Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Celebrates 2015 Team at Annual Banquet
5/18/2015 3:51:00 PM | Wrestling
Coach Pariano hands out year-end awards
2014-15 Season Notes
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern wrestling officially wrapped up the 2015 season with its annual team banquet Sunday. The well-attended event took place at Firehouse Grill in Evanston.
Head coach Drew Pariano offered words of encouragement to the returning wrestlers, while bidding farewell to an outstanding senior class.
Seniors John Coukos, Pierce Harger, Mike McMullan and Alex Polizzi received framed singlets and were recognized by Pariano for their achievements during their time at Northwestern. McMullan leaves Evanston as a four-time All-American, never finishing lower than third at the NCAA Championships. He won the 2015 Big Ten title and won 103 matches in his career. Harger was a 2014 NCAA All-American and earned 107 victories in his four seasons. He also excelled in the classroom, earning Academic All-Big Ten and Academic All-American honors four times. Polizzi wrestled in the NCAA Championships three times, won 73 matches and tied for 10th in the nation in 2015 with 10 wins by fall. Coukos stood out in the classroom with four Academic All-Big Ten honors. He is a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and earned a Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship to continue his medical studies at the University of Chicago.
The Wildcats also recognized the winners of several annual team awards.
McMullan and Jason Tsirtsis split the Stuteville Award for season points leader. Each wrestler scored 130.5 points for the team during the season. Polizzi was honored with the Jack Riley Award for total falls with a team-leading 10. Tsirtsis earned the Lupton Award for net takedowns. The sophomore was only taken down six times all season, while scoring more than 70. The Herbert Award went to McMullan for his terrific senior season and his accomplishments in his Northwestern career.
The Wildcats return seven starters for the 2015-16 season to go along with consecutive highly regarded recruiting classes. The 2014 class was listed No. 1 in the country by WIN Magazine, and the 2015 class is headlined by Zack Chakonis, the nation's top-ranked amateur heavyweight.
Northwestern will look to build on five straight winning seasons and a ninth top-15 national finish in the past 11 years.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern wrestling officially wrapped up the 2015 season with its annual team banquet Sunday. The well-attended event took place at Firehouse Grill in Evanston.
Head coach Drew Pariano offered words of encouragement to the returning wrestlers, while bidding farewell to an outstanding senior class.
Seniors John Coukos, Pierce Harger, Mike McMullan and Alex Polizzi received framed singlets and were recognized by Pariano for their achievements during their time at Northwestern. McMullan leaves Evanston as a four-time All-American, never finishing lower than third at the NCAA Championships. He won the 2015 Big Ten title and won 103 matches in his career. Harger was a 2014 NCAA All-American and earned 107 victories in his four seasons. He also excelled in the classroom, earning Academic All-Big Ten and Academic All-American honors four times. Polizzi wrestled in the NCAA Championships three times, won 73 matches and tied for 10th in the nation in 2015 with 10 wins by fall. Coukos stood out in the classroom with four Academic All-Big Ten honors. He is a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and earned a Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship to continue his medical studies at the University of Chicago.
The Wildcats also recognized the winners of several annual team awards.
McMullan and Jason Tsirtsis split the Stuteville Award for season points leader. Each wrestler scored 130.5 points for the team during the season. Polizzi was honored with the Jack Riley Award for total falls with a team-leading 10. Tsirtsis earned the Lupton Award for net takedowns. The sophomore was only taken down six times all season, while scoring more than 70. The Herbert Award went to McMullan for his terrific senior season and his accomplishments in his Northwestern career.
The Wildcats return seven starters for the 2015-16 season to go along with consecutive highly regarded recruiting classes. The 2014 class was listed No. 1 in the country by WIN Magazine, and the 2015 class is headlined by Zack Chakonis, the nation's top-ranked amateur heavyweight.
Northwestern will look to build on five straight winning seasons and a ninth top-15 national finish in the past 11 years.
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