After a 2-0 start, wrestling in the Big Ten might have seemed easy to the Wildcats. After an 0-2 weekend, it’s clear that it might not be that way.
No. 16 Northwestern (2-2-1) fell 22-13 against No. 9 Illinois on Friday night and 18-16 against No. 8 Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.
“There’s no weak sisters in the Big Ten,” coach Tim Cysewski said.
Other than Michigan State, every team in the Big Ten is ranked in the top 25 nationally. And after having faced Michigan State to open their conference slate, NU is coping with being a good team with equally strong opponents.
“We went into both of those two duals feeling very confident about winning our matches, and the guys wrestled really well,” Cysewski said. “But we just came up short.”
An outright win against the Golden Gophers seemed possible, but the Cats slipped up in a few areas they couldn’t afford.
“We lost some close matches,” Cysewski said. “And we lost some major decisions. We should never get majored.”
NU lost three matches by major decision against Minnesota – each worth one more point than a regular decision. Considering the final score of the dual was 18-16, losing by less in these three matches could have allowed NU to escape with the upset.
Each dual was a battle of strength versus strength. Of the 20 individual matches fought this weekend, 14 featured wrestlers ranked in the top 20, including three matches pitting ranked wrestler on ranked wrestler. In these 14 matches, the higher ranked of the two wrestlers won each time.
No. 1 Jake Herbert and No. 3 Brandon Precineach won both of their matches, as is becoming the norm for the two wrestlers, who sit at a combined 46-1 for the year. However, their victories weren’t the optimal outcome.
Precin, in the 125-pound weight class, beat Illinois’ B.J. Futrell 6-0 on Friday night, and was winning by the same score against Minnesota’s Zach Sanders (No. 7) in the final period. However, Precin failed to maintain his momentum and allowed Sanders to record a near fall. In the final two minutes, Sanders registered seven points to tie the game. Precin, however, earned an extra point on riding time to secure the win. Despite salvaging the victory and sending Sanders his second defeat of the year, Precin lost the opportunity to earn his team a four-point major decision.
“Brandon was dominating his opponent, and he made just one mistake, and that cost him his chance to major the guy,” Cysewski said. “And that’s one of the places we left a team point on the mat.”
Herbert, in the 184-pound weight class, majored both of his opponents, defeating Illinois’ Ben Friedl 23-9 and Minnesota’s Sonny Yohn 16-5, extending his record for the year to a perfect 23-0. The Illini outmaneuvered the Cats by having their 184-pound wrestler, No. 12 Jordan Blanton, wrestle NU’s 197-pounder John Schoen instead of Herbert. Blanton defeated Schoen, allowing Illinois to get a win from a wrestler who otherwise would have faced Herbert, who hasn’t lost a collegiate match since 2006.
NU’s other two ranked wrestlers, No. 14 Jason Welch (157-pound weight class) and No. 16 Keith Sulzer (141), split their weekend matches, losing to higher ranked wrestlers. Welch topped a ranked opponent in Minnesota’s No. 17 Tyler Safratowich 10-3, nearly earning a major decision. Welch suffered the first loss of his Big Ten career against Illinois’ No. 2 wrestler, Mike Poeta. Andrew Nadhir was the only nonranked wrestler to win both his matches on the weekend.
“Welch wrestled well against two tough opponents,” Cysewski said. “And Nadhir is one of those guys who you might start seeing in the rankings soon.”
NU will hit the road, facing another ranked opponent next Sunday in No. 18 Indiana.
