Rutgers wrestling saw six Scarlet Knights place at the Midland Championships on Friday in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The team produced 85 points resulting in a seventh place finish out of 46 teams come. Sixteen Scarlet Knights competed overall during the event.
Three wrestlers competed in third place matches on Friday night highlighted by No. 14 Sammy Alvarez winning the bronze with a 10-5 decision over Brian Courtney (Virginia – unattached). No. 12 Brian Soldano lost to Neal Antrassian of Virginia 12-6 at 184 pounds. Also No. 18 Dean Peterson suffered a medical forfeit to Harvard’s Diego Sotelo. Both wrestlers finished in fourth place of their respective weight classes.
In addition, No. 9 Joe Heilmann finished in fifth place at 133 pounds after Ryan Crookman of Lehigh had to take a medical forfeit. Andrew Clark had a memorable run at 157 pounds before finishing in sixth place after losing 3-0 to No. 16 Garrett Model of Wisconsin. Heavyweight Boone McDermott finished in eighth place after suffering a medical forfeit to Ben Goldin of Penn.
It was a solid but slightly disappointing performance overall for Rutgers. They had four wrestlers compete in the semifinal rounds on Friday morning but their best finish was Alvarez in third. Even so, the Scarlet Knights did have a half dozen place finishers. In addition, the entire group gained a lot of experience with Big Ten matches looming and postseason tournaments to follow.
For complete match by match results for every Rutgers wrestler, click here. For team results, click here. For full results of the Midland Championships, click here.
Rutgers will next wrestle at Bloomsburg on Friday, January 6 and at Rider on Sunday, January 8 to close out their non-conference schedule. The Scarlet Knights will begin its Big Ten schedule at Indiana on Friday, January 13.
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Biochemist01
January 4, 2023 at 2:00 am
Well, RU finished 6th overall with Alvarez placing 3rd at 141, Peterson at 125 and Soldano at 184 each placing 4th, Heilmann at 133 placing 5th, Clark at 157 placing 6th, and McDermott at 285 placing 8th (Peterson and McDermott MFF’ed out of their placement matches).
I would say it was a disappointing finish for the team and for some of the wrestlers. We had 4 guys make it to the semi-finals but all lost there. We had some very good performances, some expected performances, and some under-performances. There is still work to do. Kudos to all of the placers. Well done gentlemen.
Aaron Breitman
January 4, 2023 at 3:23 am
They had six finishers but as a team finished in seventh place overall as a team. Good to see your comment and hope all is well.
Biochemist01
January 4, 2023 at 9:59 pm
Hi Aaron – Thanks for the correction and a Happy and healthy New Year to you and your family!
Aaron Breitman
January 5, 2023 at 10:18 am
Thanks and same to you.