The 2017-18 NCAA wrestling season is officially underway, which means it's time to start rolling out our weight class previews.

Last season was a meat grinder at 141 pounds, and it only gets tougher this year. George DiCamillo is the only All-American from the last NCAA tournament that graduated. Seventh-placer Matt Kolodzik will not be returning to the weight class either, as he will be competing at 149 pounds this season. Everyone else returns, in one of the deepest weights in college. 

Other 2017-18 weight class previews: 125 Pounds | 133 Pounds

For our previews, we'll run down the top contenders, then make some way-too-early All-American and bloodround predictions and include an explanation.

Check out our 141 preview from last year.

Title Contenders

Dean Heil, Oklahoma State
Kevin Jack, North Carolina State
Bryce Meredith, Wyoming
Jaydin Eierman, Missouri
Anthony Ashnault, Rutgers
Joey McKenna, Ohio State
Tommy Thorn, Minnesota

Watch Heil fend off Meredith in a dual meet in Laramie, WY, two seasons ago in the video below. 


While 141 has a host of contenders for the title, Dean Heil stands out as being a cut above the rest. Every other returning All-American has a shot to knock off the two-time reigning NCAA champion, but Heil is on a 41-match winning streak and is the unquestionable favorite to start the year. I didn't include any freshmen on the already long list of contenders, but I wouldn't be shocked to find Kanen Storr, Chad Red, or Yianni Diakomihalis with a high seed once tournament brackets are released.  

Spey's Spredictions

1: Dean Heil, Oklahoma State
2: ​Kevin Jack, North Carolina State
3: Joey McKenna, Ohio State
4: Bryce Meredith, Wyoming
5: Jaydin Eierman, Missouri
6: ​Anthony Ashnualt, Rutgers
7: Tommy Thorn, Minnesota
8: Kanen Storr, Iowa State
R12: Jared Prince, Navy
R12: Chad Red, Nebraska
R12: Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell
R12: Javier Gasca, Michigan State

This is one crowded weight class, and one of the many times in which I wish there were more steps on the podium to accommodate all the worthy competitors. 

Heil for the three-peat was probably the easiest call at this weight. Although it has been repeatedly noted that many of Heil's wins come via a slim margin of victory, the fact that he has racked up so any wins over ranked opponents counts far more than the manner in which he wins them. If Heil wins a third straight title to go along with his fourth-place finish as a freshman, he will go down as one of the best 141-pounders in NCAA history, and deservedly so. 

Kevin Jack, who will go down as one of the tallest 141-pounders in NCAA history, had a superb 2017 season. He dropped an overtime loss to Randy Cruz in the season opener in November and then went unbeaten until the NCAA quarterfinals, where he was upset by Bryce Meredith. Jack got revenge against Meredith in the consolation finals, and I don't think he has any slip-ups this year until he meets Heil in the NCAA finals. 

I've already picked McKenna to bounce back from last season's bloodround finish and claim third place for the second time in his career, and I'm sticking with it here. 

​Watch McKenna take out All-American contender Jared Prince at the 2017 Southern Scuffle quarterfinals in the video below.


Meredith is extremely talented and has a style similar to Jack's thanks to a similarly tall stature for the weight class. He finished fourth and second in his last two trips to the NCAAs, though he did so from the No. 10 and No. 14 seeds, respectively. I think he'll put together a more consistent regular season and postseason this time and finish his senior campaign only one spot below where he is currently ranked. 

I picked Jaydin Eierman and Anthony Ashnault to finish the same way they did last year, with Eierman beating Ashnault in the fifth-place match. I think the world of both wrestlers so it pains me to pick them both this low, and it would pain me even more if Ashnault's injury keeps him out of action for longer than just the next few months. 

I have Tommy Thorn, another lanky wrestler, finishing one spot higher than where he finished last year. That could change if Kanen Storr fulfills the lofty expectations of Iowa State fans. The blue-chip recruit had a monster redshirt freshman year and is definitely one to keep an eye on this season. 

I have two other freshmen finishing in the round of 12, true frosh Yianni Diakomahalis and Chad Red, a freshman of the redshirt variety. Yianni is a two-time cadet freestyle world champion with enough talent to win it all, but he is also coming back from a serious injury so I decided to be conservative with my prediction. Red had an excellent redshirt campaign but not quite on the level of Storr -- hence I have him falling just short of the podium. Either wrestler earning All-American honors, however, should not shock anyone.

Gasca and Prince both earned top 16 seeds at last year's tournament, but neither made it to the bloodround. I expect that to change when both wrestlers make it back to the big dance in Cleveland. 

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