You always want to win them all, but losing one out of four isn’t a failure. That’s exactly what the NIU wrestling team did this weekend.

The weekend started with a 26-10 win over Ohio (4-11 overall, 0-2 MAC) on Friday.

“When we wrestle a MAC school, we call it a cage match,” said head coach Dave Grant. “We always talk about putting everything we have in those MAC dual meets. They’re standing between us and our dreams, which is being down in St. Louis.”

The Huskies (8-4 overall, 2-0 MAC) followed their victory by going 2-1 at the Wendy’s Big Classic Duals Sunday in Ashland, Ohio.

At the Wendy’s Duals, NIU outscored Cleveland State and Liberty by a combined 73-10 in its two victories. The Huskies’ only loss of the weekend came against Purdue with a final score of 24-10.

NIU also had three wrestlers go undefeated over the weekend. Freshman T.J. Wunnicke, who finished the weekend with three pins and a technical fall, made the biggest impact.

“It was a good performance from our guys,” Grant said. “They perform hard, they get out and wrestle hard.”

Nationally ranked wrestlers Pat Castillo and Duke Burk each finished the weekend 4-0. Castillo picked up four major decisions, with Burk adding two more and a pin. David Benner was also a big contributor, going 3-0.

Match outcomes

NIU 26, Ohio 10
HWT-Benner (NIU) dec. Marshall 3-1.
125-Wunnicke (NIU) pinned Allen 0:59.
133­-P. Castillo (NIU) maj dec. Keyes 22-9.
141-Lindsey (Ohio) dec. DeShazer 9-7.
149-Knull (NIU) dec. Christensen 5-4.
157-Tucker (Ohio) dec. O’Connor 6-4.
165-Linczmaier (NIU) dec. Smith 7-6.
174-Burk (NIU) maj dec. Ison 11-3.
184-Schuth (Ohio) maj dec. Dieckhaus 14-4.
197-J. Smith (NIU) dec. Iammarino 3-1.

Purdue 24, NIU 16
125-Wunnicke (NIU) pinned Eren 6:58.
133-P. Castillo (NIU) maj dec. Schmaltz 10-2.
141-Redmond (P) dec. V. Castillo 5-1.
149-J. Pastacsil (P) pinned Knull 1:39.
157-S. Pastacsil (P) dec. O’Connor 3-2.
165-Manuel (P) dec. Linczmaier 4-1.
174-Burk (NIU) dec. Corpe 5-2.
184-Kissel (P) pinned Dieckhaus 2:16.
197-Brown (P) dec. J. Smith 4-2.
HWT-Benner (NIU) dec. Kasten 4-2.

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