Mike Bare
By Northwestern Athletics
EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 1 Ryan Deakin and redshirt first-year Lucas Davison each notched massive victories Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena in the dual match against Big Ten foe No. 18 Purdue, with the ‘Cats also getting wins from Alec McKenna and Shayne Oster.
Deakin, competing in his first match since becoming the top-ranked wrestler in the nation, took on a fellow top-ten grappler in No. 8 Kendall Coleman. After a tense first period in which he went up 2-0, Deakin rattled off seven in the second and five more in the third, all without giving up a single point.
The redshirt junior came away with an impressive 14-0 major decision, dismantling of the Boilermaker as he improved to 9-0 on the campaign. Dating back to the Cliff Keen Invitational in December, Deakin has now won three-consecutive bouts against Top-10 opponents and has not trailed at any point in those contests.
In the penultimate bout of the evening, Davison took on No. 2 Christian Brunner, as the two faced off for the third time already this season. After a scoreless first period, Davison took a one-point lead in the second with an escape, and went into the third up 1-0. After a break for injury to Brunner, Davison chose to start on bottom and recorded another escape to double his lead, before a late takedown from the Boilermaker forced overtime.
Within the first 30 seconds of the sudden victory period, Davison took Brunner down on the edge of the mat and was awarded the winning points. After a challenge from the Purdue bench, the call stood, and Davison sealed a victory over the second-ranked wrestler in the nation.
Alec McKenna got the ‘Cats on the board in the third bout of the evening with a dominant 8-3 decision. Following intermission, Shayne Oster notched a 4-2 win. After taking a 2-2 tie into the final stanza Oster got a reversal and rode his opponent out for the remainder of the period. With a riding time point in his favor, Oster won the match by a score of 5-2.
At 174, unranked Tyler Morland gave a valiant effort, going toe-to-toe with No. 4 Dylan Lydy of Purdue. The grapplers exchanged escapes to take a 1-1 bout into the final period. Lydy was awarded a point for stalling and that was how the bout ended. Lydy, the reigning Midlands champion, improved to 21-0 on the season.
The Wildcats dropped the dual by a score of 21-13. With the loss, the ‘Cats sit at 2-2 on the season.
Chicago’s Big Ten Team will take to the mat again this Sunday in State College as they battle No. 3 Penn State at Rec. Hall. The Wildcats will be back in Evanston next Saturday, January 18th to take on Indiana on Alumni Day.
#18 Purdue 21, #13 Northwestern 13
Evanston, Ill. | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Jan. 10, 2020
125: #5 Devin Schroder (PUR). maj. dec. #7 Michael DeAugustino (NU), 11-2 | PUR 4, NU 0
133: #5 Travis Ford-Melton (PUR) maj. dec. Dylan Utterback (NU), 14-4 | PUR 8, NU 0
141: Alec McKenna (NU) dec. Parker Filius (PUR), 8-3 | PUR 8, NU 3
149: Nate Limmex (PUR). dec. Eric Yang (NU), 3-1 | PUR 11, NU 3
157: #1 Ryan Deakin (NU) maj. dec. #8 Kendall Coleman (PUR), 14-0 | PUR 11, NU 7
165: Shayne Oster (NU) dec. Tanner Webster (PUR), 5-2 | PUR 11, NU 10
174: #4 Dylan Lydy (PUR) dec. Tyler Morland (NU), 2-1 | PUR 14, NU 10
184: Max Lyon (PUR) dec. Jack Jessen (NU), 7-2 | PUR 17, NU 10
197: Lucas Davison (NU) dec. #2 Christian Brunner (PUR), 4-2 (SV-1) | PUR 17, NU 13
285: Thomas Penola (PUR) maj. dec. Jack Heyob (NU), 8-0 | PUR 21, NU 13
*All team rankings come from the NWCA Coaches’ Poll as of Jan. 7.
*All individual rankings come from InterMat as of Jan. 7.
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