The NYU men’s wrestling team had to compete in two different locations on the same day, but that did not stop them from sweeping Gettysburg College 31-6 and Johns Hopkins University 27-10 at the Gettysburg Quad before beating Muhlenberg on their home turf 44-3. The three consecutive Centennial Conference wins are pivotal for the NYU Grapplers’ push towards competing in nationals and ending the season on a positive note. Playing at two different locations in one day is challenging, but the Grapplers showed poise, improving their record to 9-4 in dual meets this season.

The first match of the day was at the Gettysburg Quad in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania when the 22nd-ranked Grapplers defeated the host, Gettysburg College in a dominating performance led by junior Nathan Pike and sophomore William Gockel-Figge. Gockel-Figge, who usually wrestles at 184 pounds, defeated Gettysburg’s Anthony Puca with a convincing 5-3 victory in the 197-pound weight class. Junior Nathan Pike has been instrumental in the Grapplers’ success this season, and went 3-0 on Saturday.

“I set a goal to win my matches by tech falls and I was able to meet that goal,” Pike said. “As for the team, we won all our matches today and everyone wrestled hard. We even had some wrestlers wrestling above their respective weight class and still coming out with wins.”

After beating Gettysburg handily, NYU soon faced Johns Hopkins in the second leg of the Gettysburg Quad.  The Grapplers had a key performance by sophomore Raymond Jazikoff who beat his opponent, Tommy Grifa, with a major decision 12-2. Jazikoff is now 23-6 in the season. NYU also had a standout performance from sophomore, Austin Day, who was first at the Jim Aguiar Invite in New Hampshire a few months ago. Day was successful again on Saturday, winning his decision 9-3.

Though it took two hours for the Grapplers to travel to Allentown, PA, the team did not take their foot off the gas pedal against the Muhlenberg Mules. NYU lost only one of its individual matches throughout the dual meet, showing that even after a long day they still had enough motivation to finish strong. Senior captain Dylan Lojac led the team to victory, winning all three matches of the day, improving his record to 14-11 in the season. Lojac won his match against Muhlenberg sophomore Logan Laughlin, pinning him at 3:53. Even with a schedule made more tiring after Winter Storm Jonas, Lojac was impressed at his team’s response.

“It was a little unusual, because we had to make up a match with Muhlenberg, which was cancelled due to the blizzard,” Lojac said. “Our team showed their resilience by winning that match 44-3, despite the circumstances.”

The NYU wrestling team will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 3 against the United States Merchant Marine Academy in another Centennial Conference match as the team looks to improve their already stellar 9-4 record.

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 1. print edition. Email Eli Edwards at [email protected].