Rutgers University
Big Ten Championships
Ashnault Dominates For Second Consecutive Big Ten Wrestling Championship
Mar 05 | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Redshirt junior 141-pounder Anthony Ashnault left no doubt in his Big Ten Conference final matchup Sunday afternoon, dominating Javier Gasca III of Michigan State, 15-2, for his second consecutive league crown. Ashnault (27-3) is the second wrestler in Rutgers history with multiple conference championships, with both wins coming by major decision margins.
2017 Big Ten Wrestling Championships
Saturday, March 4 - Sunday, March 5
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall | Bloomington, Indiana
Brackets: Day One | Day Two Team Scores: Day One | Day Two "The mindset was the same. Score a lot of points, but I wanted to get on him quick because we knew he'd probably break mentally. That's kind of what happened," Ashnault said. "I got on him right away and was just pulling on him the whole time and got to that takedown. Once I got on top I got my two on one, got that roll through tilt that I always get so that really opened up the match. From there I felt pretty dominant."
The South Plainfield, New Jersey, native's final match of the tournament turned out to be his most dominant. Ashnault built a 6-1 lead in the opening period with an ankle pick on the outside followed by four near fall points. After a scoreless second period, Ashnault opened it up more in the third, nearly pinning Gasca late before ending the match with more than two minutes of riding time.
"It means a lot," said Ashnault, 2016 Big Ten champ and two-time All-American. "I know it means a lot to Rutgers and it means a lot to me too. I'm the only guy to Rutgers guy to do it. Not a lot of opportunities for other guys to do it, but still. Hopefully it's something I can build on, get the third one next year, and set a legacy for myself at Rutgers that is going to be hard to catch."
RU finished the tournament with six placewinners and tallied 67.5 team points to tie Wisconsin for eighth place. In addition to Ashnault, five other Scarlet Knights qualified for the 2017 NCAA Championships from March 16-18 in St. Louis. The list features 133-pounder Scott DelVecchio (seventh), 149-pounder Ken Theobold (fifth), 157-pounder John Van Brill (seventh), 184-pounder Nicholas Gravina (ninth) and 197-pounder Matthew Correnti (sixth).
Theobold earned his third automatic NCAA bid, while Gravina and DelVecchio secured their second berth to nationals. Correnti and Van Brill will trek to St. Louis for their first national tournament.
"I thought we really bounced back," said 10th-year head coach Scott Goodale. "We didn't wrestle great yesterday but we had a really good night round which allowed us to get some guys though. It's the Big Ten Tournament. Today there were some ups and downs. We won some I didn't think we'd win and we lost some I thought we would win. That's the ebb and flow of the Big Ten Tournament. Overall, we got six guys through. There's a good chance we get seven.
"And good for Anthony Ashnault - dominating performance. He's wrestling really well right now. We've got one more big weekend left and we'll see where it will take us."
Correnti dropped his fifth-place final to take the sixth-place position on the award podium. Heavyweight Razohnn Gross lost by fall in his fifth-place bout needing a win to automatically qualify for NCAAs. Gross will look to nab an at-large bid for the tournament later this week.
Session III
Van Brill and DelVecchio both took seventh place Sunday to end their weekends on a high note. DelVecchio won by medical forfeit and will compete in his second NCAA Championships in two weekends. Van Brill earned his first NCAA bid Saturday and closed the tournament with a convincing 7-0 decision against fifth-seeded Kyle Langenderfer (Illinois), his second win against the Illini this season.
Gravina scored a takedown in sudden victory to advance to his second consecutive NCAA Championships. The 184-pound Scarlet Knight beat No. 9 Mitch Sliga, 3-1, and captured the ninth and final automatic bid from the Big Ten.
RU's three consolation semifinalists fell to open the day in wrestle-backs.
No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) defeated Theobold by a 10-2 score in the consolation semifinals, sending Theobold into the fifth-place match. Sorensen built a 6-2 lead in the first period on a takedown and two-count and the Scarlet Knight was unable to mount a comeback.
At 197 pounds, Correnti lost 5-1 against No. 3 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska). The true freshman surrendered two takedowns in the second period, allowing Studebaker to hold his lead until the final horn.
Gross was pinned in 3:32 against No. 3 Nick Nevills (Penn State).
No. 6 174-pounder Jordan Pagano fell in close tiebreaker bout, 3-2, against No. 10 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota), to finish one match shy of automatically qualifying for NCAAs. Pagano was ridden out in the first 30 second period and could not keep Pfarr down from top to force another overtime. The South Brunswick, New Jersey, native will await the NCAA at-large announcement Wednesday.
