Wrestling | November 5

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Redshirt senior Izzak Olejnik of the Northern Illinois University wrestling team won the 165 Open title Saturday at the Michigan State Open. Olejnik was one of nine Huskies that placed in either the Freshman/Sophomore or Open Divisions at Jenison Field House.

"Izzak [Olejnik] led the way. He wrestled better as the day wore on. That's good to see in our first outing," said head NIU wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig. "We had some good results across the board. We need to continue to work on the gritty details of execution in the room so we can turn those into great results."

After receiving a first-round bye, Olejnik won by a 5-1 decision over Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan) before earning a 11-3 major decision win over Sean O`Dwyer (Ohio University) in the quarterfinal round. In the semifinal round, Olejnik took down Caleb Fish (Michigan State) 6-4 to advance to the championship bout. The two-time NCAA qualifier beat Danny Braunagel (Illinois) 6-2, winning the 165 Open title and totaled 19 team points.

Redshirt freshman Blake West took home a third-place finish in the 125 Open division and scored 15.5 team points. West opened his day by pinning Nick Korhorn (Findlay) at 4:03 before beating Andre Gonzales (Ohio State) 5-3 to take third.   

Redshirt senior Jaivon Jones scored 16 team points and took fifth in the 141 Open Division. Jones pinned Chris Kim (Michigan) at 3:44 in his first bout and later won by medical forfeit in the fifth-place match over Ty Smith (Utah Valley University).

Meanwhile in the 141 Freshman/Sophomore division, freshman Jacob Brya wrestled his way to second place and scored 19.5 team points. Brya beat Pierce Taylor (Ohio University) 8-2 in the semifinal round, but fell to Dylan Layton (Cleveland State) in the championship bout.

NIU was guaranteed to take third in the 149 Freshman/Sophomore division as freshmen Brody Hallin and Aiden Smith were set to battle it out. Unfortunately, the action was cut short as Smith medically forfeited. The two combined for 26.5 team points.

Freshman Tommy Bennett secured fourth in the 165 Freshman/Sophomore division. Bennett scored 9.5 team points with a 7-4 decision over Gary Nilson (Findlay) while fellow freshman Shane Moran finished third in the 174 Freshman/Sophomore division with a SV-1 6-4 win over Tate Geiser (Cleveland State). Moran added 13.5 team points.

Finally, freshman Carter Grewe placed third at 184 with a 3-1 decision over Charlie Heydorn (Ohio University). Grewe racked up 12 team points before the action concluded.

The Huskies return to action next Saturday (Nov. 12) when Harper College and Lindenwood come to town for the Huskie Duals. Action starts at 10 a.m. at Victor E. Court.