Wrestling | December 29
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.—Blake West (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) and
Jaivon Jones (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Nordonia) will compete for a podium spot as the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program continues action at the 59th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern.
"There was a lot of tough wrestling today," said NIU head coach
Ryan Ludwig. "We are looking forward to a great day tomorrow with Blake in the semifinals and Jaivon wrestling back through."
The lone Huskie to go undefeated today, West (No. 33/Intermat) started his day with a bye in the first round at 125. West earned his sixth fall of the season, defeating Caden Horwath of Michigan (Fall 6:50). West posted a 5-4 decision over No. 22 Tristan Lujan of Michigan State before winning by major decision over Ashton Jackson of Purdue (Maj 12-3). West's win over Jackson was his second win this season as both wins were major decisions.
At 149 pounds for the Huskies, Jones won by fall over Aiden Vandenbush (Fall 5:00). This was the second win by Jones in ten days over Vandenbush as Jones posted a 5-1 decision on Dec. 19 in DeKalb, Ill. Jones earned his first major decision victory of the season, defeating Danny Sheen of Wisconsin (Maj 11-1). Corbyn Munson of Central Michigan handed Jones his first loss of the season, a 9-3 decision. Moving to the consolation bracket, Jones defeated Penn's Kelly Dunnigan, who is ranked 19th, in a 6-3 decision. Jones ended his day with a major decision victory over Brock Herman of Ohio State (Maj 11-0).
Huskies in the Rankings
Three Huskies were placed in the rankings this week, courtesy of
Intermat and
WrestleStat
West is joined by
Matt Zuber (Chicago, Ill./Fenwick) who is ranked 32nd at 184 pounds in the Intermat rankings.
Zuber is ranked by WrestleStat, coming in at No. 33 in the rankings.
Jacob Brya (St. Johns Mich./St. Johns) is ranked 31st at 141 pounds.
The NIU wrestling program concludes action at Midlands on Dec. 30. The first session is set to start at 11 a.m. at the NOW Arena.
--NIU--
