No. 17 Wrestling Readies for 55th Annual Midlands Championships

Friday, December 29

Evanston, IL

2nd - 109.5 pts.

Rutgers University

Midlands Championships

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

No. 17 Wrestling Readies for 55th Annual Midlands Championships

Dec 28 | Wrestling

2017 Midlands Bracket Match Notes: 55th Annual Midlands Championships BTN2Go Individual Mat Feeds ($)Live Results (TrackWrestling)Top Contenders Release Midlands Record Book

Seven Scarlet Knights pegged championship contenders during two-day tournament

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 17 Rutgers wrestling competes at the 55^th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships from Dec. 29-30 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The Scarlet Knights will look to continue its strong showing at the tournament, as RU finished fourth at last year's event with six placewinners and placed third at the 2015 installment of the Midlands.

Tournament action begins Friday morning with the first session at 10:30 am. ET, followed by the second session that evening at 8 p.m. The Midlands will conclude on Saturday with session three at 1 p.m. and the final session at 8 p.m. The first three sessions will stream online via BTN Plus and the championship finals will air live on BTN.

#RUWR has arrived and is ready for #Midlands55 this weekend. #RelentlessPursuit pic.twitter.com/zNFBDkfTqS
— Rutgers Wrestling (@RUWrestling) December 28, 2017

No. 17 Rutgers Competitors

Wt.	Name	Yr.	2017-18 Record (Dual)
125	No. 2/2/2 Nick Suriano*^	So.	9-0 (5-0)
133	No. 13/12/11 Scott DelVecchio**	R-Sr.	5-0 (5-0)
141	Michael Van Brill	R-Fr.	6-3 (3-2)
141	Peter Lipari	So.	3-6 (0-0)
149	No. 14/17/14 Eleazar DeLuca	R-Sr.	3-2 (3-2)
149	Nick Santos	Fr.	7-4 (0-1)
157	Brett Donner	So.	3-5 (0-3)
157	John Van Brill*	R-Jr.	2-2 (2-2)
165	No. 15/13/9 Richie Lewis*	R-Sr.	1-1 (1-1)
174	Jordan Pagano*	R-Jr.	6-4 (1-3)
174	Joseph Grello	R-Fr.	5-1 (1-1)
184	No. 9/11/12 Nicholas Gravina**	R-Sr.	5-0 (5-0)
197	Anthony Messner	R-Sr.	1-4 (0-0)
197	Kevin Mulligan	R-Fr.	7-4 (2-2)
HWT	Razohnn Gross	Sr.	7-4 (2-3)
HWT	Matthew Correnti	R-Fr.	7-2 (0-0)!

*denotes previous NCAA Championships qualifications
rankings by Intermat
! Unattached Record

2017 Midlands Championship Contenders
Seven Scarlet Knights - Nick Suriano (125), Scott DelVecchio (133), Michael Van Brill (141), Eleazar DeLuca (149), Richie Lewis (165), Nicholas Gravina (184) and Kevin Mulligan (197) - were all pegged top contenders by the Midlands Championships committee earlier this week.

Scouting the Midlands Field
Thirteen of the Top-25 teams in the latest USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll will be in attendance at Midlands, including ranked Big Ten opponents No. 7 Iowa, No. 13 Illinois, No. 16 Wisconsin, and No. 23 Purdue.

2016 Midlands Recap
No. 11 Rutgers wrestling placed fourth (93 points) at the 54th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, earning a total of six placewinners in the two-day tournament at Welsh-Ryan Arena. 141-pounder Anthony Ashnault placed third to lead the Scarlet Knights in the event.

Ashnault's third-place match against Nebraska's Chad Red ended in a 17-0 tech fall rout. The match concluded with Ashnault pulling Red to the mat for a four-point near fall. The third-place finish is the highest for a Rutgers wrestler since Mario Mason's runner-up result in 2011 and bests Ashnault's fourth-place performance last season.

At 184 pounds, Nicholas Gravina took sixth with a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match. At 133 pounds, Scott DelVecchio earned a sixth-place finish. Current Scarlet Knights Jordan Pagano (7^th - 174) and John Van Brill (8^th - 157) also placed at last year's Midlands Championships

Knight Notes
• No. 2 Suriano (125), No. 9 Gravina (184), No. 14 DelVecchio (133), No. 14 DeLuca (149) and No. 15 Lewis (165) all appear in the latest rankings by Intermat. Jordan Pagano (174) is also ranked No. 19 by WIN Magazine.
• In total, 15 Scarlet Knights are set to compete this weekend in the 20-team field. Matthew Correnti, who is redshirting this season, will also appear unattached.
• Since 2000, Rutgers has had 27 wrestlers place at the Midlands Championships. The Scarlet Knights competed in the tournament last season, when they finished fourth as a team with six placewinners. The best individual finish at the event came from runner-up Mario Mason (149 Pounds) in 2011.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers wrestling, follow the program on Twitter (@RUWrestling) and Instagram (@RUWrestling). Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on our social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.