Sunday, November 5
Charleston, S.C.
All Day
Indiana University
at
Battle at The Citadel
Indiana Wrestling to Open Season in The Battle at The Citadel
11/4/2023 5:00:00 PM | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––––– Indiana Wrestling is set to open their 2023-24 season at The Battle at The Citadel on Sunday, Nov. 5 in Charleston, S.C.
The tournament will not be live streamed anywhere, but you can track matches live on TrackWrestling and FloWrestling.
CARRYING MOMENTUM:
-Indiana enters the 2023-24 season with the most momentum in the program than its seen in years.
-The team is coming off of an 8-5 season in dual matches, including three Big Ten wins and three wins over ranked opponents. All of which were the most since the 2016-17 season.
-The team also had four NCAA qualifers last season, the most of the Angel Escobedo era as the team's head coach.
-Graham Rooks (149), Derek Gilcher (157), DJ Washington (174) and Jacob Bullock (285) all competed at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
-Nick Willham was the first alternate at 197 lbs.
-Graham Rooks' run at the 2023 NCAA Championships epitomized the program's momentum.
-Only ranked as the No. 20 seed, Rooks reached the quarterfinals, winning his first two matches over No. 13 seed Kellyn March (North Dakota State) and No. 4 seed Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech).
-He'd narrowly lose to No. 12 seed Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) in the quarters and No. 10 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) in the Round of 12.
-Rooks' run to the Blood Round was the furthest an Indiana wrestler had advanced in the NCAA Championships since Nate Jackson got 8th place at the 2017 NCAAs at 184 lbs.
CITADEL PREVIEW:
-Indiana's first competiton of the season will be a good test of facing wrestlers from different parts of the country.
-The teams competing against the Hoosiers include host The Citadel, American, Drexel, George Mason and Appalachian State.
-There are 19 Hoosiers competing across the ten weight classes in the tournament. (See page one of the notes for the entire list)
-Of Indiana's entrants, eight of them are projected starters for the Hoosiers: Cayden Rooks (133), Dan Fongaro (141), Graham Rooks (149), Derek Gilcher (165), DJ Washington (174), Roman Rogtozke (184), Gabe Sollars (197) and Nick Willham (285).
HOOSIERS IN THE RANKINGS:
-Already matching last season's high of six, there are six Hoosiers who are ranked in the National Polls.
-Cayden Rooks (133), Graham Rooks (149), Brayton Lee (157), Derek Gilcher (165), DJ Washington (174) and Nick Willham (285) are all ranked across InterMat and FloWrestling.
-Graham Rooks and Washington are both ranked in the top ten for their weight classes. Rooks is at No. 6 at 149 lbs, while Washington is at No. 10 at 174 lbs.
-The other ranked wrestlers include high rankings of: Cayden Rooks (No. 22), Brayton Lee (No. 17), Derek Gilcher (No. 16) and Nick Willham (No. 31).
-Rooks, Gilcher and Willham are all wrestling in a different weight class than they were in a year ago.
-Rooks cut down to 133 lbs. after being at 141. Gilcher and Willham each bumped up after being at 157 and 197, respectively.
-As a team, Indiana is ranked No. 25 in dual and tournament settings by InterMat.
NEW FACES:
-Indiana has eight new wrestlers on the roster for this season.
-Of the newbies, five of them are freshmen while the other three are transfers.
-All five freshmen are from the state of Indiana. They include Bryce Lowery (Indianapolis), Joey Buttler (Greenwood), Cheaney Schoeff (Avon), Anthony Bahl (Crown Point) and Aidan Torres (Chesterton).
-Lowery, Buttler and Torres all won an IHSAA individual State Championship during their senior season. Bahl won a Team State Title with the Crown Point Bulldogs, the second in a row for the team, and their third in four years.
-Lowery won IndyStar's Most Outsanding Wrestler award for the best senior wrestler in the state for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Indiana's transfer class includes Dan Fongaro, Brayton Lee and Roman Rogotzke.
-Lee, a known commodity around NCAA Wrestling, returns to his home state after spending five years at Minnesota.
-The two-time All-American (2020, 2021) is seeking to recapture his momentum after entering last season as the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 157 lbs. in the country.
-Lee's 2022-23 season was cut short due to injury at The Big Ten Championships.
-Fongaro comes to Indiana after five years at Columbia where he competed at 141 and 149 lbs. He will wrestle at 141 lbs. for the Hoosiers.
-Fongaro owns fifth and sixth place finishes at the EIWA Championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
-Rogotzke, a transfer at 184 lbs., from South Dakota State, enters his redshirt sophomore season with plenty of momentum.
-Last year, Rogotzke racked up 17 wins and took first place at two open tournaments.
SEASON OUTLOOK:
-Indiana's 2023-2024 schedule features 12 dual matches and four invitational tournaments in the regular season.
-Indiana's dual slate features eight Big Ten matches and four non-conference duals.
-Indiana will compete at Southern Scuffle for the first time this season.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competiton to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freeestyle and took third place at the Central American and Caribbean Games while also competing at the 2023 U23 World Championships in Albania.
-Derek Gilcher took fifth place at the 2023 U.S. Open at the Senior Level at 74 kg.
-Gabe Sollars earned sixth place at the 2023 U.S. Open in the U20 divsion in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and divison.
-DJ Washington finished in second at 86 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Nick Willham had a fourth place finish at 92 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Tyler Lillard earned 7th place at 74 kg in the U20 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Cole Rhemrev took 7th place at 67 kg in Greco-Roman at the U20 World Team Trials. Magnus Kuokkanen got 7th in the same division, but at 77 kg.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Fifteen wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers, including all of the freshmen.
