Northern Illinois Pushes Past Cougars on Senior Day
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE wrestling celebrated Senior Day Sunday at First Community Arena with 10 wrestlers honored before the Northern Illinois match.

The Cougars, however, dropped the regular season finale 25-12 to the Huskies.

SIUE picked up wins Sunday from Saul Ervin, Caleb Tyus, Ryan Yarnell and Colton McKiernan.

"There wasn't the offense there," said SIUE Head Coach Jeremy Spates. "It was a tough day on Senior Day, but it was a fun crowd and it was a great crowd."

McKiernan defeated Terrese Aaron 3-0 in the final match at heavyweight for his team-leading 24th victory of the season. Not counting his six falls this season, it also was the 13th time McKiernan has gone without yielding a point to his opponent.

"I got the job done, but there's defintely always something to improve on," said McKiernan.

With the regular season now complete, the Cougars now look to the postseason. The Mid-American Conference Championships is set for Mar. 3-4 in Fairfax, Virginia. The Cougars expect to have several wrestlers heading into the tournament with seeded in the top three.

"We have some to work to do," said Spates. 

Northern Illinois 25 SIUE 12
125 Blake West (NIU) over Austin Macias (SIUE) (MD 11-3)
133 Lucian Brink (NIU) over Aaron Schulist (SIUE) (Dec 8-7)
141 Saul Ervin (SIUE) over Jaivon Jones (NIU) (Dec 2-0)
149 Caleb Tyus (SIUE) over Anthony Cheloni (NIU) (Dec 2-1)
157 Anthony Gibson (NIU) over Caine Tyus (SIUE) (Fall 0:57)
165 Izzak Olejnik (NIU) over Cardi Wilson (SIUE) (Dec 2-0)
174 Hayden Pummel (NIU) over Chase Diehl (SIUE) (Fall 1:53)
184 Matt Zuber (NIU) over Sergio Villalobos (SIUE) (Dec 5-1)
197 Ryan Yarnell (SIUE) over Devonjae Hudson (NIU) (Dec 13-8)
285 Colton McKiernan (SIUE) over Terrese Aaron (NIU) (Dec 3-0)