Pat McLemore went 1-1 at the NCAA Championships on Thursday. (Photo by Scott Walstrom, NIU Media Services)

ST. LOUIS — Northern Illinois wrestlers picked-up four victories on day one of the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships at The Scottrade Center, Thursday, including two from three-time national qualifier Pat Castillo.

“We had a couple of wins today, and some very close losses,” head coach Dave Grant said.

Castillo, a senior 133-pounder, opened the day with a convincing preliminary round win over Borislav Novachkov of Cal Poly. An early takedown, followed by a reversal to open the second period put Castillo in control 4-0, and he executed two more takedowns en route to a 9-2 win.

In his second match, Castillo wrangled Liberty’s Christian Smith for a 12-4 major decision, Castillo’s nation-leading 16th of the season.

After splitting a pair of bouts during the season at 174 pounds, redshirt sophomore Duke Burk and 12th-seeded Nick Hayes of Northwestern met for a rubber match at 174 pounds in session one. After a scoreless first period, a Burk takedown followed by a Hayes escape left the score 2-1 heading into the third. Burk dominated the final period, executing a pair of takedowns and an escape to upend Hayes 7-3.

“That was a revenge match,” Grant said. “We lost that match at Midlands, and Hayes was seeded, so it was a big upset win.”

At 141 pounds, redshirt freshman Pat McLemore highlighted session two for the Huskies, capturing a 3-1 victory over C.J. Ettelson of Northern Iowa. McLemore executed a first round takedown and rode Ettelson for 1:20 of the first period. After Ettelson chose bottom to start the second, McLemore held him in that position for the entire period, racking-up over three minutes of riding time, and holding on for a 3-1 win.

“(McLemore) beat the Northern Iowa kid, who had pinned him last year, so we know we’re making some ground on these guys,” Grant said.

In his premier at the NCAA Championships, McLemore lost on a technical fall to two-time All-American Nathan Morgan of Oklahoma State.

— NIU Media Services