualifier. Romero is an impressive 16-0 this season.

At 184 pounds, Penn State’s Aaron Brooks received the No. 1 seed. Brooks was a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American as a freshman and currently holds a 9-0 record. The No. 2 seed is Trent Hidlay of NC State. Hidlay was also a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American as a freshman. Hidlay is 6-1, avenging his only loss of  the season to Virginia Tech’s Hunter Bolen in the ACC finals.

Michigan’s Myles Amine claimed the top seed at 197 pounds. Amine, a three-time NCAA All-American at 174 pounds, is 6-0 this year. The No. 2 seed goes to Eric Schultz of Nebraska, a 2020 NWCA First Team All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier. Schultz is 10-1 this season with his only loss coming to Amine in the Big Ten finals, 7-3.

285 pounds also features a pair of Big Ten wrestlers earning the top two seeds, with Minnesota’s Gable Steveson claiming the No. 1 and Michigan’s Mason Parris coming in at No. 2. Steveson, who defeated Parris in the Big Ten finals, 12-4, is a 2019 All-American and 2020 NWCA First Team All-American. He is 12-0 this season winning every match by bonus points. Parris, a two-time NCAA qualifier and 2020 NWCA First Team All-American, is 8-1 earning bonus points with all of his victories as well.

2021 NCAA Championships Seeds

125
No. 1 Spencer Lee (Iowa)
No. 2 Sam Latona (Virginia Tech)

133
No. 1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)
No. 2 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)

141
No. 1 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)
No. 2 Nick Lee (Penn State)

149
No. 1 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
No. 2 Austin O’Connor (North Carolina)

157
No. 1 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
No. 2 Hayden Hidlay (NC State)

165
No. 1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
No. 2 Anthony Valencia (Arizona State)

174
No. 1 Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
No. 2 Demetrius Romero (Utah Valley)

184
No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State)
No. 2 Trent Hidlay (NC State)

197
No. 1 Myles Amine (Michigan)
No. 2 Eric Schultz (Nebraska)

285
No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
No. 2 Mason Parris (Michigan)