Michigan wins 2022 Big Ten Championships

From the Big Ten Conference

LINCOLN, Neb. – Michigan won the 2022 Big Ten Wrestling Championships title on Sunday with a team score of 143.0. The Wolverines earned their 12th Big Ten Championship title and the program’s first since 1973. Michigan claimed a pair of individual titles from Nick Suriano (125) and Myles Amine (184).

Penn State finished in second place with 141.5 points, followed by third-place Iowa with 129.5 points. Ohio State claimed fourth place with 91.5 points and Northwestern rounded out the top five with 90.5 points.

Minnesota’s Gable Steveson was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year, while Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti received the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award. Michigan’s Myles Amine and Wisconsin’s Austin Gomez shared the Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships honor and Wolverine head coach Sean Bormet was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Bormet becomes the first Michigan head coach to earn the accolade since Dale Bahr in 1988.

2022 Big Ten Brackets

Michigan’s Nick Suriano claimed the 125-pound title after defeating Wisconsin’s No. 3 Eric Barnett, 12-4. At 133 pounds, Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young posted a 3-1 decision over Austin DeSanto of Iowa to successfully defend his title.

The Nittany Lions’ Nick Lee took home the 141-pound championship following a medical forfeit by Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman. The 149-pound title went to the Badgers’ Gomez, who earned an 8-5 decision over defending champion Sammy Sasso of Ohio State to become the first Wisconsin wrestler to win a title in the weight class.

At 157 pounds, top-ranked Ryan Deakin of Northwestern successfully defended his title to become a three-time champion with a 7-2 decision against Michigan’s Will Lewan. Iowa’s Alex Marinelli successfully defended his championship at 165 pounds following a 2-1 decision against Cameron Amine of Michigan. Marinelli becomes the 17th wrestler in Big Ten history to win four individual titles.

Penn State’s Carter Starocci took home the 174-pound championship with a 5-1 decision over Michigan’s Logan Massa. At 184 pounds, the Wolverines’ Amine upset the two-time defending champion Aaron Brooks of Penn State with a 6-4 win in SV1.

Max Dean of Penn State captured the 197-pound title following a 4-2 victory against Eric Schultz of Nebraska. Rounding out the group of individual Big Ten Champions was top-ranked Steveson of Minnesota, who claimed his third 285-pound title following a medical forfeit by Iowa’s Tony Cassioppi.

The complete list of Big Ten individual awards and All-Big Ten honorees can be found below, while the full results are attached.

BIG TEN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Wrestler of the Year: Gable Steveson, MINN
Freshman of the Year: Dean Hamiti, WIS
Coach of the Year: Sean Bormet, MICH
Co-Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships: Myles Amine, MICH & Austin Gomez, WIS

2022 ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
Alex Marinelli, IOWA
Myles Amine, MICH
Nick Suriano, MICH
Gable Steveson, MINN
Ryan Deakin, NU
Roman Bravo-Young, PSU
Max Dean, PSU
Nick Lee, PSU
Carter Starocci, PSU
Austin Gomez, WIS
2021 NCAA Qualifiers/Champs/AAs: 92/6/35

2021 Team Standings: 1. Iowa 159.5; 2. Penn State 124; 3. Nebraska 105.5; 4. Michigan 92; 5. Minnesota 77.5; 6. Purdue 76; 7. Northwestern 74; 8. Michigan State 73.5; 9. Ohio State 69.5; 10. Rutgers 52; 11. Illinois 32; 12. Wisconsin 30.5; 13. Indiana 22; 14. Maryland 2.

2021 Individual Champs/Runner-ups: 125-Spencer Lee (Iowa)/Devin Schroeder (Purdue); 133-Roman Bravo-Young (Penn St.)/Austin DeSanto (Iowa); 141 – Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)/Nick Lee (Penn St.); 149 – Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)/Ridge Lovett (Neb.); 157 – Ryan Deakin (NW)/Kaleb Young (Iowa); 165 – Alex Marinelli (Iowa)/Ethan Smith (Ohio St.); 174 – Michael Kemerer (Iowa)/Carter Starocci (Penn St.); 184 – Aaron Brooks (Penn St.)/Taylor Venz (Neb.); 197 – Myles Amine (Mich.)/Eric Schultz (Neb.); Hwt – Gable Steveson (Minn.)/Mason Parris (Mich.)

All-Time Team Championships (Started in 1913) – School-No. (Last): Iowa – 37 (2021); Illinois – 17 (2005); Indiana – 13 (1943); Michigan – 11 (1973); Minnesota – 10 (2007); Michigan State – 8 (1972); Purdue – 6 (1954); Penn State – 6 (2019); Ohio State – 5 (2018).

2022 Top Storylines: 

• Will this once again be a preview for the NCAAs? Considering the Big 10 has won every NCAA team championship since 2006 and the top three teams of 2021-22 — Penn State, Iowa and Michigan — are from this conference, the Big 10s could once again be a preview of what will happen two weeks later in Detroit.

• The most probable rematches from last year’s postseason will come at 141 and 174 pounds, where Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman and Michael Kemerer, respectively, split Big Ten/NCAA finals with PSU’s Nick Lee and Carter Starocci last year. This season, both Nittany Lions won close bouts in the regular season. Meanwhile, Michigan’s four-time AA Myles Amine, dropping down from 197, wants another shot at Penn State’s defending champ Aaron Brooks at 184 after Brooks won 3-1 on Jan. 21.

• The lightest weight, minus Iowa’s three-time champ Spencer Lee who was sidelined at midseason because of injury, features a pair of transfers, who did not wrestle until the second semester. Michigan’s Nick Suriano, a 2019 NCAA champ from Rutgers, should be the favorite, but the senior who sat out the last two years only wrestled six times as of Feb. 9. One of his victories was a 2-1 decision over Penn State’s Drew Hildebrandt, a 2021 All-American transfer from Central Michigan.

• At the other end of the weight scale, the Big Ten features more All-Americans than any conference. But none of them have come close to beating last year’s NCAA and Olympic champion Gable Steveson, who will depart for the WWE after the 2022 NCAAs. The Gopher had scored bonus points in all his regular-season wins, including a major decision against Michigan’s Mason Parris, who lost to Steveson in both the Big 10 and NCAA finals last March. Meanwhile, Iowa’s Tony Cassioppi and Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet would love to emerge as Steveson’s biggest threat.

• Hosting the event should help the Huskers, who feature five All-Americans. The most notable could be Eric Schultz, who headlines a wide-open field at 197. But there was no regular-season match with Penn State’s Max Dean, the All-American transfer from Cornell, who rallied this season to beat the likes of Iowa’s AA Jacob Warner and Michigan’s Pat Brucki, an All-American transfer from Princeton.