The Monarchs earned their 500th program win, and head coach Steve Martin became Old Dominion’s second winningest coach with an electrifying 20-19 criteria win over Northern Illinois Friday night.
Starting off the night at 133 Northern Illinois won the first match with a 15-4 major decision over ODU’s Josh Markham, but the Monarch’s No. 16 Chris Mecate responded with an impressive 2-0 victory over No. 15 Steve Bleise. No. 8 Alexander Richardson followed with an 11-5 decision to put the monarchs up 6-4.“I felt good on my feet, I had a lot of good motion… [This win] showed me that I can compete for the whole seven minutes,” Richardson said.