STEVENS POINT, Wis. - Northern Illinois opened the wrestling season by placing 10 top-three finishers at the Pointer Open Saturday on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Three Huskie wrestlers took home first place in the weight class, including John Weinert (125), Pat McLemore (141), and Johnny Galloway (165).

"Overall our guys wrestled tough today," said head coach Dave Grant. "It was a good start for us with three champions and I thought our freshmen did a good job in the wrestleback rounds."

Weinert won his 125-pound title by posting a 2-1 decision over teammate Pat Castillo and McLemore also posted a championship match win over a teammate, a 5-3 decision over Justin Metcalfe.

Galloway earned his second consecutive title at the Pointer Open and scored 29 points en route to first place at 165.

Duke Burk (184) and Dave Herrera (197) each reached the championship match and finished second in their weight class.

The Huskie trio of Chad Vandiver (133), Joe Cornejo (149) and Kalen Knull (157) all placed third in their bracket.





NIU returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Kaufman/Brand Open in Omaha, Neb.

PS: Tristen Deshazer finished 4th loosing to team mate Chad Vandiver 3-2.