elentless, aggressive and taking care of business.

The No. 21 ranked NIU wrestling team (10-6, 2-1 MAC) were just these things to upset No. 15 Central Michigan (8-3, 0-1 MAC) 16-15 Friday at the Convocation Center.

NIU ended CMU’s streak of 24 straight MAC dual meet victories, which included NIU’s Josh Wooton upsetting the No. 1 grappler in the nation for the 141-pound division.

It had to happen sometime,” head coach Dave Grant said. “Our guys weren’t going to let that happen to them this time.”

CMU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead when 174-pound Bill Lowney lost to Mitch Hancock 6-2.

The Huskies and Chippewas would find themselves tied four separate times the rest of the meet.

No. 8 Ben Heizer brought the meet to a 3-3 tie with a closer than expected 1-0 decision over CMU’s Alex Lammers, extending his winning streak to four meets.

“Ben was wrestling not to lose that match,” Grant said.

Following Heizer, 197-pound James Oliva had his three match winning streak ended by Brett Faustman in an 8-4 decision.

NIU’s 215-pound Jack Dennis earned praise from Grant in a 9-4 decision over his opponent Bill Stouffer despite giving up 40-pounds in weight to the Chippewa’s hog.

“Jack has been right there his last three matches and he’s getting guys to wear down,” Grant said.

With the meet tied at six, 125-pound Marlon Felton gave the Huskies the lead for the first time that night with a 9-4 decision over CMU’s Kyle Stoffer.

Former MAC Wrestler of the Week Sam Hiatt had his four-match winning streak end when 133-pound Jason Borelli of CMU took him down in the third period and was able to hold on for a 4-3 decision.

With the match tied 9-9, the No. 20 Wooton streaked out into position and knocked off No. 1 and undefeated Jason Mester 8-3 in a dominating fashion, sending the crowd of 600-plus into a frenzy.

“For a redshirt freshman to beat the number one guy in the country is quite a feat,” Grant said.

At 157-pounds, Scott Owen put 11 points on the board in the third period for a 15-5 major decision over No. 10 David Bolyard.

All NIU’s Jeremy Benesh had to do was not lose by eight points or by fall to No. 9 Kevin Carr for the Huskies to hold on. Benesh lost the battle 5-2, but the Huskies won the war.