No. 23 redshirt senior 133-pounder Sean Spidle isn’t thinking about the national championships just yet.
“We have a pretty tough schedule ahead of us,” said the Central Michigan transfer and 2025 national qualifier on his goals for this season. “I’m just trying to keep it one match at a time.”
But in his Big Ten opener Friday night against Maryland No. 12 Braxton Brown, Spidle showed he could make a larger splash than expected come March. Down 2-1 and in a headlock with 48 seconds left, Spidle ducked and twisted around to his opponent’s side, wrapping him in a seatbelt that secured an all-important takedown.
The 4-2 upset set the tone for a 27-12 Northwestern victory in which the Wildcats (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) rarely looked fazed. NU enjoyed a net riding time advantage of 18 minutes and 20 seconds over a depleted Terrapins (4-3, 0-2 Big Ten) squad, often working to turn the weaker Terrapins onto their backs for near-fall points.
Coach Matt Storniolo praised his wrestlers’ aggressive and opportunistic approach to the meet, as four NU wrestlers won by major decision or technical fall. At certain points last year, he chided several experienced — sometimes nationally ranked — wrestlers for being too passive, but only two regular members of that lineup returned this season.
“This was the best we looked as a team in any competition this year,” he said.
No. 31 freshman 141-pounder Billy Dekraker followed up Spidle’s performance with an 8-3 win over Maryland’s Ryan Kennedy. He wrestled into Storniolo’s lineup after missing NU’s dual season-opening loss to SIU-Edwardsville.
After winning his bout in NU’s 21-19 victory over Princeton before Thanksgiving, Dekraker earned his national ranking at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December with wins over two-time NCAA qualifier Greyson Clark and No. 32 Caedyn Ricciardi.
A pair of redshirt freshmen notched the first Big Ten wins of their young careers with technical falls Friday night. Wildcat 157-pounder Gunnar Myers rode out a 15-0 shutout on top of Maryland’s Mekhi Neal. No. 31 174-pounder Eddie Enright could have done the same with a 16-point advantage and more than five minutes of riding time over Alex Uryniak of the Terrapins. Instead, the lanky Chicago native opted to end the bout early by cutting Uryniak loose, just to take him down five seconds later.
Uryniak, a natural 165-pounder, was put at a disadvantage after Maryland No. 5 184-pounder Jaxon Smith was unexpectedly dropped from the Terrapin lineup, forcing their backups at 165 and 174 pounds to move up a weight class.
The shuffling didn’t change the way Storniolo saw the lopsided result because the change could have hurt NU psychologically, he said.
“You can’t let your guard down, and you can’t control who it is that steps on the line across from you,” he said. “The message we preach is to wrestle to the best of your ability, right? Not to wrestle the opponent, but to wrestle your best match.”
NU will need that mentality in spades this Friday for a visit to No. 18 Wisconsin. The ’Cats will promptly return home two days later to host No. 1 Penn State, who clinched its NCAA record-breaking 78th straight dual win on Saturday by blanking No. 16 Rutgers, 46-0.
NU beat Wisconsin 27-11 last season, but the Badgers now boast a reloaded roster with No. 17 149-pounder Joseph Zargo, No. 28 197-pounder Wyatt Ingham and No. 9 heavyweight Braxton Amos all returning after redshirting the 2025 season.
“This Wisconsin team is going to be a little bit tougher than they were last year, but that’s okay — we want to earn it,” Storniolo said. “I don’t want anything given to us, and I think the guys are going to walk a little bit taller, have a little bit bigger of a chest heading into that match next weekend.”
Email: [email protected]
X: @sidvaraman
Related Stories:
— Wrestling: ’Cats get first taste of competition at Michigan State Open tune-up
— Wrestling: Chumbley upsets four, places fourth at NCAA Championships
— NU sends two to NCAAs, underwhelms at home Big Ten Championships
