The 2025 NCAA runner-up, Joey Blaze, earned the No. 1 seed at 165 lbs. He is the first top-seeded Boilermaker in Vegas since Matt Ramos in 2023. Ramos finished seventh that year before bouncing back to win the whole thing as a redshirt senior last year.
Blaze’s highest-ranked competition includes No. 15 Ty Whalen (Princeton), No. 17 Dylan Gilcher (Michigan), No. 19 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State), No. 28 Lou Cerchio (Cornell) and No. 32 Cesar Alvan (Columbia).
Stoney Buell carries the No. 4 seed at 157 lbs after shining in the Tiger Style Invite, where he won gold a few weeks ago. The redshirt senior from Dundee, Mich., has long been comfortable in the underdog role.
Buell will compete in a stacked bracket against No. 1 Ty Watters (West Virginia), No. 3 Vincent Zerban (Iowa State), No. 4 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford), No. 20 Cael Swensen (South Dakota State), No. 23 Jimmy Harrington (Harvard), No. 25 Cam Catrabone (Michigan) and No. 27 Chance McLane (Arizona State).
Other pre-seeded Boilermakers include Greyson Clark (No. 5, 141), Brody Baumann (No. 6, 174), Ben Vanadia (No. 8, 197), Blake Boarman (No. 9, 133) and Hayden Filipovich (No. 10, 285).
The two-day double-elimination tournament begins Friday, Dec. 5, at noon ET in the Westgate Hotel Paradise Event Center. The broadcast will be streamed live on FloWrestling.
