ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 22 Rutgers wrestling pushed four through to the national tournament with more opportunities for automatic bids after Session II of the 2023 Big Ten Championships on Saturday night in Ann Arbor, Michigan. No. 6 seed Boone McDermott (HWT), No. 7 seed Joe Heilmann (133), No. 8 seed Brian Soldano (184) and No. 8 seed Dean Peterson (125) all punched their tickets to the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships, held from March 16-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
With No. 10 seed Jackson Turley (174) advancing to his seventh-place bout, the Scarlet Knights locked up five podium finishes for the second consecutive season under head coach Scott Goodale. Turley needs a win tomorrow morning against No. 6 seed Donnell Washington (Indiana) to earn an automatic bid and secure his second trip to the national tournament after he earned All-America laurels in 2021.
 
Thanks to back-to-back wild victories, including a first period fall over No. 10 Abe Assad (Iowa) in the consolation semifinals, Soldano can finish as high as third when wrestling resumes Sunday morning. Turley, Heilmann, McDermott and Peterson will all wrestle for seventh.
 
With nine or more allocations for the Big Ten Conference at all weights but 174 pounds, No. 7 seed Joseph Olivieri (141), No. 10 seed Tony White (149), No. 11 seed Billy Janzer (197) and No. 13 seed Andrew Clark (157) all have chances to secure trips to nationals in their ninth-place brackets.
 
Through two sessions, RU sits in 11th in the team race with 30.0 points.
 
Placement and Consolation Semifinal Matchups
184 (Consolation Semifinals): (8) Brian Soldano vs. (3) Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota)
125 (Seventh Place): (8) Dean Peterson vs. (9) Jack Medley (Michigan)
133 (Seventh Place): (7) Joe Heilmann vs. (8) Brody Teske (Iowa)
174 (Seventh Place): (10) Jackson Turley vs. (6) Donnell Washington (Indiana)
HWT (Seventh Place): (6) Boone McDermott vs. (10) Hayden Copass (Purdue)
 
Ninth Place Semifinal Matchups
141: (7) Joseph Olivieri vs. (13) Cayden Rooks (Indiana)
149: (10) Tony White vs. (11) Dayne Morton (Nebraska)
157: (13) Andrew Clark vs. (7) Michael Carr (Illinois)
165: (12) Robert Kanniard vs. (9) Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)
197: (11) Billy Janzer vs. (10) Nick Willham (Indiana)
 
Session II.
Soldano provided fireworks on Saturday night, beginning with a wild 12-9 win in tiebreakers to No. 10 seed Tyler Dow (Wisconsin). Soldano opened with a takedown and four-point near fall before Dow countered with his own six-point play, as the first period ended 7-7. Soldano reversed Dow off the restart in period two, but back-to-back escape points pushed the match to sudden victory. With no scoring in the two-minute period, Soldano began TB1 bottom before escaping and landing a takedown at the buzzer. Soldano would fend off an attack in the final over period for the 12-9 victory to advance.
 
Soldano then followed against Assad – who entered the tournament ranked as high as No. 9 in the country – and pinned his opponent in the first period with an inside trip to move to the consolation semifinals.
 
Heilmann and Peterson opened the night session with back-to-back wins to push through to the national tournament. In a rematch against No. 7 seed Braxton Brown (Maryland) from the regular season, Peterson landed takedowns in all three periods for an 8-3 win. Heilmann also earned a rematch against No. 9 seed RayVon Foley (Michigan State) and muscled a 5-2 decision to move on to the consolation quarterfinals.
 
McDermott would close out the round with a 4-0 win over No. 12 seed Ryan Vasbinder (Michigan State), locking up four spots at nationals for the Scarlet Knights. Heilmann, McDermott and Peterson would all drop their next matches, with Heilmann and Peterson's coming to top-three seeds.
 
Session I                        
Heilmann faced No. 10 seed Taylor LaMont (Wisconsin) in the opening round, riding out the Badger in the second period after a scoreless first. LaMont would land a takedown early in the final period, but Heilmann finished strong with a takedown of his own with 30 seconds to go, advancing to the quarterfinals by 5-2 decision.
 
In his opening-round matchup with No. 9 seed Dylan Connell (Illinois), Soldano worked an escape in the final period to force sudden victory with a 2-2 tie. Wrestling from his back in overtime, Soldano flipped Connell and landed the takedown for the 4-2 win to advance on the championship side of the bracket.
 
