UPDATED: Rutgers Wrestling up one to #16 in poll

“Shorty” Hitchcock Memorial Classic

The North Carolina match was barely in the books when the Knights hit the road for a weekend tournament. Many of the wrestlers had not competed against UNC.

Razohnn Gross (HWT) and Zach Firestone (133) collected individual titles to highlight action for No. 17 Rutgers wrestling at the “Shorty” Hitchcock Memorial Classic Saturday afternoon in Millersville, PA.

Eight Scarlet Knights earned top-three finishes, with Kyle DiNapoli (133), John Van Brill (157) and Joseph Grello (174) all collecting runner-up performances after advancing to their respective title bouts. Nick Santos (149), Jordan Pagano (174) and Kevin Mulligan (197) each finished third for RU.

UNC Match

We recapped the match here, but the tweet below has some great video for your entertainment.

UPDATED/NEW: Big Ten Co-Wrestlers of the Week

Nathan Tomasello, Ohio State, 126 pounds – Sr.

• Recorded a victory over a top-five opponent to lead the Buckeyes to a conference win over Minnesota
• Defeated No. 4 Ethan Lizak of Minnesota by an 18-3 technical fall for his first top-25 win of the season
• Improved to 2-0 overall

Vincenzo Joseph, Penn State, 165 pounds

• Went 2-0 on the weekend, including a ranked opponent, to lead the Nittany Lions to conference victories over No. 4 Michigan and Michigan State
• Defeated No. 5 Logan Massa of Michigan by a 12-3 major decision on Friday night in Ann Arbor
• Notched a first period pin (2:48) over Spartans’ Austin Hiles in East Lansing

BTN Wrestling in 60

One of the best things that BTN has is its “[Insert Sport] in 60”. Whether football, basketball, or some other sport, you get all the action and no stoppages in an hour. For wrestling, it usually highlights the best individual bouts of the past week. Last week, Eleazer DeLuca’s stirring come-from-behind victory against OSU’s No. 5 Ke-Shawn Hayes was the number one match on the show. This week, besides a lot of Penn State-Michigan bouts, our own Scott DelVecchio was featured. It will air again and you can check when by clicking here.

National Rankings

Eleven Big Ten schools are ranked in the Top 25 of this week’s USA Today/NWCA poll. Eleven!!

There was some minor movement on the national scene included Rutgers moving up a spot to 16 in the US Today/NWCA Poll. The win over North Carolina must be viewed positively; UNC dropped a spot to No. 25 but remains in the rankings, the only team with a losing record.

Penn State (7-0) remained at No. 1, gathering 11 of 16 possible first-place votes. The Lions won against two Big Ten schools over the weekend, topping No. 8 Michigan 25-12 in Ann Arbor before overwhelming Michigan State 48-3.

A big move within the B1G: Northwestern (7-1) jumped up five spots after beating Wisconsin 18-14 on Friday. The Badgers (4-1) dropped five spots from No. 16 to No. 21.

On the Banks graphics

On the individual side, most Rutgers wrestlers maintained their positions. Notable exceptions were John Van Brill and Nick Gravina, both of whom lost against North Carolina, who dropped several spots in some rankings. At the time of this posting, Amateur Wrestling News (AWN) had not released rankings. We will update this when available. UPDATED WITH NEW WIN MAGAZINE RANKINGS

On the Banks graphics

Up Next

In a non-conference match, the Hofstra Pride come to the RAC on Friday night for a 7:00 pm start. The Pride is currently 7-6 after a 1-2 weekend at home. On the Banks will have a full preview later in the week.