Wrestling | December 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—Ten members of the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program placed today at the Cougar Clash, hosted by SIUE. The Huskies saw competition from fellow MAC school SIUE, as well as Northern Colorado, Lindenwood, Missouri, Army, Little Rock, and Minnesota.
The Huskies took fifth overall as a team with 85.5 points.
Blake West (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) opened his day with a bye before posting a 5-2 decision over Davian Guanajuato of SIUE. West dropped a 5-3 decision to Charlie Farmer of Army. West finished in third place, after winning his final two matches by falls.
Jacob Christensen (Durham, Calif./Durham) was defeated by No. 4 Zach Elam of Missouri in a technical fall in the opening round. After receiving a bye, Christensen won his next three bouts, including back-to-back major decision wins over Jarrett Stoner of Missouri and Tristen Hitchcock of Army). Christensen fell in the third place match to Bennett Tabor of Minnesota to claim fourth place.
After receiving an opening round bye,
Matt Zuber (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) fell in a 21-7 major decision to Max McEnelly of Minnesota. Zuber won his next two matches, a 5-4 decision over Kyle Swartz of Army and a sudden victory over Deron Pulliam of SIUE. Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota defeated Zuber by a technical fall before Zuber earned his second technical fall victory of the season to claim fifth place.
Ricardo Salinas (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) opened with a 7-3 decision victory over Dominic Lopez of SIUE. After dropping his next match, Salinas posted a 12-3 major decision win over Hayden Trezek of SIUE and an 8-2 decision victory over Austin Keal of Little Rock. Salinas dropped his final two bouts of the day to claim a sixth place finish.
After receiving an opening round bye,
Danny Curran (Carol Stream, Ill./DeKalb) fell by a 3-0 decision to Danny Martinez of SIUE. Curran posted his first win by fall of the season, defeating Armando Garcia. Curran dropped a 12-3 major decision before falling by an 8-6 decision to claim a sixth place finish.
A major decision victory over Kilian Schultz of Northern Colorado was how
Tommy Curran (Carol Stream, Ill./DeKalb) started his day at the Cougar Clash. Curran fell in a major decision in the quarterfinal round and dropped a tie breaker (TB-2, 2-2) to No. 11 Caleb Tyus of SIUE in the consolation bracket. In the seventh-place bout, Curran won by forfeit over Schultz.
Tommy Bennett (Evergreen Park, Ill./Brother Rice) won in sudden victory (SV-1, 4-1) over Brendon Abdon of Little Rock to start his day at the Cougar Clash. Bennett was defeated by Dalton Harkins of Army in a technical fall (TF-1.5, 2:40) before defeating fellow Huskie
Jake Evans (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) in a 5-2 decision. Derek Matthews (Northern Colorado) defeated Bennett in sudden victory (SV-1, 13-10) before Bennett claimed seventh place
Dropping his opening bout in a 2-1 decision to Caine Tyus of SIUE,
Brett Smith (Troy, Mo./Buchanan) defeated Jorden Johnson of SIUE in a 2-0 decision. Smith fell in a 5-2 decision to Chase Tebbets of Little Rock before defeating fellow Huskie,
Kavan Troy (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester) in the seventh place match.
Troy fell in a 9-2 decision to Johnson in the opening round. Troy was credited with his first major decision victory of the season, defeating Johnson in the second round of the consolation bracket. Troy dropped a 5-2 decision to Tebbets before taking eighth place.
Michael Kaminski (Lockport, Ill./Lockport) posted a technical fall -1.5 (5:45) victory over Caiden Pelc of Lindenwood. After dropping a 4-1 decision to Braden Basile (Army), Kaminski won in a tie breaker of fellow Huski
Nathaniel Genobana (Centerville, Ill./Centerville). Kaminski finished in eighth place.
The Huskies return to DeKalb and the mat on Dec. 15 as they host California Baptist. The dual is set to start at 6 p.m.
