Cornell and Rutgers to clash at fifth-annual Grapple at the Garden in New York City on Sunday

Grapple at the Garden returns to Madison Square Garden for the fifth-consecutive year on Sunday, Nov. 27 and will host 20 wrestling programs from four different divisions.

Action begins at 8:30 a.m. ET and runs through about 2:30 p.m.

The Garden, which just hosted its first NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in March, invites eight Div. I teams to return, including No. 8 Cornell, No. 10 Rutgers, Maryland, Columbia, Princeton, George Mason, Buffalo and Hofstra.

Nationally ranked Cornell and Rutgers will square off in the second session, with three potential ranked individual matchups.

Two-time NCAA champion Gabe Dean of Cornell is among the individual stars expected to participate.

He is joined by three other All-Americans in the projected field, including teammates Dylan Palacio and Brian Realbuto and two-time All-American for Rutgers Anthony Ashnault.

There are nationally ranked wrestlers in the field at every weight class, based upon the most recent Flowrestling individual rankings, including six top-five wrestlers.

Possible matches between Flowrestling ranked wrestlers during the day include:
No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs. No. 13 Nick Gravina (Rutgers) at 184 pounds
No. 2 Dylan Palacio (Cornell) vs. No. 7 Richie Lewis (Rutgers) at 157 pounds
No. 14 Tyson Dippery (Rutgers) vs. No. 17 Mark Grey (Cornell) at 133 pounds
No. 13 Alfred Bannister (Maryland) vs. No. 20 Jordan Laster (Princeton) at 149 pounds

The day will also see two Div. II programs, eight Div. III programs and two club teams compete, in addition to high school and youth tournaments.

There are ranked teams from other divisions competing in the Garden, including Pitt-Johnstown (No. 3 in Div. II), Stevens Institute of Technology (No. 11 in Div. III), New York University (No. 16 in Div. III) and Wilkes University (No. 17 in Div. III). There are also some local NCWA college programs, which will be on display.

This year’s event will also feature two high school duals. First, New York stars will battle it out as Nassau County takes on Suffolk County in the first session. The New Yorkers who emerge victorious from that dual will make up Team Long Island and go head-to-head with the New Jersey All-Stars in the third session.

Several nationally ranked high school wrestlers will be featured, including Cadet World silver medalist and No. 2 Vito Arujau (NY), No. 1 Adam Busiello (NY), No. 3 Brandon Kui (NJ), No. 4 Nick Raimo (NJ) and many others.

Tickets, priced at $20, $35 and $55, are currently on sale and can be purchased online at www.thegarden.com, all Ticketmaster locations and the Madison Square Garden box office. Anybody in the Tri-State area can easily get to Madison Square Garden, with trains coming into Penn State from New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and beyond.

Those who live in other parts of the nation can follow the action on Flowrestling.

GRAPPLE AT THE GARDEN PAIRINGS AND MAT ASSIGNMENTS
Session 1 - 8:30 a.m.
MAT 1 – Mt. Saint Vincent (D3) vs. SUNY-Farmingdale (NCWA)
MAT 2 – Youth tournament third-place matches
MAT 3 – Youth tournament finals matches
MAT 4 – High school tournament finals
MAT 5 – High school tournament third-place matches
MAT 6 – No. 16 New York University (D3) vs. Johns Hopkins (D3)
MAT 7 – High school: Nassau County (HS) vs. Suffolk County (HS)
MAT 8 – Mt. Saint Vincent (D3) vs. Stony Brook (NCWA)

Session 2 - 10:30 a.m.
MAT 1 – Buffalo vs. George Mason
MAT 2 – Columbia vs. No. 10 Rutgers
MAT 3 – No. 8 Cornell vs. Hofstra
MAT 4 – Princeton vs. Maryland
MAT 5 – No. 17 Wilkes University (D3) vs. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (D3)
MAT 6 – Muhlenberg (D3) vs. No. 16 New York University (D3)
MAT 7 – No. 11 Stevens Institute of Technology (D3) vs. Oswego State (D3)
MAT 8 – No. 3 Pitt-Johnstown (D2) vs. Johns Hopkins (D3)

Session 3 - 12:30 p.m.
MAT 1 – Hofstra vs. George Mason
MAT 2 – Maryland vs. Columbia
MAT 3 – No. 8 Cornell vs. No. 10 Rutgers
MAT 4 – Buffalo vs. Princeton
MAT 5 – Muhlenberg (D3) VS. Oswego State (D3)
MAT 6 – High school: New York All-Stars vs. New Jersey All-Stars
MAT 7 – No. 11 Stevens Institute of Technology (D3) vs. No. 17 Wilkes University (D3)
MAT 8 – No. 3 Pitt-Johnstown (D2) vs. LIU Post (D2)

