NIU’s wrestlers added a win and a loss to their record over the weekend, falling to Northern Iowa Friday night, 33-8, and defeating Southwest Missouri State Saturday afternoon, 29-15.

“I expected a few more wins against UNI,” said NIU coach Ed Vatch. “The guys were dressed an hour before the meet and I heard a few heavy sighs before they went out. They got up (mentally) too soon and it hurt them.”

Against UNI, Tino Gonzalez (134 pounds) won a 10-4 decision over Pat Hamilton in a match filled with cautions, warnings and warning points. Ted Anderson (167) wrestled to a 5-5 draw against Greg White and Anton Kossakowski (190) decisioned Doug Downs 6-4.

“UNI’s coach was impressed with the fight we gave them,” Vatch said. “They’re (UNI) a much better team than their ratings show.”

The win upped UNI’s record to 6-5.

Saturday against the Bears, John Willems (118) won by forfeit. Gonzalez won his second match of the weekend with a 5-4 decision over Doug Smith, Brett Messerli (150) decisioned Denny Francois 7-3 and Jim Kossakowski (158) edged Shannon Giles 3-2. Anderson won a 4-2 decision over Rick Burris and Anton Kossakowski won by technical fall (18-2) over Tim Fulton. Mark Kuehl won by forfeit.

“We looked flat against (SMSU)” Vatch said. “A half-hour before the meet started, half the guys weren’t even dressed. They were laid back, too laid back.

The Huskies’ second victory of the season over the Bears dropped SMSU’s record to 6-8. And while Vatch wasn’t completely happy with his team’s performance, he did see a few bright spots.

“Tino (Gonzalez) deserves some recognition,” Vatch said. “He hasn’t lost in his last 10 matches. He’s right in there. Anton (Kossakowski) moved up from 177 to 190, where he’ll stay the rest of the year, and performed well.

“I really appreciated all the people who came to the meets. There was a lot of interest. I want to thank everybody who came, they were a great crowd. It shows the potential of the program.”

Vatch is looking forward to the next few years with his young team.

“We have a couple more dues to pay,” Vatch said. “I’m real excited about these guys. They really enjoy getting up for these big dual meets. I’d like to see if they can keep their weight down for next year, but we need to concentrate on this year first.”

The weekend split leaves the Huskies’ with a 13-3 record. This Friday (Feb. 3) the wrestlers will travel to Champaign to face the host University of Illinois Fighting Illini and the Buckeyes of Ohio State. They will return home to entertain the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday (Feb. 5) at 1:30 p.m. in the fieldhouse.