For the second time this season, wrestling competed in an open tournament at the Kaufman-Brand Open in St. Louis.

The Huskies had 14 wrestlers make the podium at the tournament this weekend, compared to the 13 who made the podium at the Eastern Michigan open to start off the season.

Leading the way for the Huskies was junior Rob Jillard, who took first place at 149 pounds, and freshman Andrew Morse who finished second at 157 pounds. Redshirt junior Jared Torrence finished third at 285 pounds.

Jilllard defeated Missouri’s Lavion Mayes 14-3 at 149 pounds. Fellow Huskie redshirt sophomore Shawn Fayette finished fourth in that same weight class.

Jillard said there was one key reason why he was able to be successful on the mat on Saturday.

“I guess it’s just trusting your training and [doing] what the coaches tell you to do,” Jillard said.

Coach Ryan Ludwig said Jillard did a few things that made him affective on Saturday.

“Rob was able to go out and wrestle and penetrate and get the first takedown in a match, and when Rob gets on top he’s a pretty tough guy to wrestle,” Ludwig said. “So, he did a pretty good job of going out and putting himself in the right situation for him to score a lot of points today.”

Ludwig felt his team as a whole did several things well that helped put 14 guys on the podium.

“We went out and competed hard today,” Ludwig said. “We wrestled with a lot of intensity. We stayed on our toes and got to our attacks. We also did a good job of popping out bottom, which we’ve been preaching a lot about in practice.”

Morse finished second at 157 pounds, losing to Illinois’ Zac Brunson by a score of 6-2 in the finals.

Torrence won his final two matches after losing his third match of the day, capturing third place. The third-place victory came against Ross Larson of Oklahoma by a score of 6-1. Fellow NIU heavyweight redshirt freshman Arthur Bunce finished seventh.

Other Huskies who placed include sophomore Derek Elmore, who finished fourth at 125 pounds, and freshman Braun Marquez, who finished seventh at 125 pounds.

Sophomore Tyler Argue finished fourth at 141 pounds. Redshirt junior Dan Burk finished seventh at 165 pounds, freshman Trace Engelkes finished fifth at 165 pounds. At 174 pounds, junior Matt Mougin finished fourth. Junior Caleb Busson finished seventh at 184 pounds.

At 197 pounds, the Huskies had two wrestlers make the podium: redshirt sophomore Parker Settecase finished sixth and senior Arber Bebo finished seventh.