Rutgers will be leaving the NCAA tournament with none of its wrestlers earning all-American status after both Heavyweight Hunter Catka and 197-pounder Remy Cotton lost in the blood round. The Scarlet Knights had a rough start to the tournament, going 2-7 during the first session, meaning that 7 of their nine wrestlers were forced to compete in the wrestlebacks.
Catka and Remy were the only two Knights to win in the first round. They both took home victories in the second round but both fell in the quarterfinals
before losing in the round of 12. Remy was the reason for Rutgers biggest win of the tournament, as he took down No.2 Rocky Elam from Iowa State, before falling to No.7 Cody Merrill from Oklahoma State.
This year was expected to be better than last year in terms of the NCAA tournament for Rutgers. Head coach Scott Goodale stressed the need for a better performance in March after the team’s lackluster performance last season. They had a lot of senior leadership on the team and they took down No.6 Minnesota in a dual earlier in the year. However, none of that mattered when it came to the tournament and the Knights left Cleveland with the same result as last year. Goodale expressed his disappointment in a statement made to NJ.com.
“We knew it would be hard, we had a couple opportunities there, I don’t think we wrestled our best this weekend as a team,” said Goodale. “We lost a lot of close matches, and that’s what I’m having a hard time with.”
With the season now over, Rutgers wrestling will look forward to next year. With many wrestlers aging out, the only starters with eligibility left are Cotton, Andrew Barbosa, Shane Cartagena-Walsh, and Ayden Smith. The Knights do have a few good prospects coming in, 125-pounder Anthony Knox in particular, who can hopefully provide the spark Rutgers needs in the NCAA tournament during their time here.
Final Results
125: (24) Ayden Smith (0-2)
Rd. 1 vs (9) Maximo Renteria (Oregon State) L-D, 8-7
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (25) Kael Lauridsen (Nebraska) L-D, 5-1
133: (26) Dylan Shawver (0-2)
Rd. 1 vs (7) Lucas Byrd (Illinois) L-D, 11-7
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (10) Maximillian Leete (American) L-D, 4-1
141: (9) Joseph Olivieri (1-2)
Rd. 1 vs (24) Nash Singleton (Oregon State) L-D, 2-1
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (25) Tom Crook (Virginia Tech) W-D, 8-7
Conso. Rd. 2 vs (10) Jack Consiglio (Stanford) L-D, 10-8
149: (24) Andrew Clark (0-2)
Rd. 1 vs (9) David Evans (Utah Valley) L-D, 11-5
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (25) Michael Gioffre (Illinois) L-TF, 18-1 (6:17)
165: (14) Andrew Barbosa (0-2)
Rd. 1 vs (19) Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) L-D, 8-2
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (30) Thomas Snipes (Citadel) L-TB1, 3-1
174: (21) Lenny Pinto (1-2)
Rd. 1 vs (12) Carter Schubert (Oklahoma) L-D, 5-4
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (28) Holden Garcia (Princeton) W-D, 15-12
Conso. Rd. 2 vs (6) Matty Singleton (NC State) L-MD, 11-1
184: (11) Shane Cartagena-Walsh (2-2)
Rd. 1 vs (22) Zack Ryder (Oklahoma State) L-SV1, 4-1
Conso. Rd. 1 vs (28) Aidan Brenot (North Dakota St.) W-D, 7-2
Conso. Rd. 2 vs (12) Dylan Fishback (Ohio State) W-D, 8-1
Conso. Rd. 3 vs (4) James Conway (F&M) L-MD, 12-1
197: (15) Remy Cotton (2-2)
Rd. 1 vs (18) Andrew Reall (Brown) W-D, 4-2
Rd. 2 vs (2) Rocky Elam (Iowa State) W-MD, 12-4
Quarterfinals vs (7) Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) L-D, 8-3
Round of 12 vs (27) Gabe Arnold (Iowa) L-D, 4-3
HWT: (27) Hunter Catka (2-2)
Rd. 1 vs(6) Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) W-SV1, 6-3
Rd. 2 vs (11) Devon Dawson (Northern Illinois) W-TB1, 2-1
Quarterfinals vs (3) Taye Ghadiali (Michigan) L-MD, 8-0
Round of 12 vs (18) Christian Carroll (Wyoming) L-SV1, 8-5
