Indiana Wrestling Concludes Big Ten Championships, Sends Four to NCAA Tournament

University Park, PA – The Indiana University wrestling team finished 10th at the Big Ten Championships held this past weekend in University Park, Pennsylvania, scoring 40 points. Penn State secured the team title with a dominant 184 points.

Four Hoosiers – Jacob Moran, Bryce Lowery, Gabe Sollars, and Derek Gilcher – earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for March 19-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Moran Leads Indiana with Fourth-Place Finish

Graduate student Jacob Moran, ranked No. 14, led Indiana with a fourth-place finish in the 125-pound bracket. Despite falling to Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis in the third-place match, Moran’s performance qualified him for the NCAA Championships. He secured wins in the first two rounds with three takedowns and two near falls in his opening match, and five takedowns and one near fall in his second-round victory before a semifinal loss to Penn State’s Luke Lilledahl, the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 125 pounds. Indiana Daily Student

Mixed Results for Hoosiers in Middle Weights

Indiana struggled in the 133, 141, and 149-pound weight classes, failing to place in the top 10 in any of those brackets.

• 133 Pounds: Redshirt junior Blaine Frazier won his opening match of the consolation bracket after an initial loss, but was ultimately eliminated by Nebraska’s Jacob Van Dee.
• 141 Pounds: Redshirt junior Henry Porter was winless, being outscored 28-1 across two matches. He lost to Northwestern’s Billy Dekraker by a 15-0 shutout and Rutgers’ Joseph Olivieri by a 13-1 major decision.
• 149 Pounds: Redshirt sophomore Joey Buttler also went winless, losing to Nebraska’s Chance Lamer, Northwestern’s August Hibler in overtime, and Purdue’s Gavin Brown.

Hoosiers Secure Additional NCAA Bids

Redshirt sophomore Bryce Lowery earned a sixth-place finish in the 157-pound bracket, securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. He won three consecutive matches in the consolation bracket, including a 9-1 victory over Wisconsin’s Luke Mechler, before forfeiting his consolation semifinal bout due to injury. News USA Today

Redshirt junior Tyler Lillard placed ninth in the 165-pound tournament, earning a 13-2 victory over Michigan State’s Jack Conley before falling to Wisconsin’s Cody Goebel.

Graduate student Derek Gilcher finished 10th in the 174-pound bracket, also qualifying for the NCAA Championships after winning against Northwestern’s Eddie Enright.

Despite a strong performance in the ninth-place bracket, redshirt freshman Sam Goin’s ninth-place finish in the 184-pound weight class was not enough to qualify him for the national championships, as only eight automatic bids were available in that weight class.

Redshirt junior Gabe Sollars secured his bid with a fourth-place finish in the 197-pound tournament, defeating opponents by finals of 6-1, 2-1 and 8-1 before falling to Ohio State’s Luke Geog.

Looking Ahead

The four automatically qualifying Hoosiers will compete at the NCAA Championships from March 19-21 in Cleveland. The remaining Indiana wrestlers will await the announcement of at-large bids on March 10. Flowrestling