Before every Midlands, they announce the top contenders for all 10 weights, which serves as a proxy for pre-seeds.

Watch the 2018 Midlands Championships Live On Flo

December 29-30 | 9:30 AM Eastern

The event kicks off on Saturday, December 29th at 9:30am. They'll run through the quarterfinals on day one and the the semis are at noon on Sunday, December 30th.

125 Pounds

Connor Brown, Wisconsin

#13 Patrick Glory, Princeton

#20 Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan

#1 Spencer Lee, Iowa

#19 Michael McGee, Old Dominion

#5 Ryan Millhof, Arizona State

#11 Travis Piotrowski, Illinois

#2 Sebastian Rivera, Northwestern

It's time to start our #TopContenders list for #Midlands56.

No matter what happens, we will have a first-time champion at 125 lbs. pic.twitter.com/yolqBgEj40

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 19, 2018

Iowa Midlands Prospectus

133 Pounds

#11 Austin DeSanto, Iowa

#15 Dylan Duncan, Illinois

#18 Noah Gonser, Campbell

#1 Seth Gross, South Dakota State

Josiah Kline, Arizona State

Derek Spann, Buffalo

Nathan Tomasello, Ohio State

Colin Valdiviez, Northwestern

Does @GodsWrestler133 go back-to-back?#Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/bO0X5GM4Aa

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 20, 2018

Nathan Tomasello Making His Return

141 Pounds

#6 Mikey Carr, Illinois

Cory Crooks, Arizona State

Ryan Diehl, Maryland

#12 Bryan Lantry, Buffalo

#13 Tristan Moran, Wisconsin

#17 Max Murin, Iowa

Corey Shie, Army West Point

Yahya Thomas, Northwestern

Pretty open field at 141. Who ya got?#Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/Z6QT1EY55Q

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 20, 2018

Tech Notes: Tomasello vs Gross

149 Pounds

#18 Anthony Artalona, Penn

#20 Alfred Bannister, Maryland

#10 Josh Heil, Campbell

#1 Matt Kolodzik, Princeton

#9 Pat Lugo, Iowa

Cole Martin, Wisconsin

#14 Josh Maruca, Arizona State

Henry Pohlmeyer, South Dakota State

It's been four years since someone not named Brandon Sorensen has won the Midlands crown at 149 lbs.

Matthew Kolodzik is the No. 1 wrestler in the nation at the weight class. Does he bring home the #Midlands56 title? pic.twitter.com/4DNTlXJfQ0

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 21, 2018

149 is Stacked at Midlands

157 Pounds

#12 Eric Barone, Illinois

#10 Steve Bleise, Minnesota

#2 Ryan Deakin, Northwestern

#20 Zach Hartman, Bucknell

#18 Christian Pagdilao, Arizona State

#19 Luke Weiland, Army West Point

Zander Wick, Wisconsin

#7 Kaleb Young, Iowa

We're back at ranking our #TopContenders. @RyanDeakinn takes his undefeated record into #Midlands56. ? pic.twitter.com/1C5lwnpwZ3

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 26, 2018

Complete #Midlands56 Team List

165 Pounds

#16 Joey Gunther, Illinois

#4 Alex Marinelli, Iowa

Cael McCormick, Army West Point

Kenny Moore, Northern Illinois

Logan Peterson, South Dakota State

#12 Josh Shields, Arizona State

#18 Jon Viruet, Brown

#2 Evan Wick, Wisconsin

Wick? Marinelli? Shields?#Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/XD07v5hTpe

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 26, 2018

Tech Notes: Marinelli vs Wick

174 Pounds

#10 Ryan Christensen, Wisconsin

#12 Ben Harvey, Army West Point

Andrew Morgan, Campbell

Bryce Rogers, Brown

#11 Johnny Sebastian, Northwestern

Travis Stefanik, Princeton

#2 Zahid Valencia, Arizona State

#19 Brit Wilson, Northern Illinois

Is Zahid going to go back-to-back?#Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/PxF6A6wGcN

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 27, 2018

Aaron Brooks Next Big Test

184 Pounds

Jordan Atienza, Central Michigan

#5 Drew Foster, Northern Iowa

Bryce Gorman, Northern Illinois

#2 Emery Parker, Illinois

#17 Kevin Parker, Princeton

Kordell Norfleet, Arizona State

#20 Noah Stewart, Army West Point

#16 Cash Wilcke, Iowa

We've got two former Midlands champs at 184 ?

Does Emery Parker go back-to-back? Or does Cash Wilcke follow up last year's 197-pound title with a dominant 184-pound performance?

Also: No. 7 Drew Foster of UNI.

Stacked weight class, imho.#Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/inHu0qtCkR

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 27, 2018

197 Pounds

#3 Patrick Brucki, Princeton

#6 Rocco Caywood, Army West Point

Zack Chakonis, Northwestern

Thomas Lane, Cal Poly

Andre Lee, Illinois

Martin Mueller, South Dakota State

Drew Phipps, Bucknell

#4 Jacob Warner, Iowa

Not 1️⃣, not 2️⃣, but 3️⃣ wrestlers in the top-10 at 197. #Midlands56 | #TopContenders pic.twitter.com/xC1eYreRVP

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 28, 2018

285 Pounds

#13 Jake Gunning, Buffalo

Jere Heino, Campbell

#6 Youssif Hemida, Maryland

#9 Trent Hillger, Wisconsin

Conan Jennings, Northwestern

AJ Nevills, Fresno State

#18 Matt Stencel, Central Michigan

#2 Sam Stoll, Iowa

The final #TopContenders list, featuring the No. 1 heavyweight in the nation.

Also do not @ us about certain unattached guys. We made this list before that. Sorry, @WillieAtFLO. #Midlands56 pic.twitter.com/fQ2Fe84ogn

— The Midlands (@MidlandsChamps) December 28, 2018