NIU sent its wrestlers to a dual meet at SIU-Edwardsville Saturday afternoon to square off against SIU-E and Knox College.

The Huskies were able to shut down both opponents of the day, grabbing two of their most lopsided results of the season. NIU (5-10 overall, 1-4 MAC) beat Knox (2-11) 57-0 before putting away SIU-E (6-14) 40-3.

Freshman Nick Smith was one of multiple NIU wrestlers to dominate, recording pins in both of his matches at 125. His pins were both in the first round of his matches, one defeat in 1:42 and the other in only 1:36.

“He’s been wrestling well ever since we got him back in the lineup,” head coach Dave Grant said. “Him and [Kevin] Fanta are a good one-two punch together.”

Senior Tristen DeShazer had another strong performance, winning by technical fall and pin fall at 141. He has now won five straight matches, four of which have been pin falls. The wins bring DeShazer’s overall record to 15-8 this season.

The entire squad put together solid performances to outscore its counterparts 97-0 in the dual meet, and the freshmen in the lineup compiled a 7-1 record. Freshmen Smith, Fanta, Dan Burk and Caleb Busson combined for four pin-fall victories and a technical fall.

“We’ve got a nice combination of some seniors in the lineup with some really talented younger guys,” Grant said.

Junior Mike Lukowski recorded a major decision, and also had the fastest pin for NIU in just 54 seconds against William Milleville of Knox at 197.

Junior Brad Dieckhaus recorded two pin-fall victories at 184 and senior Bryan Deutsch continued his senior season with a pin fall in his first match of the afternoon. Deutsch’s overall record this season is now 19-8.

The Huskies have won three team matches in a row, and are building confidence going into the MAC Championships, which begin March 5 in DeKalb.

“It’s good to go into a meet and control it like we did,” Grant said. “It’s good for the guys to see how much improvement they have made and how good they can be. It is hard to judge your improvement when you are going against the best programs in the country and it is always a great feeling to see how far the team has gone.”

NIU will be back on the mats Feb. 20 in Buffalo, N.Y. to face off against Buffalo in a conference match. The match is set to begin at 2:05 p.m.