No. 11 Wrestling Set for 2026 Big Ten Championships

Saturday, March 7

State College, Pa.

10 AM

Rutgers University

Big Ten Championships - Session I

No. 17 Rutgers wrestling vs. Purdue (Jan. 18, 2026)

Photo by: Sarah Snyder

No. 11 Wrestling Set for 2026 Big Ten Championships

Mar 05 | Wrestling

Live Results Big Ten Plus (Day One)Big Ten Plus (Day Two)Pre-Seeds Big Ten Championships Notes

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 11 Rutgers wrestling competes at the 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships March 7-8 in State College, Pennsylvania. Big Ten Network and Big Ten Plus will provide complete coverage of all four sessions when wrestling begins on Saturday at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Weekend Schedule

Saturday, March 7

Time	Session	Stream/TV
10 a.m.	Session I (First Round, Quarterfinals, Wrestlebacks)	Big Ten Network \| Big Ten Plus
5 p.m.	Session II (Consolation Matches, Wrestlebacks)	Big Ten Plus
7 p.m.	Session II (Semifinals)	Big Ten Network \| Big Ten Plus

Sunday, March 8

Time	Session	Stream/TV
12 p.m.	Session III (Consolation Semifinals, 7th-Place Matches)	Big Ten Plus
4:30 p.m.	Session IV (1st, 3rd and 5th-Place Matches)	Big Ten Network \| Big Ten Plus

The Scarlet Knights bring one of their most experienced lineups to Big Tens in program history, with six starters competing as graduate students. The lineup has a combined 41 career wins at the conference tournament, which includes 2024 Big Ten Champion Dylan Shawver (133) and 2025 Big Ten runner-up Lenny Pinto (174).

RU is one of just two teams in the country with all 10 starters in both the final coaches' rank and RPI, as the program looks to send its full lineup to the NCAA Championships for the second time in school history and first time since it brought all 10 to the 2016 national tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Postseason Lineup

Weight	(B1G Pre-Seed) Wrestler (Record)	Previous Big Ten Championships Finishes
125	(6) Ayden Smith (14-8)	First Appearance
133	(9) Dylan Shawver (17-9)	2025 - Sixth; 2024 - First; 2022 - Seventh (125); 2021 - DNP (125)
141	(10) Joseph Olivieri (15-0)	2025 - Sixth; 2023 - DNP; 2022 - DNP (133)
149	(7) Andrew Clark (14-8)	2025 - Sixth; 2023 - DNP (157); 2022 - DNP (149)
157	(4) Anthony White (14-6)	2025 - DNP (165); 2024 - DNP (165); 2023 - DNP (149)
165	(7) Andrew Barbosa (16-5)	First Appearance
174	(10) Lenny Pinto (10-7)	2025 - Second; 2024 - Third (184); 2023 - Fifth (184)*
184	(7) Shane Cartagena-Walsh (20-6)	2025 - Eighth
197	(3) Remy Cotton (14-4)	2025 - DNP!
HWT	(8) Hunter Catka (17-7)	First Appearance

*competed at Nebraska from 2022-25
! competed at Michigan State from 2023-25

What to Know

Remy Cotton (197) earned the program's highest pre-seed, checking in at No. 3 ahead of this weekend's conference tournament. No. 4 seed Anthony White (157), No. 6 seed Ayden Smith (125), No. 7 seed Andrew Clark (149), No. 7 seed Andrew Barbosa (165), No. 7 seed Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184) and No. 8 seed Hunter Catka (HWT) all earned top eight pre-seeds.
Shawver is set to compete in his program-record fifth Big Ten Championships. Clark, Pinto, White and Joseph Olivieri (141) will wrestle for the fourth time at the conference championships, while Cotton and Cartagena-Walsh will appear for the second time in their respective careers. Barbosa, Catka and Smith will make their Big Ten Championships debuts.
Rutgers looks to secure seven or more NCAA qualifiers for the fifth consecutive season after it locked up five automatic bids and two at-large selections for the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia.
The Scarlet Knights have had five or more placewinners at each of the past five Big Ten Championships.
Nine out of 10 starters for Rutgers qualified the weight ahead of the NCAA Championships, while all 10 own a coaches' rank and RPI.
At 15-0, Oliveri is one of 12 undefeated individuals in the Big Ten Championships field and one of 22 undefeated wrestlers in the country. Olivieri is one of four undefeated individuals in his weight class, along with No. 1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State), No. 2 Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State) and No. 5 Luke Stanich (Lehigh).
Shawver looks to become just the second two-time Big Ten Champion in program history after winning in 2024. Shawver will compete in his fifth Big Ten Championships this weekend, after wrestling in 2021 and 2022 at 125 pounds and 2024 and 2025 at 133 pounds.
Pinto looks to secure his fourth top-eight finish at the championships and his first at Rutgers. Pinto finished second (2025), third (2024) and fifth (2023) competing at 174 and 184 pounds at Nebraska.
Closing on a six-match win streak, Rutgers finished No. 11 in the final NWCA Coaches Poll of the regular season. The Scarlet Knights tallied a 14-5 dual record in 2025-26, which included a 5-3 record in conference action to help RU secure its highest regular season Big Ten finish (T3rd) in program history.
Rutgers picked up a 23-15 win over No. 6 Minnesota this season, its first-ever win over the Golden Gophers in program history and seventh top 10 win under head coach Scott Goodale.

Last Year at Big Tens

Rutgers finished ninth with 46 team points at the 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships in Evanston, Illinois. The result included five placewinners – Dean Peterson (6th), Dylan Shawver (6th), Joseph Olivieri (6th), Andrew Clark (6th) and Shane Cartagena-Walsh (8th).
No. 6 seed Jackson Turley (174) and No. 10 seed Conner Harer (157) won their respective ninth-place brackets, finishing one spot out of the eight allocations for their weight classes. No. 10 seed Anthony White (165) also wrestled to within one spot of the nine allocations at 165 pounds
Turley and Yaraslau Slavikouski (HWT) left the tournament with at-large selections, bringing the total number of NCAA qualifiers to seven for the fourth consecutive season.