Nov. 2, 2007

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois wrestling team held Wrestle-Offs Friday night at Victor E. Court to determine the starting line-up for the upcoming season-opener against No. 3 Iowa State.

Senior Pat Castillo (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township), ranked 11th in the nation at 133 pounds, opened the night in impressive form, defeating true freshman Zach Taylor (Harlem/Machesney Park, Ill.) 18-5.

At 141 pounds, Pat McLemore (Hinckley, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) narrowly defeated Tristen DeShazer (Wichita, Kan./Wichita West) 3-1. McLemore executed the match's only takedown midway through the second period to earn the victory.

In the closest match of the night, 149-pounder Kalen Knull (Urbana, Ohio/Graham) earned a 2-1 victory over Will McDermott (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein)

For the 157 pound match, team captain Aaron Owen (Carlsbad, N.M./Carlsbad) took control over Anthony Victor (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington) with a first period takedown, then extended his lead to 4-0 with a near fall. Owen rode the momentum to a distinct 12-5 win.

Bryan Deutsch (Columbia City, Ind./Columbia City) used an escape and a takedown in the second period of his match against Scott Wallace (Darien, Ill./Hinsdale South) to catalyze a 5-2 victory at 165 pounds.

Duke Burk (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame H.S.), the 14th-ranked 174-pounder in the country, captured a technical fall over Justin Carlson (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township), further securing his position as Northern Illinois' top grappler at 174.

Jake Smith (Bennington, Neb./Bennington), wrestling at 197 pounds, used a late takedown and near fall to take an 8-7 comeback victory over 184-pounder Jesse Linczmaier (Fox Lake, Ill./Grant). Linczmaier took an early lead with a takedown, but a pair of Smith escapes tied the match at 2-2 entering the third period. Linczmaier took and held a lead for much of the final two minutes, until Smith executed a takedown followed by a near fall to snatch the win.

In the heavyweight contest of the night, Dave Benner (Fowler, Ind./Benton Central) used a second period takedown and escape to take a 3-0 lead over Dakota Greenhaw (Monett, Mo./Monett). Greenhaw countered in the third with an escape and takedown of his own, but Benner took a 4-3 victory thanks to holding 1:23 of riding time.

Taylor competed for the second time on the night in an exhibition against 125-pound true freshman TJ Wunnicke (Dodgeville, Wis./Dodgeville), besting the true freshman 5-2 thanks to a late near fall.

The Huskies face the third-ranked Cyclones in a dual meet Nov. 8 in Ames, Iowa.

Match Scores				Final (by period)

125 - Taylor def. Wunnicke		5-2 (0-2, 2-0, 3-0)

133 - Castillo def. Taylor 		19-5* (6-2, 5-1, 7-2)

141 - V. Castillo def. Kirincic (exh.) 9-2* (2-0, 2-1, 4-1)

149 - Clothier def. James (exh.) 	8-0* (2-0, 2-0, 3-0)

141 - McLemore def. DeShazer 	4-1* (0-0, 3-0, 0-1)

149 - Knull def. McDermott 	3-1* (2-0, 0-1, 0-0)

157 - Owen def. Victor 		12-5* (4-1, 5-1, 2-3)

165 - Deutsch def. Wallace 		5-2* (0-0, 3-0, 1-2)

174 - Burk def. Carlson 		24-8* (6-2, 9-2, 8-4) TF

184/197 - Smith def. Linczmaier 	8-7 (1-2, 1-0, 6-5)

Hwt. - Benner def. Greenhaw 	4-3* (0-0, 3-0, 0-3)