Dylan Shawver is peaking at the right time for Rutgers wrestling. On Friday night, the redshirt junior took home another Big Ten win at 133 pounds.
Shawver has been impressive his last three matches, beating Penn State’s Aaron Nagao (ranked sixth nationally) and then his Friday night win over No. 16 Braxton Brown that featured three takedowns.
He has beaten three straight-ranked opponents.
On Friday night, Rutgers rolled to a 27-12 win at home over Maryland. Shawver defeated No. 9 Braxton Brown 9-5. he has secured back-to-back top 10 wins this week.
“He’s worked at it. He’s really good. He’s always been really good. I think maybe 125 was a stretch for him,” Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale told reporters on Friday following the win over Maryland.
“That kind of took away a little bit of his wrestling. I think concentrating totally on one weight is good. He also got a little banged up last year but Dylan’s always been good. He’s beaten a lot of these guys through the freestyle ranks. The Penn State guy, (Aaron) Nagao he’s beaten, (Michael) Colaiocco he’s beaten. He’s had a ton of huge wins. He’s a gangster. He believes he could beat everybody. That’s the coolest part about it. He loves to compete.”
The victory over Maryland snaps a four-match losing streak for Rutgers, all in Big Ten action. Rutgers is now 11-5 and finishes their Big Ten regular season schedule with a 4-4 record.
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Shawver should make a jump in the individual rankings for Rutgers, who close out the season on Wednesday in a home match-up with Bloomsburg.
“He doesn’t get a chance to wrestle Wednesday. That’s his last match. You are only allowed 16 bouts so he won’t wrestle on Wednesday. He’ll start his preparation Sunday,” Goodale said.
“Every single time he wants to wrestle. He wants to compete. He’s a competitor. He’ll be in the thick of every single match going forward from here until March 20th for sure.”
Following the mid-week meeting with Bloomsburg, Rutgers will next wrestle at the Big Ten Championships, hosted this year by Maryland.