PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sammy Alvarez (133) and
Billy Janzer (184) both secured automatic bids to nationals as Rutgers wrestling wrapped up the 2020 Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Sunday at the RAC. The two-day, four session tournament drew close to 20,000 fans to campus, as the Scarlet Knights hosted the prestigious conference event for the first time since it joined the Big Ten in 2014-15.
Alvarez finished sixth in his weight class while
Michael VanBrill (157) won his seventh-place match to give the program two individuals on the Big Ten Conference podium. With at-large selections still in play,
Nicolas Aguilar (125) won his consolation bracket to place ninth in the overall field.
Iowa captured the team title with 157.5 points, as three Hawkeyes claimed individual titles. Nebraska (132) finished second, followed by Ohio State (112) in the team standings. Spencer Lee of Iowa claimed Wrestler of the Year honors, while New Jersey native Sebastian Rivera won Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships.
"I though the fans here in New Jersey were awsome this weekend," said head coach
Scott Goodale. "Our operations team did an excellent job with this incredible challenge of having a championship right here in the RAC. You always want to wrestle at a hard level here, which is a hard thing to do. We're just happy to get through it and get as many guys as we can to nationals. It was a great weekend of wrestling not just for Rutgers, but for the state of New Jersey."
Day Two Highlights
• After back-to-back victories in wrestlebacks on Saturday nigtht, Alvarez drew No. 1 seed Seth Gross (Wisconsin) in the consolation semifiinals. Alvarez wrestled well against the former NCAA champion, as he scored in all three periods but fell just short in a 9-6 loss. Alvarez then faced Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) in the fifth-place match and forced sudden victory before Piotrowski landed a takedown for the win. Alvarez finished with three victories during his first Big Ten Championships, wrestling higher than his original No. 7 seed.
• Needing a win in his ninth-place semifinal to lock up an automatic bid to NCAAs, Janzer wasted little time with his first-period fall on Jakob Hinz (Indiana) to earn a trip to Minneapolis. Janzer closed out the tournament with a loss to Zac Braunagel (Illinois) in the ninth-place final.
• VanBrill capped his impressive weekend with a first-period fall (2:23) in his seventh-place bout with Garrett Model (Wisconsin). The win put him one spot out of an automatic bid as he awaits to hear from the at-large committee on Tuesday.
• Aguilar also wrestled one spot away from an auto bid, as he finished ninth with back-to-back wins on Sunday. Aguilar worked a tough 4-1 decision against No. 4 seed Justin Cardini (Illinois) and followed with a 7-5 come-from-behind decision over Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) to finish ninth. Aguilar will also wait to hear at a chance of earning an at-large selection to nationals.
•
JoJo Aragona (141),
Brett Donner (165) and
Willie Scott (174) all lost their extra matches on Sunday to close out their 2019-20 seasons.
• Rutgers now turns its attention to the 2020 NCAA Championships, held March 19-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Jordan Pagano (197), who was forced to injury default out of the championships this weekend, also has a chance to secure an at-large selection when the committie meets on Tuesday, March 10.
133: (7) Sammy Alvarez (3-3, Sixth Place)
| 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) |
L-D, 7-4 |
| Fifth-Place |
(6) Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) |
L-SV1, 5-3 |
157: (9) Michael VanBrill (3-2, Seventh Place)
| 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) |
W-Fall (2:23) |
125: (8) Nicolas Aguilar (4-2)
| 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) |
W-D, 4-1 |
| Ninth-Place |
(9) Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) |
W-D, 7-5 |
184: (5) Billy Janzer (2-3)
| 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 |
| Ninth-Place Quarters |
Bye |
|
| Ninth-Place Semis |
(13) Jakob Hinz (Indiana) |
W-Fall (2:07) |
| Ninth-Place |
(7) Zac Braunagel (Illinois) |
L-D, 7-2 |
141: (11) JoJo Aragona (2-3)
| 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) |
L-D, 5-3 |
165: (11) Brett Donner (1-3)
| 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 Quarters |
(13) Nate Limmex |
W-MFF |
| Ninth-Place Semis |
(8) Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) |
L-D, 3-2 |
174: (10) Willie Scott (0-3)
| 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) |
L-D, 2-1 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Rutgers Wrestling is presented by Eat Clean Bro, an Official Partner of Rutgers Athletics.
