Wrestling | January 20

ATHENS, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University wrestling team finished off its eight-dual road stint with a dominant 23-10 win over Mid-American Conference West Division foes Ohio Friday night in Athens. The Huskies dismantled two ranked opponents and won the opening six bouts to win the road dual.

"I think a lot of those matches came down to where both guys got a little bit tired," said head NIU wrestling coach Ryan Ludwig.

"We were able to rise above that and continue to push and continue to score - that was ultimately the deciding factor in those matches and that's when some of them broke loose,"

HOW IT HAPPENED
Action commenced with Blake West and Oscar Sanchez duking it out at 125. West owned a 2-1 advantage as the first period ended but Sanchez eventually tied the bout 2-2 in the second. In the third frame, West secured the bout-winning point to defeat Sanchez 3-2 and give the Huskies their first three points of the evening.

In the ensuing bout at 133, Lucian Brink dominated his foe Paul Woo with a 6-0 blanking. The matchup was Brink's third dual start of the year as he earned his seventh win of the year. With Brink's victory, NIU went up 6-0 in the match.

In just his second dual start of the season, Jacob Brya earned an 11-7 come-from-behind win over Kyran Hagan at 141. Brya was down 2-1 heading into the second period, but thundered back to win the bout 11-7 after a last-minute reversal, his second-straight and eighth total decision of the year.

Anthony Cheloni won a dogfight with No. 32 Alec Hagan at 149 to propel the Huskies ahead 12-0. The pair wrested a defensive bout with neither scoring a point until Cheloni logged a point in the final moments of the second. In the third period, Cheloni held onto the 1-0 lead to win his second-straight bout.

At 157, Anthony Gibson grappled No. 27 Peyten Kellar to a 2-2 tie heading into the second frame. Each wrestler posted two points in the frame, marking another 4-4 stalemate with one period to go. Gibson exploded on a seven-point swing in the final two minutes, logging an 11-7 win.

With NIU in command 15-0, No. 14 Izzak Olejnik took the mat with Jordan Slivka at 165. The two were knotted 2-2 after five minutes of action, but in the final two, Olejnik got the bout-winning point to win the contest 4-3.

The Bobcats finally got on the board at 174 as Hayden Pummel was shutout 8-0 by Garrett Thompson, making the score 18-3 in favor of the Huskies.

In the following bout, Ohio owned the recorded the first bonus-point win of the day as Zayne Lehman defeated Matthew Zuber via major decision 8-0, cutting the deficit to 18-7.

Ohio won its third-straight bout of the evening after Carson Brewer won a back-and-forth affair with Jacob Christensen at 197. The two were tied 11-11 as the final seconds of the third period ticked off the clock, forcing overtime. Brewer did just enough to secure the needed two points in OT and won the bout 13-11.

With NIU up 18-10 and just the heavyweights to grapple, there was no way the Huskies could lose the match. Nonetheless, Terrese Aaron finished the evening strong with a dominate 17-2 tech fall win over Jacob Padilla to propel the Huskies to a 23-10 win over Ohio.

UP NEXT
NIU will have two weeks to prepare for its first home meet in nearly three months as the Huskies play host to Buffalo on Saturday, Feb. 4. The meet will be a part of NIU's "Beauty and the Beast" event as the Gymnastics team will square off against Simpson College and Kent State simultaneously at the Convocation Center.

"We are really looking forward to being home. We've been on the road since November, so we're looking forward to getting a great week of training in and then we're off until the Beauty and the Beast match. I think our bodies need a little bit of healing. We've got plenty of time to work on some things technically. I think it's a perfect time for us to get better in the room and try to put our best stuff out there."