PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 18 Rutgers wrestling (6-1) returns to the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships from Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Fifteen attached Scarlet Knights and one unattached student-athlete compete in the two-day tournament, as RU appears in the loaded field for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign.
Wrestling begins Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET, with quarterfinals set for 8 p.m. Friday's semifinals begin at noon, followed by the finals at 7:05 p.m. All sessions will stream on Big Ten Plus, with live stats provided by TrackWrestling.
Forty-four programs will have competitors in this year's field, including eight Big Ten programs – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers and Wisconsin. The Scarlet Knights are one of 12 ranked teams in the NWCA Coaches Poll scheduled to wrestle, along with No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 4 Iowa State, No. 5 Michigan, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 14 Northern Iowa, No. 15 Northwestern, No. 17 Nebraska, No. 19 Lehigh, No. 19 South Dakota State and No. 21 Pittsburgh.
Brackets for the Midlands Championships will be released later today.
Thursday, December 29
10:30 a.m. – First Session (10 Mats) – (Championship Rounds 1 & 2, Wrestlebacks)
8:00 p.m. – Second Session (10 Mats) – (Quarterfinals, Wrestlebacks)
Friday, December 30
Noon – Third Session (8 Mats) – (Semis, consolation, 7th place match)
7:05 p.m. – Fourth Session (4 Mats) – (1st, 3rd, 5th place matches)
125: NR/18
Dylan Shawver (9-3) AND 18/NR
Dean Peterson (9-3)
133: 9/14
Joe Heilmann (11-1) AND
Devon Britton (8-4)
141: 14/HM
Sammy Alvarez (6-1) AND
Joseph Olivieri (5-0)*
149: 26/HM
Tony White (8-3)
157: NR/HM
Andrew Clark (11-3) AND
Al DeSantis (8-3) AND
Dylan Weaver (5-4)
165:
Connor O'Neill (9-8) AND
Luke Gayer (8-4)
174: 31/HM
Jackson Turley (2-2)
184: 12/14
Brian Soldano (9-1)
197: NO ENTRY
HWT: 23/24
Boone McDermott (9-0) AND
John O'Donnell (5-1)
Rankings Intermat/FloWrestling
*Competing Unattached
In a dual that came down to criteria, Rutgers defeated Princeton, 17-16, on Dec. 11 inside Jadwin Gymnasium. Down seven team points after six bouts, the Scarlet Knights delivered wins in three of their final four matchups to finish the dual tied 16-16. Thanks to a 47-43 advantage in total match points, RU captured the dual and held on to the B1G-IVY Trophy.
No. 14
Brian Soldano (184) earned a clutch major decision over Nate Dugan to move the dual to criteria, while No. 23
Boone McDermott (HWT) solidified the result with his 5-3 decision over Travis Stefanik. The win by criteria was the program's first since it defeated No. 10 Wisconsin, 17-16, on Jan. 11, 2019 in Piscataway.
Rutgers finished second at the 55th installment of the championships on Dec. 31, 2017 in Hoffman Estates. Nick Suriano (125) became the first individual champion ever for the Scarlet Knights at the tournament, while Scott DelVecchio (133), John VanBrill (157) and Richie Lewis (165) recorded third-place results and Nicholas Gravina (184) finished sixth to help RU secure its best team result in program history. With 109.5 team points, Rutgers finished only behind No. 6 Iowa, who claimed the team title with 156.5 points. No. 21 Central Michigan placed third with 108 points.
Rutgers will wrestle in its final two non-conference duals before its Big Ten Conference schedule, competing at Bloomsburg on Friday, Jan. 6 and at Rider on Sunday, Jan. 8.
