Redshirt senior Brandon Precin is back.
After winning his second career crown in the 125-pound weight division at the 48th Midlands Championships, Precin received the Art Kraft Champion of Champions award, which is given to the top champion as voted on by all 10 winners at the event.
“I appreciate them selecting me as the recipient,” Precin said. “It means a lot, and I wasn’t expecting it. It was a nice surprise.”
Precin was redshirted last season and wrestled unattached, compiling a 21-3 record, including a third place finish at last year’s Midlands Championships. The Midlands, on Dec. 29 and 30, brought some of the best wrestlers in the country to Evanston. This year, Precin defeated Iowa’s Matt McDonough, who was the top seeded wrestler in his class. As a team, Northwestern (10-0, 1-0 Big Ten) was in 11th place out of 44 teams after day one, but slipped into a tie for 13th in the final standings.
“It’s a very difficult tournament,” head coach Drew Pariano said. “When you knock off all these nationally ranked guys it sets a tone for NCAAs in March.”
Northwestern shook up their coaching staff this season, as Tim Cysewski stepped down as head coach and became the associate head coach, while Pariano was promoted to head coach. The Wildcats also added former NU wrestler Jake Herbert, who won two NCAA championships at 184 pounds and was a four-time All-American during his career in Evanston, as a volunteer assistant coach.
“Jake just brings that competitive edge,” Pariano said. “He is still in training so he uses our guys as part of his training supplement. It gives our guys a focal point to aspire to.”
NU has finished in the top 15 nationally every year since 2005 under Cysewski. If the team’s record is any indication, the transition has been a success.
“It went rather smooth because Timmy has been my mentor and was my coach here at Northwestern,” Pariano said.
The Cats are led by Precin and redshirt senior Andrew Nadhir(149). Both are undefeated in duals this season and Pariano said he expects the pair to be leaders.
Over their first 10 duals, the Cats have shut out their opponents three times. The last time NU won all 10 matches in a dual was back in 2002 against Gardner-Webb.
“A lot of that (success) is attributed to a great preseason and the guys buying into our system,” Pariano said.
NU started the season on the road on Nov. 7, beating Stanford 18-16 before taking care of Menlo College 43-3 later in the afternoon.
They returned home on Nov. 14 to sweep their three duals during the NU Duals, beating UW-Whitewater, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa. The next weekend sent NU to Philadelphia, where they finished second out of 12 teams in the Keystone Classic. Precin and Nadhir won in their weight classes at the event.
NU hosted two more duals in early December, beating Cleveland State 32-9 and then Eastern Michigan 34-3 a week later.
The Cats then started Big Ten action with a convincing 28-9 victory over Indiana in Bloomington on Dec. 15.
