Wrestling | March 4

DeKALB, Ill.—Markel Baker (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) and Devon Dawson (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Goddard) are the top-seeded wrestlers at 133 and 285 pounds as the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program is set to compete at the 2026 Mid-American Conference Championship. Action will take place at Alumni Arena on the campus of the University at Buffalo's campus.
 
Action will start at 11 a.m. CT on March 6 with the opening round. Championship semifinals will take place at 4 p.m. on March 6. The consolation quarterfinals will start at 10:30 a.m. on March 7 with the finals beginning at 2 p.m. The brackets for the tournament will be released at a later date.
 
Blake West (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) is the defending MAC Champion at 125 pounds. West became NIU's first champion at that weight class since 2007 (Pat Castillo).
 
The Huskies last won the MAC title in 1985. NIU has crowned 46 MAC Champions since 1975 and seven since the 2020 season.
 
Four additional Huskies are seeded as they enter the championships this weekend. West is the second seeded at 125 pounds. Charles Curtis (Canton, Ohio/Perry) and Brett Smith (Troy, Mo./Buchanan) are the No. 3 seeds at 141 and 165 pounds respectively. Tommy Bennett (Evergreen Park, Ill./Brother Rice) is the No. 5 seed at 174 pounds.
 
Last year at the MAC Championships, NIU finished in seventh place as a team with West's championship performance. Landen Johnson (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) came from behind in the third-place match at 157 pounds to earn his ticket to the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Baker and Bennett also placed at the tournament in their respective championships.
 
This season, NIU finished in second place in the MAC West standings after falling 16-15 to SIUE on tie-breaker criteria. Baker has posted 12 straight wins for the Huskies and is undefeated in conference duals alongside Dawson and West. The trio are ranked in the national polls with the Huskies landing at No. 17. Additionally, NIU defeated Northwestern in February and took fourth at the NWCA National Duals in January.
 
West has reached two milestone marks this season. On November 20, he became the sixth wrestler in program history to reach 100 career wins. In the final dual of the regular season, West tied the NIU All-Time Win record at 116.
 
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