Rutgers Wrestling falls against a ranked Oklahoma team, picks up win over Drexel.
The Rutgers wrestling team split its weekend matches, falling to then-No. 20 Oklahoma 19-14 but beating unranked Drexel 28-12. Oklahoma’s win saw them jump up into the No.15 spot according to the NWCA Coaches Poll. The Scarlet Knights were ranked at No.12 before moving down to No.19.
Despite the result, Rutgers got off to a really hot start in their dual against Oklahoma. The Knights took home four victories in the first six bouts and built an 11-6 lead heading into the final four. This run was highlighted by a No. 13/9 Dylan Shawver major decision over Carter Schmidt,13-3, and a No. 26/28 Anthony White Major decision over Layton Schneider, 8-0. Unfortunately for the Knights, their run would stop here. Rutgers was beaten in four straight bouts, allowing Oklahoma to secure victory. Both 174-pounder No. 9/4 Lenny Pinto and HWT No.22/19 Hunter Catka fought their opponent tough, but neither could find a way to pull off a victory against their ranked opponents.
Former Knight and 184-pounder No.11 Brian Soldano found his way back to the banks for this match after becoming a Sooner. He delivered Oklahoma a 9-6 decision over No. 15/18 Shane Cartagena-Walsh.
The heavier weights for Rutgers, who struggled against Oklahoma, fared much better against Drexel. The Knights finished the duel with five straight wins and seven wins overall. This streak was highlighted by Pinto securing a fall over No.18/13 Jesiah Queen, Cartagena-Walsh securing a major decision over Ethan Wilson, 18/16 197-pounder Remy Cotton securing a major decision over No.31 Ibrahim Ameer, and Catka securing a tech fall over Dom Petracci to cement Rutgers 16 point win.
The season as a whole started strong for Rutgers. The Knights started 5-0 in the duals, cruising over schools like Centenary, Gardner-Webb, Bloomsburg, Navy, and Davidson. The team also took home first place in the Keystone Classic, where Pinto, 141-pounder Joseph Olivieri, and 125-pounder Ayden Smith brought home individual titles for their weight class. Rutgers would finish the tournament with 159 team points. The next highest was Penn at 140 team points.
However, once Rutgers played No.10 NC State and No.20 Oklahoma, they struggled, dropping both duals in tough fashion. Despite their win over unranked Drexel, things will only get harder for the Knights from here, as their next dual is a date with No.1 Penn State in Happy Valley to kick off conference play, one week before No.13 Michigan comes to town. The Big Ten is widely regarded as the best conference in wrestling, so Rutgers will have to step up and win some ranked duals to show that it still deserves to be a ranked program itself.
The first bout for the Knights in their match at Penn State will be at 4 pm on January 10th.
Category: General Sports
