Seven Northwestern wrestlers left the Bryce Jordan Center with hardware on Sunday, including a second-straight Big Ten championship for 157 lb. wrestler Ryan Deakin. As a team, the ‘Cats placed seventh in the ultra-competitive conference, largely exceeding expectations based on the pre-seeds released days prior.
Entering the weekend, NU had just five wrestlers seeded within the top eight of their respective weight classes, with four of them being given top five seeds. By the end of the tournament, the ‘Cats had four top-five finishes- along with three additional placements on the podium.
To nobody’s surprise, nationally top-ranked Ryan Deakin picked up right where he left off a year ago, giving up just one (!