Rutgers Athletics: I'll take potpourri for $2000, Alex

Women's Lacrosse

Rutgers is hosting its first and only Big Ten championship this weekend, as the Women's Lacrosse Championships are conducted at High Point Solutions Stadium.  Championship info can be found here

Women's Lacrosse Honors

Redshirt senior midfielder Lauren Sbrilli and senior attacker Melissa Arthur were recognized  as postseason honorees by the Big Ten Conference. Sbrilli was named All-Big Ten for her second consecutive appearance on an all-conference squad, while Arthur was tabbed Rutgers’ Sportsmanship Award winner.

"I’m really proud of Lauren. In a season filled with ups and downs, Lauren was consistently accountable for her own performance while being a great mentor on a young team," said head coach Laura Brand-Sias. "This honor does not surprise me. She is extremely deserving."

Sbrilli, a First Team All-BIG EAST and Second Team IWLCA All-Mid Atlantic selection in 2014, started all 17 games at midfield for Rutgers this season while pacing the Scarlet Knights on the offensive end.  The Bridgewater-Raritan HS product enjoyed a career season with highs in goals (35), shots (93), shots on goal (71), player-up goals (3), ground balls (23), caused turnovers (12) and draw controls (24).

Wrestling

Redshirt freshman Anthony Ashnault was named to the Amateur Wrestling News 2015 All-Rookie Team, the publication announced Tuesday. The 141-pounder finished eighth at the 2015 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, becoming the second consecutive Rutgers All-American.

Ashnault, the third selection at the 141-pound weight class, joins Kevin Jack (31-10) from North Carolina State and top pick Dean Heil (27-10) from Oklahoma State as the three rookie honorees. Jack finished fifth at NCAAs, while Heil ended the tournament fourth.

The first freshman All-American in program history, Ashnault enjoyed a breakout season in 2014-15. The rookie ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation by Intermat and posted a team-best 19-2 dual record, defeating five opponents ranked by Intermat throughout the year.

The Big Ten had 10 representatives on the All-Rookie team, one-third of the total.  Ohio State had three wrestlers, Illinois two, and the other five schools (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, PSU, Rutgers) had one each.

2015-16 Wrestling Opponents

The Big Ten also announced the conference opponents this week.  Rutgers hosts Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin next season and travel to take on Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue.  The final dates, locations and times for the Scarlet Knights' Big Ten home matches have not been determined and will be announced at a later date.  Rutgers will begin next year's Big Ten slate at Iowa in December before returning home to face the Cornhuskers.

Men's Lacrosse

The Big Ten Conference released its 2015 men's lacrosse All-Conference teams on Tuesday and Rutgers had three players recognized. Senior midfielder Joe Nardella was named Big Ten Specialist of the Year and was selected as First Team All-Big Ten. Junior attacker Scott Bieda was also named a First Team All-Big Ten selection. Junior midfielder Zack Sikora was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten. Additionally, senior midfielder Brian Goss was selected as the Sportsmanship Award honoree.

"This is a great honor for Joe, Scott and Zack to be recognized by the Big Ten coaches for their efforts and performance this season on the field," head coach Brian Brecht said. "I am proud of the accomplishments of all three of them individually and what they did for us on game day and every day in practice.  As much as they were a big part of our success on game day, who they are off the field and in the classroom is even more impressive.  All three of them are true student-athletes, competing at the highest level of lacrosse on the field and in the classroom."

Men's Track & Field

Rutgers' 4x400m relay team captured the IC4A Championship Division title, Thomas Carr landed in third in the javelin's Championship Division and three Scarlet Knights were among the top ten in the javelin in the College Division to highlight RU's results at this year's Penn Relays.

The 4x400m relay team, featuring D'Andre Jordan, Jordan Jimerson, Stuart Tweedie and Jermaine Griffith, took off nearly six seconds from Friday's preliminary time to take first in the IC4A Championship Division. The Rutgers team posted a season-best time of 3:11.34.

In the Championship Division of the javelin, Carr threw for 71.27m (241' 9") for third place, while teammate Josh Suttmeier (Pattenburg, N.J.) was the runner-up of the College Division at 70.68m (231' 10").

Women's Track & Field

The Rutgers 4x200m relay team took fourth in the ECAC Championship Division to highlight the Scarlet Knights' results at the Penn Relays. The team of Imani Beauliere, Kaprice James, Jillian Grant and Bria Saunders took off over two seconds from Friday's preliminary heat and a season best time of 1:37.63.

Softball

The team wraps up its regular season at home this weekend.