'Cats to Host No. 17 Rutgers

Friday, January 23

Evanston, Ill.

7 p.m. CT

Northwestern

Rutgers

Photo by: Henry Frieman/Northwestern Athletics

1/22/2026 7:21:00 PM | Wrestling

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern wrestling (3-3, 1-2 B1G) is back in action at home this Friday, as the 'Cats get set to host another NWCA Top-25 team, the No. 17 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7-4, 1-2 B1G), at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The dual is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT and will be streamed on B1G+.

LAST TIME OUT
The Wildcats faced a pair of tough opponents last weekend, falling to both No. 18 Wisconsin and No. 1 Penn State. Despite the losses, the 'Cats saw a top-15 upset from 125-pounder Dedrick Navarro, who defeated then-No. 11 Nicolar Rivera on the road in Madison. He was one of four 'Cats to claim victory against the Badgers, joined by No. 32 Billy Dekraker (141 lbs), No. 30 Eddie Enright (174 lbs) and J.D. Perez (184 lbs).

SCOUTING RUTGERS
The Scarlet Knights arrive in Evanston coming off their first conference victory of the season, a dominant win 24-9 win over Purdue. Rutgers won seven of ten weight classes in the dual, including three bonus-point victories. It put them back in the win column after dropping back-to-back matches to open Big Ten play, falling to ranked foes Michigan and Penn State.

The Scarlet Knights enter the match-up this weekend with nine of their ten wrestlers ranked, headlined by No. 12 Lenny Pinto at 174 lbs.

Northwestern and Rutgers last met on January 29th, 2023, when then-No. 14 Northwestern secured a 28-6 victory over No. 23 Rutgers on the road. That snapped a streak of four straight victories for the Scarlet Knights, dating back to their addition to the Big Ten in 2014.

PROBABLES
NORTHWESTERN:
125: #25 Dedrick Navarro
133: #24 Sean Spidle OR Luis Bazan
141: #32 Billy Dekraker OR Giosue Hickman
149: Sam Cartella OR August Hibler
157: Gunnar Myers
165: Jacob Bostelman
174: #30 Eddie Enright
184: J.D. Perez
197: Alex Smith
285: Gabe Christenson OR Dirk Morley

#17 RUTGERS:
125: #27 Ayden Smith
133: #27 Dylan Shawver OR Billy Townson
141: Tahir Parkins OR Mason Gibson
149: #31 Andrew Clark OR Devon Magro
157: #31 Anthony White
165: #20 Andrew Barbosa OR Ryan Ford
174: #12 Lenny Pinto
184: #14 Shane Cartagena-Walsh
197: #16 Remy Cotton OR PJ Casale
285: #19 Hunter Catka

* All individual rankings courtesy of InterMat (January 20th)