The annual tradition of holiday wrestling tournaments continues as it does every year with Midlands on December 29th and 30th, followed by the Southern Scuffle on January 1st and 2nd.

Watch the 57th Ken Kraft Midlands LIVE on Flo

December 29-30 | 10:30 AM Eastern

The brackets for Midlands 57 will be on FloArena. On day one, the first session will set the quarterfinals for that night, and then the semis will happen Monday afternoon at 1PM eastern, with the finals coming at 8PM the evening of the 30th.

125 Pounds: 8 Ranked

#3 Pat Glory, Princeton

#7 Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan

#8 Devin Schroder, Purdue

#11 Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern

#13 Michael Colaiocco, Penn

#16 Jay Schwarm, Northern Iowa

#22 Gage Curry, American

#24 Joe Manchio, Columbia

Commentary: At the beginning of this season, we thought this weight would include Spencer Lee, Jack Mueller, Sebastian Rivera, and Pat Glory, and even had a clip ready from a Mueller interview this summer talking about it. However, Rivera's gone up to 133, Spencer just wrestled at Senior Nationals, and Mueller didn't wrestle there in Fort Worth because he got dinged up at CKLV.

That leaves Glory as the heavy favorite, like minus odds if you could bet on this in Vegas. He has three ranked wins this year, including avenging three separate losses from last season to Nick Piccininni. Princeton is set up to have a great tournament, having been eighth, eighth, and fifth the past three years. Glory will likely not be seriously challenged and could wind up bonusing his way through.

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It seems like Hildebrandt and Schroder will be the semi, a match we haven't seen since January 2017 at the Purple Raider Open. Schroder won that 2-1, and I think the Boilermaker takes it again. He's tough on top, scoring 12 nearfall points at CKLV with a roll through tilt and had six techs going in. However, he's also given up riding time this season, so he'll look to improve on his ability to get escapes this weekend.

Hildebrandt has just one loss on the year, falling to Brock Hudkins in the MSU Open finals (though Hudkins hasn't wrestled in several weeks and probably won't be here). However, he has just one other ranked win, 4-2 over Sidney Flores, so this tournament represents a big opportunity for him to solidify his ranking and, more importantly, his NCAA seed. He's improved his Midlands performance every year, but still has yet to place.

DeAugustino was a revelation in Vegas, and is why Rivera moving up to 33 is possible. He could get a third chance to beat Jay Schwarm and a first crack at Colaiocco, which should probably be like a quarterfinal or placing match. Colaiocco has split with Schroder this year, and is coming off a loss to Brandon Meredith, so he could be an interesting dark horse pick to make the finals.

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Jay Schwarm has seven wins this year, six of them are pins. He went just 1-2 the last time around at Midlands and was seventh at CKLV. Two-time qualifier Curry and Columbia's Manchio could use this to jockey for EIWA seeding over each other.

Among the not ranked looking to make an impact are Wisconsin true freshman Eric Barnett, Bryce West of Northern Illinois, and Reno TOC champ Korbin Meink of Campbell. A pair of Treys from the EIWA (Chalifoux for Army and Keeley for Brown) could present some early round intrigue and upset potential.

Kyle Biscoglia and Justin Cardani are returning placers who should be competing as well. Former Akron finalist Chris Cannon is currently undefeated on redshirt for Northwestern and Fargo champ Angelo Rini, not a redshirt but not starting for Columbia, are both first year wrestlers who you should set FloArena alerts for if you are looking for future prospects.

If Lee and Mueller don't compete, that will also be good opportunities for their backups in Aaron Cashman (Iowa) and Patrick McCormick (UVA), both of whom are redshirt freshmen. North Carolina will likely send both 125s in Joey Melendez and Jeremiah Derby, who have yet to pick up a win in a dual. This is a chance for one of them to grab hold of the starting spot.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Glory, Princeton  2) Schroder, Purdue  3) Colaicco, Penn  4) DeAugustino, Northwestern

133 Pounds: 7 Ranked

#1 Austin DeSanto, Iowa

#2 Seth Gross, Wisconsin

#3 Sebastian Rivera, Northwestern

#9 Travis Piotrowski, Illinois

#10 Noah Gonser, Campbell

#16 Anthony Madrigal, Oklahoma

#21 Louie Hayes, Virginia

Commentary: You better get used to hearing about this weight because it is spectacular. We've got three Midlands champs all in one bracket, which I'm going to say has only happened at most once or twice before.

