As temperatures dipped to minus-7 degrees on a freezing Friday evening in Evanston, many Northwestern wrestling fans could have been forgiven for staying inside and skipping a dual meet against No. 17 Rutgers.
But like every other home match in their son’s young career, No. 30 redshirt freshman 174-pounder Eddie Enright’s parents were among the loudest supporters cheering on the Wildcats (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) at Welsh-Ryan Arena — and after the Chicago native dominated No. 12 Lenny Pinto for a 14-3 major decision win, the Enright family lingered long into the night.
“My family comes to pretty much all of our home duals, and my dad’s always at the away ones. I mean, that means so much to me,” Enright said. “It gives me that reason to go out there and put on a show for them, and also that confidence with such good support behind me.”
The Scarlet Knights (8-4, 2-2 Big Ten) won the meet 30-10, but coach Matt Storniolo said he prioritized strong individual performances over a team win. The team won both matches that pitted ranked wrestlers against one another: Enright and No. 25 redshirt sophomore 125-pounder Dedrick Navarro triumphed over Pinto and the Scarlet Knights’ No. 27 Ayden Smith, respectively.
Pinto is one of the top seniors in the country at 174 pounds, boasting a second-place finish in last year’s Big Ten Championships and appearances in each of the last three NCAA Championships. But on Friday night, Enright looked like the man to beat, scoring a takedown in all three periods without ever letting Pinto escape.
Storniolo said the performance was a testament to Enright’s development since coming to Evanston from Woodlawn’s Mount Carmel High School, where he lost in the Illinois Class 3A state finals twice. The high school resume was deceptive — he dropped down to the 157-pound weight class for his senior year, saying at the time he felt he could almost “walk through” the 165-pound bracket — so he largely flew under the radar going into college.
Now that he has a top-15 win under his belt and two other ranked victories this season, though, the secret of Enright is well and truly out.
“I think he’s starting to realize just how good he could be,” Storniolo said.
Aside from Enright and Navarro’s wins and No. 32 freshman 141-pounder Billy Dekraker’s 4-1 victory over Tahir Parkins, the ’Cats came up empty in every other match. Graduate student heavyweight Gabe Christenson nearly pulled off a surprise upset over Rutgers’ No. 19 Hunter Catka, coming within inches of his opponent’s ankles for a match-winning third-period takedown, but Catka scampered away and scored a takedown of his own as time expired.
NU forfeited the 165-pound bout for the second dual in a row as redshirt sophomore 165-pounder Jacob Bostelman deals with a recurring injury. Storniolo also sidelined No. 24 redshirt senior 133-pounder Sean Spidle due to a minor injury, preventing an opportunity for him to go 3-0 in his head-to-head series against 2024 Big Ten champion No. 27 Dylan Shawver.
The ’Cats will need all hands on deck next week for a Friday trip to No. 10 Michigan, in which Enright will get a chance to avenge a 12-10 loss in December to No. 11 174-pounder Beau Mantanona. NU will then make the 65-mile trip across the Michigan mitten for a date with Big Ten basement dwellers Michigan State on Sunday.
“I’m fairly pleased with the way we wrestled as individuals,” Storniolo said. “Each week’s an opportunity as a team, and as individuals, so we’ve got two great opportunities ahead of us next week.”
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