Rutgers Wrestling holds at No. 10 after squeaker with Tigers

Rutgers had one match last week, but what a match. The first outdoor match in school history, one of only a handful outside of warm weather climes, and it was a beauty. It went off to perfection, including the 65 degree weather. And Rutgers won, 19-16. Take a look at some highlights from RVision. If you’re a wrestling fan, you’ll get chills.

With a crowd of 16,178 on hand, it was the second largest dual meet crowd in NCAA history, exceeded only by the 42,287 at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium last season. The fans were excited and, again, RVision captured their thoughts.

National Rankings

Rutgers holds on to its No. 10 spot in the USA Today/NWCA poll. It’s there along with eight other Big Ten schools. This week, Princeton received four votes in the balloting. You’re welcome, Tigers.

Individually, Rutgers still has the same five wrestlers ranked. With his loss to Princeton’s No. 10 Matt Kolodzik, Anthony Ashnault dropped in the rankings. His biggest fall was with Amateur Wrestling News, where he fell six spots to No. 9. Scott Theobold benefited from his win last Saturday moving up six spots with WIN Magazine and four with FloWrestling.

Around the Big Ten

Most schools are still in the tournament phase of the schedule with a few duals thrown in. No conference matches have been conducted to date. Big Ten teams’ records are below.

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week

Kyle Snyder, Ohio State Heavyweight – Jr.

• Picked up a win to lead the Buckeyes to a 27-15 dual meet victory over No. 19 Arizona State
• Earned a 20-8 major decision over fourth-ranked Tanner Hall of Arizona State
• The 2015-16 Academic All-Big Ten honoree earns the second Wrestler of the Week Award of his career

Upcoming Schedule

Rutgers will again compete at the “Grapple at the Garden” this weekend. The now highly-successful match up at the World’s Most Famous Arena will be this Sunday with Rutgers taking on Columbia at 10:30 followed by a very good contest with No. 8 Cornell. Last year, the Knights topped Cornell 21-13 in the Grapple.

After the Princeton match, an announcement was made stating that Princeton would take on Buffalio and Maryland at the Garden while Rutgers would wrestle Cornell. It did not mention Columbia, the other scheduled opponent for RU. Columbia’s wrestling program had been suspended due to a series of lewd and racist texts. The suspension was pending an investigation which apparently identified specific individuals as the culprits; the latest reports indicate that the program will continue to compete.