After a no-contest dual meet against Ohio University on Tuesday in Athens, Ohio, Indiana wrestling will travel for its first two meets of Big Ten play.
Indiana starts off with a dual meet against No. 12 Rutgers at 7 p.m. Friday and will travel again to take on No. 2 Penn State at 2 p.m. Sunday. Both matches will be broadcasted on BTN+.
These next two meets will be important ones for the Indiana program, as Rutgers and Penn State have a combined 15 ranked wrestlers on their programs compared to Indiana’s four.
Indiana enters the matches with No. 25-ranked sophomore Jacob Moran in the 125-pound class, along with No. 19-ranked graduate student Brock Hudkins and freshman Noah Gochberg both representing the 133-pound class. No. 26-ranked junior Cayden Rooks will wrestle in the 141-pound class and junior Graham Rooks will represent Indiana in the 149-pound class.
Junior Kasper McIntosh and sophomore Derek Gilcher will represent the 157-pound class. Senior Sammy Cokeley will wrestle for Indiana in the 165-pound class. Junior Nick South will wrestle in the 174-pound class. No. 8-ranked junior DJ Washington will represent the 184-pound class and junior Nick Willham will take the 197-pound class spot.
No. 12 Rutgers has No. 30-ranked freshman Dylan Shawver in the 125-pound class and No. 16-ranked sophomore Sammy Alvarez in the 133-pound class. No. 4-ranked senior Sebastian Rivera will wrestle in the 141-pound class. In the 149-pound class, No. 19-ranked senior Mike Van Brill will represent Rutgers.
No. 26-ranked sophomore Jackson Turley will be in for the 174-pound class. The No. 5-ranked freshman John Poznanski will take on the 184-pound class. In the 197-pound class, Rutgers has No. 7-ranked senior Greg Bulsak.
Besides the 125-pound and 157-pound classes, Penn State has a ranked wrestler in every weight class. Penn State has the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the 133-pound, 141-pound, 174-pound and 184-pound classes with junior Ramon Bravo-Young, senior Nick Lee, freshman Carter Starocci and sophomore Aaron Brooks.
No. 20-ranked freshman Beau Bartlett will represent Penn State in the 149-pound class. No. 24-ranked sophomore Creighton Edsell will wrestle in the 165-pound class for Penn State. No. 2-ranked junior Max Dean will represent the 197-pound class. Finally, No. 4-ranked freshman Greg Kerkvliet will represent Penn State in the heavyweight category.
Indiana is currently 2-0 in dual meets and 0-0 in conference play. No. 8 Washington and No. 19 Hudkins have a combined 15-0 start to the 2021-22 season, with Washington having a 10-0 individual record and Hudkins going 5-0.
