Wrestling starts season at MSU open
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Central Michigan wrestling kicked their season off at the Michigan State Open Saturday and sophomore Matt Stencel picked up right where he finished last season.
Stencel racked up three pinfall victories over Eli Boulton of Oklahoma, Luke Ready of Michigan and Michigan State’s Christian Rebottaro on his way to the championship in the 285-pound weight class. He was defeated by Mason Parris of Michigan in the first period.
Sophomore Drew Hildebrandt won two of his four matches of the day with a 5-0 decision over Michigan’s Jack Medley following a first round bye. He went on to lose to Michigan State’s RayVon Foley by a 9-4 decision. He defeated Carmen Ferrante 6-2 of Penn before dropping a hard-fought 7-5 decision in the third-place match of the 125-pound weight class to Michigan’s Austin Assad.
Sophomore Blake Montrie (165) finished fourth as well, and redshirt freshman Brock Bergelin(133) finished fifth, while redshirt freshman Colin Lieber finished sixth at 174-weight class.
CMU freshmen Zach Schupp (125) and Ben Cushman (184) each finished sixth, while freshman Corbyn Munson (141) finished fifth In the freshman/sophomore brackets.
Lieber opened with an 8-0 major decision over Emilio Fowler of Notre Dame before suffering a 9-3 loss at the hands of NIU's Brit Wilson. Bieber bounced back with wins over Daniel Heintz and Chippewa teammate Sage Castillo before losing each of his last two matches to finish sixth.
Bergelin began the day by losing 2-1 to Notre Dame's Kelan Mckenna, won won his next three matches, with a win over teammate Devin Perez. He ended up suffering a 9-2 loss to NIU's Alijah Jeffery. Berglin finished fifth after NIU's Drew West withdrew from the tournament on a medical forfeit.
Montrie opened with an 8-4 loss to Kenny Moore of Northern Illinois, and then bounced back with four consecutive wins to earn a spot in the third-place match against Oklahoma's Jeremy Thomas.
Shupp, who competed unattached (individual), opened his day by losing 4-3 to Findlay's Zach Collins before earning a third-period pin over Notre Dame's Johnny Cracker, a 6-3 decision over Blair Orr of Penn, and an 8-3 victory over Michigan State's Ethan Curtin. Schupp lost his final pair of matches to finish sixth.
Munson also wrestled unattached, earned a 14-4 major decision over Edinboro's Jack Gold, an 8-4 decision over fellow Chippewa Mason Breece, and a 13-7 decision over Nathan Swartz of NIU. He then lost a pair of consecutive matches before rebounding to defeat Michigan's Nick Freeman 6-5 in the fifth-place match.
“We’ve been up and down, you win some you lose some,” Chippewa head coach Tom Borelli said. “I like the way our guys are wrestling right now.”
The Chippewas return to the mats next at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 to take on the Michigan Wolverines in a dual inside McGuirk Arena.
