'Cats Drop Dual to No. 17 Rutgers, 30-10

Friday, January 23

Evanston, Ill.

7 p.m. CT

Northwestern

Rutgers

Photo by: Kailey Zagst/Northwestern Athletics

'Cats Drop Dual to No. 17 Rutgers, 30-10

1/23/2026 11:09:00 PM | Wrestling

EVANSTON, Ill. - After taking an early lead on an upset victory at 174 lbs, Northwestern wrestling (3-4, 1-3 B1G) eventually fell to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-4, 2-2 B1G) by a final score of 30-10 on Friday evening inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. No. 30 Eddie Enright (174 lbs) was one of three 'Cats to notch individual victories in the loss.

With the dual set to begin at 174 lbs, Enright was the first to take the mat for the 'Cats. He faced off with Lenny Pinto, InterMat's No. 12 wrestler in his weight class. Pinto was first on the board with a takedown early, but Enright struck back just 30 seconds later with a takedown of his own. With a pair of nearfall points to add on, Enright led 6-3 at the end of the first period. From there, it was all purple, as Enright piled on points while keeping Pinto off the board. A takedown in each of the next two periods was enough to reach bonus points, and with an escape and the riding time point also secured, Enright picked up the highest ranked victory of his career with a win by major decision, 14-3.

Northwestern got back on the scoreboard again at 125 lbs, where No. 25 Dedrick Navarro picked up his second top-30 victory in the last two weeks. He also fell behind early to his opponent, No. 27 Ayden Smith, but managed to escape and cut the lead to two, 3-1, after the first three minutes. Starting the second period on the bottom, Navarro wasted no time in escaping again, and this time, followed it up immediately with a takedown of his own to take the lead, 5-3. A second period rideout kept the match close, and with neither wrestler landing an attack in the third, Navarro wrapped up a 6-3 victory by decision.

The 'Cats' third victory came from No. 32 Billy Dekraker, who defeated Tahir Parkins in the 141-pound bout. After coming close to points a few times early in the first, Dekraker got on the board just before the period expired, finishing off a takedown with less than 30 seconds remaining. He kept the momentum with an immediate escape to open the second, stretching his lead to four points. That's where the score would stay for the remainder of the match, giving Dekraker a 4-0 victory by decision over Parkins for his third win in conference action.

Next up for the 'Cats, they will head east for the first two of three straight road duals. Northwestern will visit both Michigan and Michigan State next weekend, facing the Wolverines on Friday at 6 p.m. CT before taking on the Spartans at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday. Friday's dual will be streamed on B1G+, while Sunday's contest will be televised on Big Ten Network.

#17 Rutgers 30, Northwestern 10
174: #30 Eddie Enright (NU) over #12 Lenny Pinto (RUT) (MD 14-3)
184: #14 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RUT) over J.D. Perez (NU) (MD 14-5)
197: #16 Remy Cotton (RUT) over Alex Smith (NU) (Fall 5:51)
285: #19 Hunter Catka (RUT) over Gabe Christenson (NU) (Dec 8-2)
125: #25 Dedrick Navarro (NU) over #27 Ayden Smith (RUT) (Dec 6-3)
133: #27 Dylan Shawver (RUT) over Luis Bazan (NU) (TF 18-3 7:00)
141: #32 Billy Dekraker (NU) over Tahir Parkins (RUT) (Dec 4-1)
149: #31 Andrew Clark (RUT) over August Hibler (NU) (Dec 2-1)
157: #31 Tony White (RUT) over Gunnar Myers (NU) (Dec 4-0)
165: #20 Andrew Barbosa (RUT) over (NU) (For.)

* All individual rankings courtesy of InterMat (January 20)