No. 14 Rutgers wrestling set to begin season against Duke, Cal Poly
The Rutgers wrestling team will begin its season on Friday in a quad meet against Duke and Cal Poly. The Scarlet Knights will travel to the West Coast to face off against the Blue Devils and the Mustangs.
No. 14 Rutgers returns to the mat with a talented lineup for the 2023-2024 season with nine NCAA Qualifiers and two All-Americans.
Up first for the Knights is their meeting with Duke. The Blue Devils struggled last season, as they went winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference and had only one wrestler qualify for the NCAA Championship.
Rutgers must look out for Duke's Gaetano Console, who registered five wins last season. Another Blue Devil to look out for is Jarred Papcsy, an NC State transfer, who went 7-6 in his last season for the Wolfpack.
Cal Poly will likely be a tougher challenge for the Knights despite a significant roster shakeup with the departure of Bernie Truax, who had an 18-3 record and finished in fourth place at the NCAA Championship Finals last season. Truax transferred to Penn State this season for his final season of college eligibility.
Last season, the Mustangs went undefeated in the Pac-12 Conference and finished in third place at the Pac-12 Championship. Even with Truax's absence, Caly Poly still holds some talent, including Mustang wrestler Trevor Tinker. Tinker is an NCAA qualifier who owned a 15-10 record last season and finished second in the Pac-12 finals in his weight class.
Cal Poly has also been active in the transfer portal, adding Chance Lamer from Michigan, another NCAA Qualifier who owned an overall record of 15-9 with the Wolverines last season.
Graduate student 149-pounder Jacob Butler will likely match up against Lamer on Friday. Butler, a transfer from Oklahoma, will look to make an instant impact for Rutgers.
Junior 184-pounder John Poznanski, an All-American, will look to wrestle for the first time after suffering an injury last season. Poznanski is also able to slot into the 197-pound spot for the Knights.
This should make room for sophomore 184-pounder Brian Soldano in the starting lineup. Soldano reached Session III of the NCAA Wrestling Championship and won 23 duals last season.
Rutgers will begin the quad meet against Duke on Friday at 7 p.m. and then face off against Cal Poly later that night at 10:30 p.m. in San Luis Obispo, California.
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