MINNEAPOLIS – No. 1-seed Anthony Ashnault (149) and No. 3-seed Nick Suriano (133) both secured individual titles to close out the 2019 Big Ten Championships on Sunday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Ashnault and Suriano's victories give the program two individual Big Ten Champions at the same tournament for the first time since it joined the conference in 2014-15.
 
Ashnault used an 8-6 decision to defeat No. 2-seed Micah Jordan (Ohio State) in the 149-pound final, while Suriano muscled a 4-1 decision over No. 5-seed Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) for the 133-pound conference crown. With his win over Jordan, Ashnault also became the all-time wins leader at Rutgers with 118 for his career.

As a team, Rutgers finished tied for eighth with 53.5 points along with Northwestern.
 
"It's a huge deal to have two individual Big Ten champions right here at Rutgers," said head coach Scott Goodale. "Ashnault and Suriano were focused the whole time this weekend, so it was good to see them both break through."
 
Suriano was the aggressor in his title match against Pletcher, landing a single leg with 20 seconds left in the first period for an early 2-0 lead. In control for the majority of his bout, Suriano closed out his win with an escape in the second period and the riding time for the 4-1 final.
 
"It's awesome to do this for Rutgers," Suriano said. "Anthony has won it before, but it's great to join him on that list. Unfortunatly I couldn't last season, and it hurt me. It takes a little bit of time to where I need to be, but I'm here."
 
Ashnault faced Jordan in his title bout, with Jordan's lone loss this season coming at the hands of Ashnault at the Cliff Keen Invitational back in November. After a scoreless first period, Ashnault scored the first takedown at the end of the second. Jordan would counter in the third period with two takedowns of his own, but Ashnault never faltered. The three-time All-American stuck a reversal on Jordan and sealed his championships with a late takedown for the 8-6 final.
 
"It means a lot to me," Ashnault said. "There a not many guys who can say they are three-time Big Ten champions. It's a pretty unique list to be on, and it's one I've looked at since I was a kid. I'm sure there are kids in the future who will look at the same list, so it will be pretty cool that the will see a name on there from Rutgers."

In total, five Scarlet Knights – Ashnault, Suriano, Nicholas Gravina (184), Peter Lipari (141) and John Van Brill (157) – secured automatic bids to the 2019 NCAA Championships, as RU will send five or more wrestlers to the national tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
 
Gravina closed out his final Big Ten Championships with a sixth-place finish, and Van Brill placed eighth in his final go-around at the conference tournament. Van Brill is now a three-time Big Ten Championships placewinner, while Gravina earned his second appearance on the Big Ten podium.
 
Lipari locked up his first NCAA appearance during the morning session, winning back-to-back matches to finish ninth in is weight class. Joseph Grello (174) also placed ninth with his two wins on Sunday, as the redshirt sophomore currently owns a 16-9 record as he awaits a potential at-large selection.
 
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