By Joel Wauters/UNI Athletics
IRVING, Tex. — The Big 12 Conference on Monday afternoon released its seeds and brackets for its 2025 wrestling championships, set to be held this coming Saturday and Sunday at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
All ten wrestlers slated to compete for UNI received a top-eight seed as the fourth-ranked Panthers look to contend for a team championship amid one of its best seasons in recent history. The two-day tournament will be held March 8-9 with live on ESPN+ for the first three sessions, with the championship round being broadcast on Sunday night on ESPNU.
Full brackets for the 2025 Big 12 Wrestling Championships can be viewed HERE.
Parker Keckeisen, UNI’s first and only four-time Big 12 champion, was once again selected as the top-seed in the 184 pound bracket and will face off against Northern Colorado’s AJ Heeg in the first round. Northern Iowa has won the 184 pound title at the Big 12 Championships every year since joining the league in 2018.
Colin Realbuto will be the top seed at 149 pounds as he seeks his first conference title. The redshirt senior, who placed third in Tulsa in 2022 and fifth in 2023, heads to the Big 12 Championships in the midst of an 11-match winning streak. Realbuto will match up with Sam Hillegas (West Virginia) in the opening round.
The Big 12s reigning runner-up at 141 pounds in Cael Happel was seeded second after a 20-2 regular season behind top-seeded Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado). Happel has won ten of his last 11 bouts and will open his tournament against Peyton Moore (North Dakota State) in round one.
A quartet of Panthers earned three-seeds in their respective brackets in Julian Farber (133 pounds), Ryder Downey (157 pounds), Wyatt Voelker (197 pounds) and Lance Runyon (heavyweight). Downey is the reigning Big 12 champion at 157 pounds and sits at 20-3 on the season with a first round bout with Gabriel Schumm (North Dakota State) set.
Farber, who finished seventh at Big 12s in 2024, will open his tournament against Hunter Leake (Cal Baptist). After a fifth-place effort last season in Tulsa, Voelker, who carries a 21-4 record into the tournament, will open with a first-round bye, facing the winner of Jacob Meissner (Arizona State) and Nathan Schon (Iowa State). Runyon, in his first season at heavyweight, will take on Jose Valdez in the opening round.
Jared Simma comes in seeded fourth at 174 pounds after posting a 19-10 record this year and will battle Aydin Rix-McElhinney (North Colorado) to open his 2025 tournament. Both Trever Anderson (125 pounds) and Jack Thomsen (165 pounds) are seeded seventh in their respective weight classes, both looking to make a run at an automatic NCAA berth. Anderson will take on Bubba Wright (Air Force) in the opening round, while Thomsen will face off with Cooper Voorhees (Wyoming) to open his tournament.
UNI’S BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP LINEUP [SEED] (NCAA Coaches) #Intermat/Flowrestling ranking (Rankings as of 3/3/25)
125 | [7] (26) #29/23 Trever Anderson
133 | [3] (19) #17/20 Julian Farber
141 | [2] (4) #4/5 Cael Happel
149 | [1] (10) #10/8 Colin Realbuto
157 | [3] (5) #6/6 Ryder Downey
165 | [7] (19) #21/19 Jack Thomsen
174 | [4] (18) #17/18 Jared Simma
184 | [1] (2) #2/2 Parker Keckeisen
197 | [3] (12) #12/11 Wyatt Voelker
HWT | [3] (14) #15/14 Lance Runyon
Last week, the NCAA announced its pre-conference tournament allocations ahead of the NCAA Championships, scheduled to be held at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 20-22.The top-seven finishers in five weight classes (125, 141, 157, 165, 184) will punch their tickets to Philadelphia, while the top six athletes in the 133, 149 and 174-pound weight classes will also advance. Top four finishers at 197 pounds and heavyweight will also earn automatic NCAA qualification. The remaining 47 at-large qualifying spots across all ten weight classes will be announced on March 11, while brackets and seeding for the NCAA Championships will be announced on March 12. All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (Seeds listed)
125 | (7) Trever Anderson (UNI) vs. Bubba Wright (Air Force)
- This will be the first all-time meeting between Anderson and Wright.
133 | (3) Julian Farber (UNI) vs. Hunter Leake (Cal Baptist)
- Farber is 2-0 all-time against Leake, most recently winning an 8-6 decision in a dual in California last season.
