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No. 12 Rutgers Wrestling will compete at the 2021 MatMen Open at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The Scarlet Knights enter this tournament after the annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships were cancelled by host school Northwestern early last week due to the recent COVID-19 surge.
The MatMen Open came together quickly and will still feature an incredibly strong field of teams and wrestlers. Including Rutgers, at least 10 ranked Division 1 squads have committed to sending at least a partial roster to the event, with over 75 individually ranked wrestlers set to compete.
This tournament is the first real chance for Rutgers to show how strong the lineup is top to bottom and fans should be excited about all the potential for ranked matchups. Below we have a breakdown of the attached Rutgers’ entries at each weight and the ranked competitors they could face throughout the two-day tournament.
I left the teams that are only sending partial rosters off the preview unless I saw confirmation of who is attending. Also note this is an open tournament, so there will be unattached wrestlers not officially representing their schools in the field as well.
I should also note that none of the entries listed below are confirmed and at the time of publishing it’s appearing that many teams are only sending partial rosters, including Rutgers.
125lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 25 Dylan Shawver (9-0)
Ranked Competitors:
No. 2 Patrick Glory of Princeton
No. 6 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin
No. 7 Devin Schroder of Purdue
No. 10 Brody Teske of Northern Iowa
No. 26 Gage Curry of Pitt
No. 27 Jacob Moran of Indiana
No. 29 Justin Cardini of Illinois
No. 30 Antonio Lorenzo of Cal Poly
No. 31 Anthony Molton of Campbell
No. 33 Ryan Miller of Penn
Thoughts and Predictions:
Rutgers’ No. 25 Dylan Shawver enters the tournament with an unblemished record, but that will most likely come to an end here. No. 2 Patrick Glory of Princeton has looked dominant in limited competition this year, and I think this is his tournament to lose.
How Shawver competes against his higher ranked foes here could be a great indicator of where he’s at among his peers, but he will be in the trenches no matter what seed he gets. I think Shawver places anywhere from 5th to 8th.
133lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 12 Sammy Alvarez (7-1)
Ranked Competitors:
No. 6 Micky Phillippi of Pitt
No. 7 Lucas Byrd of Illinois
No. 13 Michael Colaiocco of Penn
No. 19 Brock Hudkins of Indiana
No. 23 Kyle Burwick of Wisconsin
No. 32 Kyle Biscoglia of Northern Iowa
No. 33 Matt Ramos of Purdue
Thoughts and Predictions:
No. 12 Sammy Alvarez has a legitimate shot of winning this tournament if he wrestles like he has for the majority of the season so far. He owns a win over No. 6 Micky Phillippi (albeit from two seasons ago) and could see him again in the semi-finals if the seeding goes as I think it will.
Illinois’ Lucas Byrd placed 5th at the national tournament last year and will be a tough test for Alvarez should the two face off. I see Alvarez placing Top 3 here with a good shot of bringing home the title.
Of note, Rutgers will also be entering Joey Olivieri at 133lbs who is 9-1 while competing in open competitions during his redshirt season.
141lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 4 Sebastian Rivera (8-0)
Ranked Competitors:
No. 5 Dylan Duncan of Illinois
No. 14 Parker Filius of Purdue
No. 19 Darren Miller of Bucknell
No. 24 Cole Matthews of Pitt
No. 25 Cayden Rooks of Indiana
No. 27 Lawrence Saenz of Cal Poly
No. 29 Cael Happel of Northern Iowa
No. 31 Corey Shie of Army West Point
No. 32 Carmen Ferrante of Penn
Thoughts and Predictions:
Sebastian Rivera should be adding a MatMen Open Title to his litany of career accomplishments when the tournament is over as I expect him to run through most of the competition here as he has done all year.
Illinois No. 5 Dylan Duncan has yet to wrestle this season and may be up at 149lbs. Rivera also owns a 22-6 tech-fall victory over No. 14 Parker Filius from last year’s Big Ten Tournament. Rivera all the way here.
149lbs - Rutgers Entry: Al Desantis (4-3)
Ranked Competitors:
No. 10 Josh Heil of Campbell
No. 11 Austin Gomez of Wisconsin
No. 18 Legend Lamer of Cal Poly
No. 23 PJ Ogunsanya of Army West Point
No. 27 Anthony Artalona of Penn
Thoughts and Predictions:
The normal starter at 149lbs No. 19 Mike VanBrill will not be traveling to the tournament, so the team looks to Al Desantis.
Wisconsin’s No. 11 Austin Gomez is a stud wrestler who’s dealt with concussion issues throughout his career, but appears to be in a good shape for this season.
Of note, Rutgers will also be entering true freshman Tony White, who has been very impressive during his redshirt season so far (14-1).
157lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 29 Rob Kanniard (5-3)
Ranked Competitors:
No. 5 Quincy Monday of Princeton
No. 10 Kendall Coleman of Purdue
No. 20 Doug Zopf of Penn
No. 27 Markus Hartman of Army West Point
No. 28 Elijah Cleary of Pitt
Thoughts and Predictions:
No. 29 Rob Kanniard has had an up and down season for Rutgers so far, but he gets a chance here to turn some heads and try to pull off some upsets.
