No. 16 Wrestling Treks to No. 1 Penn State for Sunday Dual

Sunday, January 16

University Park, Pa.

5 PM

Rutgers University

Penn State

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

No. 16 Wrestling Treks to No. 1 Penn State for Sunday Dual

Jan 15 | Wrestling

Live Stream: Watch ESPN ($)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 16 Rutgers wrestling (12-1, 2-1) hits the road to face No. 1 Penn State (10-0, 2-0) on Sunday in State College. The dual at Rec Hall is set for a 5 p.m. ET national broadcast on ESPNU.

The Scarlet Knights enter the dual after its 21-13 victory over No. 21 Illinois on Friday at Jersey Mike's Arena. No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (141) secured his 100th career win in front of 3,318 fans, while No. 31 Dylan Shawver (125), No. 5 John Poznanski (184) and No. 7 Greg Bulsak (197) all added wins over ranked opponents. Michael VanBrill (149) and Robert Kanniard (157) also produced wins over the Illini to help the Scarlet Knights to a six-four match split.

PROJECTED LINEUP: RUTGERS

Weight	Wrestler
125	31/HM/NR Dylan Shawver (14-3)
133	20/HM/NR Joseph Olivieri (14-4)
141	3/3/3 Sebastian Rivera (15-0)
149	18/HM/NR Michael VanBrill (11-1)
157	Robert Kanniard (7-6)
165	Andrew Clark (11-11)
174	Connor O'Neill (9-8)
184	5/5/5 John Poznanski (13-0)
197	7/11/8 Greg Bulsak (15-0)
HWT	Boone McDermott (9-7)

*rankings Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat

PROJECTED LINEUP: PENN STATE

Weight	Wrestler
125	9/9/5 Drew Hildebrandt (2-0)
133	1/1/1Roman Bravo-Young (8-0)
141	1/1/1 Nick Lee (8-0)
149	19/14/20 Beau Bartlett (8-2)
157	Tony Negron (1-4) -OR- Terrell Barraclough (5-4) -OR- Joe Lee (2-3)
165	24/20/NR Creighton Edsell (7-3)
174	1/1/1 Carter Starocci (10-0)
184	1/1/1 Aaron Brooks (8-0)
197	2/2/2 Max Dean (10-0)
HWT	4/4/4 Greg Kerkvilet (8-0)

*rankings Intermat/FloWrestling/TheOpenMat

WHAT TO KNOW

Two weeks into the new year, Rutgers is ranked as high as 16 in the country. The Scarlet Knights (11-1, 1-1) are No. 16 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll as well as by FloWrestling, and are No. 17 by Intermat.
Seven student-athletes are ranked by Intermat this week, which includes an appearance from true freshman Joseph Olivieri (133) at No. 20 in the country. Olivieri, who also earned honorable mention honors from FloWrestling, made his varsity debut on Sunday against the Badgers with a 4-3 decision over No. 25 Kyle Burwick. The ranked win for Olivieri was the first by a true freshman in his varsity debut since RU joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
Rutgers features three top-10 wrestlers by Intermat - No. 3 Rivera, No. 5 Poznanski and No. 7 Bulsak. The trio is a combined 43-0 this season with wins over 18 ranked foes.
VanBrill (18th, 149), Jackson Turley (26th, 174) and Shawver (31st, 125) are also ranked by Intermat. Sammy Alvarez (133) remained No. 14 by WIN Magazine and No. 15 by The Open Mat.
Rivera became the 18th wrestler in program history to hit the 100 win mark for his collegiate career. He is believed to be the first to hit the century mark at Rutgers after beginning his career at a different university. Rivera earned 73 career wins at Northwestern and owns 27 "On the Banks".
Rivera owns a 100% bonus rate in his 15 matches this season, which includes eight tech falls, three major decisions, two pins and two forfeits. He has outscored his opponents 180-32 this season.
Goodale is now five wins away from 200 for his career.

UP NEXT

Rutgers remains on the road with duals at RV Michigan State (Jan. 21, 6 p.m. ET) and No. 3 Michigan (Jan. 23, 4 p.m. ET). Both matches are slated for broadcasts on Big Ten Plus.