ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Big Ten Conference announced the preliminary seeds for the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, which are set for March 7-8 at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.
The pre-seeds, produced through WrestleStat’s Tournament Seeder Program utilizing allocation criteria approved by conference coaches, rank 14 starters in all 10 weight classes.
Purdue has seven wrestlers seeded in the top 10, the team’s most since 2021. Six Boilermakers are returning to the Big Ten Championships after starting a year ago, and five of them have the same or higher pre-seeds compared to 2025.
Purdue’s pre-seeds are listed below.
| WEIGHT (lbs) | WRESTLER | PRE-SEED |
| 125 | Ashton Jackson | 13 |
| 133 | Blake Boarman | 10 |
| 141 | Greyson Clark | 6 |
| 149 | Gavin Brown | 12 |
| 157 | Stoney Buell | 9 |
| 165 | Joey Blaze | 3 |
| 174 | Brody Baumann | 8 |
| 184 | James Rowley | 10 |
| 197 | Ben Vanadia | 9 |
| 285 | Hayden Filipovich | 11 |
Pre-seeds are not considered final. The complete tournament brackets and official seeds will be released Friday afternoon following the Big Ten coaches meeting.
Joey Blaze, the consensus No. 2 wrestler in the country at 165 lbs, checks in as the No. 3 seed behind undefeated defending NCAA champion Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) and 2025 NCAA runner-up Mikey Caliendo (Iowa). Blaze (18-0) beat Caliendo (15-3) in Purdue’s recent dual against Iowa, but he falls four points behind the Hawkeye due to new criteria this season that favors strength of schedule.
In Friday’s meeting, coaches may challenge a seeding decision if their wrestler is within 15 points of an opponent above them. But Blaze seems to be at his best when he is a perceived underdog, and the difference between a No. 2 and No. 3 seed is not significant.
Two-time NCAA Championships qualifier Greyson Clark holds a career-best No. 6 seed entering the conference tournament. He went 4-0 in Big Ten duals this season, picking up two major decisions and a technical fall.
Brody Baumann, a fellow two-time national qualifier, matches his career high with another No. 8 seed. Last year he notched two wins at the conference tournament to climb the podium in eighth place.
Stoney Buell (No. 9 at 157) and Ben Vanadia (No. 9 at 197) also improved on their pre-seeds from a year ago. Blake Boarman (No. 10 at 133) will be making his first Big Ten tournament appearance and James Rowley (No. 10 at 184) is set to return to the conference championships for the first time since his redshirt freshman season in 2024.
For more information on the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, visit bigten.org.
The complete list of Big Ten Championships pre-seeds can be found below:
125 lbs
1. Luke Lilledahl (PSU)
2. Spencer Moore (ILL)
3. Nic Bouzakis (OSU)
4. Jacob Moran (IND)
5. Jore Volk (MINN)
6. Ayden Smith (RU)
7. Nicolar Rivera (WIS)
8. Dean Peterson (IOWA)
9. Diego Sotelo (MICH)
10. Dedrick Navarro (NU)
11. Kael Lauridsen (NEB)
12. Nick Corday (MSU)
