Northwestern University Athletics
Foundation Laid in 2003-04
3/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 25, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--Things are certainly looking up for Northwestern's wrestling team.
The Wildcats entered the 2003-04 season with six returning starters and the seventh-best recruiting class in the nation. The team ended up with a 9-9 overall record (5-12 in 2002-03) and four qualifiers to the NCAA Championships (just one in the previous year).
"The guys this year formed a solid foundation, which will be key to a successful season next year," said head coach Tim Cysewski, who earned his 100th career win this year. "We made some great improvements, and I am excited about the future of the team."
The four 'Cats who competed in the postseason-redshirt sophomore John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings), junior Mike Kimberlin (Bradley, Ill./Bishop McNamara), freshman Nick Hayes (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Lewis Central) and sophomore Matt Delguyd (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield)- all will return next year. Each contributed to NU's best output in six years.
Northwestern began the season with four-straight victories and won six of seven matches through December. At the NU Duals in November, the Wildcats handily defeated Augustana 30-9 and Gardner-Webb 29-7, and then hung tough to edge Wisconsin-La Crosse 19-14 for the sweep.
Two weeks later, at the Northern Illinois Duals, the 'Cats toppled Loras College 32-8 and Elmhurst College 40-6, which sandwiched a 21-12 loss to the Huskies. In the defeat, both teams were tied 12-12 before NIU earned decisions in the last three bouts to get the win.
In mid-December, Northwestern went east and knocked off American 41-10. The next day, the Wildcats followed the victory with a fourth-place showing at the Beast of the East Invitational in Newark, Del. Velez won the title at 125 lbs. en route to improving to 14-1, while Delguyd and Michael Little (El Reno, Okla./El Reno) each took second at 197 lbs. and heavyweight, respectively.
Kimberlin ended up fourth in NU's best showing at the tournament. Two weeks later, he and Velez were the only two NU wrestlers to advance to the second day of competition at the 41st Midlands Wrestling Championships held at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Velez, seeded eighth, began Day 2 with three wins in Session 3, including a 7-4 decision over Penn's No. 2 seed Matt Velenti, to reach the third-place match. There, he fell to Cal State-Bakersfield's Efren Ceballos 14-6 and took fourth as a result. Velez compiled a 5-2 record, while Kimberlin went 4-2.
As a team, Northwestern improved upon 2002's standings by climbing eight spots to 17th with 31.5 points. Illinois scored 107.5 points to unseat two-time defending champion Iowa, which scored 80.5 for fifth place. Iowa State (102.0), Penn State (92.0) and Hofstra (87.5) rounded out the top five.
In the new year, the team rolled to an 8-1 record with early wins over Eastern Michigan (22-18) and Eastern Illinois (37-3), both of which were on the road. Conference play began the following week, and things got gloomy for the 'Cats.
Hayes was the only NU wrestler to be victorious in a 39-4 loss to No. 10 Iowa. He also was a factor in the match against No. 17 Purdue the following week, a dual that Northwestern barely loss 20-19. With the score 20-10 in favor of the Boilermakers after eight bouts-and a forfeit for Northwestern coming in the last bout-Velez was unable to get a major decision in the clinching bout, beating Sean Schmaltz 10-4 for NU's second Big Ten loss.
The Wildcats concluded the month of January with a 3-3 split; the other loss came at the hands of Indiana (19-12), and the win came against Missouri Baptist (33-6).
February proved to be a difficult month for Northwestern. Five-straight conference losses caused the team another 0-8 Big Ten record. But Cysewski, always the optimist, was excited to take his team into the Big Ten Championships.
"I think the team is ready to wrestle well in the Championships, as we have been focusing on it all year," he said. "Every weight class is deep, so our guys have to wrestle their best to make NCAAs, which I am confident they will. The tournament is a new season for us."
At the tournament, NU, which placed 11th, earned its spots in the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place finish (Delguyd), two seventh-place performances (Hayes and Kimberlin) and a wildcard entry (Velez, who earned the bid after the conference coaches picked him amongst all eighth-place finishers). The four represented the most wrestlers Northwestern qualified since 2000.
Hayes and Kimberlin unfortunately did not make it out of Day 1 at the NCAA Championships, as each went 0-2. The former closed the season with a 14-10 record, including a team-best 5-3 in Big Ten action, while the latter notched 20 wins for the second-straight time, going 22-15 overall.
Velez and Delguyd, on the other hand, both compiled 2-2 records at the tournament, where they eventually fell in the fourth round of wrestlebacks. Delguyd, who upended a No. 9 seed in the third round of wrestlebacks, posted a 26-10 record for the season, second in wins only to Velez, who ended up 28-13.
In all, nine Wildcats accumulated records above .500, whereas only five did last season. Eight of those wrestlers will be back next year, which hints at exciting times for the 2004-05 squad.
"Our staff has worked very hard over the last few years to get the best guys for this program," said Cysewski. "I am expecting great things from us in the years to come within the conference and on a national level. We can look back at this point as saying it is when we got back on track."
