NIU grappled its way to success this weekend at the annual Michigan State Open.

Eight Huskies won multiple matches at the open, while Nick Smith and Rob Jillard placed at 125 and 133, respectively.

Smith finished second in the open. Seemingly on track to winning his first place match against Northwestern’s Levi Mele, Smith made a mistake that led to a pinfall defeat in his first loss of the young season.

“I wrestled hard but it should have ended a little different,” Smith said. “I felt like I had a lot of improvement with my technique. I had a lot of people give me compliments on how much better I looked out there.”

NIU coach Ryan Ludwig was impressed with Smith’s performance, even though it ended with a crushing defeat.

“I thought Nick Smith competed extremely well,” Ludwig said. “He was super intense and did a really good job getting to the finals. He was actually beating the kid and then made a crucial mistake and got pinned, so I think we’re hungry to get a hold of him next time we wrestle him.”

Jillard bounced back from a dull opening weekend as Huskie with a fourth place finish. Jillard picked up his first victory against Central Michigan’s Tyler Keselring. After pinning Purdue’s Danny Sabatello, Jillard dropped his semifinal match and consolation match to end the day with a 2-2 record.

“I thought Rob Jillard had a good performance,” Ludwig said. “He beat some really solid competition [at 133], and I think we’re seeing nothing but good things from him so far.”

Other Huskies to advance through the brackets were Shawn Fayette at 141 and Dan Burk at 165. Fayette and Burk both reached the quarterfinals before falling to the eventual winners in their weight classes. Their performances stood out to Ludwig, who was pleased with the confidence and promise they showed on the mats.

At 174, Caleb Busson came out strong as well, winning a pair of matches against Columbia’s Stephen West and Edinboro’s Chris Hrunka.

Tyler Loethen continued to show promise at 157 for the Huskies as he won two matches on the day. Arbor Bebo picked up a couple of wins at 184 while Parker Settecase got a pair of victories at 285 for NIU.

“[Parker] did OK but wrestled some of the best competition in the country,” Ludwig said. “Technically, the [heavyweights] just need to work on some things and have a breakthrough match.”

In the fresh/soph tournament, NIU had three wrestlers place in their class. At 174, Jackson Bratcher finished in third. Tyler Argue picked up fourth place at 149 and Ethan Davis came in sixth at 141.