NWCA DIV. I COACHES POLL (as of Nov. 22)
8. Cornell, 1-0
10. Rutgers, 4-0

FLOWRESTLING DIV. I INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS (as of Nov. 21)
125 pounds
15. Dalton Macri (Cornell)

133 pounds
14. Tyson Dippery (Rutgers)
15. Tyler Goodwin (Maryland)
17. Mark Grey (Cornell)

141 pounds
4. Matt Kolodzik (Princeton)
5. Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers)

149 pounds
9. Ken Theobold (Rutgers)
13. Alfred Bannister (Maryland)
20. Jordan Laster (Princeton)

157 pounds
2. Dylan Palacio (Cornell)
7. Richie Lewis (Rutgers)

165 pounds
15. Tyrel White (Columbia)

174 pounds
5. Brian Realbuto (Cornell)

184 pounds
1. Gabe Dean (Cornell)
13. Nick Gravina (Rutgers)
14. Ian Baker (Princeton)

197 pounds
4. Brett Harner (Princeton)

285 pounds
18. Ray O’Donnell (Princeton)

NWCA DIV. II COACHES POLL
3. Pitt-Johnstown

NWCA DIV. II INDIVIDUAL RANKED WRESTLERS
No. 1 at 133 – Nick Roberts (Pitt-Johnstown)
No. 10 at 141 – Joe Calderone (LIU-Post)
No. 5 at 157 – Cody Law (Pitt-Johnstown)
No. 1 at 165 – Tyler Reinhart (Pitt-Johnstown)
No. 9 at 174 – John Blankenship (Pitt-Johnstown)
No. 8 at 285 – DJ Sims (Pitt-Johnstown)

NCAA DIV. III COACHES POLL
11. Stevens Institute of Technology
16. New York University
17. Wilkes University

NCAA DIV. III INDIVIDUAL RANKED WRESTLERS
No. 5 at 125 – Guessepe Rea (Wilkes)
No. 2 at 133 – Troy Stanich (Stevens)
No. 2 at 141 – Matt Grossmann (Wilkes)
No. 5 at 149 – Josh Evans (Wilkes)
No. 8 at 149 – Zach Wilhelm (Stevens)
No. 9 at 157 – Ray Jazikoff (NYU)
No. 10 at 157 – Thomas Poklikuha (Stevens)
No. 6 at 165 – Colin Navickas (Stevens)
No. 7 at 174 – John Messinger (NYU)
No. 7 at 184 - Patrick Rooney (USMMA)
No. 10 at 184 – Jordan Bushey (Oswego)
No. 4 at 197 – AJ Kowal (Stevens)

X-ATHLETIC THIRD ANNUAL NASSAU VS. SUFFOLK ALL-STAR MATCH
National rankings by Flowrestling
99 - Zach Redding (ESM) vs. Matt Mustakis (East Meadow)
106 - Dylan Ryder (HHHW) vs. TBA
113 - Anthony Sciotto (Rocky Point) vs. Sal Jones (LI Lutheran)
120 – No. 1 Adam Busiello (ESM)* vs. Kevin DePalma (Farmingdale)
126 - Anthony Cirillo (Rocky Point) vs. Joe Simmons (Farmingdale)
132 - Chris Gomez (Patchogue Medford) vs. No. 6 Jacori Teemer (Long Beach)
138 - Jake Silverstein (Hauppauge) vs. No. 2 Vito Arujau (Syosset)
145 - Phil Spadafora (HHHE) vs. Lucas Pincus (Hewlett)
152 - Billy Sims (Lindenhurst) vs. No. 20 Peter Pappas (Plainview)*
160 - Dylan Zabbara (Rocky Point) vs. Tyrese Byron (Long Beach)
170 - Zach Ancewicz (John Glenn) vs. Shawn Mosca (Carle Place Wheatley)
182 - James Hoeg (Mattituck) vs. Elijah Rodriguez (Long Beach)
195 - Tanner Zagarino (Mattituck) vs. Joe Giorlando (Long Beach)
220 - Terron Robinson (Walt Whitman) vs. Zach Ward (Uniondale)
285 - Deonte Wilson (Amityville) vs. Ryan O'Shea (MacArthur)
*ranking at different weight

NEW JERSEY ALL-STARS VS. LONG ISLAND ALL-STARS
National rankings by Flowrestling
109 - Sammy Alverez (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
116 - Mitch Polito (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
123 -Connor O'Neil (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
129- No. 4 Nick Raimo (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
135 - Chris Scorese (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
141 - John Berger (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
148 - Nick Santos (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
155 – No. 14 Mike O’Malley (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
163 – No. 8 Kyle Cochran (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
173 - Dom Mandorino (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
185 – No. 16 Bryan McLaughlin (NJ)* vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
197 – No. 3 Brandon Kui (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
223- Sean O’Malley (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match
HWT – No. 17 Eric Chaconis (NJ) vs. winner of Nassau/Suffolk match

*ranking at different weight