Nick Hayes screamed at his teammates as he jogged in front of them while they walked back after a sprint.
Walking wasn’t good enough for the sophomore. After the next sprint, one of his teammates joined him in jogging back. By the third sprint, the entire team was jogging back.
Northwestern coach Tim Cysewski said he believes that type of work ethic will help his team defeat Big Ten opponents Indiana and Purdue in this weekend’s road trip to start the conference season.
"I like how we practiced this week," Cysewski said. "I liked our confidence this week. We can go out there and throw it up with anybody."
No. 20 Northwestern will face No. 19 Indiana today in Bloomington, Ind., in what will be the Wildcats’ first major challenge of the season. The match pits several individual rivals against each other. Redshirt junior John Velez, ranked 17th in the nation at 125 pounds, will face Indiana’s Joseph Dubuque, who has beaten Velez two years in a row.
"I’ve had two matches with him and both matches have been very close," Velez said. "He’s a good wrestler but he’s not that much better than me and I know I can beat him. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it. Hopefully this time out, the third time’s the charm."
Indiana and NU have eerily similar rosters. Both teams have five wrestlers in the top 20, and each had a wrestler win an individual title at the Midland Championships in December.
But the Cats, who are carrying a perfect 7-0 record into the dual meets this weekend, are looking to make a statement in the Big Ten this year, starting with the Hoosiers.
"I think that we proved along the year that we’re a much improved team," junior Matt Delguyd said. "I think the team will be right up at the top of the Big Ten."
After facing Indiana, NU will have to be ready to take on Purdue. The Boilermakers go into the weekend with a 6-6 record that includes a loss to Northern Illinois, a team Northwestern defeated 21-13 on Dec. 3. Despite Purdue’s weaker record, Cysewski believes that no Big Ten team should be overlooked.
"Anytime you wrestle a Big Ten school it’s going to be a barn burner," Cysewski said. "I don’t care how much better as a team you are over them. It’s just something special about Big Ten wrestling."
Because NU has a young roster, the coaches have tried to instill energy in the team to prepare it for the conference schedule. Cysewski says he wants the team to find motivation from any source they can.
"Some kids rely on the coaches to feed off of," Cysewski said. "I don’t care. It could be their TA that’s just a big wrestling nut and if they feed off of that, great.
"I don’t care how they get it just as long as they understand the importance of it."
Reach Paul Tenorio at [email protected].
