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Jan. 23, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Coming off a 5-4 nonconference showing, the road gets no easier for Northwestern, which opens its Big Ten slate this weekend against No. 17 Michigan State and No. 18 Wisconsin. The Wildcats host the Spartans at 7 p.m. Friday and the Badgers at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Of NU's eight remaining opponents, including MSU and UW, seven are ranked in the Jan. 21 InterMat poll-and four are ranked in the top five. Clearly, the time is now for the Wildcats.
Michigan State's 2-4 record is a bit misleading. Two of its losses came last weekend against No. 5 Ohio State and No. 3 Minnesota-just hours after MSU upset No. 4 Cornell at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals. Gray Maynard, Nik Fekete and Nick Simmons lead the Spartans. Maynard is 8-3 as the sixth-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds, and Fekete is 10-4 as the seventh-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds. Simmons, who is ranked 14th at 125 pounds, has a team-high 13 wins, including one (3-0) against the Wildcats' John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) at the 40th Midlands Championships.
Wisconsin boasts three ranked wrestlers, including Tony Black at 125 pounds. Black is a team-best 15-3-1 with a 7-0 dual record. Ralph DeNisco is 12-2 at 184 pounds and Justin Staebler is 14-4 at heavyweight. The Badgers, who face second-ranked Iowa on Friday before coming to Evanston, are 8-0.
NU met MSU and UW last season. The Wildcats fell to the Spartans 23-12 in East Lansing, Mich., and then lost to the Badgers 29-12 a week later in Madison, Wis.
Northwestern has dropped three straight, including last Friday's 27-6 loss to Northern Illinois. The Wildcats had their chances, as they lost four matches by two points or less, but could only muster wins in two matches. Velez improved his record to 18-12 and Jason Erwinski (Tinley Park, Ill./Mt. Carmel) upped his mark to 15-9 at 174 pounds. Erwinski needs three wins to match his career high (18) for a single season.