Wrestling | March 15

DeKALB, Ill. – Redshirt senior Izzak Olejnik of the Northern Illinois University wrestling team is ready to compete for All-America status this Thursday-Saturday (March 16-18) 2023 NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla. Inside the BOK Center.

The NCAA Championships will broadcast live on ESPN and ESPNU. Session one starts Thursday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPNU before the evening session starts at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

Olejnik defended his 165 lbs. title March 4 at the MAC Championships, making him an automatic qualifier for this year's NCAA Championships. Olejnik dismantled four-straight opponents, two via bonus-point, to win back-to-back titles as well as the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award.

"Izzak [Olejnik] has been focused on his training for the NCAAs since the conclusion of the MAC Championship," said head NIU coach Ryan Ludwig. "He is looking forward to representing NIU in Tulsa and putting it on the line to chase down his goals,"

Olejnik, tabbed the No. 12 seed at 165, will square off against No. 21 Gerrit Nijenhuis (Oklahoma) in the opening round Thursday (March 16) morning. Nijenhuis owns a 16-7 record with the Sooners.

If Olejnik wins, he'll face either No. 5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) or No. 28 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) in the second round Thursday evening. If he loses, Olejnik will have another opportunity to keep wrestling in the consolation bracket.

The champ has been impressive all season with an overall mark of 27-3, a dual record of 8-1, and a perfect MAC dual record of 6-0. The redshirt senior has garnered four major decisions, one tech fall, and seven pins this year.

Tomorrow will be Olejnik's third appearance in the national tournament and his fourth time qualifying (2020 was canceled due to COVID-19). Olejnik will aim to rectify his previous two outings with a podium placement.

In 2021, No. 18 Olejnik opened tournament action by beating Dan Braunagel (Illinois), but lost in the second round to Anthony Valencia (Arizona State). In the consolation bracket, Olejnik defeated Austin Yant (Northern Iowa), but was one win shy of All-America status after losing to Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State) in the third round.

2022 was a similar story for No. 11 Olejnik as he beat Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb) in the first round, but lost in the ensuing bout to Cameron Amine (Michigan). In the consolation bracket, Olejnik dismantled Thomas Bullard (N.C. State), but lost to Justin McCoy (Virginia) to fall shy of the podium.

"Our goals as a program always come down to achieving the highest of honors at the NCAA Championship. That remains constant year in and year out."

The Huskie wrestling program extended its streak of at least one NCAA qualifier to 52-straight years dating back to 1972 when Larry Johnson earned All-America honors by taking fifth.

NIU has two national champions in its history: Roy Conrad won the 177 title in 1960 and Neal McDonald earned the D-II heavyweight title in 1965.