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Ness upset No. 1 seed James Green of Nebraska in the NCAA quarterfinals. Green bounced back to finish third. Green won a silver medal at the University Worlds this past summer and placed second at the U.S. World Team Trials in freestyle. Kent State All-American Ian Miller is another dangerous wrestler in this weight class. Miller knocked off Tyler Caldwell to win University Nationals this past spring. Caldwell went on to win a University World title.


All-Americans Brian Realbuto of Cornell, Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin and Dylan Alton of Penn State also return in this class.


Illinois freshman Isaiah Martinez is another wrestler to watch in the 157 divi- sion.


165 pounds


Oklahoma State junior Alex Dieringer is the favorite here after he won an NCAA title at 157 last season.


His top challengers appear to be returning All-Americans Nick Sulzer of Virginia, Mike Moreno of Iowa State and Pierce Harger of Northwestern. Iowa senior Nick Moore, Cornell sopho- more Dylan Palacio and Ohio State fresh- man Bo Jordan also could make a big splash in this weight class.


Moore had a very strong season last


year, but fell short of the All-American podium in March.


174 pounds


The top four returning finishers in this weight class are seniors from Big Ten Conference schools. Minnesota’s Logan Storley was third at the 2014 NCAAs with Nebraska’s Robert Kokesh fourth, Penn State’s Matt Brown fifth and Iowa’s Mike Evans sixth. Brown was an NCAA runner-up in


2013. Pitt’s Tyler Wilps and Cal State Bakersfield’s Bryce Hammond are also returning All-Americans at 174. This weight class looks fairly wide-open with no clear-cut favorite to win the cham- pionship in 2015. Kokesh suffered a major knee injury at the 2014 NCAA tournament, but he appears to be back healthy again for Coach Mark Manning’s Cornhuskers. 184 pounds


Cornell sophomore Gabe Dean put together a superb first season and fin- ished third in his first NCAA tournament. Dean followed that by placing third at the Junior World Championships. The powerful Dean, who is very mature physically and mentally for his age, looks to be a heavy favorite to win the 2015


14 USA Wrestler


A pair of freshmen - Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern (top) and J’Den Cox of Missouri (right) - captured NCAA titles in 2014. John Sachs photos.


NCAA title at 184.


All-Americans Jack Dechow of Old Dominion, Lorenzo Thomas of Penn and Ophir Bernstein of Brown also return at 184.


Ohio State’s Kenny Courts and Iowa’s Sam Brooks are two other wrestlers to watch in this weight class. Brooks is a past U.S. Junior World


Team member. Nebraska’s Tim Dudley is coming off a strong freshman season where he went 26-8.


197 pounds


Missouri freshman J’Den Cox turned in a remarkable performance to win a very tough 197-pound bracket at the 2014 NCAAs.


Cox is part of another loaded 197 class this year that includes returning All- Americans Scott Schiller of Minnesota, Kyven Gadson of Iowa State, Conner Hartman of Duke, Morgan McIntosh of Penn State and Nathan Burak of Iowa. Oregon State’s Taylor Meeks and Purdue’s Braden Atwood also are wrestlers to watch in this weight class. Meeks likely will be dropping down a weight class to compete at 184 this sea- son. True freshman Kyle Snyder of Ohio


State is expected to make an immediate splash in this division. Snyder has won Junior World gold and bronze medals in freestyle wrestling the


past two seasons. He trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center during his senior year of high school before coming to Ohio State this past summer.


Snyder is another wrestler who is very mature physically and mentally for his young age.


Heavyweight North Carolina State’s Nick


Gwiazdowski capped a superb perform- ance by knocking off two-time NCAA champion Tony Nelson in the 2014 national finals.


Gwiazdowski, a junior, is now the favorite in a weight class that remains very strong despite the departure of Nelson.


Gwiazdowski also is a top freestyle prospect who has already fared very well on the Senior level.


All-Americans Mike McMullen of Northwestern, Bobby Telford of Iowa and Austin Marsden of Oklahoma State are back along with Michigan stud Adam Coon.


Coon had another excellent spring and summer, earning Junior World bronze medals in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.


Wisconsin’s Connor Medbery, Oregon


State’s Amarveer Dhesi and Maryland’s Spencer Myers are among the other top competitors in this weight class. Dhesi beat Coon en route to winning a silver medal at Junior Worlds.


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