Perry’s Miller, Lake Catholic’s Tutolo heading home

Perry grad Billy Miller and Lake Catholic grad Anthony Tutolo are coming home, and now they know their first-round opponents at the NCAA Division I Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena.

The March 15-17 tournament will feature the best college wrestlers in the nation, and competition will be fierce for Miller and Tutolo to finish among the top eight in their weight class and become AllAmericans.

Miller, an Edinboro heavyweight who’s 16-4 this season, earned the No. 13 seed in the bracket after winning the Eastern Wrestling League title for the second straight seasons. He takes on Purdue’s unseeded Shawn Streck (28-13) in Round 1, with a potential second-round matchup against No. 4 seed Jacob Kasper (35-2) of Duke.

Also of note for Miller is on his side of the bracket is No. 1 seed Kyle Snyder of Ohio State, who’s the twotime NCAA champion and three-time World Champion. If Miller and Snyder make their way through the bracket, they would meet in the semifinal round.

Miller, a two-time state champ in high school, missed a portion of the season early on with a cracked rib, but the redshirt junior is peaking at the right time.

“It means everything,” Miller said of making it to The Q. “My family has had tickets booked ever since they announced it. ... The goal is to place at nationals. Doing that in front of my home crowd, that would be amazing.”

Tutolo of Kent State, a two-time state champ, is unseeded at 133, and takes on Arizona State’s Ali Naser (21-11) in the first round. If Tutolo (27-11) wins that match, he’ll likely face the No. 2 seed in Michigan’s Stevan Micic (22-2).

Tutolo earned his automatic bid to the NCAAs when he placed third at the Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 4. He has set the highest of goals when he arrives in Cleveland next week.

“If you’re training to be a national champ, all the other goals will fall into place,” Tutolo said. “I put that goal in front of me, and that’s what I strive for because I know if I’m training like that, all the other goals hopefully will fall in place.

“If you have that goal and you’re in the semifinals of a tournament, what’s going to push you to get to the finals?”