PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 14 Rutgers wrestling sets its eyes on the postseason, beginning with the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, held March 9-10 in College Park, Maryland. The Scarlet Knights look to send five or more individuals to the national tournament for the 10th consecutive season and seven or more for the third consecutive time when wrestling begins Saturday at the XFINITY Center.
For the second 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.
Saturday, March 9
Sunday, March 10
- RU earned six top-eight seeds, including the No. 2 seed for Dylan Shawver (133) and the No. 4 seed for Yaraslau Slavikouski (HWT). Shawver's No. 2 seed is the highest for Rutgers at Big Tens since Anthony Ashnault was the No. 1 seed at 149 pounds in 2019.
- Along with Shawver and Slavikouski, No. 6 Jackson Turley (174), No. 7 Mitch Moore (141), No. 7 John Poznanski (197) and No. 8 Brian Soldano (184) are seeded eight or higher.
- This will be the third trip to the Big Ten Championships for Dylan Shawver (133), Jackson Turley (174) and John Poznanski (197), while Dean Peterson (125), Anthony White (165) and Brian Soldano (184) return for the second consecutive season. Mitch Moore (141), Michael Cetta (149), Al DeSantis (157) and Yaraslau Slavikouski (HWT) will make their Big Ten Championships debuts.
- With its 12-5 record, Rutgers finished the regular season No. 14 in the final NWCA Coaches Poll - its 12th Top 25 finish under head coach Scott Goodale. The Scarlet Knights never exited the poll throughout the season and produced double-digit dual wins for the 15th season during Goodale's tenure.
- RU averaged 4,002 fans for its nine-match home schedule, which included three bouts with 5,000 or more fans in the stands - vs. No. 7 Ohio State (5,769), No. 8 Virginia Tech (5,145) and vs. Princeton (5,049).
- Shawver enters this weekend off three consecutive wins against ranked opponents. The streak includes back-to-back victories over No. 8 Aaron Nagao (Penn State) and No. 9 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State).
- Soldano finished the dual season with three consecutive pins against No. 7 Ohio State, Maryland and Bloomsburg. Soldano co-led the team with six pins this season.
- Rutgers punched seven through to the national tournament at last year's Big Ten Championships, hosted in Ann Arbor, Michigan. No. 6 seed Boone McDermott (HWT), No. 7 seed Joe Heilmann (133), No. 8 seed Dean Peterson (125), No. 8 seed Brian Soldano (184), No. 10 seed Anthony White (149), No. 10 seed Jackson Turley (174) and No. 13 seed Andrew Clark (157) all earned automatic bids to nationals after their respective performances.
- With four automatic bids already locked up after Saturday's rounds, Clark, Turley, and White all outwrestled their seeds to secure their spots at nationals. It marks the second consecutive season seven Scarlet Knights will make the trip to the NCAA Championships and the ninth consecutive season RU has five or more national qualifiers under head coach Scott Goodale.
- In total, Rutgers produced 12 wins over ranked foes by Intermat, including two top-10 victories from Turley against No. 10 Donnell Washington (Indiana) and Soldano over No 10 Abe Assad (Iowa).
- Rutgers finished with five Big Ten placewinners – Soldano (sixth), Peterson (seventh), Turley (seventh), Heilmann (eighth) and McDermott (eighth) – for the second consecutive season. Soldano became just the fourth true freshman in program history to place at the Big Ten Championships since Rutgers joined in 2014-15. The Scarlet Knights finished 11th with 32 team points.
- Rutgers closes the season at the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, held March 21-23 in Kansas City, Missouri.