McDermott closed the opening round with No. 11 seed Garrett Joles (Minnesota), landing a takedown in the first period before he finished a scramble for two in period three for a 6-3 decision. McDermott's win secured three quarterfinalists for the Scarlet Knights to open the tournament.
 
Heilmann, McDermott and Soldano all lost their quarterfinal bouts to higher seeds to drop to the backside of the bracket. All three can secure top-eight finishes and an automatic bid to nationals with a win to open the second session.
 
125: (8) Dean Peterson (1-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(9) Jack Medley (Michigan)	L-MD, 9-0
Conso Rd. 1	Bye
Conso Rd. 2	(7) Braxton Brown (Maryland)	W-D, 8-3
Conso Quarterfinals	(3) Matt Ramos (Purdue)	L-Fall (4:22)
7th-Place Match	(9) Jack Medley (Michigan)

 
133: (7) Joe Heilmann (2-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(10) Taylor LaMont (Wisconsin)	W-D, 5-2
Quarterfinals	(2) Jesse Mendez (Ohio State)	L-D, 4-0
Conso Rd. 2	(9) RayVon Foley (Michigan State)	W-D, 5-2
Conso Quarterfinals	(3) Lucas Byrd (Illinois)	L-MD, 8-0
7th-Place Match	(8) Brody Teske (Iowa)

 
141: (7) Joseph Olivieri (0-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(10) Cole Mattin (Michigan)	L-D, 5-3
Conso Rd. 1	Bye
Conso Rd. 2	(8) Parker Filius (Purdue)	L-D, 9-5
9th-Place Semifinal	(13) Cayden Rooks (Indiana)

 
149: (10) Tony White (0-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(7) Graham Rooks (Indiana)	L-D, 4-1
Conso Rd. 1	Bye
Conso Rd. 2	(9) Chance Lamer (Michigan)	L-D, 6-3
9th-Place Semifinal	(11) Dayne Morton (Nebraska)

 
157: (13) Andrew Clark (2-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(4) Chase Saldate (Michigan State)	L-D, 5-2
Conso Rd. 1	(12) Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State)	W-D, 4-1
Conso Rd. 2	(6) Will Lewan (Michigan)	L-SV1, 3-1
9th-Place Quarterfinal	(14) Michael North (Maryland)	W-D, 4-0
9th-Place Semifinal	(7) Michael Carr (Illinois)

 
165: (12) Robert Kanniard (1-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(5) Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)	L-TF, 20-5 (6:14)
Conso Rd. 1	(13) Stoney Buell (Purdue)	L-D, 8-5
9th-Place Quarterfinal	(13) Stoney Buell (Purdue)	W-D, 12-8
9th-Place Semifinal	(9) Andrew Sparks (Minnesota)

 
174: (10) Jackson Turley (1-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(7) Nelson Brands (Iowa)	L-D, 1-0
Conso Rd. 1	Bye
Conso Rd. 2	(8) Troy Fisher (Northwestern)	W-MFF
Conso Quarterfinal	(5) Edmond Ruth (Illinois)	L-TB1, 4-3
7th-Place Match	(6) Donnell Washington (Indiana)

 
184: (8) Brian Soldano (3-1)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(9) Dylan Connell (Illinois)	W-SV1, 4-2
Quarterfinals	(1) Aaron Brooks (Penn State)	L-TF, 18-2 (6:57)
Conso Rd. 2	(10) Tyler Dow (Wisconsin)	W-TB1, 12-9
Conso Quarterfinal	(5) Abe Assad (Iowa)	W-Fall (0:53)
Consolation Semifinal	(3) Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota)

 
197: (11) Billy Janzer (2-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(6) Jaxon Smith (Maryland)	L-D, 8-3
Conso Rd. 1	(14) Hayden Filipovich (Purdue)	W-D, 8-2
Conso Rd. 2	(4) Cameron Caffey (Michigan State)	L-D, 4-1
9th-Place Quarterfinal	(14) Hayden Filipovich (Purdue)	W-D, 4-1
9th-Place Semifinal	(10) Nick Willham (Indiana)

 
HWT: (6) Boone McDermott (2-2)

Round	Opponent	Result
Round 1	(11) Garrett Joles (Minnesota)	W-D, 6-3
Quarterfinals	(3) Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)	L-Fall (2:54)
Conso Rd 2	(12) Ryan Vasbinder (Michigan State)	W-D, 4-0
Conso Quarterfinal	(7) Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)	L-Inj. (3:16)
7th-Place Match	(10) Hayden Copass (Purdue)