The Big Ten announced the tournament pre-seeds Monday for the conference championships Saturday and Sunday hosted by the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. Competition begins Saturday at 10 a.m. with the finals Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The conference will be vying for 74 NCAA Championship berths. The national tournament will be March 21-23 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Pre-seeds are subject to change.

The Hawkeyes 125-pound senior, Matt McDonough, and Derek St. John (157) are No. 1 pre-seeds. Tony Ramos (133), Mike Evans (174) are second. Mark Ballweg is third at 141 with 165-pounder Nick Moore fourth. Ethen Lofthouse, who earned the 184-pound spot over Grant Gambrall, is fifth. Heavyweight Bobby Telford is also fourth. Freshman Nathan Burak is sixth at 197.

Below is a press release with the entire list of pre-seeds for each weight from UI SID:

McDONOUGH, ST. JOHN EARN TOP PRELIMINARY SEEDS AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior Matt McDonough and junior Derek St. John earned the top seed at their respective weight class when the Big Ten Championships preliminary seeds were announced today by the conference office. The 2013 conference tournament is March 9-10 in Champaign, Ill.

McDonough is the top seed at 125 pounds for the third straight season. He won the conference title in 2011 and 2012, and placed second as the No. 2 seed in 2010.

St. John is the defending Big Ten champion at 157 pounds and enters the tournament as the top seed for the first time in his career. He won the championship in 2012 as the No. 6 seed, and placed second in 2011 as the No. 2 seed.

Junior Tony Ramos and sophomore Mike Evans each earned No. 2 seeds for the second straight season. Ramos, ranked No. 2 nationally at 133 pounds, enters the tournament with a 23-0 record, including 8-0 in Big Ten duals, while Evans, ranked third nationally, takes a 17-3 mark into the 174-pound bracket. Both wrestlers earned runner-up finishes as No. 2 seeds last year.

Other pre-seeded Hawkeyes include senior Mark Ballweg (No. 3-141), sophomore Josh Dziewa (No. 9-149), sophomore Nick Moore (No. 4-165), junior Ethen Lofthouse (No. 5-184), freshman Nathan Burak (No. 6-197) and sophomore Bobby Telford (No. 4-285).

Telford earned a runner-up finish as the No. 6 seed last season. Lofthouse, who is making his first appearance in the 184-pound bracket, is the No. 5 seed for the second time in his career. He placed third as the No. 5 seed in 2011. Last season, he entered the 174-pound bracket as the No. 3 seed and finished third.

Ballweg, who owns a 7-1 regular season conference record, is pre-seeded for the first time in his career. He was unseeded at 149 pounds in 2011. Dziewa, Moore and Burak are making their first career appearances at the conference tournament.

The pre-seeds rank the top eight wrestlers in five weight classes, including 125, 133, 141, 157 and 184. The top 12 seeds at each of the other weights were ranked due to the Big Ten receiving nine or more NCAA Championships qualifier allocations at those weight classes.

Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State and Penn State will bring a seeded wrestler in each of the 10 weight classes.

Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State enter the conference tournament with a pair of top seeds, while defending champion Penn State enters the field with a league-high three No. 1 seeds. Michigan also has a top-seeded wrestler.

Five of the top seeds are defending conference champions. In addition to McDonough and St. John, Logan Stieber (133), David Taylor (165) and Tony Nelson (285) return at the top of their respective bracket. Ed Ruth, seeded No. 1 at 184, won the conference tournament at 174 pounds last season. Defending champions Kevin Steinhaus (184) and Mario Gonzalez (197) are also in the tournament field.

For more information on the 2012 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, visit the Big Ten Championships Central page fightingillini.com.

125 lbs.

1. Matt McDonough, IOWA

2. Nico Megaludis, PSU

3. Jesse Delgado, ILL

4. Sean Boyle, MICH

5. Nikko Triggas, OSU

6. Camden Eppert, PUR

7. David Thorn, MINN

8. Dom Malone, NU

133 lbs.

1. Logan Stieber, OSU

2. Tony Ramos, IOWA

3. Tyler Graff, WIS

4. Jordan Conaway, PSU

5. Daryl Thomas, ILL

6. Cashe Quiroga, PUR

7. Chris Dardanes, MINN

8. Shawn Nagel, NEB

141 lbs.

1. Hunter Stieber, OSU

2. Nick Dardanes, MINN

3. Mark Ballweg, IOWA

4. Bryan Pearsall, PSU

5. Brandon Nelsen, PUR

6. Ridge Kiley, NEB

7. Pat Greco, NU

8. Camryn Jackson, MICH

149 lbs.

1. Eric Grajales, MICH

2. Dylan Ness, MINN

3. Ivan Lopouchanski, PUR

4. Jake Sueflohn, NEB

5. Cam Tessari, OSU

6. Andrew Alton, PSU

7. Caleb Ervin, ILL

8. Dan Osterman, MSU

9. Josh Dziewa, IOWA

10. Dylan Marriott, NU

11. Preston Keiffer, IND

157 lbs.

1. Derek St. John, IOWA

2. Jason Welch, NU

3. Dylan Alton, PSU

4. James Green, NEB

5. Taylor Walsh, IND

6. Josh Demas, OSU

7. Ryan Watts, MSU

8. Danny Zilverberg, MINN

165 lbs.

1. David Taylor, PSU

2. Conrad Polz, ILL

3. Taylor Massa, MICH

4. Nick Moore, IOWA

5. Cody Yohn, MINN

6. Pierce Harger, NU

7. Ryan LeBlanc, IND

8. Austin Wilson, NEB

9. Mark Martin, OSU

10. Pat Robinson, PUR

11. Frank Cousins, WIS

12. Nick Proctor, MSU

174 lbs.

1. Logan Storley, MINN

2. Mike Evans, IOWA

3. Robert Kokesh, NEB

4. Nick Heflin, OSU

5. Matt Brown, PSU

6. Jordan Blanton, ILL

7. Lee Munster, NU

8. Dan Yates, MICH

9. Scott Liegel, WIS

10. Chad Welch, PUR

11. Jordan Wohlfert, MSU

12. Cheney Dale, IND

184 lbs.

1. Ed Ruth, PSU

2. Kevin Steinhaus, MINN

3. Josh Ihnen, NEB

4. John Rizqallah, MSU

5. Ethen Lofthouse, IOWA

6. Tony Dallago, ILL

7. Luke Sheridan, IND

8. Cody Magrum, OSU

197 lbs.

1. Quentin Wright, PSU

2. Scott Schiller, MINN

3. Mario Gonzalez, ILL

4. Andrew Campolattano, OSU

5. Braden Atwood, PUR

6. Nathan Burak, IOWA

7. Jackson Hein, WIS

8. Max Huntley, MICH

9. Alex Polizzi, NU

10. Luke Jones, MSU

11. Caleb Kolb, NEB

285 lbs.

1. Tony Nelson, MINN

2. Mike McMullan, NU

3. Connor Medbery, WIS

4. Bobby Telford, IOWA

5. Mike McClure, MSU

6. Adam Chalfant, IND

7. James Lawson, PSU

8. Ben Apland, MICH

9. Spencer Johnson, NEB

10. Nick Tavanello, OSU

11. Chris Lopez, ILL

12. Alex White, PUR

8. Dan Osterman, MSU

9. Josh Dziewa, IOWA

10. Dylan Marriott, NU

11. Preston Keiffer, IND