@UNCBearsWrestle Heads to the Big 12 Championships This Weekend

Saturday, March 9

Tulsa, Okla.

All Day

University of Northern Colorado

Big 12 Championships

Photo by: Woody Myers

3/7/2019 1:38:00 PM | Wrestling

Full Brackets

Northern Colorado will send 10 wrestlers to Tulsa

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

It's championship week for Northern Colorado wrestling as they travel to Tulsa, Okla. for the Big 12 Championships. UNC will send 10 wrestlers to Tulsa and they look to have success in the Championships and continue the tradition of qualifying multiple wrestlers for the NCAA Championships.

"I'm looking for our guys to go out and compete with a lot of confidence," head coach Troy Nickerson said. "I think a lot of them are one or two wins away from doing something special at this tournament. We've had some good success in the past. I'm looking for some guys to step up that aren't seeded, in the tournament, that I think can make some deep runs. Our guys who are seeded can take care of business and get back to the national tournament. I think the mindset is compete hard and go to battle or this is going to be your last weekend of the season. The mindset is going out and fighting; leaving it all out there while having fun and enjoying the process. I think Tulsa does a great job putting on a fantastic event and these athletes deserve it.

On Monday, the conference released the pre-seeded championship brackets voted on by the coaches. The seeds are subject change as the tournament gets closer.

In the 2018 Big 12 Championships, UNC had three placers with Dylan Gabel(184) making his second straight Big 12 finals appearance. Keilan Torres placed fourth in the 165 lb bracket and Rico Montoya placed sixth in the 133 lb bracket.

Montoya goes into the championships as the No. 4 seed in the 125 bracket and will take on West Virginia's Devin Brown in the preliminary round.

Montoya was ranked No. 17 by the third NCAA Division I Coaches' Panel rankings and is No. 27 in the RPI rankings.

Jacob Seely will compete for his first podium spot at the Big 12s, and is the No. 7 seed in the 197 lb bracket. Seely will wrestle in the quarterfinal round against the winner of the preliminary round match between Iowa State's Willie Miklus and Air Force's Anthony McLaughlin.

In the coaches' rankings, Seely is No. 27 and No. 17 in the RPI rankings.

Sean Cannon will start for UNC in the 133 lb bracket, in the preliminary round against No. 4 seeded Matt Schmitt for West Virginia.

At 141 lb, Chris Sandoval will take the mat after starting at that weight the past eight duals. Sandoval will face top-seeded Josh Alber from Northern Iowa.

Dante Rodriguez will return to the Big 12 Championships, where he earned runner-up status his freshman year at Iowa State before transferring to UNC. Rodriguez will take on the No. 5 seed, Fresno State's Khristian Olivas in the preliminary round.

Jordan Robison will be the Bears starter at 157 lb, and will take on No. 7 seeded Alex Mossing from Air Force in the preliminary round.

In the 165 lb bracket preliminary round, Macoy Flanagan will take on North Dakota State's Andrew Fogarty.

Sethan Bogulski will face Fresno State's Dominic Kincaid in the preliminary round of the 174 lb bracket.

Dalton Robertson will meet Utah Valley's Will Sumner in the preliminary round of the 184 lb bracket.

To fill out the starting lineup for UNC, Robert Winters Jr. will take the mat against Wyoming's Brian Andrews.

The results of the Big 12 Championships will play a major role in determining who qualifies for the NCAA Championships. The Big 12 receives 53 automatic qualifiers to the NCAAs, with five in 125 lb, five in 133 lb, six in 141 lb, seven in 149 lb, one in 157 lb, six in 165 lb, five in 174 lb, five in 184 lb, seven in 197 lb and six in 285 lb

"I think everyone, with the exception of Jordan, is in a situation if you win two matches in a row your probably going to the tournament," Nickerson added. "That's what we preached to these guys a little over a week ago. Put together two solid matches and if they do that they will put themselves in a good spot.

Following the Bears
UNC will compete in the Big 12 Championships from Saturday, March 9^th to Sunday March 10^th. On Saturday, the preliminary and quarterfinal matches will be held, along with the semifinals, and first and second round consolation matches. Sunday will consolation semifinals and third and fifth places matches, ending with the Finals at night.

All matches will be streamed live on Flowrestling.com and live scoring is also available through the website. The final round of the Big 12 Championships will be aired live on AT&T SportsNet. Follow the championships on Twitter with @UNCBearsWrestle for live updates and results.