Brackets Released for 2020 Big 12 Championship

IRVING, Texas - The Big 12 Conference has released the pre-seeds and tentative brackets for the 2020 Big 12 Championship that will take place on March 7-8 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Utah Valley has four of its 10 grapplers pre-seeded in the top six of their respective weight class.

Sophomore heavyweight Tate Orndorff leads the way for the Wolverines by earning the No. 1 pre-seed at 285 pounds. Tate Orndorff is currently ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation and leads UVU with a 16-2 overall record. Junior Taylor LaMont is next by being pre-seeded second at 133 pounds. Senior Kimball Bastian is pre-seeded fourth at 174 and senior Tanner Orndorff rounds out the group by being pre-seeded sixth at 197. LaMont will enter this weekend's tournament with a 14-5 season record and nationally ranked 10th in his weight class, while Bastian (14-6) is ranked eighth at 174 and Tanner Orndorff (12-9) is ranked 19th at 197.

With the conference only pre-seeding eight of the 12 wrestlers at each weight class, freshmen Josiah Nava (125, 1-12), Kainalu Estrella (141, 5-8) and Cameron Hunsaker (149, 8-14), as well as sophomores Jed Loveless (157, 3-7) and Ashton Seely (184, 3-12), and junior Koy Wilkinson (165, 6-16) will all enter the event unseeded.

Oklahoma State led the conference with three No. 1 seeds, followed by two from Northern Iowa, while Iowa State, Oklahoma, Utah Valley, West Virginia and Wyoming had one each.

The pre-seeds were voted into their positions by the league's 12 head coaches and are subject to change. Final seeds will be confirmed at Friday's pre-championship coaches meeting.

The Cowboys' Nick Piccininni (125), Boo Lewallen (149) and Travis Wittlake (165) earned top seeds. Northern Iowa's Bryce Steiert (174) and Taylor Lujan (184) will be in the top spot in their respective weight class, while Wyoming's Montorie Bridges (133), Oklahoma's Dom Demas (141), Iowa State's David Carr (157), West Virginia's Noah Adams (197) and Utah Valley's Tate Orndorff (HWT) round out the top seeds.

Tickets for the 2020 Big 12 Wrestling Championship can be purchased online through TicketMaster.

This is the fifth consecutive year for the Big 12 Championship to be held at a neutral site as the league is the only Division I conference to host its wrestling championship away from a campus venue.

Fans can follow the first three sessions on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ while the championship session will be televised by Fox Sports Regional Networks (AT&T Sportsnet in Utah).