Rutgers wrestling has eight wrestlers moving on to day two of the 58th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championship. The Scarlet Knights were able to get four wrestlers through to the semi-final round, as four other grapplers still have a medal hoping alive in the consolation bracket. Currently, Rutgers sits at fourth in the team race with 60 team points, behind Wisconsin (78.5), Northwestern (63.0), and Pitt (61.5).
The day was highlighted by two shining moments in the quarter-final round. The first, coming from Andrew Clark, who ran into UPenn’s top-seeded Anthony Artalona, who is ranked 15th in the country according to Intermat. Clark dropped a 4 – 1 decision to Artalona a few weeks ago at the Garden State Grapple.
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Trailing 1 – 0 in the third period, Clark was able to get an escape and takedown to make it a 3 – 1 match. Artalona was able to answer with an escape of his own, which brought the match within one point. The match came to a tie score at 3 – 3 with 35 seconds left, due to a questionable stalling call against Clark, which was his second stall warning of the match.
After the time expired with no additional scores, the bout went to sudden-victory overtime. In the first minute of overtime, both wrestlers fired off several shot attempts and came close to finishing takedowns, but were unsuccessful. After 1:17 seconds into the sudden-victory period, Clark was able to secure a takedown on a peak out to the left-side off a single leg attempt.
The victory gave Clark his first win over a ranked opponent in his college career, and sent him to the semi-finals against Wisconsin’s Drew Scharenbrock.
Shortly after Clark’s upset win, Brian Soldano brought the Rutgers faithful to their feet with a surprising finish in his quarter-final bout.
The top-seeded Soldano, who cruised to the quarter-finals with a major decision, decision, and pin, found himself in an unfamiliar situation against Northwestern’s Evan Bates.
With a “live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword” style, Rutgers wrestling fans are now very familiar with Soldano’s wrestling, which includes a lot of throws, rolls, and funky positions. Quite often, Soldano will appear to be in danger, with his back exposed to the mat regularly, but he almost always finds a way to finish on top and score points in bulk.
Unfortunately for Soldano, his style was working against him for the first period of the match. As Soldano attempted to roll through some of Bates’ takedown attempts, he found himself on his back, unable to counter Bates’ offense. This put Soldano in an 11 – 6 hole going into the second period.
Bates, who started the second period on the bottom, was able to escape and once again get to Soldano’s legs. Just as he did in the first period, put Soldano to his back, as the official started counting back-points. However, as Soldano appeared to be inches away from giving up a pin, he was able to hook Bates’ arm, and roll Bates to his back, resulting in a Soldano pinfall, as he trailed 14 – 8.
Soldano will face Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Jarrit Shinhoster, who was a Division III National Champion last season at 184-lbs, in today’s semi-final round.
Joining Clark and Soldano in the semi-finals are Dean Peterson (125) and Sammy Alvarez (141), who were also undefeated on the first day of The Midlands.
Peterson, who came in as the fourth-seed, won by major decision and then decision, to set up a rematch with UPenn’s No. 21 Ryan Miller. Peterson had majored Miller at the Garden State Grapple earlier this month, however, the match was much tighter this time around. Peterson showed his grit and toughness, by hanging on to Miller’s leg for nearly thirty seconds, as Miller attempted to secure a go-ahead takedown in the third period. Peterson will face Wisconsin’s two-time All-American, No. 7 Eric Barnett, in the semi-finals.
Sammy Alvarez impressed on the day, picking up two decisions, a pin, and a major on his way to the semis. Alvarez, who did not look great in his last outing in a 4 – 3 loss in the Princeton dual, seems to be returning to old form. Quite often, when Alvarez falls into a funk, fans will ask “what is going on with Sammy Alvarez?”. Is it his weight? His health? No one ever really seems to know. The one thing fans do know is that when Alvarez is on, he is damn good. And this weekend, Alvarez seems to be firing on all cylinders. He will face Missouri’s Josh Edmond, a 2022 national qualifier, today in the 12:00 round.
Still alive for Rutgers in the consolation bracket are Dylan Shawver (125), Joe Heilmann (133), Joey Olivieri (141), and Boone McDermott (HWT).
Shawver lost his pre-quarter round to George Mason’s Markel Baker, but rallied off two wins in the wrestlebacks to advance to the second day of the tournament. Heilmann, Olivieri, and McDermott all dropped quarter-final round matches in last night’s session.
Heilmann fell short to Lehigh’s highly touted recruit, Ryan Crookham, losing a 2 – 1 decision. Olivieri also lost a 2 – 1 decision to Pitt’s Cole Matthews, the top-ranked 141-lber in the country. McDermott dropped a 5 – 1 decision to Trent Hillger, a two-time All-American from Wisconsin.
All four wrestlers are one win away from placing in the top eight of the tournament, and can finish as high as 3rd place.
Day two of the 58th Ken Kraft Midlands tournament begins at 12:00 ET today, with the semi-finals, consolation rounds, and 7th Place matches taking place. The second session of the tournament will begin at 7:00 tonight, where the medal matches (1st, 3rd, 5th) will take place.
Fans can catch the action on Big Ten Plus for the 12:00 round, and on the Big Ten Network for tonight’s medal round.