Northwestern University Athletics
Northern Illinois Duals Next on Wildcats' Slate
12/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 1, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After sweeping its first dual meet this season, Northwestern's wrestling team (3-0) will take on Northern Illinois, Loras College and Elmhurst College at the Northern Illinois Duals beginning at 4 p.m. Friday in DeKalb, Ill.
"These are three great programs, and they will challenge us in some areas," said head coach Tim Cysewski. "We will have to wrestle better than we did two weeks ago, but I am hopeful we can get the wins this week."
At the NU Duals two weeks ago, Matt Delguyd (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) won a key overtime match against Wisconsin-La Crosse to give the Wildcats a 19-14 win, which followed a 30-9 rout of Augustana and a 29-7 beating of Gardner-Webb. He will get a chance to shine again as he will likely get the start at 197 lbs.
John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings), one of two NU wrestlers to get a victory against the Huskies last year, will be the probable starter at 125 lbs. The rest of the NU lineup has not yet been determined.
Last weekend, NIU (0-1) fell to No. 19 Wisconsin 27-9. Out of the three individual wins for the Huskies, one came from Ben Heizer, who is ranked No. 3 by Intermat.com at 184 lbs. He will likely get the start on Friday.
Another ranked NIU wrestler is No. 19 Josh Wooton, who lost his 149-pound match on Sunday in overtime. Last year he topped former Wildcat wrestler John Giacche 4-2 at 141 lbs.
Loras College (0-0), a Division III school, has only competed in open tournaments so far this season. The Duhawks will face Wartburg on Wednesday in their first dual match.
Elmhurst College (0-0), also a Division III program, recently competed in the Concordia Open, where Rick Lamas won the title at157 lbs. The Blue Jays will get their first dual action this Friday as well.
