Even though last weekend’s open tournament at Northwestern University didn’t count toward the Huskies’ record, the NIU wrestling team showed what it takes to win against some of the top individual wrestlers in the Midwest.

“I thought it was a great tournament,” said head coach Phil Rembert. “Everybody did real well. What I expected out of our first tournament was to win a lot of our matches, which we did, we won 75 percent. However, one thing we have to improve on is getting in better shape.”

Louis Ferguson was one of many who performed at top-shape for the Huskies. Ferguson went 2-1 for the day at the 126-pound class, losing a close match against Northwestern All-America Dusty Mauldin 7-5 in overtime.

James Spillman went undefeated for the day (3-0) at 158 pounds and beat a tough opponent in Dave Blanke (Northwestern) 8-6.

T.C. Dantzler, the most known of the Huskie wrestlers, went 2-1 at 167 pounds but lost to an opponent who is ranked in the nation—Northwestern’s Rohan Gardner.

“T.C.‘s knee held up really well,” said Rembert. “He looked pretty good, he just had a close match against a really tough wrestler.”

James Kossakowski went 3-1 on the day, with his only loss being a one-pointer to Bill Kumprey (Marquette). Kumprey is ranked fifth in the nation at 177 pounds, and Kossakowski lost by the narrow count of 9-8.

“Overall, we wrestled some good matches. Our freshmen were really impressive, they showed a lot of guts and wrestled with maturity and hung in there,” Rembert said.

The Huskies will have two weeks to prepare for their next match, which will be Nov. 14 at Madison, Wis., for their first dual meet of the season.

“This past tournament was a great confidence-builder going into the Wisconsin duals,” Rembert said. “I believe we can go in there looking to go 3-0. If we keep everyone healthy these next two weeks, stay strong and build off our mistakes, we can go in there like blockbusters and take three matches.”