Rutgers wrestling qualifies 8 to the NCAA. Will Dylan Shawver get a berth?
The biggest question for the Rutgers University wrestling program coming out of the Big Ten Tournament is will one of its best wrestlers over the past several seasons earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Graduate student Dylan Shawver was not one of the eight Scarlet Knights who earned automatic berths to the national tournament from the Big Ten Tournament, which took place this weekend at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.
Shawver finished ninth in the loaded 133-pound weight class. The Big Ten was only allocated eight automatic berths from 133 to the NCAA Tournament.
Twenty nine wrestlers automatically qualified at 133 from the eight conference tournaments, which took place this weekend.
That means four at-large berths are available at 133 when the NCAA Wrestling Committee announces the at-large berths for the national tournament Tuesday. The NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced Wednesday night. The tournament will take place March 19-21 in Cleveland.
Rutgers automatic NCAA Tournament qualifiers from the Big Ten Tournament are:
Ayden Smith (125); Joey Olivieri (141); Andrew Clark (149); Andrew Barbosa (165); Lenny Pinto (174); Shane Cartagena-Walsh (184); Remy Cotton (197) and Hunter Catka (heavyweight).
Olivieri finished fifth with a 5-2 win over Maryland's Dario Lemo on a secone period takedown. He outwrestled his tournament No. 10 seed by five spots.
Cartagena-Walsh finished fifth with a win by forfeit in the fifth-place bout. He won two wrestleback bouts after a defeat to eventual runner-up Minnesota's Max McEnnelly in the quarterfinal. He outwrestled his seed by two spots.
Barbosa, who had one of the biggest upsets in the tournament when he defeated 2025 NCAA 157-pound runner-up Joey Blaze of Purdue 3-2 on a takedown in the final seconds in the quarterfinal, finished sixth.
Pinto came from the No. 11 seed to finish sixth for his fourth Big Ten career medal.
Cotton also finished sixth after he was pinned by Wisconsin's Wyatt Ingham for his second defeat to Ingham in the tournament.
Clark finished seventh and Smith was eighth.
Catka clinched his berth Sunday by winning the ninth-place bracket. He pinned Michigan State's Josh Terrill in the second period of the final of that bracket after he defeated Purdue's Hayden Fllipovich 4-1 in the semifinal of that bracket when he was awarded a late takedown after a video review.
It is just the fourth time in program history, Rutgers will send eight more wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament. It has a chance to send all 10 if things go its way Tuesday.
Also awaiting word on whether he will receive an at-large berth is Rutgers' 157-pounder Anthony White.
White, who was the No. 5 seed, went 1-3 in the tournament and was defeated in the ninth-place bracket semifinal by Iowa's Victor Voinovich.
However, White was ranked No. 15 nationally by the coaches before the tournament. He does have a regular season win over Minnesota's Charlie Milliard, who finished eighth in the Big Ten and received an automatic berth to the national tournament. Milliard defeated White in this tournament.
There are four at-large berths available at 157.
The case for Shawver
Shawver won the ninth-place bracket of the Big Ten Tournament with a 4-1 win over Maryland's three-time NCAA qualifier and old rival Braxton Brown on a takedown with 1:26 remaining in the sudden victory period.
It was Shawver's second win over Brown in the tournament. He also defeated Brown 3-2 in tiebreaker period No. 3 in the opening round of the tournament. Shawver is 5-3 against Brown for his career with the last six bouts having been decided in either sudden victory or in the tiebreaker periods.
He dropped into the ninth-place bracket after he was majored by top seed and eventual runner-up Marcus Blaze pf Penn State in the quarterfinal and then defeated 1-0 by Northwestern's eventual seventh-place finisher Sean Spidle in a wrestleback bout.
Even though past history may not mean as much in determining national tournament qualifiers as it does when it comes to seeding NJSIAA post-season tournaments, Shawver has an excellent past resume.
He is a past All-American. He was seventh at 133 in 2024 after he won the Big Ten Tournament that season. He was one win away from being an All-American last season and has won nine NCAA Tournament bouts in his career.
Shawver also has defeats to unranked wrestlers that could hurt his case. Many of his bouts on the season have been close.
But, on his best day, he can be competitive with most of the wrestlers who will be in the 133-pound bracket. Brown also certainly is an at-large berth candidate.
Shawver deserves to end his outstanding career with another NCAA Tournament berth.
I never count on (at-large bids),” Rutgers coach Scott Goodale said last Monday on a zoom call with reporters previewing the Big Ten Tournament. “We’ve been burned so many times waiting on an at-large bid. You never know what’s going to happen across the country. You never want it to sit in the hands of a committee, if that makes sense.''
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers wrestling qualifies 8 to the NCAA. Will Dylan Shawver get a berth?
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