“We romped on ‘em,” Huskies wrestling coach Ed Vatch said after he and his team returned from Tuesday’s triangular meet with UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh.

NIU defeated UWSP 25-14 and host UWO 43-0 on its way to improving its record to 7-2. The Huskies’ heavyweight Mark Kuehl won both of his matches by a pin. Other two-decision winners for NIU were: Tino Gonzalez (134 pounds), Ted Anderson (167) and Joe Madonia (177).

“I was impressed with their intensity, attitude and confidence,” Vatch said. “They didn’t give up late. They took the guy down wth 15, 10 and even five seconds left. It’s a credit to them; they’ve come a long way.”

One face the squad is missing is that of Eric Wenckowski. The NIU football center wrestled his freshman year but was redshirted last year due to injury. He joined the wrestlers following the football season this year but recently left to concentrate on football.

“He felt it was more important to concentrate on one sport,” Vatch said. “Sure, we’ll miss him, but I only want to see him do well. We’ll know if it paid off next fall.

“I held a meeting before practice Wednesday to give them my compliments. The guys are proud of themselves but it’s not going to their heads. They know they have distance to travel.”

The momentum should help the squad as it head into it busiest weekend to date. On Friday, the Huskies will be at Central Michigan to face the hosts and Ashland College. Ashland is ranked number 13 in Division II. Then on Saturday, they will head to Chicago State to face the hosts and Ferris State. Ferris State is ranked number one in Division II. The team will round out the weekend with a dual match against Marquette.

“I’ve never beaten Central Michigan since I’ve been here,” Vatch said. “Marquette is tough. They beat ISU at the Redbird Invite. We’ll give them respect but no matches, hopefully.

“All of the guys deserve a pat on the back. If I was to pinpoint a couple of guys, I’d have to say Tino (Gonzalez) and Mark (Kuehl) have been giving an awful lot. The guys are doing well because they expect to do well. They keep finding ways to win matches.”