Wildcats Welcome Michigan For Friday Night Dual

NORTHWESTERN WRESTLING: Match Day Info
DATE	Opponent	Time	LOCATION	WATCH
Friday, Jan. 24	Michigan	7 p.m. CT	Welsh-Ryan Arena	BTN+
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EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 15 Northwestern is set to host the University of Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena Friday evening, 7 p.m. CT.

The Wildcats continue their Big Ten push after a 21-15 Alumni Day win over Indiana. The 'Cats win moved them to 3-3 on the season in dual action and featured dominant performances from No. 19 Shayne Oster and No. 1 Ryan Deakin.

In total, the Wildcats won six bouts against the Hoosiers. Redshirt first-year Michael DeAugustino started off the dual with an 8-6 decision over Liam Cronin and redshirt senior Alec McKenna followed suit, winning his second conference match in two weeks.

Deakin and Oster were next, with Deakin winning by yet another major decision, followed by Oster securing a tech fall, his second of the season, over Davey Tunon to extend the lead to 15-6. Redshirt first-years Lucas Davison and Jack Jessen clinched the dual for the 'Cats with decisions over their opponents

When Northwestern faced Michigan last season, the then-No. 4 ranked Wolverines bested the Wildcats, 30-9. This Wolverines are currently riding a three-game winning streak to open conference play, with wins over Michigan State, Maryland and No. 11 Minnesota this past Sunday.

Quick Notes:

No. 7 Michael DeAugustino bested Liam Cronin in an 8-6 decision, improving to 13-4 on the year, the most wins a Wildcat grappler this season. DeAugustino burst onto the national scene in December with stellar performances in two of the biggest non-conference tournaments in NCAA Wrestling. First, he placed third in the 125 lb division at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational after going 5-1 as an unranked seed with wins over two top-10 seeds.
No. 1 Ryan Deakin continued to dominate the competition with another major decision over Fernando Silva, 13-3. Deakin remains undefeated and moves up to 11-0 on the season. This also marks Deakin's fifth win by major decision or better of his six dual matches. He only trailed for 3:02 of action this season in just two of his 11 bouts.
- In his first action since being ranked as the consensus No. 1 wrestler at 157 lbs, Deakin did not allow a single point in two bouts, defeating No. 8 Kendall Coleman (Purdue), 14-0, and Bo Pipher (Penn State), 6-0.
- Deakin's win over Coleman on Jan. 10 marked his third-consecutive win against a Top-10 opponent at 157 lbs dating back to the CKLV (he defeated then-No. 2 ranked David Carr from Iowa State in the CKLV Semis and then No. 1-ranked Hayden Hidlay in the CKLV finals).
- Of his six dual victories this season, four have come by major decision, one by fall and one by decision.
- Deakin has a history of beating wrestlers…In the 2018-2019 season, Ryan defeated No. 3 Larry Early (Old Dominion) in the beginning of the season, followed No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State) and No. 5 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) later in his redshirt sophomore campaign.
After his banner weekend, in which he faced off against Purdue's No. 2 Christian Brunner for a 4-2 decision in sudden victory and notched a 7-5 win against 2017 All-American Shakur Rasheed (Penn State), redshirt first-year Lucas Davison caught his third straight win against Indiana. The Chesterton, Indiana native continued his streak with a 7-2 decision over Nick Willham. He remains undefeated in duals, 6-0, and in conference, 3-0.

Potential Bouts to Watch:

125 –#6 Michael DeAugustino vs. #20 Jack Medley
- Seven Big Ten wrestlers are currently ranked in the Top 20 of Track Wrestling's 125 lb rankings, and two of them are slated to face off on Friday. DeAugustino holds a 2-0 advantage over Medley in his career, the two faced off earlier this season in the CKLV quarterfinals, with DeAugustino winning a 12-5 decision.
157 – #1 Ryan Deakin vs. #9 Will Lewan
- This would be the first-ever meeting between Deakin and Lewan, who are two of the five wrestlers to be ranked in the Top 10 of Track Wrestling's 157 lb rankings.
197 – #9 Lucas Davison vs. #31 Jackson Striggow
- This would be the first meeting between the redshirt first-year Davison and the fifth-year senior Striggow.

*All team rankings come from the NWCA Coaches' Poll as of Jan. 21.
*All individual rankings come from Track Wrestling as of Jan. 21.

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