Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Honored at End of Year Team Banquet
5/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
May 20, 2014
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern wrestling team wrapped up its 2013-14 season with the `Cats banquet Sunday in Evanston.
Northwestern set a team record for nine Academic All-Big Ten selections, tied for the most in school history. Pierce Harger was named an Academic All-American for the third time in his career and was joined by Garrison White.
Northwestern had five wrestlers qualify for NCAA Championships.
"Each of these guys battled through adversity, through tough matches, and they embraced the grind of the season and having all five of them return for next year is pretty exciting," Wildcats head coach Drew Pariano said. "Once you've reached the NCAAs you simply become hungry for more success, get greedy about it and that's a good thing."
NCAA Champion Jason Tsirtsis won the Jake Herbert Freshman of the Year Award, Ralph Lupton Award for highest net takedowns and the Stuteville Award as the season points leader. Tsirtsis scored 59 points for NU in duals, losing just three points. He edged out Pierce Harger by a single point, who went 58-8.
Harger earned the Jack Riley Trophy for Most Falls, leading the team with nine. Coaches named Pat Greco the Dedication Award. Jameson Oster and Mitch Sliga won the Coaches Appreciation Award.
"It's easy to talk about the guys who made it to NCAAs this year and got to wrestle on the big stage but we need to recognize a guy who did what he was told, never complained, and even prepared our guys for NCAAs to as a training partner even though he wasn't required to do so," Pariano said of Greco. "A program cannot have enough guys like this - we'd like to honor Pat Greco for this award."
"We have several guys that could be up here," Pariano said of the Coaches Appreciate Award. "As a staff we decided to recognize Jameson Oster and Mitch Sliga. They warmed up guy after guy at Big Tens and they did many extras that coaches want in their athletes. We thank them for their dedication and look forward to next year."
Senior National Success: 2013 graduate Jason Welch and volunteer assistant coach Conor Beebe return to Fargo, N.D. to compete for a spot on the U.S. World Team. Current Wildcats Mitch Sliga and Jason Tsirtsis have been invited to compete at the World Team Trials.
2013-14 Northwestern Team Awards
Dedication Award: Pat Greco
Coaches Appreciation Award: Jameson Oster & Mitch Sliga
Jack Riley Award (Most Falls): Pierce Harger
Jake Herbert Freshman of the Year Award: Jason Tsirtsis
Ralph Lupton Award (Highest Net Takedowns): Jason Tsirtsis
Stuteville Award (Season Point Leader): Jason Tsirtsis
NWCA All-Academic Team
Pierce Harger
Garrison White
Academic All-Big Ten:
John Coukos, Sr. Chemistry Integrated Science Program Mathematics
Robert Coukos, So. • Integrated Science Program
Pat Greco, Sr. • Political Science
Matt Greene, So. • Undeclared
Pierce Harger, Sr. • Engineering
Dylan Marriott, Sr. • History
Justin Meyers, So. • Undeclared
Lee Munster, Sr. • Business Institutions & Economics
Garrison White, So. Undeclared
NCAA Qualifiers
Dominick Malone (133)
Jason Tsirtsis (149)
Pierce Harger (165)
Alex Polizzi (197)
Mike McMullan (285)
NCAA All-Americans
Jason Tsirtsis (1st)
Pierce Harger (8th)
Mike McMullan (3rd)
Northwestern finished No. 9 in the nation at the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. from March 20-22, the `Cats second Top 10 finish in the last three years. RS Freshman Jason Tsirtsis won an NCAA Championships at 149 lbs. Tsirtis was one of three All-Americans for the Wildcats, including three-time All-American Mike McMullan and Pierce Harger.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
