Wrestlers overcome flu in Big Ten win

Despite a squad weakened by the flu, the IU wrestling team came out the winners Friday, dropping Northwestern 22-14 in Bloomington.\nWith senior Mike Simpson out and several other wrestlers under the weather, the undefeated team wasn't at its best.\n"(We've) all kind of got the bug right now," said coach Duane Goldman. "A pretty good number of us are under the weather, including me."\nBut IU got a big lift when junior All-American Joe Dubuque opened with a pin for the quick 6-0 lead.\nRedshirt-freshman Brian Dyer followed with a 6-5 victory before senior Cameron Sakon, wrestling in place of Simpson, fell 10-1 to 16th-ranked Ryan Lang. \nThe Hoosiers then reeled off three more wins to go up 19-4, highlighted by redshirt-freshman Isaac Knable's take down in overtime for the come-from-behind win. But Northwestern countered with a three-win streak of their own. Juniors Brady Richardson and Andy Rios suffered tough losses, and sophomore Josh Buuck lost a 15-4 major decision to cut IU's lead to 19-14.\nSenior Pat DeGain was doubtful of his performance at the meet due to the flu, but came out to clinch the victory with a 5-2 decision over Scott Johnson in the final. \nSaturday morning, the Hoosiers traveled north to take part in the Indianapolis Duals with Indianapolis, McKendree College and Missouri Baptist. With a short turnaround and a sick team, Goldman rested several of his starters. \nStill, IU scored at least 45 points against all three opponents and won 28 out of 30 total matches, dropping one by forfeit, to up the team's record to 12-1.\nFive different grapplers recorded pins, including two each by Knable and Richardson and senior Justin King's first career pin. Six Hoosiers finished the day 3-0. \nIU will have a week to rest before traveling to Penn State to continue Big Ten play.\n"The win over Northwestern was great," said redshirt-freshman Max Dean said. "But we've got bigger and better fish to fry."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Andrew Petersen at andpeter@indiana.edu.