Last weekend, Rutgers had seven wrestlers earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships following the Big Ten Championships. On Wednesday, brackets and seeding were announced for nationals that are taking place from March 16-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The seven wrestlers who are set to compete next weekend are Dean Peterson (125), Joe Heilmann (133), Tony White (149), Andrew Clark (157), Jackson Turley (174), Brian Soldano (184) and Boone McDermott (HWT).
It’s the ninth straight season that Rutgers is sending at least five wrestlers to nationals. The program is sending seven wrestlers for a second consecutive season.
At the Big Ten Championships, it was Soldano who had a program best sixth place finish. Peterson and Turley finished seventh in their respective weight classes. Heilmann and McDermott both finished eighth, making it five Scarlet Knights who made the made the podium.
In addition, Clark and White finished ninth in their weight classes, which had that many automatic bids allocated. Both outperformed their double digit seeds. Clark was No. 13 and White was No. 10.
Rutgers will also send an eighth wrestler to Tulsa in Joseph Olivieri, who was named the first alternate at 141 pounds. He finished 10th at the Big Ten Championships. Olivieri will be on call to replace any wrestler who is unable to compete at nationals.
In regard to seeding, Peterson (21-9) is the highest seed for Rutgers at No. 13 for 125 He will face No. 20 Jarrett Trombley of NC State (13-6). At 133 pounds, Heilmann (24-9) is the No. 17 seed and will take on No. 16 Kyle Biscoglia (19-9).
For the middle weights, at 149 pounds Tony White (14-13) is the No. 32 seed and will face No. 33 Isaiah Delgado (15-14). At 157 pounds, Andrew Clark (19-15) is the No. 21 seed and will wrestle No. 12 Kendall Coleman (27-6) of Purdue.
For the upper weights, Jackson Turley (10-12) is the No. 30 seed. He will face No. 3 Mehki Lewis (18-1) of Virginia Tech at 174 pounds. At 184 pounds, Brian Soldano is seeded No. 18 and will square off with No. 15 seed Layne Malczewski of Michigan State. Lastly, Heavyweight Boone McDermott is seeded No. 24 and will face No. 9 seed Lucas Davison.
For a full listing and review of seeding for each weight class, click here.
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Biochemist01
March 9, 2023 at 9:10 pm
The team had a rough Session 1 at Big Tens but wrestled back hard to place multiple guys at Big Tens and to qualify 7 for Nationals, and perhaps 8. That is a really solid performance. Well done guys.
Unfortunately Rutgers wrestlers got really tough draws at NCAAs and will likely have a tough opening day.