The 4-12-1 NIU wrestling team has a huge task to accomplish this weekend.

The Huskies travel to Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday for a match with Nebraska at 5 p.m. and then tangle with 13th-ranked Oklahoma at 7 p.m.

It’s a big mission for the Huskies to go head-to-head with the two Big Eight Conference powers, but the grapplers should be ready after blowing out their Marquette and Wisconsin-Parkside opponents on Wednesday night.

In the first match against MU, Tino Gonzalez put NIU ahead 4-3 with a 13-2 decision at 126 pounds over Mike Pasdo.

After both teams traded forfeits at 134 and 142 pounds, it was all NIU with Brett Messerli winning 3-2 over Eric McMeney at 150 pounds, and Tim Cocco topping MU’s Kevin Wolfe 16-6 at 158 pounds.

Joe Madonia continued the blowout with a 12-5 win over Mike Lamonica of MU.

Against Wisconsin-Parkside, Gonzalez (16-17) won over WP’s Dennis Duchene 6-3, while Messerli (7-5-1) continued to roll with a 4-3 win over John Karls of UWP.

Cocco improved his record to 24-9-2 with an easy 7-1 win over UWP’s Mark Dubey.

NIU’s all-American candidate, Joe Madonia, upped his record to 23-9-3 with a 5-3 decision over Mark Hemauer of UWP.

Tom Hoy (14-12) kept turning in impressive performances for the Huskies with a 7-3 win over UWP’s Scott Stephenson.

Huskies’ Mark Kuehl (23-18-1) finished the evening with a close 2-1 decision over Kevin Tremelling of UWP.