It makes sense for DeSanto to be the top seed due to his win over Seth Gross in Iowa's dual with Wisconsin. DeSanchize went into last year's Midlands ranked 11th with a loss to Austin Gomez on his resume, and now is ranked 1st with a win over Gross.

The Hawkeye will likely be waiting in the finals for the winner of the Gross/Rivera semifinal, a match we've never seen before. The outcome will likely hinge on the opportunities for Gross on top, whether that's by getting the first takedown or choosing top heading into either the second or third period. For Rivera to win, he'll probably have to do something similar to his final last year with with Spencer Lee, where he took him down three times before Spencer got on top, and even then Sebass got out before Spencer could get riding time.

As for Gross, speaking with Badger head coach Chris Bono this past weekend, it's obvious Seth Gross has already begun making mental and technical adjustments for his rematch with DeSanto and his potential bout with Rivera. I've already made my pick on FRL that it'll be Rivera, but the thought of a locked in Gross is terrifying and he will probably not beat both by 4+ points.

Piotrowski looks better up at 133, though he has yet to bonus anyone. Illinois should once again be carried by their lightweights, but the quarterfinal will be huge for potential Pio points. Gonser is coming off a runner-up finish at RTOC and was second to DeSanto here last year. I believe his top work will carry him to a fourth place finish.

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Madrigal continues his upward trajectory from last season, but oddly enough most of his losses are to true freshmen, so he may be interested in putting up some points on redshirts. Hayes has settled into 133 and will be back in his home state.

Beyond the ranked wrestlers, Bloomsburg's Josh Mason is one to watch after transferring from Nebraska. Jaime Hernandez is looking to rebound from a pair of losses, but the Junior Trials finalist has the talent to place very highly and like Hayes is back where he's from in the Land of Lincoln.

I was hoping we'd see a little more out of Mario Guillen by now, and the UNI coaches are very high on Jack Skudlarczyk's progression this season.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Rivera, Northwestern  2) DeSanto, Iowa  3) Gross, Wisconsin  4) Gonser, Campbell

141 Pounds: 9 Ranked

#3 Dom Demas, Oklahoma

#7 Max Murin, Iowa

#8 Tristan Moran, Wisconsin

#10 Josh Heil, Campbell

#12 Michael Blockhus, Northern Iowa

#17 Dresden Simon, Central Michigan

#19 Shakur Laney, Ohio

#23 Matt Kazimir, Columbia

#24 Corey Shie, Army West Point

Commentary: We're not sure if Demas will be wrestling since he just competed at Senior Nationals, but that guy doesn't really take any matches off. A few weeks ago, I thought the final would be him vs Moran, but that was before the Iowa dual. Now there's nothing to suggest the Badger can't reverse the 3-2 loss to Murin, but he did lose the last time they faced off.

Heil is 15-1 on the year with three ranked wins: over #18 Kyle Shoop, #20 Mitch Moore and #25 DJ Lloren. Blockhus has four losses on the year, but three are to Chad Red who's not in the field. The redshirt freshman is a returning fourth and should be around that same position again this year.

Aside from the Murin loss, Moran has three ranked wins and five other victories by bonus thus far. He seems to have made jumps in his consistency and with his ability to scramble, plus being big for the weight, he is extremely dangerous every time he steps on the mat.

Heil is seeded below him, but does have an 8-2 win over Moran, though that was back in January 2018 when he was still at Oklahoma State. Dresden Simon appears back on track after having losing records at 133 and 149 the past two season, but has a winning record thus far like he did back as a 141lb freshman.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Demas, Oklahoma  2) Moran, Wisconsin  3) Heil, Campbell  4) Blockhus, UNI

149 Pounds: 9 Ranked

#1 Austin O'Connor (North Carolina)

#3 Pat Lugo (Iowa)

#7 Max Thomsen (UNI)

#8 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)

#9 Griffin Parriott (Purdue)

#13 Mike D'Angelo (Princeton)

#14 Cole Martin (Wisconsin)

#16 Kizhan Clarke (American)

#22 Alec Hagan (Ohio)

Commentary: Austin O'Connor is the top-ranked wrestler in the country at this weight, but up until two weeks ago, he hadn't wrestled a match this season due to injury. He made his return at the Cleveland State Open and has done nothing but impress so far. O'Connor is 6-0 and has a 100-percent bonus rate with three pins and three major decisions. Midlands will be his first big opportunity to defend his #1 ranking against a number of top-ranked opponents.

The 2-5 seeds at this weight are a jumbled mess. #7 Max Thomsen has a 2017 win over #3 Pat Lugo and two wins this year over #8 Yahya Thomas, but he also dropped a match to #9 Griffin Parriott. To make matters more complicated, Thomas has a win over Parriott, so this bracket could be drawn up in a number of ways.

