Rutgers Wrestling: The Battle at the Birthplace is here!

National Rankings

Another week and Rutgers maintains its No. 10 spot in the polls. The Knights swept their three opponents on the west coast over the weekend as they prepare for Saturday’s #JerseyBattle with Princeton.

The Knights have five wrestlers ranked by the various services with two-time All American Anthony Ashnault leading the pack with top three placement and Richie Lewis in the Top Ten.

Nine Big Ten squads are in the USA Today/NWCA poll for this week, including three among the top four. Four of the teams are on the Knights’ schedule.

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week

Connor Medbery, Wisconsin, Heavyweight – Sr.

• The second-ranked wrestler claimed three victories, two top-five wins and the heavyweight title at the Journeymen Classic
• Picked up a 16-0 technical fall against Oklahoma’s Rex Schotts
• Defeated fifth-ranked Michael Krolls of Minnesota 10-0 in the semifinals
• Closed out the meet with a 3-2 win over fourth-ranked Tanner Hall of Arizona State
• The three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree earns the second Wrestler of the Week Award of his career and second in as many weeks

Flowrestling top matches

Flowrestling is one of the ranking services, but it also promotes wrestling outside of collegiate competition and has quite a bit of video.

They do their own preview of the Battle at the Birthplace; check it out below.

But fir now, Flowrestling compiled video of some of the best of the new world team members at the 2016 Bill Farrell International and a number of the best college wrestlers in the country at a number of different tournaments. These involved some wrestlers from the Big Ten. For the full story, along with video of all the matches, check here.

• Nick Lee (Penn State commit) vs Alan Waters (Missouri)
• Jimmy Kennedy (NYAC) vs Isaiah Martinez (Illinois)
• Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) vs Kellen Russell (Michigan)

a battle of two-time NCAA champs

• Nico Megaludis (Penn State) vs Khasankhusein Badrudinov

Battle at the Birthplace

Rutgers hosts Princeton (0-0) on Saturday, Nov. 19 in the historic “Battle at the Birthplace” wrestling match at High Point Solutions Stadium, presented by Autoland. The dual is set to begin at 11 a.m. For tickets, please call 1-866-445-GORU (4678) or click here.

This is one of the best events Rutgers has ever created for athletics. It is just a cool thing (no pun intended) to be wrestling outdoors...in November. But beyond that, Rutgers and Princeton have done this right, from marketing to scheduling to....well, everything.

As noted above, Flowrestling takes a look at four key bouts that could swing the match one way or the other.

SPECIAL NOTE: RU has posted a complete match day information guide which can be found here.

This is a full day. Apparently there’s something going on in the evening, but Head Coach Scott Goodale is starting early, and you can be part of the “background” to the Battle with a skull session on wrestling at 10:00 am.

On a personal note, I am looking to score one of these. As if I need one more item with an R on it!

Kaloust Bearcat Open

Eight Scarlet Knights wrestled at the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open, hosted by Binghamton University, over the weekend. RU left the tournament with three placewinners in 141-pound runner-up Michael Van Brill, fourth-place finisher at 197 pounds Kevin Mulligan, and fifth-place finisher at 133 pounds Josh Patrick.

Mulligan, who won the East Stroudsburg Open on Nov. 7, and Van Brill, who finished as runner-up at the ESU Open, both placed for the second consecutive tournament.

Josh Patrick, RS Junior 133 lbs. (6-2) Fifth Place

Lane Peters (USMAPS) W-MD, 15-3

Mark Grey (Unatt.) L-MD, 10-2

Conner Ziegler (Army) W-TF, 17-0

Johhny Stramiello (Finger Lakes WC) W-MD, 14-0

Ian Lupole (Binghamton) W-F, 0:19

Jeffrey Ott (Harvard) W-D, 6-3

Joe Lobeck (Lehigh) L-F, 1:02

Lane Peters (USMAPS) W-D, 6-4

Michael Van Brill, Freshman 141 lbs. (4-1) Runner-Up

Kyle Krasavage (Hofstra) W-D, 8-2

Griffin Higginbotham (Unatt.) W-D, 6-1

Dominic Giannangeli (Penn State) W-D, 10-4 (SV)

AJ Jaffe (Harvard) W-D, 6-2

Noah Forrider (Ohio University) L-D, 3-2

Kevin Mulligan, Freshman 197 lbs. (6-2) Fourth Place

Garett Stehley (Lehigh) W-MD, 13-3

Mark Tracy (Binghamton) L-D, 15-11

Sam Palumbo (Rider) W-MD, 8-0

Jeremiah Imonode (Army) W-F, 3:47

Kellan Stout (Penn State) W-D, 5-2

Mark Tracy (Binghamton) W-D, 4-0

Bennett Baulson (USMAPS) W-MD, 12-3

Jacob Anderson (Unatt.) L-D, 9-4

Full results here.