HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – No. 12 Rutgers wrestling wrapped up the first day of action at the 2021 Illinois Matmen Open on Wednesday in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Four Scarlet Knights - Dylan Shawver (125), Sebastian Rivera (141), Tony White (unattached, 149) and Greg Bulsak (197) - advanced to the championship semifinals, which begin Thursday morning at 11 a.m. ET.

Seven student-athletes wrestled in champion quarterfinal matches at the Matmen Open, which replaced the previously scheduled Midlands Championships, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

With two sessions to go, RU is fourth (49.0) behind Pittsburgh (69.5), Wisconsin (66.0) and UPenn (56.5) in the team race.

Rivera and Shawver advanced to the semifinals as No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes. Rivera pinned Kenny Hermann (Harvard) in the round of 16 and followed with an 18-2 tech fall over McKenzie Ball (U-Rider). Shawver defeated two-time NCAA qualifier Bryce West (Northern Illinois) before he muscled a 3-2 decision over 2021 NCAA qualifier Zurich Storm (Campbell).

Bulsak added back-to-back major decisions in his impressive outing on Wednesday, while White, who is competing unattached, collected two decisions to secure a spot in Thursday morning's semifinals.

Sammy Alvarez (133), Joseph Olivieri (unattached, 133) and Boone McDermott (HWT) also advanced in their championship brackets before they dropped quarterfinal bouts. Olivieri wrestled hard in his 2-0 loss to No. 6 Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh), a three-time NCAA qualifier, while McDermott lost at the buzzer to No. 28 Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) in his quarterfinal matchup.

Andrew Clark (165), Al DeSantis (149), Connor O'Neill (174) and Jackson Turley (174) are all alive on the back half of the bracket. Devon Britton (133) and Robert Kanniard (157) were both eliminated during the first day of action.
 

Results

125: Dylan Shawver (2-0)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Bryce West (Northern Illinois)	W-MD, 15-4
Quarters.	Zurich Strom (Campbell)	W-D, 3-2
Semis	Ryan Miller (UPenn)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

133: Sammy Alvarez (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Nicholas Masters (Princeton)	W-TF, 21-2 (7:00)
Quarters.	Carter Bailey (Lehigh)	L-Fall (2:20)
Conso. Rd. 4	Jack Wagner (Northern Iowa)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

133: Joseph Olivieri (Unattached, 2-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 32	Brandon Spellman (Princeton)	W-MD, 12-1
Rd. of 16	Jack Skudlarzyk (Northern Iowa)	W-MD, 9-0
Quarters.	No. 6 Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh)	L-D, 2-0
Conso. Rd. 4	Kyle Burwick (Wisconsin)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

133: Devon Britton (1-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 32	Nicky Cabanillas (Brown)	W-D, 9-4
Rd. of 16	Drew Mattin (Michigan)	L-D, 8-4
Conso. Rd. 2	Julian Farber (U-Northern Iowa)	L-D, 4-0

141: Sebastian Rivera (2-0)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Kenny Hermann (Harvard)	W-Fall (1:35)
Quarters.	McKenzie Ball (U-Rider)	W-TF, 18-2
Semis	Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

149: Al DeSantis (3-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 32	Dillon Pousson (Unattached)	W-MD, 9-1
Rd. of 16	Josh Heil (Campbell)	L-D, 5-2
Conso. Rd. 2	Kaya Sement (UPenn)	W-D, 7-2
Conso. Rd. 3	Luke Kemerer (Pittsburgh)	W-D, 7-5
Conso. Rd. 4	Kolby Depron (Bucknell)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

149: Tony White (Unattached, 2-0)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Lukus Stricker (Harvard)	W-D, 4-0
Quarters.	Kolby Depron (Bucknell)	W-D, 5-1
Semis	Josh Heil (Campbell)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

157: Robert Kanniard (0-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Brawley Lamer (Cal Poly)	L-D, 6-2
Conso. Rd. 2.	Nick Delp (Bucknell)	L-D, 9-4

165: Andrew Clark (2-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Zach Hartman (Bucknell)	L-MD, 10-0
Conso. Rd. 2	Michael Kistler (UPenn)	W-Fall (4:50)
Conso. Rd. 3	Michael Caliendo (U-NDST)	W-D, 5-3
Conso. Rd. 4	Dan Braunagel (Illinois)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

174: Jackson Turley (2-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Nate Dugan (Princeton)	L-SV1, 5-3
Conso. Rd. 2	Dajun Johnson (Northern Iowa)	W-Fall (4:56)
Conso. Rd. 3	Hunter Kernan (Pittsburgh)	W-6-1
Conso Rd. 4	Josh Kim (Harvard)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

174: Connor O'Neill (2-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 32	Manuel Rojas (Unattached)	L-D, 16-12
Conso. Rd. 2	Graham Calhoun (U-Wisconsin)	W-D, 4-2
Conso. Rd. 3	John Crawford (F&M)	W-D, 12-5
Conso. Rd. 4	Nate Dugan (Princeton)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

197: Greg Bulsak (2-0)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Tristian Guaman (Northern Illinois)	W-MD, 13-3
Quarters.	Cody Baldridge (North Central)	W-MD, 13-2
Semis	No. 26 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET

HWT: Boone McDermott (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Rd. of 16	Lear Quinton (Brown)	W-MD, 10-2
Quarters.	No. 28 Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh)	L-D, 8-5
Conso Rd. 4	Jack Delgarbino (Princeton)	Thurs., 11 a.m. ET