13. Ashton Jackson (PUR)
14. Abram Cline (MD)
133 lbs
1. Marcus Blaze (PSU)
2. Lucas Byrd (ILL)
3. Ben Davino (OSU)
4. Zan Fugitt (WIS)
5. Drake Ayala (IOWA)
6. Jacob Van Dee (NEB)
7. Sean Spidle (NU)
8. Braxton Brown (MD)
9. Dylan Shawver (RU)
10. Blake Boarman (PUR)
11. Caleb Weiand (MSU)
12. Blaine Frazier (IND)
13. Gauge Botero (MICH)
14. Jager Eisch (MINN)
141 lbs
1. Jesse Mendez (OSU)
2. Brock Hardy (NEB)
3. Vance VomBaur (MINN)
4. Nasir Bailey (IOWA)
5. Dylan Ragusin (MICH)
6. Greyson Clark (PUR)
7. Braeden Davis (PSU)
8. Billy Dekraker (NU)
9. Henry Porter (IND)
10. Joey Olivieri (RU)
11. Dario Lemus (MD)
12. Danny Pucino (ILL)
13. Carson Exferd (WIS)
14. Jaden Crumpler (MSU)
149 lbs
1. Shayne Van Ness (PSU)
2. Ethan Stiles (OSU)
3. Joseph Zargo (WIS)
4. Lachlan McNeil (MICH)
5. Carter Young (MD)
6. Chance Lamer (NEB)
7. Andrew Clark (RU)
8. Ryder Block (IOWA)
9. Michael Gioffre (ILL)
10. Drew Roberts (MINN)
11. Joey Buttler (IND)
12. Gavin Brown (PUR)
13. Clayton Jones (MSU)
14. August Hibler (NU)
157 lbs
1. Antrell Taylor (NEB)
2. PJ Duke (PSU)
3. Kannon Webster (ILL)
4. Anthony White (RU)
5. Cameron Cartabone (MICH)
6. Charlie Millard (MINN)
7. Brandon Cannon (OSU)
8. Luke Mechler (WIS)
9. Stoney Buell (PUR)
10. Victor Voinovich III (IOWA)
11. Bryce Lowery (IND)
12. Darius Marines (MSU)
13. Mekhi Neal (MD)
14. Ty Wilson (NU)
165 lbs
1. Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU)
2. Mikey Caliendo (IOWA)
3. Joey Blaze (PUR)
4. Andrew Sparks (MINN)
5. LJ Araujo (NEB)
6. Braeden Scoles (ILL)
7. Andrew Barbosa (RU)
8. Paddy Gallagher (OSU)
9. Tyler Lillard (IND)
10. Cody Goebel (WIS)
11. Jacob Bostelman (NU)
12. Justin Gates (MICH)
13. AJ Rodrigues (MD)
14. Jack Conley (MSU)
174 lbs
1. Christopher Minto (NEB)
2. Levi Haines (PSU)
3. Patrick Kennedy (IOWA)
4. Beau Mantanona (MICH)
5. Carson Kharchla (OSU)
6. Derek Gilcher (IND)
7. Ethan Riddle (MINN)
8. Brody Baumann (PUR)
9. Colin Kelly (ILL)
10. Lenny Pinto (RU)
11. Eddie Enright (NU)
12. Luke Condon (WIS)
13. Connor O’Neil (MSU)
14. Seth Digby (MD)
184 lbs
1. Rocco Welsh (PSU)
2. Max McEnelly (MINN)
3. Silas Allred (NEB)
4. Brock Mantanona (MICH)
5. Chris Moore (ILL)
6. Dylan Fishback (OSU)
7. Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RU)
8. Angelo Ferrari (IOWA)
9. Sam Goin (IND)
10. James Rowley (PUR)
11. J.D. Perez (NU)
12. Sepanta Ahanj-Elias (MD)
13. Ryan Boucher (MSU)
14. Cale Anderson (WIS)
197 lbs
1. Josh Barr (PSU)
2. Camden McDanel (NEB)
3. Remy Cotton (RU)
4. Branson John (MD)
5. Luke Geog (OSU)
6. Wyatt Ingham (WIS)
7. Kael Wisler (MSU)
8. Gabe Sollars (IND)
9. Ben Vanadia (PUR)
10. Hayden Walters (MICH)
11. Gavin Nelson (MINN)
12. Dylan Connell (ILL)
13. Gabe Arnold (IOWA)
14. Alex Smith (NU)
285 lbs
1. Taye Ghadiali (MICH)
2. AJ Ferrari (NEB)
3. Nick Feldman (OSU)
4. Cole Mirasola (PSU)
5. Braxton Amos (WIS)
6. Luke Luffman (ILL)
7. Koy Hopke (MINN)
8. Hunter Catka (RU)
9. Josh Terrill (MSU)
10. Ben Kueter (IOWA)
11. Hayden Filipovich (PUR)
12. Joey Schneck (MD)
13. Gabe Christenson (NU)
14. Caleb Marzolino (IND)