Six Set for 2018 NCAA Championships in Cleveland

Thursday, March 15

Cleveland, Ohio

TBA

Rutgers University

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Rodney Sanford

Six Set for 2018 NCAA Championships in Cleveland

Mar 14 | Wrestling

2018 NCAA Championship Notes 2018 Bracket Brackets & Seeding Release WATCH ESPN Listen: WRSU (88.7 FM)Follow: Trackwrestling

Wrestling vies for podium spots March 15-17 at Quicken Loans Arena

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19 Rutgers wrestling heads to The Land, as six Scarlet Knights compete in the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships from March 15-17 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. RU will look to secure multiple All-Americans in its third consecutive national tournament, as No. 4 seed Nick Suriano (125), No. 6 seed Richie Lewis (165), No. 14 seed Nicholas Gravina (184), No. 15 seed John Van Brill (157), Scott DelVecchio (133) and Eleazar DeLuca (149) all vie for spots on the podium.

For the fourth consecutive year, all six sessions of the tournament will be shown on the ESPN family of networks, with ESPN3 streaming every match of the tournament. A full breakdown of ESPN's coverage of the event can be found below. WRSU (88.7 FM) will also broadcast the entire tournament for RU on the radio.

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Suriano is RU's highest seed at nationals since Anthony Ashnault was the No. 4 seed at 141 pounds for the 2016 NCAA Championships at the Garden. Suriano owns an unblemished 21-0 mark, including an 11-0 dual record, in 2017-18 and is 8-0 against the NCAA Championships field this season.

Lewis also owns a high seed for nationals, as the now two-time NCAA qualifier owns eight ranked victories and has two top-10 wins this season over No. 2 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) and No. 8 Nick Wanzek (Minnesota). Gravina (14^th, 184) and Van Brill (15^th, 157) are also seeded for this weekend's tournament.

Hello, Cleveland.

First practice at The Q in the books.#RUWR | RelentlessPursuit pic.twitter.com/zcpl94LnLD
— Rutgers Wrestling (@RUWrestling) March 13, 2018

2018 Big Ten Championships Rewind
No. 4-seeded Lewis (165) recorded a massive victory over No. 2 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) en route to a third-place finish as Rutgers closed out action at the 2018 Big Ten Championships from March 3-4. Five Scarlet Knights placed on the podium at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, Michigan, as RU finished 11th with 42.5 team points at the championships.

Suriano (sixth), DelVecchio (sixth), DeLuca (eighth) and Van Brill (eighth) all found spots on the podium and secured automatic qualifying bids to the 2018 NCAA Championships.

The highlight of the tournament came courtesy of Lewis, who squared off against Marinelli for the third time this season. Trailing 3-1 late in period two, Lewis drove Marinelli down just inside the circle, only for the takedown to be called out of bounds. Rutgers threw the challenge brick, and after review, Lewis was awarded two points to make it a 3-3 match at the end of two.

A back-and-forth final two minutes followed. Lewis escaped for a 4-3 lead, but Marinelli worked a takedown at the 57-second mark to regain a 5-4 advantage. Lewis then escaped to tie the score with 36 seconds remaining. As time ticked down, both took shots and were caught in a scramble, but Lewis swung around Marinelli for two points in the closing seconds for the final 7-5 result.

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.

NOTES
2018 NCAA Notes
• This will be the third career appearances at nationals for DelVecchio and Gravina, while Lewis, Suriano and Van Brill will all make their second career trips to NCAA's. This marks the first career national tournament for DeLuca.
• The six at nationals this year marks the fourth consecutive year five or more Scarlet Knights head to the NCAA Championships. Head coach Scott Goodale has taken seven of the RU program's all-time top-eight (based on number of participants) groups of grapplers to NCAAs in his 11 seasons at the helm. In total, 64 wrestlers from RU have qualified for nationals under the guidance of Goodale.
• Three Scarlet Knights have earned a total of six All-America designations since Goodale took over the program in 2007.

2017 NCAA Championships Rewind
• Rutgers finished 19th with 24.5 team points at last year's tournament, as Anthony Ashnault and Ken Theobold secured All-America accolades in St. Louis. Ashnault became the first three-time All-American in program history when he placed sixth in St. Louis, while Theobold wrestled to a seventh-place result in 2017.
• DelVecchio and Gravina both produced 3-2 records at NCAA's in 2017, advancing to the Round of 12.

Rutgers Historically at Nationals
• Rutgers has placed 14 All-Americans on the award stand in program history.
• Rutgers as never had a finalist in its history. Mike Leta owns the highest individual placement for the Scarlet Knights with a third-place finish at 130 pounds in 1960.
• The six All-Americans under Goodale marks the most for one coach in program history. Dick Voliva produced five during his tenure from 1946-69.
• One of only three two-time All-Americans in school history, Anthony Perrotti was one of just three wrestlers at the
2015 NCAA Championships to lose his first match and bounce back to become an All-American. Perrotti's 10-second pin against No. 8 Roger Pena (Oregon State) was the second fastest in NCAA Wrestling
Championships history by collegiate rules. Perrotti defeated three ranked foes in a row including Roger Pena (Oregon State), Zach Brunson (Illinois) and Nestor Taffur (Boston University) to secure All-America status.
• In Tanis' 2002 NCAA Championships run in Albany, N.Y., he lost his opening bout before winning four-consecutive matches to earn All-America honors. He won six bouts in a row to advance to the consolation
finals, dropping the final match to Iowa's Jessman Smith by a score of 9-5 to take fourth place.

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.