NIU wrestling took the trip to Edwardsville for the Cougar Clash on Saturday. The Huskies mustered two podium finishes on the day and placed fifth as a team with 88 total points.
PODIUM FINISHERS
At 125 lbs, Huskies’ redshirt junior Blake West placed third and scored 14.5 team points. His day included a pair of decisions over University of Minnesota redshirt freshman Brandon Morvari and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville redshirt junior Davian Guanajuato.
West would lose his matchup in the semi final to University of Northern Colorado redshirt junior Stevo Poulin. He bounced back with a decision over Bellarmine University redshirt sophomore Damion Ryan and then ended his day with a win by fall at 5:31 over University of Missouri redshirt senior Noah Surtin to secure his place on the podium.
At 141 lbs, NIU redshirt sophomore Jacob Brya placed third and scored 15 total team points. Brya received a first round bye and proceeded to win three of his four matchups on the day. His first win came over University of Minnesota redshirt freshman Rhett Koenig via technical fall.
Brya suffered his only loss of the night in the following semifinal matchup dropping a decision against University of Missouri redshirt junior Josh Edmond. He would bounce back in his final two duels of the night with a decision win over SIUE graduate student Ben Lunn and then a major decision victory over the University of Missouri redshirt sophomore Easton Hilton in the third place round.
OTHER RESULTS
NIU redshirt freshman Brett Smith placed fifth on the day at 165 lbs. Smith opened up with a major decision loss to University of Minnesota redshirt junior Blaine Brenner, then received a bye in the first consolation round.
Smith won his next two matchups by decision over Little Rock University sophomore Nico Lozano and University of Illinois redshirt junior Caden Ernd. Smith fell to Brenner for the second time on the day in the consolation semifinal round but secured fifth in his final matchup of the night against SIUE redshirt sophomore Bradley Gillum.
NIU redshirt sophomore Landen Johnson finished fifth at 157 lbs. Johnson lost his first matchup via major decision against University of Northern Colorado redshirt junior Vinny Zerban. Johnson would follow up and win his next two duels following a bye. Johnson won the first match by fall against Little Rock freshman Cody Wagner and the next against Huskie redshirt junior Brody Hallin by decision.
Johnson would match up against Zerban again in the consolation semifinal and would lose to him again, this time by fall. Johnson would end his day securing the fifth place finish with a win over Illinois freshman Ryan Bennett.
Speaking after the meet, NIU wrestling head coach Ryan Ludwig praised his team’s effort and highlighted taking away knowledge from the day.
“The guys competed hard,” Ludwig said. “There’s lots to process after a day of competition like this. We have tons of feedback to bring back to the room and work to get better.”
UP NEXT
NIU wrestling will continue their season at 1 p.m. Dec. 19 in Kent, Ohio, against the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Live stats will be available at TrackWrestling.
