Sophomore 149-pounder Dan Osterman, sophomore heavyweight Joe Rizqallah and freshman 157-pounder Sean McMurray each earned the No. 7 seed in their respective weight classes, and junior 174-pounder Curran Jacobs is ranked eighth.

“It’s the toughest conference in the nation, and I’m just excited to go out there and see how I do,” Osterman said, who also is ranked 20th nationally. “I’m not trying to put pressure on myself and just trying to go one match at a time and have fun.”

With five Big Ten wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in the nation in the 184-pound weight class, Hinton will have to push the pace in every match to come out on top. Of those five, Hinton defeated Purdue’s No. 12 A.J. Kissel in a 5-3 decision on Feb. 13.

“I know it’s going to be a tough tournament, but I’m just looking forward to feeling good and wrestling my best,” Hinton said. “I feel like myself, and the guys on my team are really peaking at the right time.”

Including Osterman, the conference also has five ranked wrestlers in the 149-pound weight class. Osterman defeated Wisconsin’s No. 13 Cole Schmitt, 7-4, in MSU’s final dual of the season on Feb. 20.

Jacobs has seven ranked wrestlers to compete against, while junior 197-pounder Tyler Dickenson has six and junior 125-pounder Eric Olanowski has four.

“The Big Ten Tournament is so much talent condensed into such a small group that it’s an extremely tough event, and the margin is fairly close with most of the kids in the event,” head coach Tom Minkel said.

Of the ten MSU wrestlers competing in the championships, Minkel said he hopes six of them will perform well enough to qualify for the NCAA championships on March 17-19 in Philadelphia.

Based on the talent in each conference’s weight classes, the NCAA allocates different numbers of wrestlers who can qualify for each class. The NCAA will take eight Big Ten wrestlers from the 133-pound, 149-pound, 165-pound and 174-pound weight classes and six from the 141-pound, 157-pound, 184-pound, 197-pound and heavyweight classes.

With these numbers in mind, the Spartans have set individual goals for how high they want to place at the Big Ten championships.

“I’m looking forward to placing in the top five — that’s my goal,” Jacobs said. “I’m looking forward to earning my ticket to Philadelphia for nationals.”

Because every match could go either way, Minkel said the Big Ten championships are a great way to prepare for NCAAs within the conference.

“Our goals is to go in and wrestle our very best and not give away anything because of where someone else is seeded or what their reputation is or what kind of year they’ve had,” Minkel said. “It’s to go in with the idea that there isn’t a match that we can’t win, and if we go in completely ready and optimistic and wide open, we could have a great tournament, and I think we will.”