Wrestling | March 19

CLEVELAND—Markel Baker (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships as he and Devon Dawson (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Goddard) represented the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program on the first day of the championships. 
 
Baker extended his winning streak to 17-straight while Dawson's win streak came to an end in the evening session.  
 
In the rematch from the MAC Championships, Baker got a first period takedown over Will Betancourt of Rider. Baker went up 4-0 after a second period escape before grabbing a second takedown in the third period as he won in an 8-1 decision.
 
In his second match, Baker was taken down by Dominick Serrano of Northern Colorado in the first round. Baker got back-to-back escape points before taking the lead with a late takedown in the third. Serrano tied it up with 20 seconds remaining in the third to force overtime. Baker achieved the takedown to advance to the quarterfinals, his first sudden victory win.
 
Dawson faced future PAC-12 foe Trevor Tinker of Cal Poly in his first round, earning a second period reversal to go up 2-0. Dawson added a quick third period takedown and captured the riding time point as he won 7-4 to advance.
 
In the second round, Dawson faced Hunter Catka of Rutgers in what was a rematch of the championships from the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in December 2025. Dawson got a third period escape to tie the match at one before falling via tie-breaker 1 (TB-1, 2-1).
 
Baker will face Jax Forrest, the No. 1 seed, from Oklahoma State on Friday (March 20) in the quarterfinals.
 
Dawson moves to the consolation bracket and will face Braxton Amos of Wisconsin. Amos is the 12-seed in the tournament.
 
Action resumes tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. CT for the third session. The fourth session will start at 7 p.m. CT. A full schedule can be found at NCAA Wrestling Championship Central. All matches throughout the championship will be available on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+).
 
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