DETROIT – No. 3 seed Sebastian Rivera (141) won a wild second-round matchup against three-time All-American Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska) to advance to the quarterfinals, as No. 14 Rutgers wrestling wrapped up Session II of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday night in Detroit.
 
Rivera faces No. 6 seed Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) Friday morning for a chance to lock up a spot in the national semifinals for the third time in his career and NCAA All-America laurels for the fourth time. A win tomorrow morning will give the Scarlet Knights a national semifinalist for the sixth consecutive season dating back to 2016. Rivera was a national semifinalist last season and also advanced to the semifinals during the 2019 season at Northwestern.
 
No. 14 seed Greg Bulsak (197), No. 12 seed Michael VanBrill (149), No. 20 seed John Poznanski (184), No. 22 seed Joseph Olivieri (133) and No. 23 seed Dylan Shawver (125) are all alive on the backend of the bracket heading into Friday's morning session at Little Caesars Arena.
 
No. 33 seed Connor O'Neill (174) – who delivered three huge team points with a pin in his tournament-opening pigtail bout – bowed out of his first NCAA Tournament after Thursday action.  
 
Rutgers Team Score Through Session II: 9.0 (T/19th)
Session II Attendance: 17,433
Day One Total Attendance: 34,640
 
Rivera won a thrilling back-and-forth bout in his second-round matchup with No. 19 seed Red Jr. Up 3-0 in the final period, Rivera let up an escape and a takedown to make it a 3-3 match midway through the period three.
 
Rivera followed with a reversal to regain the lead at 5-3. Red Jr. then answered with a reversal to tie. Red Jr. locked up the riding-time point for a 6-5 towards the end of the period, but Rivera drew a stall call on Red Jr. to force overtime. Red Jr. was then hit again for stalling 19 seconds into sudden victory to give Rivera the win.
 
Bulsak faced No. 3 seed Eric Schultz (Nebraska) for a spot in tomorrow morning's quarterfinals. After a scoreless first period, Bulsak started the second period bottom and escaped for a 1-0 lead. Shultz countered with a takedown, but a quick escape from Bulsak made it 2-2 after two. Shultz would add a takedown midway through the final period, and an intense scrambled followed in the closing seconds before Shultz secured the 4-3 win.
 
Rutgers went four-for-five during the first round of consolations on Thursday night. Olivieri and Shawver delivered the first NCAA Tournament victories of their respective careers with back-to-back decisions. After a tough loss in the morning session, VanBrill responded with a 4-0 decision over No. 28 seed Kody Komara (Kent State), which included swipes in the second period to advance. In a rematch from the regular season, Poznanski controlled his bout with No. 29 seed Christopher Weiler (Wisconsin) from start to finish for a 6-1 final.
 
O'Neill opened the tournament with a fall over No. 33 seed Dom Solis (Maryland) to advance but lost his next two matches to No. 1 seed Carter Starocci (Penn State) and No. 17 seed (17) Nick Incontrera (UPenn).
 
Session III begins Friday morning at 11 a.m. ET and will broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

125: (23) Dylan Shawver (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(10) Mike DeAugustino (Northwestern)	L-D, 3-1
Conso. Round 1	(26) Kysen Terukina (Iowa State)	W-D, 6-4
Conso. Round 2	(25) Caleb Smith (Appalachian State)	Friday, 11 a.m.

 
133: (22) Joseph Olivieri (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(11) Devan Turner (Oregon State)	L-D, 10-4
Conso. Round 1	(27) Malyke Hines (Lehigh)	W-D, 7-3
Conso. Round 2	(12) Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh)	Friday, 11 a.m.

 
141: (3) Sebastian Rivera (2-0)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(30) Jacob Butler (Oklahoma)	W-MD, 12-3
Round 2	(19) Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)	W-SV1, 7-6
Quarterfinals	(6) Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh)	Friday, 11 a.m.

 
149: (12) Michael VanBrill (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(21) Marcus Robinson (Cleveland State)	L-D, 7-5
Conso. Round 1	(28) Kody Komara (Kent State)	W-D, 4-0
Conso. Roudn 2	(6) Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State)	Friday, 11 a.m.

 
174: (33) Connor O'Neill (1-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Championship Pigtail	(32) Dom Solis (Maryland)	W-Fall (2:15)
Round 1	(1) Carter Starocci (Penn State)	L-Fall (6:38)
Conso. Round 1	(17) Nick Incontrera (UPenn)	L-Fall (1:53)

 
184: (20) John Poznanski (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(13) Kyle Cochran (Maryland)	L-D, 7-3
Conso. Round 1	(29) Christopher Weiler (Wisconsin)	W-D, 6-1
Conso. Round 2	(19) Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota)	Friday, 11 a.m.

 
197: (14) Greg Bulsak (1-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(19) Jacob Cardenas (Cornell)	W-D, 7-0
Round 2	(3) Eric Shultz (Nebraska)	L-D, 4-3
Conso. Round 2	(20) Jacob Koser (Navy)	Friday, 11 a.m.