NIU’s 24th-ranked wrestling team had six wrestlers and two coaches place at the Michigan State Open over the weekend.

Josh Wooton, at the 149-pound level, wrestled in his first tournament at his new weight. He took home first in his weight division. Wooton is now 5-0 on the season.

“Wooton had an outstanding tournament,” NIU head coach Dave Grant said. “He wrestled hard and was dominant in the finals. He came out and wrestled like we expected him to, and he really earned that top finish.”

Ben Heizer, the nationally-ranked No. 2 wrestler in the 184-pound weight class, finished in second place. Heizer outscored his opponents 48-11 in his first four matches this season. Heizer placed second because he didn’t compete in the finals due to an injury default.

Freshman Roberto Torres placed sixth in the 125-pound division, while Patrick Castillo placed seventh in the 133-pound division.

Mike Grimes and Andy Hiatt, who both redshirted as freshmen last season, placed in the 141-pound division with sixth and seventh place finishes, respectively.

Both of the NIU assistant coaches, Scott Owen and Raphael Davis, who took part in the tournament, also placed.

Owen, a two-time All-American and first-year assistant coach, took first in the 157-pound division after going 5-0.

Assistant coach Raphael Davis, who was an All-American at CSU-Bakersfield, took third in the heavyweight division. He was 5-1 for the tournament.

“I think our freshmen did an outstanding job of competing,” Grant said. “Considering two of them were true freshmen, I think they showed us quite a bit this weekend. Overall, we are pleased with the performances that we got. I think it is definitely a good starting point for our program this year and we hope to be even better in two weeks when we travel to Missouri.”