Not unlike the NIU men’s basketball team, the Huskie wrestling squad is composed of many freshmen and sophomores, but only two juniors and no seniors.

“We’re still young,” coach Ed Vatch said. “The guys are real agressive and sometimes that can lead to mistakes. But in a year or two when they have more experience, provided they keep their agressiveness, they won’t be making the same mistakes.”

The team hasn’t made too many mistakes so far this season, though. After splitting a triangular meet with Michigan and Morgan State last Friday (Jan. 13), the team’s record is 5-2. This marked the second time in as many weeks that the Huskies defeated Morgan St. At the ISU Redbird invitational, the Huskies defeated Central Missouri St., Morgan St., Eastern Illinois, and won the championship with a 20-16 victory over SW Missouri St.

“Michigan is just a great team,” Vatch said. “They’re ranked No. 4 in the country and eight of their 10 guys went to nationals last year. Northwestern (the Huskies’ only other loss) is ranked number 13. We were too beat up physically against Northwestern. But against both teams we were the agressors. The guys were really geared up.”

During the New Year’s holiday, the team traveled to Tampa, Fla. for the Sunshine open. NIU’s top finisher was Anton Kossakowski, who placed fifth at 177 pounds. Ted Anderson placed seventh at 167 pounds.

“In Florida, we placed in the top 20 out of 40 teams,” Vatch said. “We took 13 guys with us down there and sent the rest home. This week we’ll probably have some guys challenging for positions. After that we’ll know who went back and kept working on their own and who went back and put their feet up.

“A majority of the guys who went home work out with their old high school teams. That doesn’t really give them as tough competition as at the college level, but it does keep them in shape.”

Tonight the team will be in Oshkosh, Wis. for a triangular meet with UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point. Then they will get a couple days of rest before they embark on a three-meet weekend. On Friday, they will travel to Central Michigan, then on Saturday they will return to the area for a match at Chicago State, and on Sunday they will finish their weekend at Marquette.

“A lot of guys are finding ways to win, but no one is really consistent,” Vatch said. “We don’t really have anybody that we can say ‘he’s gonna win’ about. The lightweights sometimes win meets for us and the heavies others. We’ve squeaked by a couple of times.

“Along the line of injuries, we’ve had some bumps and bruises, but nothing that kept anybody out for more than one match. Nobody’s needed surgery or anything serious like that.”