2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships 149 Weight Class Preview

A two horse race

Two wrestlers have set themselves apart and look to settle things in the finals.

#1 seed Lance Palmer (27-2) looks to capture his first National Title, but not so fast. #2 seed Brent Metcalf (31-1) has some different plans and will look to avenge his only loss of the year.

There are many good wrestlers in this weight, but it looks like the above two guys are on a collision course. Wisconsin’s #4 Kyle Ruschell (28-3) does have a win over Palmer this year and can not be counted out either. On the Bottom Oklahoms’s #3Kyle Terry (26-2) hopes to find the top of the podium as well.

Round 1

We see one real interesting match in the first round. That matches Terry against Caesar Grajales (11-4) of Penn. This may be a tough first round match up for Terry.

Round 2

While there are some good matches here, we do not see any that stand out and look to see the seeds hold true.

Round 3 (Quarterfinals)

In the first quarter of this weight we are anticipating seeing Palmer vs. Kevin LeValley (37-6) of Bucknell. We have Palmer winning this, but we do think LeValley will push him and it should prove to be a pretty good match.

Next we see Ruschell squaring off against #5 Frank Molinaro (29-5). In another good match we see Ruschell getting by here.

Moving to the bottom half we see Terry having to face #6 Matt Kyler (30-3) of Army. We find Terry facing yet another tough wrestler early. This should be an exciting one and we see Terry sneaking by here.

In-state rivals will meet up here when Metcalf faces Iowa State’s #7 Mitch Mueller (25-8). We do not see the previous results of these two meeting changing much. Metcalf continues his mission to exact revenge on his Big 10 loss.

Round 4 (Semifinals)

Palmer vs. Ruschell III is our first semifinal. They have split with Palmer winning the most recent meeting. I look for this to be a good match, low scoring. Would not be surprised to see overtime in this one, but we see Palmer getting past Ruschell.

In the second match, we should see Terry and Metcalf mix things up. I will be honest I see Metcalf winning this one possibly by bonus.

Finals

Palmer vs. Metcalf III for all the marbles

For some this may be the most anticipated match up of the tournament. Here is how I see this playing out. I think Metcalf gets an early lead, pushes the pace and does not look back. Now I am not saying this will be a high scoring affair, I just think that Metcalf wants to establish a lead early and not be put into the same position he was in, in the Big 10 finals. Metcalf in an instant classic.

Dark horses
1. Kevin LeValley (Bucknell)
2. Matt Kyler (Army)
3. Desmond Green (Buffalo)

TOM’s Picks
1. Metcalf
2. Palmer
3. Ruschell/Terry