Jared Franek will be the #10 seed at 157 in the NCAA National Tournament. I wanted to start with that because #10 is the lowest Franek has been ranked all season. As a matter of fact Franek spent quite a bit of the season ranked #2 in the country.
What has changed to go from #2 to #10? Not much that I can tell.
Franek is 23-4 for the season with six tech falls and two major decisions.
The great news about Franek being seeded #10 is the draw that he has at Nationals. As a Hawkeye fan I do not know how you could have asked for a better draw for us here at 157 for a #10 seed.
In the first round at Nationals Franek will face Joey Blaze of Purdue. Franek defeated Blaze 2-1 in the dual meet and 5-2 in the Consolation Semifinals at Big Tens. That will be a tough first round match.
A potential second round opponent would be #7 seed Peyten Keller of Ohio. Keller was ranked #13 at 157 in the recent InterMat Rankings where Franek was #6. Beyond that would be #2 seed Jacori Teemer of Arizona State in the Quarterfinals.
Should those matchups take place, I like Franek. The Big Ten schedule from this season has Franek prepared for this tournament.
The potential is there for Jared Franek having a run to the NCAA Finals like Joe Johnston did for the Hawks in 2005. Johnston was the #8 seed at 157 and lost a close match in the NCAA Finals. I see a lot of similarities in Franek and Johnston in style.
I look at the wrestler, not what their seed is.
Brackets for the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships:
https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/images/2024/03/13/2024NCAAd1Wrestlingbrackets.pdf
Jared Franek (157)
Drayden Morton (Cal Baptist) W-D 8-1 1-0
Luther Open – 1st Place
John Ebaugh (Upper Iowa) W-TF 16-1 2-0
Blain Christie (Wartburg) W-TF 18-1 3-0
Daniel Meeker (Wartburg) W-TF 19-2 4-0
Blake Jagodzinske (Augsburg) W-TF 17-2 5-0
Caleb Meunier (Minnesota State Mankato) W-MD 21-7 6-0
Murphy Menke (Oregon State) W-D 10-3 7-0
#18 Cody Chittum (Iowa State) W-D 4-2 8-0
#26 Jude Swisher (Penn) W-D 4-2 9-0
Jaden Le (Columbia) W-D 9-5 10-0
Soldier Salute – 1st Place
James Conway (Missouri) W-D 4-1 11-0
Kyler Wong (Minnesota) W-TF 17-1 12-0
Jason Krassier (Iowa State) W-MD 13-3 13-0
#17 Cael Swensen (SDSU) W-D 4-1 SV1 14-0
#3 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) W-D 5-4 15-0
#11 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) L-D 5-4 15-1
#16 Joey Blaze (Purdue) W-D 2-1 16-1
Joe Roberts (Illinois) W-TF 21-5 17-1
#19 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) W-D 4-1 SV1 18-1
#12 Will Lewan (Michigan) L-D 2-2 TB1 18-2
#1 Levi Haines (Penn State) L-MD 12-0 18-3
Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) W-MD 17-5 19-3
#10 Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) W-D 10-4 20-3
Big Ten Championships – 4th Place
Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) W-D 5-3 21-3
#7 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) W- 7-3 22-3
#1 Levi Haines (Penn State) L-D 5-0 22-4
#19 Joey Blaze (Purdue) W-D 5-2 23-4
#7 Peyton Robb (Nebraska) L (MMF) 23-5
Schedule for the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships
***All time listed are CST
Thursday, March 21
Session 1: Championship First Round 11 AM ESPNU/ESPNt
Session 2: Championship Second Round and Consolations 6 PM ESPN/ESPNt
Friday, March 22
Session 3: Quarterfinals and Consolations 11 AM ESPN/ESPNt
Session 4: Semifinals and Blood Round 7 PM ESPN/ESPNt
Saturday, March 23
Session 5: Consolation Medal Round 10 AM ESPNU/ESPNt
Session 6: Finals 6 PM ESPN/ESPNt
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
