Northwestern will send two wrestlers to the NCAA Championships next week.
Over the weekend, Northwestern wrestling competed at the Big Ten Championships hosted at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Taking to the mats at their home venue, Maxx Mayfield and Evan Bates both reached the podium and earned automatic qualification for the NCAA Championships after placing sixth and seventh in their respective weight classes.
After falling to Ohio State’s Paddy Gallagher by a 7-2 decision in the first round of the 165 lbs group, Mayfield rattled off a pair of his own decision victories. After a 5-1 decision win over Rutgers’ Anthony White, Mayfield beat Nebraska’s Christopher Minto by an 8-1 decision to secure a spot on the podium. An injury forced Mayfield to concede his final two matches, but his pair of victories was enough to propel him to a sixth place finish.
Competing at 197 lbs, Bates got the weekend started with an emphatic victory over Purdue’s Ben Vanadia by a 10-0 major decision. After losing in the quarterfinal to Michigan’s Jacob Cardenas, Bates rebounded with a win by technical fall over Maryland’s Chase Mielnik. He finished his weekend with a win after Ohio State’s Seth Shumate was forced to medically forfeit, allowing Bates to claim the seventh place spot on the podium.
Dedrick Navarro, competing at 125 lbs, began his weekend with a 3-2 decision win over Ohio State’s Brendan McCrone. After losing a pair of matches, he responded with a win by technical fall over Maryland’s Tyler Garvin in the ninth place quarterfinal before dropping the semifinal match to McCrone, who he had defeated earlier in the weekend.
Sam Cartella advanced to the ninth place semifinal at 149 lbs before losing to Joey Buttler of Indiana. Meanwhile, Trevor Chumbley barely missed out on ninth place at 157 lbs after Rutgers’ Conner Harer pulled out the victory in riding time. Other Wildcats who notched victories throughout the weekend included Massey Odiotti at 133 lbs and Jon Halvorsen at 184 lbs. Chris Cannon, Aiden Vandenbush and Dirk Morley also competed for NU but weren’t able to pick up wins in their bouts.
The NCAA will announce the at-large bids for the tournament on Tuesday. In the meantime, Mayfield and Bates will prepare for the NCAA Championships, which begin on March 20 in Philadelphia.