Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Impress at Michigan State Open
11/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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Complete Brackets: Open Division | Freshman/Sophomore Division
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- While Mike McMullan and Jason Tsirtsis were representing Northwestern on the national stage this weekend, several of their teammates enjoyed strong outings at the Michigan State Open in East Lansing.
Bypassing the freshman/sophomore division in favor of the tournament's Open Division, 125-pound freshman Steven Micic (Hanover Central, Ind./Hanover) wrestled his way into the finals of his weight class. Micic did so with a tech fall and a major decision in the early rounds before defeating Michigan's Conor Youtsey in the semifinals, 6-3. Micic fell in the finals (11-2) to Ohio State redshirt freshman Nathan Tomasello, who last year finished with an 18-0 record in open tournament competition.
Johnny Sebastian (Ramsey, N.J./Bergen Catholic) also turned heads in his first collegiate competition, opening his tournament with a first-period pin of Tiffin's Chris Baker before posting a major decision win (14-1) over Columbia's Shane Hughes, who entered the event ranked No. 16 in the country at 174 pounds.
Sebastian fell by a slim 5-2 margin to 2014 NCAA qualifier Mark Martin but rallied to place third with a 6-3 decision over Chad Welch of Purdue.
Up at 197 pounds, junior Jacob Berkowitz (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) secured two victories in the wrestleback round, winning by technical fall over Ohio State's Craig Thomas and besting Bryson Begley of West Virginia by a 10-2 major decision. Berkowitz ultimately was knocked from the consolation bracket by Michigan's Chris Heald in a narrow 3-2 decision.
Head coach Drew Pariano and the Wildcats open the 2014-15 season in earnest with a weekend road trip to Stanford, meeting the Cardinal Saturday afternoon in Palo Alto.
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