Pat Lugo is ranked #3 in the country and is undefeated in his first four matches this year. What Lugo lacks in volume of matches, he makes up for in quality wins. His four wins have been against #7 Jarrett Degen, #13 Mike D'Angelo, #14 Cole Martin, and #21 Tanner Smith. Lugo is putting together a solid season and will be a title threat here.

The seventh-ranked wrestler at this weight, Max Thomsen, has had incredible wins throughout his career and was an All-American in 2017. This season, he has the two wins over Thomas mentioned above as well as a win over #11 Jarrett Degen, but he also has losses to #12 Collin Purinton, #5 Brayton Lee, and #9 Griffin Parriott. Thomsen's seed and finish here are hard to predict, but he'll be a threat to win no matter where he ends up in the bracket.

Yahya Thomas only has two losses on the year, and both are to Max Thomsen. Other than that, he has looked outstanding with wins over Parriott and #10 Brock Zacherl. Thomas, whose previous seasons have been at 141, has been one of the most improved wrestlers in the NCAA this year. He made a Junior World Team this summer and continues to register impressive results.

The fifth contender at this weight is #9 Griffin Parriott. Like Thomas, he's new to 149, but unlike Thomas, he was a 157-pounder in the past. 149 seems to suit him well. His two losses this year came to Thomas and #6 Sammy Sasso, but he also has wins over Thomsen, #12 Collin Purinton, and #10 Brock Zacherl.

Four more ranked wrestlers round out this weight in #13 Mike D'Angelo, #14 Cole Martin, #16 Kizhan Clarke, and #22 Alec Hagan. Of that group, keep your eyes on the much improved Clarke, who is entering this tournament 18-0 with wins over a pair of Stanford wrestlers, true freshman Jaden Abas and #18 Requir van der Merwe. Clarke's previous seasons have been at 141 and 157 where he has had mixed results. So far, he looks solid this season and could make things interesting at Midlands.

David Bray's Prediction: 1) O'Connor, UNC 2) Thomsen, UNI 3) Thomas, Northwestern 4) Lugo, Iowa

157 Pounds: 11 Ranked

#1 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)

#5 Kendall Coleman (Purdue)

#6 Quincy Monday (Princeton)

#8 Kaleb Young (Iowa)

#9 Anthony Artalona (Penn)

#13 Justin Ruffin (SIUE)

#16 AC Headlee (North Carolina)

#18 Justin Thomas (Oklahoma)

#21 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois)

#22 Eric Barone (Illinois)

#25 Logan Parks (Central Michigan)

Commentary: The top seed here is convincingly the best 157-pounder in the country right now. Ryan Deakin ran though an absolutely loaded bracket at CKLV. He controlled #3 David Carr 9-3 before soundly beating #2 Hayden Hidlay 6-2 in the finals. Between Deakin's run to Final X this offseason and his dominant CKLV performance, he'll be the favorite here.

As untouchable as Deakin has looked this year, he could have a semifinal against #8 Kaleb Young of Iowa who was a thorn in his side during NCAA's last year. Deakin beat Young at Midlands last season but fell twice in overtime to the Iowa All-American. Young was the preseason #2 at 157 and has proven that he can win this weight.

The probable #2 seed here, Kendall Coleman is ranked fifth in the country. Coleman's freshman year for Purdue is off to a solid start. He has strung together an impressive series of ranked wins and only has losses to #2 Hayden Hidlay and #3 David Carr. Potential matches against #6 Quincy Monday and #8 Kaleb Young could offer a clearer picture of where Coleman might fit at this weight in March.

Princeton's #6 Quincy Monday's win over Kaleb Young earlier this year will probably be enough to earn him the #3 seed here. That sets up a possible semifinal with Kendall Coleman. Monday also has two wins this season over #11 Josh Humphreys of Lehigh and has looked like a true All-American contender.

These four front runners will be pushed by six more ranked wrestlers. #9 Anthony Artalona, #13 Justin Ruffin, #16 AC Headlee, #18 Justin Thomas, #21 Justin Thomas, #22 Eric Barone, and #25 Logan Parks round out the field. Any one of these guys could create big problems for the top four making this one of the best weight classes to watch in Evanston.

