Mele went 5-0 Saturday and won his title at 125 lbs. with three falls, including his pin in the second period (4:12) of Northern Illinois' Nick Smith during the finals. Mele opened the tournament by pinning Eastern Michigan's Greg Egbert, (3:15) and Michigan State's Brenan Lyon (6:42) in the second round and won two more matches by a decision before reaching the finals.
Pierce Harger finished second at 165 lbs. and was one of two Wildcats to compete in the weight class. Harger and Kevin Bialka both made it to the semifinals on the same side of the bracket and were supposed to meet in the semis, but Harger advanced to the finals due to an injury for Bialka.
Harger had two byes before defeating Michigan's Dave Johnson, who was wrestling unattached, 8-5 in his first match and beat Notre Dame's (Ohio) Jared King 7-0 to reach the semis. He met another Wolverine in the finals and fell 11-3 to Dan Yates for runner-up honors.
Bialka began the day with an 18-1 tech fall over Kafuba Donzon from Indiana Tech and had a 12-2 major decision over Central Michigan's Anthony Pace (unattached) before he defaulted out of the tournament. Bialka ended up placing fourth, along with James Myers from Olivet, as they both were unable to compete in the third-place match due to injury.
Lee Munster also took second for Northwestern at 174 lbs. He won three-straight matches, including a pin of Central Michigan's Anthony Bill in 2:04, to face Michigan's Justin Zeerip in the finals. Zeerip placed first with a 5-0 decision.
At 197 lbs., Alex Polizzi opened up with a 12-4 major decision over Olivet's Justin Leonard and defeated Central Michigan's Chad Friend 5-3 in the second round but did not compete in the semifinals due to an injury. Polizzi ended up with a fourth place finish.
John Schoen also wrestled at 197 and finished fifth. He dropped his first bout but came back for a 17-0 tech fall over Findlay's Andrew Tumlin and then defeated Indiana's Garret Goldman 3-2 to wrestle for fifth. In the fifth place match, Schoen had another close bout, defeating Northern Colorado's Nick Bayer 6-4.
Colin Shober went 3-2 to finish sixth at 141 lbs. He dropped his opening bout to Purdue's Nick Lawrence, 5-3, but won three straight matches, including a major decision, to earn a spot in the fifth place match. Shober then met another Purdue wrestler, Brandon Nelson, and was shutout 6-0.
John Coukos (Freshman/Sophomore division, 133), Jameson Oster (133), Pat Greco (141), David Helmer (149), Kaleb Friedley (149), Dylan Marriott (157), Robert Kellogg (174), Marcus Schrewsbury (unattached, 184) and Mike McMullan (heavyweight) also wrestled Saturday but did not place.
Northwestern continues tournament action next week and heads east for the Keystone Classic in Philadelphia, Pa. Competition runs all day on Sunday, Nov. 20.
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