DeKALB | Sunday was a picture-perfect senior day send-off for the Huskies.

NIU swept the competition in a quadrangular meet against Eastern Michigan University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois University Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

The day got off to a choppy start when there was extra pushing and shoving after the whistles were blown in the first meet of the day against MAC foe EMU. In the 197-pound battle, both Tony Lyssiotis and NIU’s Nick McClone exchanged extra shoves into the opposing teams’ seats, resulting in the official asking both sides to push their chairs back several feet. In the end, it was NIU’s nationally ranked wrestlers Johnny Galloway, Mike Grimes and Duke Burk who pushed hardest and all picked up wins for the Huskies en route to a 20-13 victory.

“Every time you wrestle a MAC team, it’s a cage match,” NIU head coach Dave Grant said. “That’s a team you have to get through to get to the national tournament.”

In Pat Castillo’s final wrestling meet at the Convo this season, the 16th-ranked junior in the 125-pound class dominated the competition, recording a technical fall decision (a win by 15 points or more) in all three of his matches.

“The MAC tourney is coming in a few weeks, and I’m getting ready to peak,” Castillo said. “I just want to continue winning and get in the national tournament and have a place on the podium come March.”

The Huskies solidified a third-place finish in the final MAC standings with the win over EMU.

In the second meet of the day, NIU soundly defeated SIU Edwardsville 43-4 in a match where five Huskie wrestlers scored at least ten points.

In the final meet of the day, the Huskies defeated in-state rival EIU 36-6 in front of a number of screaming Panther fans. The match of the day was in the 174-pound class, when NIU senior Danny Burk wrestled to a 8-6 overtime win over 19th-ranked Kenny Robertson of EIU.

“It was a good win,” Grant said. “Our guys wrestled tough today, and we are looking to the MAC Championships.”