SAMOKOV, BULGARIA – Competing for Team Italy and the Scarlet Knights Wrestling Club (SKWC), Alex Nini delivered a seventh-place finish in 65kg freestyle at the U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria. Nini produced two victories and was drawn back into repechage during the tournament en route to his seventh-place result.
 
Andrew Barbosa (Mexico) also competed at the championships, losing in the opening round to Raul Caso (Italy).
 
Nini worked back-to-back wins to open the championships, including a 12-1 technical fall over Lazare Gujaraidze (Georgia) in the 1/8 final. Nini then faced 2024 NCAA All-American Luke Stanich (USA) in the championship quarterfinals, wrestling Stanich to a 3-3 tie before the match was awarded to Stanich on criteria.
 
Thanks to Stanich's result in the semifinals, Nini was pulled into repechage, where he had an opportunity to finish as high as third in his weight class. However, his close loss to Abdullah Toprak (Turkey) resulted in a seventh-place result.
 
Nini enjoyed a productive redshirt season from Rutgers wrestling in 2024-25, tallying 10 victories competing at 141 pounds. Nini started in the Scarlet Knights' sold-out dual with No. 1 Penn State, and delivered his first dual victory thanks to a 14-12 decision over Clarion's Kyle Schickel.
 
Rutgers produced seven national qualifiers and three Blood Round participants at this year's NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. The Scarlet Knights wrapped up the regular season No. 11 in the final NWCA Coaches Poll, marking the program's highest finish in the rankings since they closed the 2015-16 campaign No. 10. It also signified RU's 13th top 25 final team ranking under head coach Scott Goodale.
 
Rutgers also welcomes several impact transfers to next year's squad, including heavyweight Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech), 197-pounder Remy Cotton (Michigan State) and 174-pounder Lenny Pinto (Nebraska). The trio has combined for seven NCAA Championships appearances during their collegiate careers.
 
RU finished fifth in national attendance for the 2024-25 home dual season. It marks the eighth time in nine seasons the Scarlet Knights finished within the top five nationally and the ninth consecutive year appearing in the top 10.