Northwestern encourages all fans to come out to support the 'Cats in their attempt to break the school's single-match attendance record on High School Night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. All high school and junior high students with valid school ID will be admitted to the match for the discounted price of $2. High school and youth wrestling coaches who accompany their teams will also be admitted for $2.
All high school teams in attendance will be recognized during the match's 10-minute intermission. Fans will also be treated to T-shirt tosses and other giveaways and entertainment throughout the evening.
ON THE WEB
Fans who can't make it out to Welsh-Ryan Arena can watch live streaming video of the dual match against Northern Illinois on NUsports.com.
HONORING A CHAMPION
Before the start of the match against Northern Illinois, Northwestern will honor 2008 heavyweight national champion Dustin Fox, as NU director of athletics Dr. Jim Phillips will be on hand to present Fox his Big Ten and NCAA champion rings.
Fox is a native of Galion, Ohio and wrestled for Galion High School, where he was a two-time state champion and a Junior National Freestyle and Greco Roman Champion. He finished his high school career with 132 wins, which remains the school record at Galion High School.
At Northwestern, Fox twice earned All-American honors and was a four-time NCAA qualifier. He also won the Midlands Championship, completing the triple crown of college wrestling his senior season. Fox wrapped up his college career with an amazing 109 victories at the heavyweight division, landing him eighth all-time in program history.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois and Northwestern both competed at the Purdue Duals on Nov. 15, where NU posted a 3-0 mark. The Huskies posted a 35-4 win against Campbellsville but dropped its next two decisions to Tennessee-Chattanooga and Purdue. NIU is led by a host of young wrestlers, including redshirt sophomore Vince Castillo at 141 lbs., who is 6-1 on the year, as well as classmate Bryan Deutsch at 157 lbs., who placed fourth in the elite division of the recent Kaufman/Brand Open. At 197, NIU will likely throw redshirt freshman Scott Penny, a native of Granite City, Ill., who wrestled against Northwestern's John Schoen (Homer Glen, Ill./Marist) in their high school days and now will square off with him in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Huskies head coach Dave Grant is now in his 11th season at the helm for NIU and continually has his squad in the hunt for the Mid-American Conference title.
BACK AT HOME
Thursday marks a return to competition in Welsh-Ryan Arena for Northwestern's 2007 national champion and second-ranked Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny). Herbert did not wrestle for the 'Cats last season while taking an Olympic redshirt year, competing in Evanston only for the Midlands Championships, where he earned a second-place finish. Herbert is on a tear thus far in 2008, compiling a 9-0 record on the strength of five falls and two major decisions.
GOOD AS GOULD
Senior Marty Gould (Lincolnwood, Ill./Niles West) is off to a solid start for Northwestern at 149 lbs. After posting just a 1-1 record in dual matches a year ago, Gould has won three of his four dual match starts to begin the 2008 campaign. Against Stanford, Gould posted an important 6-4 overtime victory against Max Rosefigura to help lift NU to a 25-15 team victory.
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