141 | (2) Cael Happel (UNI) vs. Peyton Moore (North Dakota State)
- This will be the first all-time meeting between Happel and Moore.
149 | (1) Colin Realbuto (UNI) vs. Sam Hillegas (West Virginia)
- Realbuto is 2-0 all-time against Hillegas, most recently winning a 15-8 decision in a road dual this season at West Virginia.
157 | (3) Ryder Downey (UNI) vs. Gabriel Schumm (North Dakota State)
- This will be the first all-time meeting between Downey and Schumm.
165 | (7) Jack Thomsen (UNI) vs. Cooper Voorhees (Wyoming)
- Thomsen faced off against Voorhees in a pair of extra bouts during his time at South Dakota State, winning his first matchup in 2021 by a 12-7 score and falling to Voorhees in 2002 in a 6-4 decision in sudden victory.
174 | (5) Jared Simma (UNI) vs. Aydin Rix-McElhinney (Northern Colorado)
- Simma is 2-0 all-time against Rix-McElhinney. This will be a rematch of last year’s Big 12 Championship first round won by Simma by a 17-2 technical fall score. Simma also bested Rix-McElhinney this season with a 15-7 major decision during the NWCA Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championships in the UNI-Dome.
184 | (1) Parker Keckeisen (UNI) vs. AJ Heeg (Northern Colorado)
- Keckeisen and Heeg have met just once before, coming this season in the NWCA Multi-Division National Dual Meet Championships, where Keckeisen won a 12-2 major decision.
197 | (3) Wyatt Voelker (UNI) vs. (6) Nathan Schon (Iowa State) OR Jacob Meissner (Arizona State)
- Voelker will face the winner of Schon and Meissner following a first-round bye. He has never faced either opponent before.
HWT | (3) Lance Runyon (UNI) vs. Jose Valdez (Northern Colorado)
- This will be the first all-time meeting between Runyon and Valdez. Valdez spent the 2023-24 season on the UNI roster, going 6-5 overall.
BIG 12 FIELD BY THE NUMBERS
- 11 total All-Americans from the 2024 season are scheduled to compete this weekend in Tulsa.
- Iowa State is the reigning Big 12 champion and will look to become the conference’s first repeat champion since Missouri won back-to-back team titles in 2022 and 2023.
- Four of the reigning Big 12 champions from 2024 return this year to Tulsa to defend their crowns or capture a title at a new weight class. Keckeisen and Downey are two of the four defending champions, while Cade DeVos (174 pounds) returns for South Dakota State. Missouri’s
- Keegan O’Toole is the reigning Big 12 champion at 165 pounds, but is competing at 174 this season.
- Parker Keckeisen is tied for fourth in Division I with eight technical falls this season. Air Force’s Carter Nogle (HWT) is tied for sixth in the country with eight pins on the year.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS AT 2025 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
South Dakota State (3)
1x | Tanner Jordan (125) | 8th in 2024
1x | Cade DeVos (174) | 5th in 2024
1x | Bennett Berge (184) | 4th in 2024
Arizona State (2)
1x | Richard Figueroa (125) | 1st in 2024
4x | Cohlton Schultz (HWT) | 4th in 2021, 2nd in 2022, 7th in 2023, 6th in 2024
Iowa State (1)
1x | Evan Frost (133) | 6th in 2024
Missouri (1)
4x | Keegan O’Toole (165) – 3rd in 2021 and 2024, 1st in 2022 and 2023
** Now wrestles at 174 pounds
UNI (1)
3x | Parker Keckeisen (184) | 3rd in 2021 and 2022, 2nd in 2023, 1st in 2024
Oklahoma State (1)
3x | Dustin Plott (184) | 6th in 2022 and 2023 (174 pounds), 2nd in 2024 (184 pounds)
1x | Wyatt Hendrickson (HWT) | 3rd in 2023 (At Air Force)
West Virginia (1)
1x | Peyton Hall (165) | 8th in 2024
REIGNING BIG 12 CHAMPIONS RETURNING
125 | Stevo Poulin (Northern Colorado)
157 | Ryder Downey (UNI)
165 | Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) ** Now wrestles at 174
174 | Cade DeVos (South Dakota State)
184 | Parker Keckeisen (UNI)