Rutgers wrestling landed a massive victory on Friday night with the commitment of Yaraslau Slavikouski via the transfer portal. The former Harvard heavyweight brings experience and a strong record to a weight class where he will step in right away with an eye toward being an All-American.
In three years at Harvard, Slavikouski went 64-15 and twice qualified for the NCAA Tournament at 285 pounds. He was the team captain last year for the Crimson.
In addition, he is a member of the Belarus national team.
This offseason is a rebuilding one for Rutgers as they look to improve on a 10-7 record (2-6 Big Ten). Adding a heavyweight like Slavikouski will be a big step toward being viable once again in the Big Ten.
Last season, Slavikouski was one win away in the NCAA Tournament from All-American honors.
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Following the end of his team’s season, head coach Scott Goodale said that changes were coming to his program. Adding a talent like Slavikouski certainly is a major domino to fall for Rutgers.
“Excited to rebuild it, to get it back to where we were, and have on the last day three or four guys wrestling and that’s what we’re going to do,” Goodale told reporters in March.
“I’m pretty honest with myself and our staff and where we’re at and what we need to do and we might need a little bit of an overhaul right now. Not total – we have some pretty guys back at home. Shawver (Dylan Shawver) and Poznianski (John Poznanski) have won some matches here. Obviously Poz is an All-America
“We’re going to bring some guys in, we’re going to get after it. I’m sure it will be a little bit of a different look. We’re excited to do that and start that whole process. But we do have a core of guys who can compete so we’ll go from there.
“We got to get better, we got to get better.”
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