DEKALB, Ill.– The Northern Illinois University Wrestling travels to Norfolk, Va. to take on the Monarchs of Old Dominion on Tuesday.  The action begins at 7:00 p.m.
 
This will be the second Mid-American Conference dual for the Huskies in four days after the Central Michigan Chippewas defeated the Huskies, 34-6, on Saturday night in DeKalb.
 
"Our guys are used to that quick turnaround, they are very disciplined in managing their weights," said NIU head wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig.   
 
The Huskies are 2-4 all-time versus the Monarchs with the last win coming in the 2010-11 season, 16-14.
 
"[They] are a talented squad down there," said Ludwig.  "Again, another Mid-American Conference foe and every time we face a MAC opponent is tough."
 
The Huskies are led by Caden McWhirter (Prattville, Ala./Prattville) at 157 pounds.  The redshirt sophomore won his first match of the season defeating Central Michigan's Blake Montrie, 7-2.  McWhirter comes into Tuesday's dual with 38 college wins which is second on the team only behind redshirt-junior Alijah Jeffery who has 60. McWhirter will also be facing a tough ranked opponent in 15^th ranked Larry Early.
 
"Those [facing ranked opponents] are opportunities for us," said Ludwig.  "We want to chase down those numbers as high as we possibly can and earn our way into the NCAA Championships. Winning against ranked opponents is one way we can do that."
 
At 125, Brock Hudkins (Danville, Ind./Danville) won his first dual match on Saturday when he defeated Drew Hildebrandt, of CMU, 4-2.  The Huskie sophomore is 9-3 on the season and has 30 career wins.  Hudkins defeated Old Dominion's Steve Simpson, 4-3, in the Huskies' 22-9 setback last season.   
 
At 285, redshirt sophomore Caleb Gossett (St. Charles, Mo./ Francis Howell Central) comes into the dual Tuesday with an 8-5 record and has developed into an unsung leader for the Huskies wrestling squad early this season.
 
"Caleb Gossett is emerging to be a leader for us," said Ludwig.  "He is the anchor of our lineup at the heavyweight. He is doing some fine things in the classroom and on the mat in a leadership role as well."
 
Follow the Huskie grapplers with live streaming on odusports.com and live scoring at trackwrestling.com. Huskie wrestling fans can also follow updates on Twitter  @NIUWrestling for this dual and throughout the 2017-18 season. 
 
Below are the probable lineups:
 
 
NIU Huskies (0-3 0-1 MAC)
 
125: Brock Hudkins (9-3)
133: Alijah Jeffery (9-5)
141: Anthony Rubino (0-8)
149: Zachary Velasquez (2-7)
157: Caden McWhirter (1-2)
165: Andrew Scott (4-7)
174: Quinton Rosser (9-7)
184: Michael Aldrich (6-8)
197: Max Ihry (3-10)
285: Caleb Gossett (8-5)
 
 
Old Dominion Monarchs (1-3 0-1 MAC)
 
125: Michael McGee (12-3) OR Steven Simpson (3-3) 
133: Caleb Richardson (7-3)
141: No.13 Alex Madrigal (9-4)
149: Kenny Carter (8-6)
157: No. 15 Larry Early (8-4)
165: Luke Drugac (7-4)
174: Ben Scharm (4-5) OR Terrell Forbes (0-2)
184: Antonio Agee (6-5)
197: Noah Bushman (5-5) OR John D'Agostino (3-4)
285: Ali Wahab (8-8)
 
--NIU--