Rutgers wrestling came into day two of the NCAA tournament with four wrestlers still alive in contention for a podium spot. Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault were slotted in the quarter-finals of their respective weight classes, being just one win away from All-American status. John Van Brill and Joe Grello had a bit more work to do, as they started their days in the wrestleback bracket, each wrestler three wins away from All-American status.
Nick Suriano started the day off with one of his most impressive performances to date. Suriano was paired up against returning All-American, Minnesota Golden Gopher, Ethan Lizak. Lizak, who is known for his top wrestling, did not even have a chance to get turns going. It was all Suriano from the whistle.
Suriano immediately took Lizak down off the whistle, and got a set of back points to jump to a 6-0 early lead. Suriano, after another takedown, and more offense from the top, was able to turn, and then pin Lizak. The victory made Suriano a two-time All-American, pairing him with Stevan Micic for tonight’s semi-final.
Anthony Ashnault followed suit, with dominating performance of his own. Ashnault squared off with Iowa State’s Jarrett Degen in one of the four 149 – lb matches. The sixth-year senior used his ankle pick and cross wrist tilt to jump to an early lead. From there, Ashnault threw on the cruise control to coast to a 10 – 3 decision.
Ashnault is scheduled to battle Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton. The last time these two met was in January, in the Big – Ivy Rivalry dual meet. Kolodzik, ranked first at the weight at the time, was unable to get anything going against Ashnault. Ashnault scored a major decision over Kolodzik, racking up ten points on his way to securing the national number one ranking.
In the consolation portion of the brackets, John Van Brill and Joe Grello had to string a few matches together to get into All-American contention.
Van Brill started the day against Central Michigan’s Dylan Parks. Van Brill, in his usual fashion, scored a dramatic pin-fall in the third period to advance his tournament to the next consolation round.
Van Brill was then met by Josh Humphreys of Lehigh. The winner would go on to tonight’s blood-round, for a chance at All-American status. Humphreys wasted no time taking Van Brill down, and rode a very tight leg ride. Humphreys was able to sink in an armbar, and get a set of back points to add to his lead. It was all Humphreys from there, as he downed Van Brill 11 – 0.
Joe Grello also started is day with a win, when he beat Kimball Bastian of Utah Valley in overtime. Grello and Bastian were scoreless through the first, and exchanged escapes heading into the overtime periods.
After a scoreless sudden victory, Grello escaped quickly in the first thirty seconds of tiebreaker one. When Bastian went on defense for his thirty seconds, Grello gutted out a ride to hold Bastian down, and give him the 2 – 1 victory.
Grello’s win earned him a match with New Jersey native, David McFadden in the third consolation round. Unfortunately for Grello, McFadden controlled most of the match between the two NJSIAA state champions.
McFaddeen defeated Grello by a score of 7 – 3, ending Grello’s tournament and All-American hopes for this year.
All that remains for Rutgers is Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault in tonight’s semi final round. Both wrestlers are still in championship contention, and cannot finish any worse than sixth place in the tournament. As a team, Rutgers leaves session III in eighth place, with a score of 29.5
