Indiana University Athletics
Friday, January 12
Piscataway, N.J.
7:00 PM
Indiana University
at
#14 Rutgers
Indiana Wrestling to Open Big Ten Season at No. 14 Rutgers and No. 1 Penn State
1/10/2024 6:00:00 PM | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––––– Indiana Wrestling is set to begin its conference slate this weekend as the Hoosiers open the Big Ten calendar with duals at No. 14 Rutgers and No. 1 Penn State.
B1G BEGINNING:
-Indiana will face No. 14 Rutgers on Friday, Jan. 12 for a 7 p.m. dual at Jersey Mike's Arena. On Sunday, Jan. 14 the Hoosiers will take on No. 1 Penn State for a 1 p.m. dual at Rec Hall.
-Rutgers is off to an impressive start to the season with a 7-1 record to earn a No. 14 team ranking. The Scarlet Knights own wins over No. 20 Penn, Princeton and Duke among others.
-The Scarlet Knights boast ranked wrestlers at seven different weight classes. Five of the seven are ranked within the top-15.
-Indiana won a close dual over the Scarlet Knights last season, 24-16, in Bloomington. This was Indiana's first win against Rutgers since 2008.
-No. 1 Penn State is having another great season, entering the Big Ten season with a 3-0 record and eight ranked wrestlers. The team has won the past two national championships.
-Most recently, Penn State knocked off No. 17 Oregon State, 36-3, in Corvallis.
-The Nittany Lions return Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) who both claim the No. 1 ranking at their weight class and are three-time defending national champions.
-Aaron Nagao (133), Beau Bartlett (141), Levi Haines (157), Bernie Truax (184) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) are all returning All-Americans. Haines and Kerkvliet each were NCAA runner-ups last year.
-Nagao and Truax are in their first year at Penn State, after transferring from Minnesota and Cal Poly, respectively.
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE:
-A little over a week ago, Indiana competed in the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1 and 2 to kick off the New Year.
-The Hoosiers had a highly successful showing in one of college wrestling's premier tournaments, scoring 134 points and placing third in the event.
-Of the 20-team field, Indiana finished behind only Stanford and Oklahoma.
-Indiana had 13 entrants in the tournament and seven ended up on the podium at their weight class.
-Graduate students No. 23 Dan Fongaro (141) and No. 14 Graham Rooks (149) each finished first in their weight class to win individual titles.
-Blaine Frazier (125) took sixth place, No. 22 Tyler Lillard (165) took fourth place, No. 9 DJ Washington (174) finished second, Roman Rogotzke (184) earned third and Gabe Sollars (197) finished in fourth.
-En route to their titles, Fongaro and Rooks each defeated ranked competition. Fongaro defeated No. 27 Jason Miranda (Stanford) by decision, 6-4, in the title. Rooks knocked off No. 10 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) by decision, 2-1, and No. 32 Cody Bond (App State), SV-1, 4-1.
PIN PARTY:
-Indiana put an emphasis on collecting bonus points throughout the season. Two of the Hoosiers starters in the upperweights have epitomized that goal more than anyone.
-The underclassmen duo of Roman Rogotzke (184) and Gabe Sollars (197) have racked up plenty of wins by fall entering the Big Ten slate.
-Sollars has posted 11 pins and Rogotzke has seven to this point. Pins make up 64.7% of Sollars' wins on the season.
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 competed at Southern Scuffle for the third time ever this season and had the best finish in program history.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freestyle 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 division in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth-place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and division.
-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.
B1G BEGINNING:
-Indiana will face No. 14 Rutgers on Friday, Jan. 12 for a 7 p.m. dual at Jersey Mike's Arena. On Sunday, Jan. 14 the Hoosiers will take on No. 1 Penn State for a 1 p.m. dual at Rec Hall.
-Rutgers is off to an impressive start to the season with a 7-1 record to earn a No. 14 team ranking. The Scarlet Knights own wins over No. 20 Penn, Princeton and Duke among others.
-The Scarlet Knights boast ranked wrestlers at seven different weight classes. Five of the seven are ranked within the top-15.
-Indiana won a close dual over the Scarlet Knights last season, 24-16, in Bloomington. This was Indiana's first win against Rutgers since 2008.
-No. 1 Penn State is having another great season, entering the Big Ten season with a 3-0 record and eight ranked wrestlers. The team has won the past two national championships.
-Most recently, Penn State knocked off No. 17 Oregon State, 36-3, in Corvallis.
-The Nittany Lions return Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (197) who both claim the No. 1 ranking at their weight class and are three-time defending national champions.
-Aaron Nagao (133), Beau Bartlett (141), Levi Haines (157), Bernie Truax (184) and Greg Kerkvliet (285) are all returning All-Americans. Haines and Kerkvliet each were NCAA runner-ups last year.
-Nagao and Truax are in their first year at Penn State, after transferring from Minnesota and Cal Poly, respectively.
SOUTHERN SCUFFLE:
-A little over a week ago, Indiana competed in the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1 and 2 to kick off the New Year.
-The Hoosiers had a highly successful showing in one of college wrestling's premier tournaments, scoring 134 points and placing third in the event.
-Of the 20-team field, Indiana finished behind only Stanford and Oklahoma.
-Indiana had 13 entrants in the tournament and seven ended up on the podium at their weight class.
-Graduate students No. 23 Dan Fongaro (141) and No. 14 Graham Rooks (149) each finished first in their weight class to win individual titles.
-Blaine Frazier (125) took sixth place, No. 22 Tyler Lillard (165) took fourth place, No. 9 DJ Washington (174) finished second, Roman Rogotzke (184) earned third and Gabe Sollars (197) finished in fourth.
-En route to their titles, Fongaro and Rooks each defeated ranked competition. Fongaro defeated No. 27 Jason Miranda (Stanford) by decision, 6-4, in the title. Rooks knocked off No. 10 Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) by decision, 2-1, and No. 32 Cody Bond (App State), SV-1, 4-1.
PIN PARTY:
-Indiana put an emphasis on collecting bonus points throughout the season. Two of the Hoosiers starters in the upperweights have epitomized that goal more than anyone.
-The underclassmen duo of Roman Rogotzke (184) and Gabe Sollars (197) have racked up plenty of wins by fall entering the Big Ten slate.
-Sollars has posted 11 pins and Rogotzke has seven to this point. Pins make up 64.7% of Sollars' wins on the season.
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 competed at Southern Scuffle for the third time ever this season and had the best finish in program history.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freestyle 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 division in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth-place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and division.
-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.
Players Mentioned
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
FB: Week 10 (at Maryland) - Curt Cignetti Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 02
FB: Under the Hood with Indiana Football - Week 10 (at Maryland)
Wednesday, October 29
FB: Devan Boykin Media Availability (10/28/25)
Tuesday, October 28
FB: Kaelon Black Media Availability (10/28/25)
Tuesday, October 28