PISCATAWAY, N.J. (March 7, 2020) – Sammy Alvarez (133) punched his ticket to nationals while Willie Scott (174) and Billy Janzer (184) are still alive for auto bids to the NCAA tournament as Rutgers wrestling wrapped up Day One of the 2020 Big Ten Championships on Saturday at the RAC. Alvarez, who earned back-to-back victories in the wrestlebacks during the night session, can finish as high as third when competition resumes Sunday morning at noon. 

Michael Van Brill (157) locked up a podium spot and can finish as high as seventh in his weight class tomorrow morning during Session III of the conference tournament. Nicolas Aguilar (125), JoJo Aragona (141) and Brett Donner (165) will also wrestle during Sunday's morning session with chances to finish as high as ninth in their respective weight classes. Due to injury, both Gerard Angelo (149) and Jordan Pagano (197) were forced to medically forfiet out of the tournament. 

As a team, RU closed out the first day in 12th place with 24.5 team points. Iowa leads the team race with 121.5 points, followed by Nebraska(102.5) and Ohio State (94.0).

Session II Notables
• Alvarez was the story for the Scarlet Knights in during the night portion on Saturday, as he collected back-to-back wins over No. 9 Cayden Rooks (Indiana) and No. 6 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska). Alvarez faced Rooks in his first consolation bout, as both finished regulation tied 1-1. With 34 seconds left in the first sudden victory period, Alvarez worked a takedown to advance with a 3-1 decision. The rookie then faced Lovett, who entered as the No. 13 ranked wrestler in the country. Alvarez led throughout his match, as he collected two takedowns, a reversal and a two-point near fall for a 9-3 decision. He'll face No. 1 overall seed Seth Gross (Wisconsin) tomorrow morning in the consolation semifinals.
• VanBrill also provided fireworks in his first consolation bout against Jahi Jones (Maryland). Down 3-2 with 1:05 remaining in regulation, VanBrill caught Jones on the edge of the circle for the takedown and took the lead. After the riding time point and an unsportsmanlike penalty on Maryland, VanBrill left the bout with a 7-4 decision and secured a spot on the Big Ten podium.
• Aguilar, Aragona, Donner, Scott, Janzer and Alex Esposito (HWT) lost their second consolation bouts to bow out of the tournament. However, Aguilar, Aragona, Donner, Scott and Janzer will all wrestle in second-chance brackets with an opportunity to finish as high as ninth.
 
Session I Notables
• Rutgers won six of its 10 bouts in the first round of the championships, which included slight upset victories at 149 and 157 pounds.
• No. 11 Gerard Angelo earned the biggest win of the opening round for the Scarlet Knights with his dominant 15-11 decision over No. 6 Cole Martin (Wisconsin), a three-time national qualifier who finished fourth last season at the Big Ten Championships. Angelo scored the first takedown of the bout and followed with a takedown and four-point near fall, nearly pinning Martin before his escape at 1:29 in the first period. Angelo stuck Martin again in the final period and held on to advance to the quarterfinals.
• VanBrill faced No. 8 Eric Barone (Illinois), who defeated VanBrill, 2-0, at the RAC back in February. Trailing 2-0 after the first period and starting on top for period two, VanBrill got Barone on his back for four near-fall points. An escape and the riding time point gave him the 6-4 decision and allowed him to advance to the quarters.
• After leading in his match against No. 7 Seth Nevills (Penn State), Espositio advanced after Nevills was forced to injury default in the second period.
• Favored in their opening-round bouts, Aguilar, Alvarez and Janzer all worked first period decisions to move on in the championship bracket. 
• RU dropped all six of its quarterfinal matches, but not without highlights. Alvarez faced No. 2 Roman Bravo-Young (2) in a highly-anticipated rematch from the dual season - an overtime victory for Bravo-Young in State College. Down 5-1 in the final minute of the match, Alvarez and Bravo-Young got caught in a scramble as Alvarez nearly collected a two-point takedown before the buzzer sounded. 
• Aguilar, Angelo, Esposito, Janzer and VanBrill all lost to higher seeds in the quarterfinals to fall to the wrestlebacks.
• After his first-round loss, Aragona was dominate in his first consolation bout against Hunter Baxter (Maryland). Aragona scored in all three periods, including a four-point near fall in the second en route to a 12-0 major decision.

