Big Ten NCAA Wrestling: 2015 Dates, Schedule and More for Championship Qualifier

Sure, the Olympics may flirt with the idea of eliminating wrestling, but don't ever expect to see that conversation happen amongst the powers that be in the Big Ten conference.

College wrestling can be overlooked in much of the country, but don't tell that to anyone from the 14 schools in this conference. Wrestling still holds strong in America's heartland, and the 2015 Big Ten Wrestling Championships are all set to be yet another entertaining spectacle of this grueling, taxing sport.

The preliminary seeds are in place for the 119 wrestlers set to compete at this year's edition of the championships, which will take place Saturday and Sunday on the campus of the Ohio State University. This weekend of wrestling is a warm-up to the NCAA Championships, an event that will feature a high concentration of talent from this conference.

As a conference, the Big Ten dominates the initial allocation spots for the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, to be held March 19-21 in St. Louis, Missouri. They own 86 of 260 spots initial spots spread across 10 weight classes, per NCAA.com, and there's opportunity for even more Big Ten grapplers to make the trip to the championships with 70 at-large bids yet to be determined.

In many ways, the Big Ten Wrestling Championships are a dry run for the national championships, as schools from this conference have won the last eight team national championships.

"The Big Ten conference is really a strong conference right now for wrestling, in my mind,” said legendary wrestler and former Iowa head coach Dan Gable, per Todd Jones of The Columbus Dispatch. “There is some tough wrestling in the Big Ten.” 

For those looking to keep tabs on the Big Ten Championship qualifier, here is the key info.


2015 Big Ten Wrestling Championships Info

Dates: Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8

Location: Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio

TV: BTN (Big Ten Network, Sunday championships only)

Live Stream: BTN Plus via BTN2Go.com (subscription required, available both days)

Preview

Weight Class (lbs.)	Wrestler	School
125	Thomas Gilman	Iowa
133	Chris Dardanes	Minnesota
141	Logan Stieber	Ohio State
149	Brandon Sorensen	Iowa
157	Isaiah Martinez	Illinois
165	Bo Jordan	Ohio State
174	Robert Kokesh	Nebraska
184	Sam Brooks	Iowa
197	Kyle Snyder	Ohio State
285	Connor Medbery	Wisconsin

Note: A complete look at pre-seeds for Big Ten Championships can be found at BigTen.org.

The state of Iowa is the mecca of wrestling, and the University of Iowa is once again the powerhouse program in the Big Ten. The school went 17-1-0 in competition this year (losing only to Missouri), including a 9-0 conference record that earned it the regular-season championship.

It's almost a guarantee that some of the top wrestlers from the school will put on a show at the Big Ten Championships and go on to wreak havoc in St. Louis. Five Iowa wrestlers—Bobby Telford, Nathan Burak, Sam Brooks, Brandon Sorensen and Cory Clark—hold the top rating percentage index rankings in their respective divisions, per NCAA.com. 

Sorensen is particularly exciting, as he holds a top seed for the Big Ten Championships and is only a redshirt freshman. 

This tournament isn't just about Iowa, of course. Throw the likes of Ohio State, Nebraska and Minnesota in just about any other conference, and they could dominate the competition. In fact, 11 of the 14 schools in the Big Ten had records above .500 this year.

The Buckeyes have three wrestlers with No. 1 seeds this year, tied with Iowa. Logan Stieber (141-pound division) will be looking to defend his 2014 conference title, as will Nebraska's top-seeded Robert Kokesh in the 174-pound class, per BigTen.org.

If you're a neutral fan and had to root for one of the many possible matchup permutations in this year's event, Big Ten analyst Shane Sparks has a couple of recommendations for you, per BTN.com:

"

I want to see Isaiah Martinez of Illinois and Dylan Ness of Minnesota at 157. Martinez is undefeated and having a sensational season, while Ness is one of the most exciting guys to watch in the county. This match would be great to see, but James Green of Nebraska may rain on this parade. This weight class has the top three ranked wrestlers in the country, so any matchup between these guys is going to be must-see wrestling. A possible matchup between first cousins Bo and Isaac Jordan at 165 pounds would also be a matchup I would be licking my chops to see.

"

Despite winning four straight conference and national championships, this doesn't look to be a good year for Penn State, and Sparks notes a couple of reasons for the likely letdown:

"

I just don’t see it for Penn State this year. They chose to red-shirt All-Americans Nico Megaludis and Zain Retherford along with some very talented freshman. With Matt Brown at 174 and Morgan McIntosh at 197, the Lions will however play a key role in helping determine who does win the team race.

"

No matter how the individual results shake out, this tournament will be yet another display of the power and stature of the Big Ten conference overall. Fans of wrestling will see many of the names at this tournament pop up again at the NCAA Championships in mid-March, proving once again that there is perhaps no better marriage of sport, culture and conference than wrestling and the Big Ten.