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#12 Rutgers Wrestling held their ranking this week, as Intermat released their updated edition today. The team is 6-0 to start the season after sweeping back to back quad-meets in dominant fashion. Individually, 8 of 10 starters are ranked this week with Rob Kanniard falling out of the top 33 at 157lbs after his upset loss to Clarion’s Trevor Elvfin.
Most of the other ranked guys either stayed at their previous rank or moved up a couple spots, with the biggest positive mover being #23 Dylan Shawver, who has started the season 5-0 and moves up from the 26th spot. #12 Sammy Alvarez, #25 Mike VanBrill, and #27 Boone McDermott also all moved up in the rankings this week after going undefeated at Saturday’s quad-meet.
#4 Sebastian Rivera moves up from #5 after Intermat removed Cornell’s #1 ranked Yianni Diakomihalis from the 141lbs ranks to his now anticipated 149lbs weight class. Alternatively, Jackson Turley fell from #7 to #13 after losing to unranked John Worthing of Clarion this past weekend.
My biggest gripe with the rankings this week is #15 Greg Bulsak moving down from #14, as Intermat entered Lou Deprez of Binghamton (originally thought to be wrestling at 184lbs) into the mix at #10 up at 197lbs. When Rutgers wrestled Binghamton at the season opening quad-meet, Lou Deprez weighed in at 197lbs but didn’t come out to wrestle Bulsak, so it seems as they are strictly using past credentials to justify Deprez’s high ranking.
Also, over the weekend, freshman Tony White won the Johnathan Kaloust Bearcat Open at 149lbs out in Vestal, NY. The South Plainfield product continues his hot opening season run, going 5-0 in the open tournament with wins over Binghamton’s Nick Lombard in the finals and teammate Andrew Gapas earlier in the tournament.
Freshman Joey Olivieri placed 5th at the tournament with a notable 2-1 win over Binghamton’s then #28 Antony Sobotker, who just the week before upset Rutgers’ #12 Sammy Alvarez.
The team is off from competition this week and can next been seen Saturday 11/27 at the Prudential Center in Newark against both Hofstra and #15 North Carolina. The dual-meet against UNC should be a doozy, as there are potentially six ranked matchups on the table.
Full Intermat Rankings for Rutgers Wrestling:
125: #23 Dylan Shawver
133: #12 Sammy Alvarez
141: #4 Sebastian Rivera
149: #25 Mike VanBrill
174: #13 Jackson Turley
184: #5 John Poznanski
197: #15 Greg Bulsak
285: #27 Boone McDermott