-Of the 30 wrestlers on the team, there are 13 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Minnesota, Kansas and Kentucky.
The tournament will not be live streamed anywhere, but you can track matches live on TrackWrestling and FloWrestling.
CARRYING MOMENTUM:
-Indiana enters the 2023-24 season with the most momentum in the program than its seen in years.
-The team is coming off of an 8-5 season in dual matches, including three Big Ten wins and three wins over ranked opponents. All of which were the most since the 2016-17 season.
-The team also had four NCAA qualifers last season, the most of the Angel Escobedo era as the team's head coach.
-Graham Rooks (149), Derek Gilcher (157), DJ Washington (174) and Jacob Bullock (285) all competed at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
-Nick Willham was the first alternate at 197 lbs.
-Graham Rooks' run at the 2023 NCAA Championships epitomized the program's momentum.
-Only ranked as the No. 20 seed, Rooks reached the quarterfinals, winning his first two matches over No. 13 seed Kellyn March (North Dakota State) and No. 4 seed Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech).
-He'd narrowly lose to No. 12 seed Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) in the quarters and No. 10 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) in the Round of 12.
-Rooks' run to the Blood Round was the furthest an Indiana wrestler had advanced in the NCAA Championships since Nate Jackson got 8th place at the 2017 NCAAs at 184 lbs.
CITADEL PREVIEW:
-Indiana's first competiton of the season will be a good test of facing wrestlers from different parts of the country.
-The teams competing against the Hoosiers include host The Citadel, American, Drexel, George Mason and Appalachian State.
-There are 19 Hoosiers competing across the ten weight classes in the tournament. (See page one of the notes for the entire list)
-Of Indiana's entrants, eight of them are projected starters for the Hoosiers: Cayden Rooks (133), Dan Fongaro (141), Graham Rooks (149), Derek Gilcher (165), DJ Washington (174), Roman Rogtozke (184), Gabe Sollars (197) and Nick Willham (285).
HOOSIERS IN THE RANKINGS:
-Already matching last season's high of six, there are six Hoosiers who are ranked in the National Polls.
-Cayden Rooks (133), Graham Rooks (149), Brayton Lee (157), Derek Gilcher (165), DJ Washington (174) and Nick Willham (285) are all ranked across InterMat and FloWrestling.
-Graham Rooks and Washington are both ranked in the top ten for their weight classes. Rooks is at No. 6 at 149 lbs, while Washington is at No. 10 at 174 lbs.
-The other ranked wrestlers include high rankings of: Cayden Rooks (No. 22), Brayton Lee (No. 17), Derek Gilcher (No. 16) and Nick Willham (No. 31).
-Rooks, Gilcher and Willham are all wrestling in a different weight class than they were in a year ago.
-Rooks cut down to 133 lbs. after being at 141. Gilcher and Willham each bumped up after being at 157 and 197, respectively.
-As a team, Indiana is ranked No. 25 in dual and tournament settings by InterMat.
NEW FACES:
-Indiana has eight new wrestlers on the roster for this season.
-Of the newbies, five of them are freshmen while the other three are transfers.
-All five freshmen are from the state of Indiana. They include Bryce Lowery (Indianapolis), Joey Buttler (Greenwood), Cheaney Schoeff (Avon), Anthony Bahl (Crown Point) and Aidan Torres (Chesterton).
-Lowery, Buttler and Torres all won an IHSAA individual State Championship during their senior season. Bahl won a Team State Title with the Crown Point Bulldogs, the second in a row for the team, and their third in four years.
-Lowery won IndyStar's Most Outsanding Wrestler award for the best senior wrestler in the state for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Indiana's transfer class includes Dan Fongaro, Brayton Lee and Roman Rogotzke.
-Lee, a known commodity around NCAA Wrestling, returns to his home state after spending five years at Minnesota.
-The two-time All-American (2020, 2021) is seeking to recapture his momentum after entering last season as the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 157 lbs. in the country.
-Lee's 2022-23 season was cut short due to injury at The Big Ten Championships.
-Fongaro comes to Indiana after five years at Columbia where he competed at 141 and 149 lbs. He will wrestle at 141 lbs. for the Hoosiers.
-Fongaro owns fifth and sixth place finishes at the EIWA Championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
-Rogotzke, a transfer at 184 lbs., from South Dakota State, enters his redshirt sophomore season with plenty of momentum.
-Last year, Rogotzke racked up 17 wins and took first place at two open tournaments.
SEASON OUTLOOK:
-Indiana's 2023-2024 schedule features 12 dual matches and four invitational tournaments in the regular season.
-Indiana's dual slate features eight Big Ten matches and four non-conference duals.
-Indiana will compete at Southern Scuffle for the first time this season.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competiton to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freeestyle and took third place at the Central American and Caribbean Games while also competing at the 2023 U23 World Championships in Albania.
-Derek Gilcher took fifth place at the 2023 U.S. Open at the Senior Level at 74 kg.
-Gabe Sollars earned sixth place at the 2023 U.S. Open in the U20 divsion in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and divison.
-DJ Washington finished in second at 86 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Nick Willham had a fourth place finish at 92 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Tyler Lillard earned 7th place at 74 kg in the U20 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Cole Rhemrev took 7th place at 67 kg in Greco-Roman at the U20 World Team Trials. Magnus Kuokkanen got 7th in the same division, but at 77 kg.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Fifteen wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers, including all of the freshmen.
-Of the 30 wrestlers on the team, there are 13 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Minnesota, Kansas and Kentucky.
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