It takes a combination of strength and endurance to win one seven-minute wrestling match. At Saturday’s NU Duals at Welsh-Ryan Arena, each member of the Northwestern wrestling team competed three times, earning three wins for the Wildcats in their opening match of the season.
After beating Augustana 30-9 in the first match, the Cats went on to win against Gardner-Webb, 29-7. The day’s third match, against Wisconsin-La Crosse, proved to be the toughest win.
NU and Wisconsin-La Crosse split the meet’s first four matches, with sophomore Jimmy Kim (141 pounds) and junior Mike Kimberlin (157 pounds) winning for NU.
Sophomore Dan Quintela (133 pounds) was beaten 6-1 and senior Josh Ballard (149 pounds) lost in overtime, 4-1.
With the score tied at 6-6, both freshman Nick Hayes (165 pounds) and senior Andrew Curran (174 pounds) won in 3-1 overtime decisions.
After sophomore Joseph Gulotta (184 pounds) lost 13-4, sophomore Matt Delguyd (197 pounds) won 4-3 in multiple overtime periods. That gave NU a 15-10 decision with two matches left. When heavyweight Mike Little lost 14-4, the outcome of the team competition was left to junior John Velez (125 pounds).
“I knew the kid (from Wisconsin-La Crosse) would be pretty tough,” Velez said. “I wanted to go out there and kill him. I wanted to send him a message: Northwestern is not going to lose.”
Velez said he went into the match determined to quickly establish who was in control.
“In the first period, I decided I was going to come out and be charged,” Velez said. “I wanted to break him right away. Once I broke him, I felt like I was in control. The most important was the first takedown.”
After Velez’s 13-4 win, the Cats clinched a 19-14 win over Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Other matches were not so clearly dominated, as many went into multiple overtimes. Due to a new rule instituted for this season, matches that go into overtime can last up to four minutes past regulation time.
For Curran and Delguyd, the match came down to the last overtime minute, where the wrestler with the longest riding time is named as the winner.
“At the end of the second overtime, I needed 10 seconds on top,” Delguyd said, knowing his opponent had nine seconds of riding time. “There was a flurry when he almost escaped, but when the whistle blew, I was one second ahead.”
Delguyd, who won all three of his matches, said that although he was exhausted during overtime, the team often trains in practice as if matches are in overtime.
“You tell yourself you’re not tired,” Delguyd said. “You have to keep yourself in the match. You can’t get flustered and you have to stay focused so you don’t get caught up in the moment.”
Curran went into overtime in his final two matches, losing the first one and winning the second.
He said wrestling in the extra period wasn’t significantly more tiring than a taxing regulation match.
“Overtimes aren’t more extreme,” Curran said. “You are still tired coming off the mat — it’s the nature of the sport.”
Coach Tim Cysewski said the overtime matches are the most agonizing to watch.
“They are exciting, but I hate them,” Cysewski said. “I don’t want to be there — I want to win in regulation. It’s hard to lose a match like that.”
Saturday’s competition marked the debut in the starting lineup for sophomores Dan Quintela (133 pounds), Jimmy Kim (141 pounds), and freshman Nick Hayes. They each recorded wins in two of their three matches.
