Things were kept in the family for the NIU wrestling squad at last weekend’s University of Illinois Tournament.

NIU’s two champions from the tournament were the brother team of Anton and Jim Kossakowski. Anton won the 177-pound level of the open division and Jim took honors in the 150-pound level of the frosh-soph division.

“The Kossakowski’s were exceptional,” coach Ed Vatch said. “Anton tore a muscle in his stomach in about the second round. I talked it over with our trainer about pulling him (from the rest of his matches), but Anton said he could keep going. We kept our eye on him the rest of the time to be sure. He used a lot of his injury timeouts but he made it. He’s a tough kid.”

Vatch also had some good words about Anton’s younger brother Jim.

“Jim was phenomenal. He controlled everything and everybody. He dominated his final match.”

In all, the Huskies placed 10 wrestlers. Ted Anderson took second at 167 pounds (open division), Rich Bielek took a second at 158 pounds (frosh-soph division), Mike Stringer placed third at 167 pounds (frosh-soph), Jim Gussman took fourth at 150 pounds (frosh-soph), Lonnie Morris placed fourth at 158 pounds (frosh-soph), John Willems took fifth at 118 pounds (open), Jon Popp took sixth at 158 pounds (open), and Joe Madonia placed sixth at 177 pounds (open).

“Bielek was a pleasant surprise,” Vatch said. “He is a hard-nosed guy who wants to win. Gussman showed me a lot. He beat Matt Korfist, who Jim Kossakowski beat in the finals of the St. Louis Open, but then lost to the guy that Jim beat in the finals. Anderson only needed to get more mat time. He had some bone spurs taken out of his ankle last year, so he was a bit slow on his feet. He’s always been in it mentally, and now he’s quick on his feet again.

“We made great strides. Our intensity was higher than it’s been and we were in great shape. We were really impressed with what we saw.”

After the first couple of tournaments, Vatch upped the team’s conditioning work to get the squad into better shape. And he hasn’t changed it since.

“A few guys left this week,” Vatch said. “Our conditioning got harder and our intensity went up fast. The guys that couldn’t do it are gone and those that could are still here. I think that we’re pulling together and becoming closer. We’re more of a team now.”

The squad will travel to Evanston this Saturday (Dec. 10) to face the Northwestern Wildcats in a dual meet. Northwestern is ranked 14th in the country.