Wrestling looks to build momentum as season ends

Publish Date:02/12/2010

By Patrick Tretina

An up and down season is nearing the end for the NIU wrestling team. Anticipation is building with the MAC tournament on the horizon, but the Huskies have another task in hand when Northern Iowa (7-12) comes to DeKalb tonight at 7 p.m. The Huskies (9-8, 1-3 MAC) return home after two road meets last weekend and are looking to build momentum with just two meets left before the tournament. “Our guys wrestled real hard in [practice] this week,” said NIU head coach Dave Grant. “We have been getting better and better with each week.” The Huskies are fresh off a 1-1 weekend where they took down Eastern Michigan and lost a close bout to sixth-ranked Central Michigan. Redshirt sophomore Bryan Deutsch looks to continue his impressive eight-match win streak at the 157-pound weight class and has a team-high 18-3 record on the season. Deutsch, who recently moved into the top 25 in the MAC, will square off against UNI’s redshirt senior Tyson Reiner who is working with a two match win streak of his own. Sophomore Izzy Montemayor has been impressive as of late coming off two straight pins with the exception of a loss by decision at the CMU meet. Montemayor will have a tough match ahead of him when he faces off against UNI’s Cruse Aarhus at the 125-pound weight class. Aarhus has won 10 straight with five coming by way of major decision. “Izzy had a close match with this guy last year,” Grant said. “It’s great opportunity for Izzy to wrestle a top 30 guy late in the season.” Grant, who is in his 14th season as head coach at NIU, will have a little extra incentive as his squad takes on his alma mater. “Traditionally they’re a good team that produces All-Americans,” Grant said. “It’s a great opportunity to have them here to use our home-court advantage.”