No. 5 Quincy Monday came home with some big wins at the CKLV tournament that took place in early December, falling only to No. 1 ranked Ryan Deakin of Northwestern.
Anything better than a 5th place finish here would be huge for Kanniard, as he looks to build some momentum heading into the second semester.
165lbs - Rutgers Entry: Andrew Clark (7-8)
Ranked Competition:
No. 2 Evan Wick of Cal Poly
No. 8 Jake Wentzel of Pitt
No. 14 Phil Conigliaro of Harvard
No. 15 Zach Hartman of Bucknell
No. 17 Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin
No. 18 Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois
No. 21 Danny Braunagel of Illinois
No. 22 Austin Yant of Northern Iowa
No. 29 Lucas Revano of Penn
No. 32 Dalton Harkins of Army West Point
Thoughts and Predictions:
No matter how you draw it up, this is going to be a tough day for Andrew Clark, but it will also be a great opportunity to wrestle some strong competition.
Cal Poly’s Evan Wick is a big favorite here and already has a win over last year’s national champion, Shane Griffith from Stanford, earlier this season. I expect Wick to take the title here relatively easily.
The fight for 2nd through 8th is where the real competition will take place. I don’t see Clark placing in this field, but hopefully he can pull off some upsets and have a good showing.
174lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 16 Jackson Turley (0-1)
Ranked Competition:
No. 10 Adam Kemp of Cal Poly
No. 18 Andrew McNally of Wisconsin
No. 19 Austin Murphy of Campbell
No. 21 Nick Icontrera of Penn
No. 25 Gerrit Nijenhuis of Purdue
No. 27 Ben Pasiuk of Army West Point
No. 29 Joshua Kim of Harvard
No. 30 Mason Kaufmann of Northern Illinois
Thoughts and Predictions:
No. 16 Jackson Turley is traveling with the team so we should get to see him in action for the first time since falling in the Clarion dual back on November 13th. Turley is an electric wrestler when healthy and could produce a solid showing at the MatMen Open.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Turley is on a match-count for this tournament because he has so little mat time on the season.
A top-8 placing for Turley isn’t the most desirable outcome, but it may be the most we can expect as he gets his wrestling legs under him.
184lbs - Rutgers Entry: No Entry
Ranked Competition:
No. 2 Myles Amine of Michigan (possibly)
No. 4 Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa
No. 6 Bernie Truax of Cal Poly
No. 7 Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois
No. 9 Donnell Washington of Indiana
No. 19 Zac Braunagel of Illinois
No. 21 Travis Stefanik of Princeton
No. 22 Max Lyon of Purdue
No. 24 Chris Weiler of Wisconsin
No. 25 Caleb Hopkins of Campbell
No. 30 Brad Laughlin of Army West Point
No. 31 Gregg Harvey of Pitt
UR: Mark Hall, Former National Champ from Penn State
Thoughts and Predictions:
No entry for Rutgers at this weight as John Poznanski won’t be traveling with the team.
197lbs - Rutgers Entry - No. 12 Greg Bulsak (8-0)
Ranked Competiton:
No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt
No. 15 Thomas Penola of Purdue
No. 17 Luke Stout of Princeton
No. 25 Matt Wroblewski of Illinois
No. 26 Braxton Amos of Wisconsin
No. 27 JT Brown of Army West Point
Thoughts and Predictions:
Rutgers’s Greg Bulsak has been smothering his competition all season and I expect more of the same early on at the MatMen Open.
No. 26 Braxton Amos is a Junior World Champion but fell to Hofstra’s Trey Rodgers, whom Bulsak dispatched 8-3. I still think that would be a fun matchup as both are powerful but quick wrestlers.
If Bulsak can muscle his way to the finals, he’ll likely meet Nino Bonaccosri of Pitt, who was the runner-up at this weight at last year’s national tournament. I like Bulsak to make it to the finals here and it would be fun to see what he can do against top competition like Bonaccorsi.
285lbs - Rutgers Entry: No. 26 Boone McDermott (7-1)
Ranked Competition:
No. 5 Trent Hilger of Wisconsin
No. 25 Taye Ghadiali of Campbell
No. 28 Jake Slinger of Pitt
UR: Yaraslav Slavikouski of Harvard
Thoughts and Predictions:
Rutgers’ Boone McDermott has had some exciting moments on the mat for the squad already this season and looks to build on them here.
Harvard’s Yaraslav Slavikouski isn’t ranked on Intermat at the moment, but is coming off an impressive performance at the CKLV tournament earlier this month.
Hilger should take the title here, and I expect Boone to finish top 5 if he wrestles his best.
Because this is an open tournament, I’m not sure that they will be keeping official team scores, but if they do there could be a team title in the future for Rutgers Wrestling.
They are the highest ranked team entered that is sending a full squad and it will be up to them to cement those ranks.
This tournament could be a great building block for the Scarlet Knights as they head into the always arduous Big Ten schedule that awaits in the coming weeks.
The action begins tomorrow, December 29th at 10:00AM and will be streamed on the Illinois MatMen Rokfin page ($$). As always, wrestlestat was a huge help in gathering all this information and if you’re a wrestling nerd like myself, I highly recommend you check them out. As usual, all the rankings came from the pay-wall free Intermat Wrestling website.