For the first time in program history, Rutgers wrestling produced three All-Americans in the same NCAA tournament this weekend. Sebastian Rivera (141), Jackson Turley (174), and John Poznanski (184), all reached the national podium at the 2021 NCAA tournament, earning All-American honors in their respective weight classes.
Sebastian Rivera and John Poznanski both secured their positions on the national podium Friday morning with wins in the quarterfinals. They would go on to wrestle Friday evening in the semi-final round, with both wrestlers being just two wins away from NCAA national titles.
Rivera met Penn State’s Nick Lee in his semi-final match, which was a rematch from the Big Ten tournament two weeks ago. In their previous match, Lee defeated Rivera in sudden victory overtime, in what was a match-of-the-year candidate. Part two of Rivera – Lee did not disappoint, either.
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In the first period, Rivera took Lee down to go up 2 – 0, but was hit with a stalling warning, which proved to be pivotal later in the match. Rivera was able to ride out Lee the remaining of the period, to maintain his lead.
The second period started with Lee on bottom, where Lee had an escape and a takedown. Prior to Lee’s takedown, Rivera was hit with an additional stalling call, which awarded Lee another point. It ended up being a four-point period for Lee.
Down 4 – 2, Rivera started the third period on top, where he was ridden by Lee for most of the period. Rivera did eventually escape, but time was running low, and Rivera was forced to rush a few shot attempts. Lee ended up countering a Rivera shot attempt, and took Rivera down to his back for a six-point sequence. Lee would go on to win the match, 9 – 4.
Rivera fell to the wrestlebacks, where he faced Dylan Duncan of Illinois in the wrestleback semi-finals, who Rivera beat 10 – 4 earlier in the tournament. Rivera once again defeated Duncan, with a fairly one-sided 7 – 4 decision. The victory sent Rivera to the third-place match, where he would square off with Tariq Wilson for bronze.
Wilson was a tough test for Rivera, who is a long, lanky opponent with incredible athleticism. Wilson took advantage of his height and speed, wrestling from space on Rivera, who prefers to wrestle in ties.
Wilson racked up four takedowns and several sets of back-points to defeat Rivera 15 – 5. Rivera finished in fourth-place at 141-lbs, for his third trip to the national podium in his career. Rivera, a graduate transfer, will be back next season for Rutgers wrestling.
John Poznanski also had a thriller in his semi-final match, but also came up short. Poznanski had to wrestle the two-seed, Trent Hidlay for an opportunity to advance to the 184-lb final.
Neither wrestler could get offense going from their feet, but both traded escapes throughout the first and second period. The third period ended with a tied 1 – 1 score, sending the match to sudden victory overtime.
Both Poznanski and Hidlay got in on shots in sudden victory, but each wrestler used stellar defense, refusing to give up the match-winning takedown. The match went scoreless in sudden victory, forcing the match to go into the first tie-breaker.
Poznanski started on bottom in the first thirty-second period tiebreak one, but was unable to get out. Hidlay also chose bottom, and was successful in escaping from Poznanski. Once Hidlay escaped, Poznanski was unable to get a score to win or extend the match, giving Hidlay the 2 – 1 victory and sending him to the 184-lb final.
In his first wrestleback match, Poznanski, like Rivera, also fell to an opponent he faced earlier in the tournament. Poznanski would wrestle Dakota Geer, who Poznanski beat 7 – 3 in the pre-quarterfinal round.
It was an even more decisive victory for Poznanski this time around, who was able to take Geer down three times throughout the course of the match. Even with Poznanski unable to escape from Geer in the third period, he still managed to put ten points in the bout, winning 10 – 4.
The win would advance Poznanski to the third place match, where he would wrestle Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in a battle of two freshmen. Keckeisen would use a pair of takedowns and an escape to defeat Poznanski in a highly contested 5 – 4 match. John Poznanski finished in fourth-place as a true freshman in his first NCAA tournament. Poznanski will return next season with four more years remaining, as this year’s season will not count towards his eligibility.
Undoubtedly, the biggest surprise of the weekend for Rutgers wrestling was Jackson Turley. Turley also joined Rivera and Poznanski on the medal stand, finishing in eighth place at 174-lbs.
Turley dropped his first match of the tournament to Kaleb Romero, which set him four wins away from All-American status. A single loss in the wrestlebacks would elimate Turley from the tournament, ending his season.
Turley defeated Anthony Mantanona of Oklahoma, Donnell Washington of Indiana, and Ben Pasiuk of Army to advance to the bloodround of the consolation bracket. All three wrestlers were seeded higher than Turley.
The bloodround, which may be the most exciting round in all of wrestling, is where the winner of the match secures a spot on the podium, and the loser ends their tournament one match shy of the placing rounds. Turley would see Kent State’s Andrew McNally, the sixth seed in the bracket.
Turley would go into the third period of his match with McNally up 4 – 3, and starting on defense. Turley was able to escape, but was taken down by McNally to make the match 5 – 5 with short time to go.
With five seconds remaining, and the score still tied, McNally was called for what appeared to be a head-scissor penalty, which gave Jackson Turley a one-point lead. McNally would stand Turley up, giving Turley an escape point, with the hope of taking Turley down to tie the match once again. Turley, however, was able to keep McNally at bay, winning 7 – 5 and earning the Virginia native All-American honors.
In his next match, Turley faced Logan Massa to advance in the consolation bracket. It was back-and-forth battle, where the lead switched several times throughout the first and second periods. Massa was starting to pull away in the third period, when Jackson Turley suffered a knee injury.
Turley would medical forfeit to Massa, and not wrestle the rest of the tournament. Turley finished in 8th place at 174-lbs, as he was unable to compete against Daniel Bullard in his 7th place match.
Not only is this the first year that Rutgers wrestling had three All-Americans, next season will be the first time Rutgers features three All-Americans in their lineup. With Rivera, Turley, and Poznanski, in addition to key contributors such as Sammy Alvarez, it is certain that future of Rutgers wrestling is a bright one.
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