NIU Wrestling Notes - EMU Duals 

DeKALB, Ill. – After months of hard work and preparation, the time has come for the Northern Illinois University wrestling team. The Huskies begin their 2015-16 season this Saturday at the Eastern Michigan University Duals and Open with four dual contests and an open tournament in Ypsilanti, Mich.

NIU wrestling will open its season with a dual against Purdue of the Big Ten Conference at 8 a.m. CT on Saturday morning before facing Clarion (9:30 a.m. CT), Bloomsburg (12:30 p.m. CT) and No. 24 Edinboro (2 p.m. CT) of the Eastern Wrestling League throughout the rest of the day. At the same time, several Huskies will be competing in the EMU Open against wrestlers from several other schools at the EMU Convocation Center.

Beginning his fifth season as the head coach of the NIU wrestling program, Ryan Ludwig knows the Huskies are stoked for Saturday’s season-opening action.

“These guys are excited to get on the road can compete. We are certainly looking forward to this challenge,” Ludwig said. “It’s going to be a great Saturday of wrestling.”

The Huskies are coming off a 2014-15 campaign that extended the program’s streak of sending a wrestler to the NCAA Championships to 44 seasons as now-junior 197-pounder Shawn Scott (Holly, Mich./Holly) advanced to nationals. As a team, NIU finished with a 10-12 dual record with a 2-6 mark in the Mid-American Conference, and the Huskies were picked to finish seventh in the MAC in this year's preseason poll.

With NIU aiming to start the new season on a positive note this weekend, here are the Huskies that will feature in the team’s dual lineup:

125: Alijah Jeffery
133: Austin Eicher
141: Steve Bleise
149: Gabe Morse or Austin Culton
157: Andrew Morse
165: Andrew Scott
174: Trace Engelkes
184: Quinton Rosser
197: Shawn Scott
HWT: Arthur Bunce or Jake Cochrane

Scott and Engelkes (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago), both of whom were selected to pick in the top four of the MAC this season, will lead the Huskies into their four season-starting duals, while five grapplers with dual experience, four redshirt freshmen and one sophomore complete the lineup.

This weekend could also mark the debuts of NIU’s 13 true freshmen on the roster – either in the open tournament or in the duals. The youthful Huskie roster features 27 underclassmen in total to make it one of the youngest units in all of collegiate wrestling.

NIU has an extensive wrestling history with Purdue, with Saturday’s matchup set to be the 27th all-time matchup between the two programs. The Boilermakers own a 17-8-1 advantage in that series and won the last meeting back in 2014. However, the Huskies haven’t met this weekend’s EWL foes much historically. NIU will face Clarion for just the fourth time, owning a 3-0 lead in the series following last season’s 31-7 triumph, while the Huskies have never met Bloomsburg before. Finally, the showdown with No. 24 Edinboro will be just the third in series, with NIU seeking its first ever victory over the Fighting Scots, a team that finished third at the NCAA Championships last spring.

Follow @NIUWrestling on Twitter for updates from the EMU Duals on Saturday.

--NIU--