DeKALB | The Burk brothers stole the show Wednesday night at the NIU wrestle-offs at Victor E. Court.

Danny, a 174-pound senior, and Duke, a 184-pound freshman, helped the Red team beat the Black team by posting wins of 22-7 and 15-4, respectively.

The Red team went on to win 25-12 by winning seven of 11 matches. The underclassmen had a strong showing as freshman Joe Cornejo beat one of last year’s NCAA qualifiers, Mike Grimes, 2-1. Chad Vallone, Mike Smith, Pat McLemore and Chad Vandiver, also freshmen, won their matches as well.

Another NCAA qualifier, Pat Castillo, had a difficult time against junior John Weinert.

“Even some of our better guys had some tougher matches,” said head coach Dave Grant. “The younger guys showed so much energy.”

Grant was most impressed by the intensity his team displayed in the tune-up in preparation for the Pointer Open on Nov. 11, held at Stevens Point, Wis. on Nov. 11.

“We have a lot of new faces, so I’m really excited about how competitive these guys were,” said Grant. “They give us a lot of excitement to our program.”

Grant hopes the combination of old and new will help the NIU wrestling team post a banner year.