Midlands. 149. Stacked.

This year’s Midlands Championships will feature a seriously tough 149-pound bracket. There are eight top-20 wrestlers that will be in the mix, including No. 1-ranked Matt Kolodzik.

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Dec. 29-30 | 9:30 a.m. ET

But before we run down the list of ranked competitors, there’s a guy that we are looking forward to seeing compete in this very talented field and that’s Ohio State redshirt Sammy Sasso. The freshman has wrestled in two tournaments this season and has only taken one loss, which came at the hands of his teammate Micah Jordan in the finals of the Ohio Open (9-7). Besides that loss, Sasso has been a dominant force with all but one of his wins coming with bonus points.

It will certainly be good to see how Sasso measures up to the competition in what will be his toughest task to date. Another youngster to watch in this weight class is Minnesota’s Brayton Lee. So far this season he’s wrestled at both 149 and 157, but is expected to be in this bracket. He took a loss to #13 Josh Maruca earlier this season. 

The other seven ranked wrestlers in the field are:

#8 Pat Lugo, Iowa

#9 Josh Heil, Campbell

#10 Max Thomsen, UNI

#13 Josh Maruca, ASU

#16 Cole Martin, Wisconsin

#17 Anthony Artalona, Penn

#19 Alfred Bannister, Maryland

Lugo has had a shaky year thus far as he sits at 2-3. One of those losses was a 7-4 decision to Kolodzik. Last year, Lugo pinned Kolodzik in the consolation semifinals before dropping his third-place bout to Ryan Deakin to place fourth here. Kolodzik was sixth. 

Penn true freshman Anthony Artalona, who comes in ranked 17th, has been quietly having a pretty good first season as he comes in with an 11-1 record, including an overtime win over #19 Alfred Bannister at the beginning of the month. He also has a win over unranked McCoy Kent of Northern Illinois, who will also be in the field. And if you remember, Artalona and Sasso have some history...

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In addition to the eight ranked competitors, there are a few unranked guys to watch who could have a huge impact on the bracket. NIU’s Kent, who was previously mentioned, ODU’s Kenan Carter, Henry Pohlmeyer from SDSU and Khristian Olivas of Fresno State are coming in unranked, but shouldn’t be taken lightly.