For years, the NIU wrestling team had something that most Division I programs didn’t — and it wasn’t a good thing. Until the fall of 2008, NIU didn’t even have its own wrestling room.

The program had to share a practice facility with NIU’s gymnastics team.

According to NIU head coach Dave Grant, NIU might have been the only Division I program to not have its own facility.

“I don’t know if anybody in the whole country shared a wrestling room with the gymnastics team, but we made due,” Grant said. “There were some challenges, both on our side and the gymnastics team. Mark Sontag[NIU gymnastics coach] and I work real well together, always have. We tried to compromise times. We made it work.”

At the old room under the stands on the west side of Huskie Stadium, the wrestlers would have to move the wrestling mats after working out in the morning and before afternoon practice.

According to NIU redshirt-sophomore Tristen DeShazer, moving the mats wasted “a good ten minutes” of practice time.

Another problem was the time. Wrestlers could only go in the room and work out at a certain time. That’s not the case with the new room.

“It was almost borderline distracting, because you couldn’t go in there and work out when you wanted to,” said NIU redshirt-sophomore Bryan Deutsch. “That’s the nice thing about (the new room) you can come at any time.”

There was also the fact that the mats would smell after being on top of the gymnastics mats. Plus the fact that the mats were uneven.

“The mat was real springy,” DeShazer said. “It was sort of awkward going from one mat and moving to the other mat. It throws off your balance a little bit.”

Last fall, the team moved into the new wrestling room, just across the hall from the old one. The room used to be the weight room, but that was moved into the Yordon Center.

“It really means a lot, because after I leave I can say ‘that wrestling room was built when I was here,” DeShazer said.

Another benefit of the room has been recruiting. In the fall the Huskies will welcome Zach Neibert, the No. 13 recruit in the entire nation.

“You’ve got to have facilities, that’s what people see,” Grant said.

NIU hasn’t had it’s best season in the first year at the new facility, but the team doesn’t have an upperclassmen in its starting lineup. The Huskies travel to Buffalo Saturday for the last dual meet of the year before the MAC Championships.

DeShazer will be looking for his 20th win of the season.

“It’s real important, because I only had eight or so victories last year,” DeShazer said. “It’s kind of like a milestone.”