Seeds Announced for NCAA Championships, Quick Looks at Cowboys’ Paths

BRACKETS

The brackets are set, and we’re a week away from the national tournament.

The NCAA on Wednesday night released seeds and brackets for the NCAA Championships. The tournament starts next Thursday (March 20) in Philadelphia. Seven Cowboys were seeded within the top eight, meaning if every OSU wrestler performed to his seed, the Pokes would have seven All-Americans. That hasn’t happened since the Pokes put eight on the podium in 2017. The last time OSU had more than three All-Americans was in 2021 (six).

First, here’s a look at all the Oklahoma State wrestlers’ seeds. Then we’ll take quick looks at how the bracket breaks down for each guy.

OSU Seeds

125: Troy Spratley, 7
141: Tagen Jamison, 7
149: Teague Travis, 33
157: Caleb Fish, 12
165: Cameron Amine, 8
174: Dean Hamiti Jr., 3
184: Dustin Plott, 4
197: Luke Surber. 8
HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson, 2

125: Troy Spratley, 7

The Big 12 didn’t get a ton of respect when it comes to the 125-pound division, with Big 12 runner-up Troy Spratley receiving the 7 seed and Big 12 champ Jett Strickenberger getting the 6.

Spratley will open against 26 seed Keyveon Roller (Virginia), who finished third at ACCs.

Should Spratley win that bout, he’d get a Big 12 opponent in the second round, seeing either South Dakota State’s Tanner Jordan (23) or Northern Colorado’s Stevo Poulin (10). Tanner ended Spratley’s season at NCAAs last year, but Spratley got his revenge in Tulsa this past weekend, beating Jordan 10-0. Poulin was seeded ahead of Spratley at Big 12s, but the Northern Colorado wrestler finished fifth with losses to Strickenberger and reigning national champ Richard Figeuroa (the 5 seed at NCAAs).

Purdue’s Matt Ramos, the 2 seed, is also in Spratley’s section of the bracket. Spratley and Ramos met in December in Vegas, where Ramos won 5-2.

141: Tagen Jamison, 7

Similarly to the 125-pound bracket, the Big 12 didn’t get a lot of love at 141. Jamison is the second-highest seeded Big 12 wrestler behind Big 12 champ Cael Happel and 5.

Jamison opens against Princeton’s Eligh Rivera (17-7) and would, with a win, wrestle either Missouri’s Josh Edmond (13-10) or Penn’s CJ Composto (23-3). Jamison has an on-paper quarterfinal against Penn State’s Beau Bartlett (21-1), who got upset at Big Tens and finished third.

149: Teague Travis, 33

Having wrestled only two matches entering Big 12s this past weekend, Teague Travis needed to finish top four in Tulsa to go to Philly, and that’s exactly what he did.

“There’s a lot of excuses I could’ve had, but I didn’t really have time to focus on all the things that could go wrong,” said Travis in Tulsa. “I had to go out here, and I had to go place top four and get a bid.”

With his limited number of matches, Travis has the last seed in the tournament and will wrestle Campbell’s Wynton Denkins in the preliminaries for a chance to wrestle top-seeded Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech). Henson pinned Carter Young in the OSU-Virginia Tech dual in December.

As far as 33 seeds go, Travis is quite dangerous. Even if he is unable to get past Henson, expect Travis to make some noise in the consolations.

157: Caleb Fish, 12

After a fourth-place finish in Tulsa, Caleb Fish earns the 12 seed in NCAAs and will start with a match against Lehigh’s Logan Rozynski (19-5).

Fish has proven this year that he is capable of wrestling at an All-American level. His best win of the season came against Northern Iowa’s Ryder Downey, who enters NCAAs as the six seed. Fish is always a throw away from some major points.

165: Cameron Amine, 8

Amine is shooting for a fourth All-American finish after reaching the podiums three times with Michigan.

He opens against Virginia’s Nick Hamilton, the 25 seed. Should Amine win there, he’d wrestle either Missouri’s Cam Steed (9) or Columbia’s Cesar Alvan (24). Amine beat Steed 2-1 in February. Steed finished second at Big 12s while Amine finished fifth, but they didn’t wrestle at the event. Penn State’s unbeaten Mitchell Mesenbrink would likely be awaiting the winner of that bout. Amine lost to Mesenbrink 6-1 at last season’s NCAA Championships.

174: Dean Hamiti Jr., 3

Dean Hamiti might be OSU’s best shot at a national title this season, and he’ll go to Philadelphia as a 3 seed.

He opens against Rutgers’ Jackson Turley, the 30.

Hamiti’s on-paper semifinal is against Penn State’s Levi Haines. Hamiti and Haines are a combined 42-2 this season with both of those losses being to top-seeded Keegan O’Toole (16-0). Both wresters’ matches with O’Toole went into sudden-victory. So, should Hamiti and Haines avoid upsets and make it to this semifinal, it’d be a lot of fun.

184: Dustin Plott, 4

If you need evidence to see that the 184-pound division has been bolstered since last season look no further than the fact that 2024 national runner-up Dustin Plott enters as the 4 seed.

Plott opens the tournament against Princeton’s Kole Mulhauser (13-9).

If things went scratch with the top 4 seeds, there would be a fun Big 12 vs. Big Ten semifinal. Plott would wrestle unbeaten, four-time national champ Carter Starocci in the semis. The other semi would be reining 184-pound champ Parker Keckeisen vs. Minnesota’s Max McEnelly (20-1). A redshirt freshman, McEnelly took Starocci to sudden-victory in the Big Ten final, where Starocci won 8-5.

197: Luke Surber, 8

After a runner-up finish in Tulsa, Surber starts the national tournament against The Citadel’s Patrick Brophy (21-5).

Surber would likely get Illinois’ Zac Braunagel, the 9 seed, in the second round. Braunagel finished third at Big Tens. The winner of that match would likely see top-seeded Jacob Cardenas of Michigan in the quarters. Cardenas won Big Tens, upsetting Stephen Buchanan, who fell to the 2 seed.

HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson, 2

OSU’s sole Big 12 champ is the Cowboys’ highest-seeded wrestler going to Philly.

He opens with Michigan State’s Max Vanadia (17-17). Vandia finished eighth at Big Tens.

The big three in this bracket are Hendrickson, Olympic champ Gable Steveson and 2024 national champ Greg Kerkvliet. Steveson is the 14-0 top seed after beating Kerkvliet 10-3 in the Big Ten final.