Central Michigan wrestling responds after Saturday loss to beat No. 21 Ohio on tiebreaker
CMU wrestling was losing to Mid-American Conference rival No. 21 Ohio 15-12 heading into the final match.
It was all up to junior heavyweight Newton Smerchek (285), who the coaches saw as a good fit against Ohio's Jessie Webb. After a stalemate through the first two periods, Smerchek took advantage in the third round, getting a takedown and evening the score 15-15 in the final match of the meet.
Because the Chippewas had more individual points than the Bobcats (39-36), CMU was awarded the victory.
“(Smerchek) knows what he has to do to win. I just told him to be himself,” said Head Coach Tom Borrelli. “He really can’t get under guys real well yet, so he’s just got to be himself and wrestle from the positions he’s good at.”
After losing to Oregon State on Saturday, No. 16 CMU (5-1, 2-0 MAC) responded Sunday to against the No. 21 Ohio Bobcats (5-2, 1-2 MAC) to remain undefeated in the conference.
The first match of the meet turned out to be the difference-maker, as sophomore Brent Fleetwood (125) defeated Shakur Laney 9-2. That seven-point advantage proved essential when going to individual points for the tiebreaker at the end of the match.
“I would say that was the difference in the dual meet," Borrelli said. "It came down to total match points because everything else was equal. It was huge."
The match of the day came when and No. 12 ranked Mike Ottinger (174) faced off against No. 9 Cody Walters. The two battled it out and exchanged riding positions the whole match. Ottinger was able to get a takedown late in the third round and stayed on top to finish it off 3-1.
“I’ve wrestled him four times before and beat him three of those times,” Ottinger said. “He was my only loss out of all three years at the MAC Championships, so it feels good to win.”
Senior Zach Horan (141) responded well after being disqualified from his match against Oregon State on Saturday. He defeated Noah Forrider 4-3 and really got the home crowd into it after he had a ferocious takedown.
“I always expect good things out of (Horan)," Borrelli said. "He’s a very good wrestler. We gotta change some things with him, but he’s got a lot of potential."
Sophomore Justin Oliver (149) also picked up a win against Cullen Cummings. Oliver has won three straight matches since replacing the injured Colin Heffernan in December. While Oliver has done an excellent job filling in, there are no plans yet to give away Heffernan’s spot when he returns.
“Right now I would say it’s a good problem to have for us, but (Heffernan) has done nothing lose his starting spot, other than getting hurt, but we’ll sort that out when we have to,” Borrelli said.
The Chippewas welcome the Missouri Tigers to McGuirk Arena next Sunday before going on the road to Michigan and Iowa State.
“I said to our guys before the match, 'Are you ready to compete?’ (Ohio) really wanted to beat us," Borrelli said. "They haven’t beaten us in a long time. They thought they were going to get us today and our guys responded well.”
