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

The 149-pound weight class cleared out a decent amount last season, making the reigning Hodge Trophy winner Zain Retherford an even bigger favorite to win this year, if that's even possible. Three-time All-American and last year's runner-up Lavion Mayes used all his eligibility. Somehow Anthony Collica only finished in the top eight once in his career for the Cowboys, but he also exits the collegiate talent pool, as do fellow one-timers Ken Theobold and Alex Kocer. This weight class does get an infusion of high-caliber freshmen and bumped-up 141-pounders. Expect to see some new but talented 149-pound wrestlers in Cleveland next March.

Other 2017-18 weight class previews: 125 Pounds | 133 Pounds | 141 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 149 preview from last year.

Title Contenders

Zain Retherford, Penn State
Brandon Sorensen, Iowa

Watch Zain win his second-closest match of the year, against Anthony Collica in the last dual meet of 2017.


The contenders list is much shorter than at 141, as we have now reached the first of Penn State's five consecutive returning national champions. Zain Retherford pinned or tech-falled 24 of his 27 opponents last season. Of the opponents that Zain did not obliterate, one got majored 19-6, one graduated, and the other is Brandon Sorensen. The Iowa senior gave Retherford all he could handle, taking the match to tiebreakers before finally conceding defeat. Sorensen has yet to beat Retherford in four career attempts but still has, at the moment, the best shot of anyone at derailing the seemingly unstoppable Zain Train.

Spey's Spredictions

1: Zain Retherford, Penn State
2: ​Brandon Sorensen, Iowa
3: ​Max Thomsen, Northern Iowa
4: Solomon Chishko, Virginia Tech
5: Ke-Shawn Hayes, Ohio State
6: ​Matt Kolodzik, Princeton
7: Ryan Deakin, Northwestern
8: Justin Oliver, Central Michigan
R12: ​Steve Bleise, Minnesota
R12: Geo Martinez, Oklahoma State
R12: Colton McCrystal, Nebraska
R12: Baby J Bannister, Maryland

The first two picks don't require much of an explanation. Retherford is heavy favorite to win and Sorensen is the next best credentialed wrestler in the weight class by a large margin.

After a solid but unspectacular redshirt freshman campaign, Max Thomsen broke out in a big way. Thomsen became the Norther Iowa's highest-placing wrestler since Joe Colon's third-place finish in 2014. Virginia Tech's Solomon Chishko is right there with him and owns a win over Thomsen in a dual meet last year. But it was Thomsen who prevailed in the NCAA tournament fifth-place match, and I have them placing in the same order, just up two spots higher, in the 2018 tournament.

Watch Thomsen beat Pat Lugo in the third-place match of the 2017 Southern Scuffle.


I'm excited to see what Ke-Shawn Hayes can do at 149 (assuming he doesn't win his wrestle-off with new Ohio State teammate Joey McKenna). Hayes had a superb redshirt season at 141 before getting hurt and missing most of last season. During that redshirt season he split matches with Matt Kolodzik, who is also bumping up from 141. I give the slight edge to Hayes for now, but after Retherford and Sorensen, any order out of the next tier of guys wouldn't surprise me.

Ryan Deakin turned a lot of heads with his third-place performance at last season's Midlands. He furthered his cred by earning a silver medal at the 2017 UWW Junior World Championships. I could very well be underestimating him with a seventh-place predicted finish at the 2018 NCAAs.

The final All-American spot was the toughest to decide on. Geo Martinez made the podium before, placing eighth in 2016 for the lamentably canceled Boise State program before transferring to Oklahoma State. Justin Oliver finished seventh as a freshman and ended his season the bloodround last March. Steve Bleise finished in the round of 12 last year for Northern Illinois before transferring to Minnesota. I'd pick them all to finish eighth in Cleveland if I could, but since I can't, I chose the guy with the highest career placement thus far.

McCrystal and Bannister have dissimilar body times but comparable careers. They've both qualified for the national championship before and have racked up an impressive resume full of quality wins. I'm hoping they prove me wrong and escape the bloodround and find a way to make the podium for the first time.

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