Last year, I covered Northwestern’s wrestling team for The Daily. As the team trudged toward an 0-8 record in the Big Ten, I often found myself tempted to spice up my stories with less-than-objective reporting.
This is what I came up with:
“…and then the wrestler stripped off his body-hugging spandex to reveal sculpted shoulders glistening with…”
But that was last year, the fourth consecutive season the squad didn’t post a single Big Ten team win.
This season, the action out on the mat is much more exciting than anything a distracted reporter could ever conjure up.
For starters, the team’s second win this season — and its second in five years — was a victory over Iowa on Jan. 29. It was the first time a NU (9-3, 2-3 Big Ten) wrestling squad beat Iowa in 37 years. Iowa is an institution, a powerhouse, a monster.
And our guys overthrew them.
Baffled by this historic victory and hoping to witness a Big Ten win, I dragged some girlfriends to last Friday’s match against Minnesota. Though I still didn’t see the team win, I was simply amazed by what I saw at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
It was a new team, a new energy, a new
atmosphere.
The place was packed with family, friends, and athletes. Members of the men’s soccer team were standing right behind the wrestlers, one banging on a drum, others leading cheers, many stripped down to singlets. (We loved the guy in blue tie-dyed spandex.)
Once awkwardly quiet and empty, the arena was packed Friday with more than 400 supporters. The fans truly believed the team could win its third conference match this season.
In an interview at the end of the 2003-2004 season, Coach Tim Cysewski predicted this turnaround. I kept asking questions about the season, but both Cysewski and wrestler John Velez optimistically looked ahead, to the season to come.
The coach was confident that, with the team’s redshirts, recruits and seasoned wrestlers, the squad would be winning national championships. Velez said the team was “going to be an animal.”
I was skeptical then — but I’m convinced now.
The Cats now are ranked 16th in the country and have five wrestlers ranked in the top 20. Three of them are freshman, which means there’s only more good things to come.
And as the program grows and improves, I can only hope the guys finally get recognized for all their hard work and continue turning heads on campus and in the wrestling world.
I hope the team’s strength and heart will draw you to the next match. Go see them accomplish things an NU wrestling team hasn’t done in years.
If nothing else, go for the spectacle.
Because everything I said about the sculpted shoulders is true.
Sports columnist Becky Plevin is a Medill junior. She can reached at [email protected].
