The ‘Cats search for answers as they sit at 1-5 in Big Ten play.
Ever since its initial Big Ten victory, Northwestern wrestling has been on a steady downward trajectory, falling to 1-5 in the conference after a pair of defeats against No. 10 Michigan and Michigan State.
The ‘Cats got crushed on the road against the Wolverines Friday, falling 38-4 on Michigan’s Senior Night. The dual began quite solidly for NU, as No. 24 Sean Spidle kicked things off at 133 and defeated Gauge Botero via major decision.
From there, however, the ‘Cats were underdogs in nearly every match, and it showed with the results on the mat. No. 31 Billy Dekraker lost via major decision before August Hibler fell by decision in the 149-pound bout, putting the Wolverines in front 7-4.
The Michigan momentum continued after that. Gunnar Myers suffered a major decision defeat, Jacob Bostelman lost via decision and No. 30 Eddie Enright could not come through following his recent upset win over Rutgers’ Lenny Pinto, losing via major decision to No. 13 Beau Mantanona. After J.D. Perez and Alex Smith took a couple of quick pins, it was 30-4 in favor of the Maize and Blue.
The last two matches did little to salvage the night for NU. In the heavyweight division, Gabe Christenson suffered a technical fall at the hands of Michigan’s highest-ranked wrestler, No. 7 Taye Ghadiali.
As the dual looped back around to 125, NU No. 23 Dedrick Navarro took on Michigan No. 24 Diego Sotelo in the most even match of the night. Navarro held his own but ultimately lost via a narrow 1-0 decision, securing a 38-4 Wolverine win.
With a rebound in their sights, the ‘Cats began at 197 against Michigan State on the road in East Lansing. The first two matches were all MSU, as Smith lost via decision before Christenson was surprisingly pinned by unranked Josh Terrill in the heavyweight division.
Following that upset, the ‘Cats responded. A Luis Bazan 1-0 decision loss was sandwiched between a Navarro decision win and a pin victory for Dekraker, putting the score at a closer 12-9 in favor of the Spartans.
Clayton Jones pinned Hibler in response, and after Darius Marines picked up a major decision win against Myers, things looked difficult to salvage with NU down 22-9. However, a decision win from Bostelman and a major decision victory from Enright gave Perez the chance to tie the match at 22 if he could secure the pin. Ultimately, Perez wrestled well en route to major decision territory, but he could not pick up the six points needed for Northwestern, and the ‘Cats fell 22-20.
Up next, Northwestern hits the road again to take on Nebraska on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. CST.
Category: General Sports