Rutgers will compete in the 2017 NCAA Championships from March 16-18 in St. Louis. Five Scarlet Knights automatically qualified for the national tournament, with five others await the results of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Selection Show on Wednesday, March 8 at 6 p.m. The show will reveal the matchups in each weight class and can be viewed here.
| Wrestler - Weight (Record) | Opponent (School) | Result |
| Brandon Paetzell - 125 Pounds (0-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 4 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) | L-TF, 17-2 (5:45) |
| Consolation First Round | Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) | L-MD, 8-0S |
| No. 9 Scott DelVecchio - 133 Pounds (3-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 8 Luke Welch (Purdue) | W-D, 4-1 |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 1 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) | L-D, 6-4 |
| Consolation Second Round | No. 10 Eli Stickley (Wisconsin) | W-D, 5-1 |
| Consolation Quarterfinals | No. 4 Zane Richards (Illinois) | L-D, 5-3 (SV) |
| Seventh-Place Match | No. 12 Austin Eicher (Michigan State) | W-Med. Forf. |
| No. 1 Anthony Ashnault - 141 Pounds (3-0) | ||
| Championship First Round | Bye | Bye |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 8 Cole Martin (Wisconsin) | W-MD, 9-1 |
| Championship Semifinals | No. 5 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) | W-D, 5-1 |
| Championship Final | No. 7 Javier Gasca III (Michigan State) | W-MD, 15-2 |
| No. 5 Ken Theobold - 149 Pounds (4-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | Zac Hall (Michigan) | W-MD, 17-4 |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 4 Alfred Bannister (Maryland) | L-D, 2-1 |
| Consolation Second Round | Carson Brolsma (Minnesota) | W-MD, 11-2 |
| Consolation Quarterfinals | Shayne Oster (Northwestern) | W-F, 2:21 |
| Consolation Semifinals | No. 2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) | L-MD, 10-2 |
| Fifth Place Match | No. 4 Alfred Bannister (Maryland) | W-Med. Forf. |
| No. 7 John Van Brill - 157 Pounds (3-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 10 Alex Griffin (Purdue) | W-D, 6-3 |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) | L-MD, 14-6 |
| Consolation Second Round | No. 8 Jake Danishek (Indiana) | W-D, 3-0 |
| Consolation Quarterfinals | No. 3 Tyler Berger (Nebraska) | L-D, 6-0 |
| Seventh Place Match | No. 5 Kyle Langenderfer (Illinois) | W-D, 7-0 |
| Dylan Painton - 165 Pounds (0-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 8 Drew Hughes (Michigan State) | L-D, 1-0 |
| Consolation First Round | Johnny Sebastian (Northwestern) | L-D, 8-4 |
| No. 6 Jordan Pagano - 174 Pounds (2-3) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 11 Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin) | L-D, 2-0 |
| Consolation First Round | No. 14 Braxton Cody (Northwestern) | W-F, 1:13 |
| Consolation Second Round | No. 5 Alex Meyer (Iowa) | L-D, 3-2 |
| Ninth Place Semifinal | No. 12 Drew Barnes (Michigan State) | W-MD, 11-1 |
| Ninth Place Match | No. 10 Chris Pfarr (Minnesota) | L-D, 3-2 (TB-1) |
| No. 7 Nicholas Gravina - 184 Pounds (2-2) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 10 Bobby Stevenson (Minnesota) | L-D, 11-9 (SV) |
| Consolation First Round | Bye | Bye |
| Consolation Second Round | No. 8 Hunter Ritter (Wisconsin) | L-D, 7-4 |
| Ninth Place Semifinal | No. 13 Schwan Shadaia (Michigan State) | W-D, 4-3 |
| Ninth Place Match | No. 9 Mitch Sliga (Northwestern) | W-D, 3-1 (SV) |
| Matthew Correnti - 197 Pounds (3-3) | ||
| Championship First Round | No. 5 Ricky Robertson (Wisconsin) | W-D, 2-1 (TB-1) |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 4 Matt McCutcheon (Penn State) | L-D, 3-2 |
| Consolation Second Round | David-Brian Whisler (Maryland) | W-D, 4-1 |
| Consolation Quarterfinals | No. 8 Christian Brunner (Purdue) | W-D, 10-6 |
| Consolation Semifinals | No. 3 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) | L-D, 5-1 |
| Fifth Place Match | No. 5 Ricky Robertson (Wisconsin) | L-MD, 9-0 |
| No. 8 Razohnn Gross - HWT (3-3) | ||
| Championship First Round | Steven Holloway (Iowa) | W-D, 7-4 (TB-2) |
| Championship Quarterfinals | No. 1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) | L-TF, 26-9 |
| Consolation Second Round | Fletcher Miller (Indiana) | W-D, 8-5 |
| Consolation Quarterfinals | Conan Jennings (Northwestern) | W-D, 3-1 |
| Consolation Semifinals | No. 3 Nick Nevills (Penn State) | L-F, 3:32 |
| Fifth Place Match | No. 5 Collin Jensen (Nebraska) | L-F, 3:47 |
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