Notes and Quotes from the 2024 Big Ten Semifinals

Day one of the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships in College Park, Maryland is in the books and, as always, it didn’t lack for the excitement.

Saturday night’s semifinals featured several electric bouts and produced a number of first-time Big Ten finalists as well as a handful of familiar faces.

Here are the top notes and quotes from what was a wild session inside the Xfinity Center on the campus of the University of Maryland.

• Penn State freshman Braeden Davis has sand. It’s fitting that I use a term that hasn’t been used by anyone other than your grandfather, because the Michigan native is as old school as they come. 

He’s tough, poised and wildly fundamentally sound for someone with fewer the 20 college matches. Davis stayed poised and took out Michigan sixth-year senior Michael DeAugustino 5-2 in sudden victory two to reach the finals against another vet, Patrick McKee of Minnesota. 

By the time Davis finishes the tournament, he will have faced four opponents with a combined 23 years of college wrestling experience.

• Chalk at 133. Who would have guessed it. The second-most volatile bracket in the tournament was a lock for chaos, until it wasn’t. Top-seeded Dylan Ragusin of Michigan showed poise in a 6-3 victory over Penn State’s Aaron Nagao, while second-seeded Dylan Shawver of Rutgers used a late takedown and three nearfall points to take out Iowa’s Brody Teske, 12-6.
• Will ‘The Thrill’ Lewan does it again.

Yet another sixth-year senior, the Illinois native just finds a way to win matches. He’ll return to the Big Ten finals after an appearance in 2022 after knocking off Brayton Lee of Indiana, 4-1 in sudden victory. It ain’t pretty. But it doesn’t have to be. Lewan just knows how to win big matches.

“I think a lot of people counted me out and were overlooking me for this tournament,” Lewan said after the match. “But I know the preparation I put in for this. And I know how much I believe in myself and my coaching and my training. So it feels great to get another shot at the Big Ten title. 

• Who blinks first at 165? 

Dean Hamiti and Mitchell Mesenbrink have seemingly been on a collision course for months. Now it’s going to happen. Both set a wild pace and seemingly come forward every moment they’re on their feet. 

So, what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? I guess we’l find out.

• Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuthhhhhh.

It’s a familiar frame from Big Ten wrestling fans. But for years, it was a refrain that rung out from the stands for Penn State star Ed Ruth.

No longer.

Edmond Ruth, the younger brother of the three-time NCAA champion, reached his first Big Ten final for the Illinois Fighting Illini with a 4-1 victory over Andrew Sparks of Minnesota.

The younger Ruth has taken a long road to this point, but he says he couldn’t be happier with where he ended up.

“Going to a different school was helpful to just, at least, get myself out of my brother’s shadow,” he said after the big win. “Now I’m able to start to make my own mark. It’s hard to live up to someone with that level of fame. But, for me, I just need to get out of my own head and show people what I can do.”

• The Iowa Hawkeyes have had a Big Ten finalist every year since 1967. That will continue in 2024. But it wasn’t easy;

The Hawks went 0-5 in their first five semifinals on Saturday night, losing heartbreakers at 133, 141 and 174 along the way. But unheralded 197-pound redshirt junior Zach Glazier kept the streak alive with a 4-1 sudden victory win over second-seeded Jaxon Smith of Maryland.

Glazier, who most didn’t see coming, has been winning big matches for years now. He’s a two-time Minnesota state champion and two-time Fargo All-American. After the semifinal win, he spoke about how those big matches helped prepare him for his latest win.

“You’ve got be in moments like this to prepare for future moments like this,” Glazier said. “You’ve got to figure out how to get tough and be ready for moments like that. So that’s big.”