PHILADELPHIA — Rutgers wrestling coach Scott Goodale accomplished a first in his successful 19-year tenure on Sunday.
His Scarlet Knights won a tournament team title, capturing the championship at the Keystone Classic in the historic Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rutgers claimed three individual titles with Ayden Smith (125), Joey Olivieri (141) and Lenny Pinto (174) bringing home individual crowns.
“We won a tournament, first time we’ve ever won a tournament, we’ve been second a lot,” said Goodale. “At least we won. It was good competition. Penn has a really good team, Lock Haven, Central Michigan is a little different look for us. It was awesome. Our guys wrestled hard and most importantly we got a lot of matches.
“Disappointed in some of the finals, we lost some nationally-ranked matchups, but we won some too.”
A redshirt freshman, Smith was pre-seeded third but because of a previous win over the No. 2 seed ended up atop the bracket. He won a ranked matchup against Penn’s Davis Motyka, 4-2, in the final, holding off the Quaker in a scramble over the last 10 minutes.
“It means a lot, I want to see myself be the best version I can be,” said Smith. “This tournament I faced a lot of tough guys. The final was a little shaky. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of things to work on.
“I don’t want to build myself up too much. I just try to put my nose to the grind and get better every day.”
Smith was a high-level recruit last year coming off a season where he beat junior world champion and New Jersey state champion Paul Kenny twice. Kenny recently committed to Iowa.
Smith wasn’t projected to become the starter until next year, but then NCAA qualifier Dean Peterson entered the transfer portal and transferred to Iowa for his final season.
“I was definitely surprised, but I train every day to have that spot, even last year I was training to beat Dean,” said Smith. “Hopefully we’ll get a match down the road. In the summer, when I figured out everything that was happening, I started grinding. This was my opportunity.”
It softened the blow for the Scarlet Knights that Smith was waiting in the wings.
“Our 25-pounder is pretty darn good,” said Goodale. “I know we lost a really good one in the portal, but we got a good one right now. This was a good win for him in this environment.
“We knew he was our future, we just had to speed it up. That’s OK. He was ready.”
Olivieri and Pinto both won in overtime. Olivieri cradled up Lock Haven’s Wyatt Henson at the end of the sudden victory period for an 8-1 win.
Pinto won on the rideout in the tiebreaker against Drexel’s Jasiah Queen -a former state finalist at St. John Vianney – 2-2 in the 174-pound final. Queen edged Rutgers true freshman Jordan Chapman, 4-3, in the semifinals.
“Joey’s lost a couple those in years past,” said Goodale. “Lenny is getting his legs under him.”
Dylan Shawver (133) and Andy Clark (149) both finished second with Shawver’s loss being the most notable result of the day.
Penn junior Evan Mougalian – a two-time New Jersey state champion at Kinnelon – snapped a 4-4 tie with a late second-period takedown upheld on a lengthy review and went on ton 8-4 win over Shawver, Rutgers’ 2024 All-American.
A junior who has spent two previous seasons with the Quakers to go along with a gap year, Mougalian is a starter for the first time even though he came into the season with an impressive 30-10 record. He dropped down to 133 pounds this year with senior two-time All-American C.J. Composto solidified at the 141 spot.
“Just like anything else, it’s a process and it took a lot of discipline and now that I’m down to the weight, I feel great,” said Mougalian. “Having me and C.J. in the lineup makes the team better for it.”
Mougalian reached the Keystone Classic final last year with a semfinal victory against Virginia Tech two-time All-American Sam Latona but was pinned in the final by Composto in 19 seconds.
The fact the win on Sunday gave him the tournament title made this the biggest win of Mougalian’s career. He was also named the Keystone Classic Most Outstanding Wrestler.
“For now,” said Mougalian on whether it was the biggest win of his career. “It’s been a long haul. It all stems from belief in myself even when it got hard, staying disciplined, staying focused.”
Clark fell to Penn’s Cross Wasilewski, a former Delbarton standout, 5-1, in the 149-pound final.
Heavyweight Jimmy Mullen was another wrestler with New Jersey ties to come home with a title. Down 5-0 with a riding time advantage in the semifinal against Drexel’s Nate Schon, Mullen staged a furious comeback.
He notched what appeared to be a match-tying takedown only to have it waved off, took Schon down again, then cut him with 29 seconds remaining. Pushing the pace, Mullen got in deep, then finished the shot at the buzzer to pull out an 8-7 win.
His final was let stressful, building a 4-0 lead over Michigan State’s Max Vanadia before giving up a takedown. Vanadia cut Mullen loose to go for a winning takedown, but the Hokie sophomore caught the Spartan coming in and took him to his back for a fall.
The anticipated final was Mullen against Rutgers’ Hunter Catka – who were teammates at Virginia Tech the last two years. Mullen beat Catka out for the spot last year, which led to Catka’s transfer to Rutgers.
Catka won his quarterfinal match by technical fall but withdrew from the tournament with an illness, according to Goodale.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.