125: (8) Nicolas Aguilar (2-2)

Round 1	(9) Eric Barnett (Wisconsin)	W-D, 6-0
Quarters	(1) Spencer Lee (Iowa)	L-Fall (2:53)
Conso Round 2	(7) Liam Cronin (Indiana)	L-13-7
Ninth-Place Quarters	(14) Brandon Meredith (Penn State)	W-D, 4-3
Ninth-Place Semis	(4) Justin Cardani (Illinois)

133: (7) Sammy Alvarez (3-1)

Round 1	(10) Garrett Pepple (Michigan State)	W-D, 3-0
Quarters	(2) Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)	L-D, 5-4
Conso Round 2	(9) Cayden Rooks (Indiana)	W-SV1, 3-1
Conso Quarters	(6) Ridge Lovett (Nebraska)	W-D, 9-3
Conso Semis	(1) Seth Gross (Wisconsin)

149: (11) Gerard Angelo (1-2)

Round 1	(6) Cole Martin (Wisconsin)	W-D, 15-11
Quarters	(3) Brayton Lee (Minnesota)	L-Inj. default (3:21)
Conso Round 2	(12) Alex Hrisopoulos (Michigan State)	L-MFF

157: (9) Michael VanBrill (2-2)

Round 1	(8) Eric Barone (Illinois)	W-D, 6-4
Quarters	(1) Ryan Deakin (Northwestern	L-MD, 10-1
Conso Round 2	(10) Jahi Jones (Maryland)	W-D, 7-4
Conso Quarters	(6) Jake Tucker (Michigan State)	L-MD, 14-2
Seventh Place	(12) Garrett Model (Wisconsin)

184: (5) Billy Janzer (1-2)

Round 1	(12) Jack Jessen (Northwestern)	W-D, 8-2
Quarters	(4) Taylor Venz (Nebraska)	L-D, 10-3
Conso Round 2	(11) Max Lyon (Purdue)	L-D, 4-2
Conso Quarters	Bye
Conso Semis	(13) Jakob Hinz (Indiana)

HWT: (10) Alex Esposito (1-2)

Round 1	(7) Seth Nevills (Penn State)	W-Inj. Default (4:19)
Quarters	(2) Gable Steveson (Minnesota)	L-Fall (1:29)
Conso Round 2	(8) Thomas Penola (Purdue)	L-MD, 12-1

141: (11) JoJo Aragona (2-2)

Round 1	(6) Mitch McKee (Minnesota)	L-D, 4-0
Conso Round 1	(14) Hunter Baxter (Maryland)	W-MD, 12-0
Conso Round 2	(5) Tristan Moran (Wisconsin)	L-MD, 10-0
Conso Quarters	(14) Hunter Baxter (Maryland)	W-D, 5-1
Conso Semis	(10) Alec McKenna (Northwestern)

165: (11) Brett Donner (1-2)

Round 1	(6) Shayne Oster (Northwestern)	L-D, 7-4
Conso Round 1	(3) Evan Wick (Wisconsin)	W-MFF
Conso Round 2	(5) Ethan Smith (Ohio State)	L-D, 6-1
Ninth-Place Semis	(3) Evan Wick (Wisconsin)

174: (10) Willie Scott (0-2)

Round 1	(6) Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)	L-D, 8-1
Conso Round 1	Bye
Conso Round 2	(5) Mikey Labriola (Nebraska)	L-TF, 18-3
Ninth-Place Semis	(10) Jared Krattiger (Wisconsin)

197: (7) Jordan Pagano (0-2 - Injury Default)

Round 1	(10) Hunter Ritter (Minnesota)	L-MFF
Conso Round 1	Bye
Conso Round 2	(8) Jackson Striggow (Michigan)	L-MFF

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