David Bray's Prediction: 1) Ryan Deakin, Northwestern 2) Kendall Coleman, Purdue 3) Kaleb Young, Iowa 4) Quincy Monday, Princeton

165 Pounds: 10 Ranked

#2 Alex Marinelli (Iowa)

#3 Evan Wick (Wisconsin)

#6 David McFadden (Virginia Tech)

#8 Cael McCormick (Army)

#15 Shayne Oster (Northwestern)

#16 Philip Conigliaro (Harvard)

#18 Zach Hartman (Bucknell)

#19 Quentin Perez (Campbell)

#20 Kennedy Monday (North Carolina)

#23 Emil Soehnlen (Purdue)

This weight class has a clear top three in #2 Alex Marinelli, #3 Evan Wick, and #6 David McFadden. Marinelli remains undefeated and already has a win over Wick this season, so he'll be the top seed. Wick's lone loss on the year is to Marinelli while McFadden's loss against #13 Ethan Smith of Ohio State meaning Wick will probably get the #2 seed and McFadden the #3. This sets up a potential Wick vs McFadden semifinal.

Iowa's Marinelli has looked like the best 165-pounder in the country during the regular season the past two years. Last season he entered the NCAA tournament as the top seed after registering an undefeated season that included a win over two-time NCAA champ Vincenzo Joseph. He already has a win over Wick this year and seems poised to win this bracket.

Evan Wick has proven himself as one of the most consistent 165-pounders in the country the last two years having finished third and fourth at one of the deepest weights in the NCAA. Wick is coming off an impressive fourth-place performance at Senior Nationals where he beat the top seed Nazar Kulchytskyy.

David McFadden may be the most dangerous #3 seed we'll see in this tournament. The three-time All-American wrestled up at 174 last season, but he is a combined 3-0 over Wick and Marinelli. 165 seems to be McFadden's ideal weight class. After the bump in the road he encountered against Ohio State's Ethan Smith, he'll look to get back on the title track at Midlands.

Seven more ranked wrestlers could make this bracket interesting. That group includes #8 Cael McCormick, #15 Shayne Oster, #16 Philip Conigliaro, #18 Zach Hartman, #19 Quentin Perez, #20 Kennedy Monday, and #23 Emil Soehnlen. Monday and Perez gave us one of the wildest finishes to a match of the season on the opening weekend of the year. The depth of ranked wrestlers at 165 will give us a lot more context for March.

David Bray's Prediction: 1) David McFadden, Virginia Tech 2) Alex Marinelli, Iowa 3) Evan Wick, Wisconsin 4) Cael McCormick, Army

174 Pounds: 8 ranked

#3 Michael Kemerer, Iowa

#4 Dylan Lydy, Purdue

#5 Bryce Steiert, Northern Iowa

#11 Anthony Mantanona, Oklahoma

#17 Kevin Parker, Princeton

#20 Jacob Covaciu, Indiana

#21 Ben Harvey, Army

#22 Joey Gunther, Illinois

Commentary: We’ve got a good ol’ fashioned 3, 4, 5 showdown at 174 will Michael Kemerer, Dylan Lydy, and Bryce Steiert. At #3, Michael Kemerer will be the favorite to win the weight. After sitting out last year injured, he’s 4-0 so far this year with a major decision over #16 Marcus Coleman and a tech fall over #17 Kevin Parker. However, this will be the first time Kemerer will be facing off against top-ten guys at 174.

Dylan Lydy and Bryce Steiert squared off in the CKLV finals earlier this month and it came down to OT takedown from Lydy.

Lydy is a perfect 15-0 and that loss is Steiert’s only loss of the season. These two are extremely close. This semifinal will be an excellent chance for Steiert to get revenge or for Lydy to cement himself above Steiert.

Anthony Mantanona, aka Ant Man, is a bit of a wildcard that is fun to watch whether he wins or loses. He wrestled Lydy to 5-3 decision loss in Vegas, but Lydy really controlled that match. Ant Man is clearly a step below the top three guys at this weight, but like I said...wildcard. 

Kevin Parker, Jacob Covaciu, Ben Harvey, and Bratke’s favorite wrestler Joey Gunther could honestly end up any number of ways depending on how the bracket is drawn. So far this season, Covaciu has a win over Harvey, Harvey has a win over Gunther, and Parker is just 2-2 with two top-five losses and two solid wins. 

Rader’s Picks: 1) Kemerer, Iowa 2) Lydy, Purdue 3) Steiert, UNI 4) Mantanona, Oklahoma

184 Pounds: 8 ranked

#4 Taylor Lujan, Northern Iowa

#9 Nelson Brands, Iowa

#11 Tanner Harvey, American

#12 Andrew Morgan, Campbell

#13 Noah Stewart, Army

#14 Trevor Allard, Bloomsburg

#19 Travis Stefanik, Princeton

#21 Zach Braunagel, Illinois

Commentary: 184 is pretty much Taylor Lujan’s weight to lose. The UNI Panther is a three-time NCAA qualifier at 174. Now at 184 this year, he is 9-2 with losses to #2 Trent Hidlay and #3 Hunter Bolen, neither of which will be in Chicago. Lujan losing would be a big upset that I don’t see happening.

