Northwestern hosted the annual Big Ten Wrestling Championships on March 8-9 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois. Five Indiana wrestlers earned a qualification for the NCAA Championships at the tournament and one at large bid for a total of six qualifiers.
Indiana wrestling’s 11th place finish was its best Big Ten placement since the 2017 season.
The Hoosiers accumulated 33 team points, matching their previous year’s point total while still improving their overall team placement. Indiana fell just behind rival Purdue, which scored 44.5 points, and just above the host Northwestern, with 21.5 points.
Indiana’s highest finisher came from No. 6 seed graduate student Jacob Moran, who took fifth place at 125 lbs. With his performance, Moran qualified for the first NCAA Championships of his career. The Portage, Indiana, native has broken out this year, spending time ranked within the top 20 in the nation.
Following Moran, No. 8 graduate student Angelo Rini placed seventh at 133 lbs. and defeated Ohio State redshirt sophomore Nic Bouzakis for the second time this season. Notably, Bouzakis was ranked as high as tenth in the country this season. Rini took seventh place after his victory over Bouzakis, who took third place. With yet another victory over the nation's best, Rini is poised for a solid postseason run.
In the next weight, No. 8 seed Henry Porter had an impressive run taking eighth place at 141 lbs., falling one spot short of an NCAA Championship qualification. Porter had a solid win over Illinois redshirt senior Danny Pucino and has accumulated two more ranked wins during the regular season. In similar fashion to his first season for the Hoosiers in 2023, Porter was snubbed of an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.
No. 7 seed redshirt sophomore Tyler Lillard secured an at-large bid for the NCAA Championships after failing to qualify through the Big Ten Championships at 165 lbs. Lillard took three straight losses over the weekend, but the strength of his regular season results was enough to earn him a spot in Philadelphia.
No. 9 seed graduate student D.J. Washington earned yet another trip to the NCAA Championships through his seventh-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. In doing so, Washington became the ninth Hoosier wrestler to be a four-time NCAA qualifier. En route to his achievement, Washington exacted revenge on Ohio State sophomore Ryder Rogotzke, who pinned Washington earlier this season.
Both redshirt sophomore Gabe Sollars and graduate student Jacob Bullock qualified for NCAAs at 197 lbs. and 285 lbs., respectively. Each qualified by wrestling back to a ninth place finish at the Big Ten Championships. For Sollars, it was his first career qualification for the national tournament after an impressive sophomore campaign. Bullock qualified for his second NCAA Championship –– his first since returning from redshirt.
Indiana head coach Angel Escobedo has put four wrestlers on the podium in back-to-back seasons at the Big Ten Championships.
The six Hoosiers will next compete in the NCAA Championships from March 20-22 in Philadelphia for an opportunity to win All-American and national championship honors in the final competition of the season.
