While Illinois Wesleyan students and staff may have gone home to enjoy the holidays and build snowpeople with family and friends, IWU’s athletes were hard at work, competing in 14 contests across men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling.
Men’s basketball:
The men’s basketball team played five games over winter break, losing the first game before winning the next four. Their winter stretch started with a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin match on the road against the Elmhurst Bluejays. The Titans started the second half down eight points but ultimately rallied to get a lead before giving up a three with 31 seconds left, losing by only a point.
IWU then went on a four-game win streak for the rest of the break, including a two-point victory over No. 4 WashU (at WashU) and a conference win over Carroll (at Shirk Center.) Following a few days off for Christmas, the Titans traveled to New York, New York, for a two-game road trip against Yeshiva University and Hamilton College.
Junior Casen Lawrence hit a free throw with 1.6 seconds on the clock to ice the victory over Yeshiva on Dec. 29 before the Titans turned around the next game to beat Hamilton by 12. Over the five-game stretch, the team was led by sophomore Noah Cleveland, averaging 22.2 ppg and 11.6 reb/g on an absurd 63.1% shooting from the field. Lawrence, who transferred from Truman State before the 25-26 season began, didn’t start four of the team’s games (despite starting the opening eight) but remained undeterred, shooting 47.2% from behind the three-point line on 8.2 attempts a night.
Women’s basketball:
Illinois Wesleyan women’s basketball brought the heat to the cold winter season, running undefeated against all CCIW opponents, including the No. 14 Carroll University Pioneers. Now ranked No. 16 in the nation, the Titans are looking to be repeat CCIW regular season and tournament champions. The Titans started out the break in the belly of the beast, getting downed, 73-54, against No. 21 Chicago on the Maroons’ home court.
The team then traveled to the sunny skies of Kissimmee, Fla., taking a nail-biting match from No. 18 Bethel, 78-76, before falling to Wisconsin-Lutheran, 71-61. In the new year, the Titans returned to their home court to clinch two back-to-back CCIW matches against North Central and Carroll. Leading the charge for the Titans was senior Ava Bardic, who averaged 17.9 points per game, a new career high.
Cleaning up the defensive end of the court, senior Sawyer White had a season-high eight steals against Carroll, and she is now second in DIII basketball for steals.
Men’s wrestling:
Men’s Wrestling competed in three meets over the semester recess, including the North Central Invite, a CCIW matchup against Wheaton College, and a home meet against Buena Vista. While the Titans’ efforts at the North Central Invite and Wheaton matches fell short (resulting in a 15th-place finish and a 36-20 loss, respectively,) the Titans emerged victorious over the Buena Vista University Beavers, resulting in their second match win—and first home win—of the ‘25-26 season. The team picked up six wins, including a pair of pins at 133 and 141 pounds.
First-year Brady Mouser won the opening match in an 8-4 decision over Tyler Japp, before fellow first-year Tyson Zvonar pinned Jack Decker with just 10 seconds left to put the Titans ahead, 10-0. Junior Austin Johnston got his fourth pin of the season over Jaxon Cozad, which pushed the Titans’ lead to 15-0.
But, the Beavers finally plugged the dam of Titan pins and wins with a major decision at 157 pounds and a pin at 165 pounds. However, first-year Trey Dunning would secure a takedown in the final seconds of his duel, resulting in a decision that clinched the win for Illinois Wesleyan and marked their first home win since restarting the men’s wrestling program prior to the 2023-2024 academic year. The 24-22 win pushed the Titans to 2-5 (1-5 CCIW) on the season.
Women’s wrestling:
Women’s Wrestling hit the mats at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship hosted by the University of Northern Iowa. After falling in three consecutive matches against No. 13 Eastern University, Albion College and Marymount University, the Titans finally claimed victory over McCurry University, thanks to wins snatched up by Leslie Guzman (110), Sifa Feruzi (180) and AJ Grant(160).
The Titans will play in the CCIW Championships hosted by Elmhurst College on Jan. 25.
