PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 22 Rutgers wrestling heads to the 2023 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, held from March 4-5 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ten Scarlet Knights vie for automatic bids to the 2023 NCAA Championships, held from March 16-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
No. 6 seed
Boone McDermott (HWT), No. 7
Joe Heilmann (133), No. 7 seed
Joseph Olivieri (141) and No. 8 seed
Brian Soldano (184) all received top-eight pre-seeds ahead of Big Tens. Brackets and seeding will be finalized Friday afternoon.
Saturday's opening round at Crisler Center begins at 10 a.m. ET. For the third year in a row, the Big Ten Network and
B1G+ will offer live linear and streaming coverage of all four sessions at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships. Linear coverage on the Big Ten Network is also available on the
FOX Sports app. A full coverage schedule can be found below.
| TIME (ET) |
SESSION |
COVERAGE |
| 10 a.m. |
Session I |
BTN/B1G+ |
| 5:30 p.m. |
Session II (Wrestlebacks) |
B1G+ |
| 7:30 p.m. |
Session II (Semifinals) |
BTN |
| TIME (ET) |
SESSION |
COVERAGE |
| 1 p.m. |
Session III (Conso Semis) |
B1G+ |
| 4:30 p.m. |
Session IV (Championships) |
BTN |
| 4:30 p.m. |
Session IV (Placement Matches) |
B1G+ |
*denotes previous Big Ten Championships appearances
- With automatic bids on the line, Rutgers looks to qualify five or more wrestlers for nationals for the ninth consecutive season under head coach Scott Goodale.
- Five Scarlet Knights placed at last year's Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, while two others earned automatic bids to give RU seven national qualifiers in 2022 - the most for the program since the 2016-17 campaign.
- The five placewinners at Big Tens last season were the most for the program since 2018.
- This will be the third trip to Big Tens for Billy Janzer (197) and the second for Joseph Olivieri (141), Andrew Clark (157), Robert Kanniard (165), Jackson Turley (174) and Boone McDermott (HWT). Dean Peterson (125), Joe Heilmann (133), Tony White (141) and Brian Soldano (184) will make their Big Ten Championships debut.
- Janzer is the lone starter with multiple Big Ten Championships appearances, placing in 2021 (eighth).
- Rutgers finished the regular season ranked No. 22 in the final NWCA Coaches Poll - its 11th Top 25 finish under Goodale. The Scarlet Knights never exited the poll throughout the season and produced double-digit dual victories for the 14th season during Goodale's tenure.
- RU averaged 5,018 fans for its four home matches at Jersey Mike's Arena this season, the program's highest attendance average at the venue since the 2018-19 season when it averaged 5,038. The 7,848 fans for Rutgers' match with No. 1 Penn State was the second-largest in JMA history.
- Rutgers has produced 62 pins this season, including 14 in dual action. Devon Britton leads the team with five falls this season, which includes a third-period fall against Bloomsburg on Jan. 6 in RU's 45-0 dual victory.
- The Scarlet Knights have generated 151 wins by bonus this season. In dual action, Rutgers has produced 18 wins by major, 14 by fall and four by tech fall.
- Rutgers competes at the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships from March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