It will be interesting to see how the seeds play out. Andrew Spey currently has Iowa freshman Nelson Brands ranked #9 because of his ranked wins over Sammy Colbray and Matthew Waddell, but in his last match, Brands lost to #14 Travis Stefanik. That match was just 7-6, however, and the second half of it was all Brands. A very winnable rematch for Brands. 

Obviously being ranked 11-14, Tanner Harvey, Andrew Morgan, Noah Stewart, and Trevor Allard are all super close. The only head-to-head matchup between the four this season came between Allard and Stewart in the Black Knight Invitational finals.

Harvey, an NCAA qualifier last year, is 10-1 so far this season with a 6-5 loss to Bolen. Andrew Morgan was also an NCAA qualifier last year (at 174) and has a close loss to Hunter Bolen this season (TB-2 11-10). However, he also has losses to Cameron Caffey and Colt Doyle. 

And don't forget about Cash Wilke from Iowa. This tournament will be used to determine who will get the starting position moving forward. Brands has looked more impressive this year, but Wilke is still three-time NCAA qualifier.

Even Iowa's third string true freshman 184-pounder, Abe Assad, could make some noise here. Assad is Cadet World bronze medalist and the redshirt I am most excited to see compete.

Seeds are clearly going to hard to determine, but very important.

Rader’s Picks: 1) Lujan, UNI 2) Harvey, American 3) Brands, Iowa 4) Stewart, Army

197 Pounds: 7 ranked

#2 Jacob Warner, Iowa

#3 Pat Brucki, Princeton

#4 Jacob Holschlag, Northern Iowa

#7 Thomas Lane, Cal Poly

#8 Christian Brunner, Purdue

#9 Jake Woodley, Oklahoma

#14 Jay Aiello, Virginia

Commentary: With six of the top-ten wrestlers in the country, 197 at Midlands will have huge NCAA implications. After beating Pat Brucki in their dual earlier this month, Warner will most likely get the top seed. However, it came down to a last second takedown for Warner and the series is now tied at one match a piece. 

Holschlag is a question mark as he got injured in his first match of the season and hasn’t competed since. Coach Schwab has said that Holschlag will be returning this season, just not when. If he does compete, Holschlag will obviously be a huge factor. The Iowa native was an All-American two years ago before sitting out last year with an injury.

Thomas Lane, Christian Brunner, and Jake Woodley finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at CKLV this year. Brunner beat Woodley 2-1 in the semis with an escape and a riding time point before Lane beat Woodley on the backside for third. 

The last time Lane and Brunner wrestled back at the 2017 Midlands when Brunner won 8-1. 

Jay Aeillo rounds out 197’s ranked wrestlers. Aeillo was an NCAA qualifier last year and took eighth at CKLV this year, where Brunner beat him 4-2.

Rader’s picks: 1) Brucki, Princeton 2) Warner, Iowa 3) Brunner, Purdue 4) Lane, Cal Poly

285 Pounds: 6 ranked

#3 Tony Cassioppi, Iowa

#4 Trent Hillger, Wisconsin

#7 Matt Stencel, Central Michigan

#12 Jere Heino, Campbell

#15 Carter Isley, Northern Iowa

#19 Garrett Hoffman, Bucknell

Commentary: Tony Cassioppi is one of the best freshman in the country. Although he does wrestle like a heavyweight, he keeps a solid pace and his pinning ability and desire has been well documented. After a 20-2 redshirt season, he’s 4-0 so far this year including a 3-2 win over Trent Hillger. Cassioppi has clearly made strides since last season, but his two losses last year both came at Midlands. He was majored by Heino on the front side before getting pinned by Stencel on the backside

Can Cassioppi stay undefeated or will his Midlands look more like last year?

Carter Isley and Garrett Hoffman are two more ranked wrestlers who will be trying to upset the top four here. Isley is tough and just took fifth at CKLV. Hoffman is a small and athletic heavyweight. The Bucknell junior sat out last season with an injury and is 1-0 so far in his first season up at heavyweight. 

Rader’s Predictions: 1) Cassioppi, Iowa 2) Stencel, Central Michigan 3) Hilger, Wisconsin