Northwestern University Athletics
Saturday, March 7
State College, Pa.
All Day
Northwestern
at
Big Ten Championships
Photo by: Ryan Kuttler/Northwestern Athletics
Wrestling Readies for Big Ten Championships
3/6/2026 4:42:00 PM | Wrestling
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Northwestern Wrestling (3-9, 1-7 Big Ten) is set to open the 2026 postseason with the Big Ten Championships this weekend in State College, Pa. Competition at the Bryce Jordan Center begins on Saturday morning and continues through the championship bouts on Sunday afternoon.
First whistle will sound at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday morning for Session I, then Session II will follow that afternoon at 4 p.m. CT. On Sunday, Session III is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT before action concludes with Session IV, which will commence at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Big Ten Network will provide coverage of Sessions I, II, and IV, while action from all four sessions can be accessed through B1G+.
Ten 'Cats will take to the mat in State College, led by seventh-seeded Sean Spidle at 133 lbs. Spidle, a graduate transfer, is ranked No. 23 by InterMat after compiling a 14-6 record during the regular season. He collected victories against starters from Michigan, Rutgers, Indiana and Maryland, while his only two conference losses came to the No. 1 seed, Penn State's Marcus Blaze, and the No. 4 seed, Wisconsin's Zan Fugitt. Spidle will be in search of his second straight NCAA Championships berth after qualifying last season while at Central Michigan.
Wrestling in his first Big Ten Championships, true first-year Billy Dekraker enters action at 141 lbs as the eighth seeded wrestler. Dekraker has wrestled to a 13-9 record during his debut season in Evanston, climbing as high as No. 27 in the InterMat rankings after picking up a pair of top-20 victories at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December. Dekraker will endeavor to be the first Northwestern first-year to reach the Big Ten podium since David Ferrante in 2021.
Alongside Dekraker and Spidle, seven more Wildcats will be making their Big Ten Championships debuts this weekend. First-year Alex Smith (197 lbs) will be joined by redshirt first-years August Hibler (149 lbs), Ty Wilson (165 lbs) and Eddie Enright (174 lbs) as well as redshirt sophomore Jacob Bostelman (174 lbs) in each wrestler's first taste of postseason action. Heavyweight Gabe Christenson enters his second conference championships, having competed in the ACC Championships last season for Virginia, while J.D. Perez (184 lbs) will look to add on to four seasons of NAIA postseason dominance as he enters his first postseason at the DI level.
NORTHWESTERN LINEUP
125: #10 Dedrick Navarro
133: #7 Sean Spidle
141: #8 Billy Dekraker
149: #14 August Hibler
157: #14 Ty Wilson
165: #11 Jacob Bostelman
174: #10 Eddie Enright
184: #11 J.D. Perez
197: #14 Alex Smith
285: #13 Gabe Christenson
*Big Ten Pre-Seeds Listed
THE ROAD TO CLEVELAND
The Big Ten Conference has been allocated 87 out of a possible 288 automatic qualifying bids to the NCAA Championships, which will be hosted in Cleveland, Ohio, from March 19-21. A complete listing of automatic bids available at each weight class follows.
125: 9
133: 8
141: 7
149: 9
157: 8
165: 9
174: 10
184: 8
197: 10
285: 9
First whistle will sound at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday morning for Session I, then Session II will follow that afternoon at 4 p.m. CT. On Sunday, Session III is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT before action concludes with Session IV, which will commence at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Big Ten Network will provide coverage of Sessions I, II, and IV, while action from all four sessions can be accessed through B1G+.
Ten 'Cats will take to the mat in State College, led by seventh-seeded Sean Spidle at 133 lbs. Spidle, a graduate transfer, is ranked No. 23 by InterMat after compiling a 14-6 record during the regular season. He collected victories against starters from Michigan, Rutgers, Indiana and Maryland, while his only two conference losses came to the No. 1 seed, Penn State's Marcus Blaze, and the No. 4 seed, Wisconsin's Zan Fugitt. Spidle will be in search of his second straight NCAA Championships berth after qualifying last season while at Central Michigan.
Wrestling in his first Big Ten Championships, true first-year Billy Dekraker enters action at 141 lbs as the eighth seeded wrestler. Dekraker has wrestled to a 13-9 record during his debut season in Evanston, climbing as high as No. 27 in the InterMat rankings after picking up a pair of top-20 victories at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December. Dekraker will endeavor to be the first Northwestern first-year to reach the Big Ten podium since David Ferrante in 2021.
Alongside Dekraker and Spidle, seven more Wildcats will be making their Big Ten Championships debuts this weekend. First-year Alex Smith (197 lbs) will be joined by redshirt first-years August Hibler (149 lbs), Ty Wilson (165 lbs) and Eddie Enright (174 lbs) as well as redshirt sophomore Jacob Bostelman (174 lbs) in each wrestler's first taste of postseason action. Heavyweight Gabe Christenson enters his second conference championships, having competed in the ACC Championships last season for Virginia, while J.D. Perez (184 lbs) will look to add on to four seasons of NAIA postseason dominance as he enters his first postseason at the DI level.
NORTHWESTERN LINEUP
125: #10 Dedrick Navarro
133: #7 Sean Spidle
141: #8 Billy Dekraker
149: #14 August Hibler
157: #14 Ty Wilson
165: #11 Jacob Bostelman
174: #10 Eddie Enright
184: #11 J.D. Perez
197: #14 Alex Smith
285: #13 Gabe Christenson
*Big Ten Pre-Seeds Listed
THE ROAD TO CLEVELAND
The Big Ten Conference has been allocated 87 out of a possible 288 automatic qualifying bids to the NCAA Championships, which will be hosted in Cleveland, Ohio, from March 19-21. A complete listing of automatic bids available at each weight class follows.
125: 9
133: 8
141: 7
149: 9
157: 8
165: 9
174: 10
184: 8
197: 10
285: 9
Players Mentioned
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