DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University wrestling team opens the 2019-20 campaign this weekend when the Huskies travel to East Lansing, Mich. to compete in the Michigan State Open Saturday.
 
The competition, which begins at 8:30 a.m. CT and runs all day, will take place at the Jenison Field House. Fans can follow all the action via live scoring through trackwrestling.com or watch the event on the site for a fee.
 
Huskie head coach Ryan Ludwig is excited to see what his team can do in live competition.
 
"We've been getting after it this preseason between drilling and the live wrestling," Ludwig said. "It sure is a fun time of year to test those skills against somebody else.
 
"You never know what you're going to get in these open tournaments in the beginning of the year, but from what we've seen, it's already filled up. There are several teams of starters from the Big Ten, Big 12 and teams from out West. It's going to be an incredibly good litmus test for nationally-ranked competition right away."
 
The Huskies saw their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances extend to 48 years when redshirt-freshmen Bryce West and Brit Wilson qualified for the national tournament last season.
 
Wilson, who competed at 174 last season, is stepping up a weight class for the Huskies this season and will be competing at 184 this year.
 
"This is a very healthy move for him," Ludwig said of Wilson stepping up a weight class. "He was in the middle of a growth spurt last year we had found out. Come January, he was not only cutting weight to his weight class, but kind of fighting nature a little bit in terms of trying grow, get bigger and get wider. He's incredibly strong, incredibly fast and very fit and ready to go."
 
The move of Wilson up to 184 has benefitted the Huskies up and down the line up. Senior Kenny Moore, who competed at 165 all last season, moves up to 174 to fill Wilson's old spot. Caden McWhirter, who finished sixth at Midlands last year and spent much of the season behind Moore, will take over at 165.
 
"What that [moving Wilson to 184] also does for us is it allows us to expand our line up a bit and not have a couple of studs doubled up at a weight," he said. "Kenny Moore was pulling really hard at 165, now he gets to move up to 174, which is a more natural weight class for him. Both Kenny and Caden McWhirter were at 165 last year. So, unfortunately, Caden got slotted behind Kenny."
 
Gage Braun, a redshirt freshman who had a stellar season for the Huskies last year, moves into 197.
 
"He was a 13-match winner last year, won three tournaments," Ludwig said. "He's from a tough program in Graham, Ohio. This guy's going to make a splash, just a big strong athlete."
 
Max Ihry, who competed at 197 for NIU last season moves up to heavyweight. He's at 240-pounds and lean. He will have redshirt freshman Terrese Aaron pushing him at heavyweight.
 
"He was a top-10 ranked kid in the country," Ludwig said of Aaron. "He's going to make a splash. Big kid, super fast feet, we're excited to see what he does at well.
 
"We really like the way this line up has spread out. This roster is meaty right now. We feel like we don't have any weak weight classes. We feel we have a stud at every class right now."
 
NIU will need a solid line up and depth if the Huskies, who are picked to finish sixth in the league, want to win the Mid-American Conference and challenge for NCAA bids. That task, which was always tough, was made tougher when seven members of the Eastern Wrestling League joined with the MAC last spring.
 
"The MAC was tough," Ludwig said. "It is now what I would classify as premiere. We've got about 20 percent of the NCAA Division I wrestling programs in our conference. It translates to more NCAA qualifiers, All-Americans and national champions coming out of our conference."
 
Following NIU's trip to Michigan State this weekend, the Huskies play host to Bucknell Friday, Nov. 15 before welcoming Harper College and Rider University to DeKalb for the Huskie Duals on Sunday, Nov. 17. Both events will take place in the Convocation Center.
 
The Huskies will host four other home duals throughout the year, however, the highlight of the schedule is NIU will be hosting the 2020 MAC Championships March 7-8.
 
-NIU-