Contact: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu

KENOSHA, Wis. (Nov. 20, 2025)- On the road for a Wednesday night matchup against Carthage College, the North Central College men's wrestling team extended their College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) duals win streak to 60 with a 34-14 victory over the Firebirds inside of Tarble Arena. 

The Cardinals (4-0, 3-0 CCIW) began the night trailing 5-0 due to a technical fall gained by the Firebirds (0-2, 0-2 CCIW). The initial match featured Tagg Miller as he faced a ranked opponent in No. 14 Zaren Anderson in the 157-pound bout. Ultimately, after 4:31, Miller fell 18-3, putting the Cardinals behind. 

Giving North Central the 6-5 lead in the following match was Mekhi Cave in the 165-pound match, as he pinned Anthony Berry in one minute and 17 seconds. Despite the pinfall victory for Cave, Carthage won the two matches that followed and retook the 11-6 lead, as Jake Luce came up short in the 174-pound matchup in a close 8-5 decision to Christian Gilbert. The 184-pound bout pitted London Konder and Jovani Piazza against each other, which saw a ton of action that ultimately concluded in a 21-14 decision, where Piazza would fall. 

Trailing through four matches, the Cardinals turned their fortunes around, rattling off three consecutive wins beginning with an AJ Frescura pinfall over Jared Werner in the 197-pound weight class, taking two minutes and 47 seconds, which marked his fastest pin of the season. With the 12-11 lead, Luke Chrisse earned a 17-2 technical fall at 285 pounds, finishing his match with Chris Gielow in 3:28. Joey Sikorsky continued the momentum for North Central in the 125-pound bout, as the Cardinals gained another technical fall. Sikorsky scored the 19-4 technical fall over Lucas Lucas Burgio in 3:30 to extend the lead to 22-11. 

Carthage managed to pick up a fourth win in the dual, coming away with a 5-3 decision in the 133-pound match as Xavier Villalobos' takedown came after the buzzer. The Cardinals put the Firebirds away with Carter De La Cerna's first pinfall of the season in two minutes and 38 seconds at 141 pounds. 10th-ranked Tyler Starr wrapped up the dual at 149 pounds with back-to-back pinfalls for North Central, pinning Elijah Zepeda in 4:30 for the final score of 34-14. 

The Cardinals won six of the 10 matches in the dual over the Firebirds, with four of their wins coming by way of pinfall and the other two by technical fall. 

This win marks the 60th straight CCIW duals win for North Central, as the last time they fell to a conference opponent was Jan. 10, 2017, when they fell to Elmhurst University, 20-19. 

North Central returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Mequon, Wis., for the Concordia Wisconsin Open, beginning at 9 a.m. inside of R. John Buuck Field House.