The ‘Cats have now been defeated in three straight contests.
Despite a few individual victories, Northwestern could not come away with the overall W last Friday against No. 15 Michigan. The Wolverines won the dual meet by a score of 26-10, extending Northwestern’s losing streak to three.
157-pounder Trevor Chumbley, competing for the first time in over a month, recorded a strong showing against No. 15 Chase Saldate, who he faced in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Chumbley earned a takedown one minute into the match to take an early 3-0 lead, and he did not look back from there. He rode a strong performance to a 5-0 decision win, moving him to 3-0 in dual meets this season.
Competing at 125 pounds, Dedrick Navarro defeated Wilfried Tanefeu for his second straight victory. Navarro dominated the second period, recording an escape and a takedown to take a 4-0 lead. He then scored eight near-fall points in the final period to complete a dominant 14-0 major decision win over Tanefeu.
The final Wildcat to emerge victorious Friday was Massey Odiotti, who defeated Nolan Wertanen at 133 pounds. Odiotti recorded takedowns in the first and third periods on his way to an 8-6 decision victory, his second dual meet win of the season.
Northwestern’s biggest name wrestlers struggled in Ann Arbor. No. 23 Chris Cannon fell to 0-3 in conference dual-meets with a major decision defeat to No. 11 Sergio Lemley at 141 lbs. The red-hot Sam Cartella, ranked for the first time this season after his upset victory over No. 11 Kannon Webster of Illinois last weekend, dropped a heartbreaker to Dylan Gilcher. That one ended by way of a riding-time tiebreaker after neither wrestler was able to score a point in either the two-minute overtime period or either of the two 30 second tiebreakers.
No. 18 Maxx Mayfield lost a heartbreaker of his two matches later at 165 lbs, falling in a 4-3 decision to No. 21 Beau Mantanona. It was Mayfield’s second consecutive one-point defeat in dual meets after narrowly falling to Illinois’ No. 10 Braeden Scoles last Sunday.
No. 12 Evan Bates, Northwestern’s highest ranked wrestler at any weight class, was overmatched against the wagon that is No. 3 Jacob Cardenas in a 16-6 major decision.
With the loss to Michigan, the ‘Cats are still searching for their first win of 2025, as well as their first Big Ten victory. They will have a chance to snap their losing streak this Sunday, when they host Minnesota at Welsh Ryan Arena at 12 p.m.