No. 19 Wrestling Heads to 2018 Big Ten Championships

Saturday, March 3

East Lansing, Mich.

TBA

Rutgers University

Big Ten Championships

No. 19 Wrestling Heads to 2018 Big Ten Championships

Mar 01 | Wrestling

2018 Big Ten Championships Notes 2018 Big Ten Championships Central Tickets Session's I & II BTN Plus Link ($)Session's III & IV BTN Plus Link ($)Radio: WRSU (88.7 FM)Live Results: Trackwrestling

Ten Scarlet Knights eye podium this weekend in East Lansing

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19 Rutgers wrestling sets its attention on the postseason, as it competes at the 2018 Big Ten Championships from Saturday to Sunday (March 3-4) at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, Michigan. Ten Scarlet Knights will look to secure automatic qualifying bids for the 2018 NCAA Championships, held March 15-17 in Cleveland.

All sessions of the tournament will be available on BTN Plus/FloWrestling, with the championship finals airing live on Big Ten Network on Sunday, March 4. WRSU will also have full radio broadcast coverage of the tournament.

2018 Big Ten Championships Schedule

Date	Saturday, March 3 - Sunday, March 4
March 3	Session I - 10 a.m. ET \| Session II - 6 p.m. ET
March 4	Session III - 12 p.m. ET \| Session IV - 3 p.m. ET

Scouting Rutgers
Six Scarlet Knights earned pre-seeds for the tournament earlier this week, highlighted by No. 1 Nick Suriano at 125 pounds. Suriano (20-0) is 4-0 this season against the Big Ten Championships field and owns wins over five top-20 opponents in 2017-18.

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Suriano is the second RU wrestler in as many seasons to earn a top seed at the tournament, joining teammate Anthony Ashnault, who was the No. 1 seed at 141 pound last season when he captured his second consecutive conference title.

Others seeded include No. 4 Richie Lewis (14-3) at 165 pounds, No. 5 seed Scott DelVecchio (18-4) at 133 pounds, No. 5 Nicholas Gravina (14-3) at 184 pounds, No. 6 Eleazar DeLuca (10-8) at 149 pounds and No. 8 John Van Brill (18-9) at 157 pounds. DelVecchio (6-3), Gravina (5-2) and Lewis (5-3) all posted winning records against Big Ten Championships competition this year.

Michael Van Brill (13-11), Joseph Grello (14-8) and Anthony Messner (2-11) will all be unseeded against the field at their first Big Ten Championships, while Razohnn Gross (15-11) will be unseeded for his second consecutive conference championships appearance.

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To qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships from March 15-17 in Cleveland, each Scarlet Knight will have to finish within the threshold listed at his weight. The Big Ten leads the country with 80 automatic bids.

Scouting the Field
This year's field contains a combined 15 Big Ten individual championships (nine wrestlers) and 11 NCAA individual championships (eight wrestlers). In addition, Illinois' Isaiah Martinez and Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello are looking to become only the 15th and 16th wrestlers in conference history to win four individual titles in their respective careers.

Penn State boasts four top-seeded wrestlers, with 149-pounder Zain Retherford, 157-pounder Jason Nolf, 174-pounder Mark Hall and 184-pounder Bo Nickal. Ohio State and Michigan each hold a pair of top seeds. The 133-pounder Stevan Micic and 285-pounder Adam Coon pace the Wolverines, while 141-pounder Joey McKenna and 197-pounder Kollin Moore earned top billing in their weight classes for the Buckeyes. The Fighting Illini's Martinez (165), the Hawkeyes' Michael Kemerer (157) and Suriano (125) round out the group of top-ranked grapplers.
Ohio State won the 2017 Big Ten Wrestling Championships title last year in Bloomington with a team score of 139.5. The Buckeyes claimed their fourth Big Ten Championship and first since 2015. Ohio State claimed four individual titles from Tomasello (133), Jordan (174), Moore (197) and Snyder (285).

Penn State finished in second place with 130 points, followed by third-place Iowa with 112.5. Nebraska finished in fourth place with 102.5 points and Minnesota rounded out the top five with 93 team points.

.@CoachGoodale & Scott DelVecchio preview this weekend's @bigten Championships.#RUWR | #RelentlessPursuit pic.twitter.com/4UrrnedHJ1
— Rutgers Wrestling (@RUWrestling) February 28, 2018

Punch Those Tickets
Rutgers will look to send seven or more competitors to nationals for the third consecutive season under head coach Scott Goodale, who has taken six of the RU program's all-time top-seven (based on number of participants) groups of grapplers to NCAA's in his 10 seasons at the helm.

Last season, Rutgers qualified seven wrestlers, tying the 2010 edition of the Scarlet Knights for the third most at the tournament. In 2016, RU had 10 qualifiers, the most for the program all-time.

The Scarlet Knights have sent participants to each of the last nine NCAA Championships and in 16 of the last 17 seasons. At least two have gone to nationals in each season under Goodale. In total, 58 Scarlet Knights have qualified for NCAAs in his tenure, an average of nearly six wrestlers per season.

Another Year, Another Top-25 Finish
Rutgers closed out the dual season ranked No. 19 in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll, marking the seventh top-25 finish for the Scarlet Knights under Goodale's leadership.

With its back-to-back victories over No. 18 Wisconsin and Princeton during the last weekend of the season, RU also secured its 12th consecutive winning season, 11 of which have come under Goodale.

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.