DEKALB, Ill.– The Northern Illinois University wrestling team will wrestle in a tri-meet against The Citadel and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on Saturday January 13, at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield, Ill. NIU will wrestle The Citadel first at 4:30 p.m. and will wrestle SIUE at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Huskies are meeting The Citadel for the third time and lead the all-time series 2-0 with the last match coming last season where the Huskies took the dual, 38-3. The meet was postponed on January 9 due to inclement weather in South Carolina which caused travel issues. 
 
The Huskies are meeting with Southern Conference opponent SIUE for the 33rd time and lead the all-time series 29-2-1 with the last dual coming last season where the Huskies won in a closely contested bout, 18-16. 
 
"Each of those teams are getting better and better every year and they are a couple of well coached teams," said NIU head wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig. "I want to thank coach Hjerling and coach Spates for being flexible enough to make this tri [-meet] happen with some weather issues."
 
The Huskies are led at 125 with No. 20 ranked Brock Hudkins (Danville, Ind./Danville).  The Huskie sophomore is second on the team in wins with 12 and is tied with Caleb Gossett for second in dual wins with two.
 
 At 133, Alijah Jeffery (Marion, Iowa/ Linn-Mar) is leading the Huskies with 12 wins and went 2-2 at the Midlands Championship on December 29. The Huskie redshirt junior leads the Huskies with three dual wins in four bouts. 
 
At 285, Caleb Gossett (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) is third on the team in wins with 10 and went 2-2 at the Midlands Championship on December 29.  The Huskie redshirt sophomore wrestled into the fifth round of the consolation bracket and suffered a minor setback against conference rival Matt Stencel, 8-2. 
 
"They are hungry," said Ludwig.  They are not one-hundred percent pleased about what happened at Midlands and moving forward, I see some competitive fire in them."
 
Saturday's tri-meet is the first meet in 2018 and the Huskies are ready to take to the mat after a great week of practice and preparation. 
 
"Practice has been going very well," said Ludwig.  "The guys have been maintaining a good attitude and [they are] working on things that we need to sure up as we move forward into the meat of our season.  It is a process; it is a long season and we are getting better everyday."
 
Live scoring will be available through trackwrestling for both The Citadel and SIUE.  Huskie wrestling fans follow the tri-meet on Twitter @NIUWrestling and throughout the 2017-18 season. 
 
Below is the probable lineup for the Huskies:
 
NIU Huskies (0-4 0-2 MAC)
 
125: Brock Hudkins (11-5)
133: Alijah Jeffery (12-7)
141: Anthony Rubino (1-10)
149: Zackary Velasquez (2-9)
157: Caden McWhirter (2-5)
165: Andrew Scott (5-10)
174: Quinton Rosser (9-10)
184: Michael Aldrich (7-11) or Bryce Gorman (4-4)
197: Max Ihry (4-12)
285: Caleb Gossett (10-8) or Ross Sealby (3-8)
 
–NIU–