With a date against the No. 3 team in the country, Iowa State, looming Thursday, the NIU wrestling team got a tune-up Friday at Victor E. Court with its annual wrestle-offs. The Huskie coaching staff got a chance to look at what some of the younger guys can do as well as shore up their starting line-up for the regular season.

The first match of the night was between the most highly decorated Huskie, 11th ranked Pat Castillo, and true freshman Zach Taylor. Castillo soundly defeated Taylor 18-5 in the 133-pound match. Fellow team captains Duke Burk and Aaron Owen looked in mid-season form as they won their match in the 174-pound and 157-pound matches, respectively.

“This is a good step right before we have to go into Ames,” head coach Dave Grant said. “I was impressed at the way we competed against each other and I liked the overall effort.”

Arguably the most competitive match of the night was in the 141-pound class between redshirt freshmen Tristen DeShazer and Pat McLemore. After a scoreless first period, McLemore executed the match’s only takedown to earn the 3-1 victory.

Another match with season-opening implications was between two underclassmen, Bryan Deutsch and Scott Wallace, in the 165-pound match. Deutsch, a redshirt freshman, won the match 5-2, making a case to be the starter heading into Thursday’s season-opener.

“I was pretty impressed with the mat awareness of our younger guys,” Grant said. “They understood where they were and what they had to do to win the match. They competed hard all the way through.”

125 – Taylor def. Wunnicke 5-2 (0-2, 2-0, 3-0)

133 – Castillo def. Taylor 19-5* (6-2, 5-1, 7-2)

141 – V. Castillo def. Kirincic (exh.) 9-2* (2-0, 2-1, 4-1)

149 – Clothier def. James (exh.) 8-0* (2-0, 2-0, 3-0)

141 – McLemore def. DeShazer 4-1* (0-0, 3-0, 0-1)

149 – Knull def. McDermott 3-1* (2-0, 0-1, 0-0)

157 – Owen def. Victor 12-5* (4-1, 5-1, 2-3)

165 – Deutsch def. Wallace 5-2* (0-0, 3-0, 1-2)

174 – Burk def. Carlson 24-8* (6-2, 9-2, 8-4) TF

184/197 – Smith def. Linczmaier 8-7 (1-2, 1-0, 6-5)

Hwt. – Benner def. Greenhaw 4-3* (0-0, 3-0, 0-3)

* – winner earned one point for riding time