CLEVELAND – Steve Bleise of the Northern Illinois University wrestling team was named the Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week, the league office announced on Wednesday.

Bleise (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) became the first Huskie wrestler since Derek Elmore in November 2012 to garner the award, which recognizes the most impressive wrestling achievement by a MAC student-athlete during the previous week.

And even though six MAC wrestlers won titles at the Michigan State Open, NIU’s redshirt freshman 141-pounder was selected for the conference’s weekly award after he posted victories over two top-15 wrestlers on his way to claiming the championship.

To remain undefeated this season and clinch the Michigan State Open title, Bleise won his first three matches handily before defeating No. 13 Danny Sabatello of Purdue 11-6 in the semifinals and knocking off defending MAC Champion and No. 14-ranked Zach Horan of Central Michigan by a 5-3 decision in the final.

Bleise is now 9-0 this season for the Huskies, and the redshirt freshman was ranked as high as No. 10 this week in the national rankings for his weight class by Flowrestling as well as being a consensus top-20 wrestler at 141 pounds.

The NIU wrestling team returns to the mats this Saturday at the Lindenwood Open in St. Charles, Mo., where the Huskies will wrestle all day against a quality field of opponents as they look to build on their early season success.

--NIU--