Preview: Can Rutgers wrestling compete on a national level in 2023-24?

Rutgers kicks off their 2023-24 season on the West coast, when they face Duke and Cal Poly. Can RU compete on a national level in 2023-24?

Rutgers wrestling will start their season in California when they face Duke and Cal Poly on the road. Those two matches will set a very important tone for the program moving forward.

After their West Coast dual, head coach Scott Goodale and the Scarlet Knights will return home to begin its nine-match home schedule on Friday, November 17, against No. 4 Virginia Tech.

Heading into the 2023-24 season, the Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 14 in the preseason dual rankings by Intermat and are one of seven programs with student-athletes ranked at all ten weight classes. Also, according to Intermat, the Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 13 in tournament rankings after finishing the 2022-23 season at No. 34.

[lawrence-related id=30995]

The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 2022-23 season where they finished No. 22 in the NWCA Coaches Poll, the 10th final top-25 finish under Goodale. Also, the Scarlet Knights produced seven NCAA qualifiers for the second consecutive season and qualified five or more student-athletes to the national tournament for the ninth season.

Goodale has four wrestlers throughout his program this season (No. 6 Dean Peterson, No. 6 Yaraslau Slavikouski, No. 10 Brian Soldano, and No. 12 John Poznanski) who are ranked top-12 in the nation.

Weight Class (lbs) Name National Ranking Class
125 Dean Peterson No. 6 Sophomore
133 Dylan Shawver No. 16 Sophomore
141 Mitch Moore No. 7 Senior
149 Jacob Butler No. 25 Junior
157 Andrew Clark No. 21 Junior
165 Anthony White No. 24 Sophomore
174 Jackson Turley No. 28 Senior
184 Brian Soldano No. 10 Sophomore
197 John Poznanski No. 12 Sophomore
HWT Yaraslau Slavikouski No. 6 Senior

National rankings are according to Intermat 

The 2023-24 season shouldn’t be much different from last season for the Scarlet Knights, with nine NCAA qualifiers and two All-Americans (Jackson Turley and John Poznanski) returning to this season’s lineup.

[lawrence-related id=31436,31430]

Also, the Scarlet Knights have added three experienced wrestlers to their program, with Jacob Bulter (Oklahoma), Mitch Moore (Oklahoma), and Yaraslau Slavikouski (Harvard) transferring to Rutgers. Moore and Slavikouski competed at last year’s NCAA Championships, with Slavikouski advancing to the Round of 12 at heavyweight for the Crimson.