Rutgers Wrestling: Big Ten Championships, Session 3

It's the final day of the 102nd Big Ten Wrestling Championships!

Rutgers Placewinners this far

Through three sessions, Rutgers had three wrestlers place, with the other seven looking at fifth place or higher in Session 4.

Sixth Place: Anthony Perrotti

Seventh Place: Phil Bakuckas

Eighth Place: Sean McCabe

Rutgers in the Session 2

Rutgers went an incredible 15-3 in the night session on Day 1, putting itself in a position to do some damage fighting for third place awards. "It was one of the better rounds I've ever been a part of," said head coach Scott Goodale. "We met as a group after that first round and knew that it could be a special night if we got on a roll. McCabe got us started and next thing you know we're rolling. We treated it like a dual meet and wrestled for each other and that was the coolest thing that went on tonight. Everybody was into each other's matches."

NCAA Qualifiers

Besides Ashnault and Perrotti, Giraldo, Dippery, Lewis, Bakuckas, Gravina, Hrymack, and Smith had qualified for the NCAA Championships at the end of the first day.

Rutgers in Session 3

Not as strong a showing as the end of Day 1 but still a great success for a program moving up to the Big Ten.

125 No. 8 Seed Sean McCabe 

Seventh Place Match: vs. Johnni Jimenez (Wis)  Lost 11-3.  Finishes 8th.  Will need at-large bid to qualify for NCAA.

133 No. 10 Seed Anthony Giraldo  2-1 going into Session 3

Fourth Round: Wrestleback vs. Ryan Taylor (Wis)   Lost 9-5.  Will wrestle for 5th

Fifth Round: 5th place consolation: vs. No. 5 Eric Montoya (Neb)  Giraldo lost 2-0 to Montoya in the dual match.

141 No. 3 Seed Anthony Ashnault   3-0  First Big Ten individual title at stake

Finals: vs #8 Jimmy Gulibon (PSU)  History for Rutgers ewas on the line.  In the TB-2, Guilbon beat the weight class' top seed, Ohio State's Micah Jordan, 3-2.  He entered the tournament at 12-8.

149 Unseeded Tyson Dippery  

First round: vs. No. 5 Alec Pantaleo (Mich) Lost 3-2.  In the dual meet, Pantaleo won 14-5

Fourth round: Wrestleback vs. Pantaleo  Lost 4-1  A repeat of the first round bout, Pantaleo had already beaten Dippery twice this season.

Fifth place consolation: vs. Jake Suflohn (Neb)     Dippery lost 12-3 in the dual to Sulfohn

157 No. 3 Seed Richie Lewis   3-1 going into Session 3

Fifth Round: Wrestlebacks vs. Edwin Cooper (Iowa) Lost 2-0

Fifth place consolation: vs. Jake Ryan (OSU)

165 No. 4 Seed Anthony Perrotti   6th Place with Medical Forfeit

Fourth Round: Wrestlebacks vs Austin Wilson (Neb)  6th Place finish with Medical forfeit; qualifies for third NCAA tournament

174 No. 9 Seed Phil Bakuckas  7th Place

Seventh Place Wrestleback: vs. Robertson (Wis)  Wins FALL 3:20   It was a rematch of the opening match of the tourney for Bakuckas (won 2-0); this was the third meeting for him and Robertson. This will be Bakuckas' first NCAA tournament.

184 No. 5 Seed Nick Gravina

Fifth Round: Wrestleback vs. No. 2 Matt McCutcheon (PSU)  Wins 4-1 Will wrestle for 3rd

Third Place consolation: vs. No. 1 Dom Abounader (Mich)

197 No. 7 Seed Hayden Hrymack  3-1 going into Session 3

Fifth Round: Wrestlebacks vs. Aaron Studebaker (Neb)  Lost 14-2 

Fifth Place consolation: vs. No. 4 Max Huntley (Mich)

285 No. 4 Seed Billy Smith  3-1 going into Session 3

Smith won his 100th career match in the wrestlebacks, topping Wisconsin's Brock Horwarth, 7-3.  He was already a four-time NCAA qualifier, the first for Rutgers.

Fifth Round: Wrestlebacks vs. Colin Jensen (Neb) Won 6-4   In the dual match in December, Smith topped Jensen 8-2.

Third place consolation: vs. No. 3 Michael Kroells (Min) Repeat of quarterfinals where Smith lost on TB RT.

Team Scoring though three sessions

Rutgers had scored 20.5 points and finished in 11th place in its first year competing at the Big Ten Championships in 2015.  What a difference a year makes.  After Day 1, the Knights were in fifth place, had all ten wrestlers still competing, and had already scored 90.5 points.  And they had their first Big Ten finalist.

	Team	Score
1	PSU	136.5
2	IOWA	116
3	NEB	115
4	OSU	114
5	RUT	100.5
5	MICH	82.5
7	ILL	82
8	WIS	62.5
8	MINN	49.5
10	PUR	30
11	IND	29.5
11	NU	11.5
13	MSU	10.5
14	MD	7.5