Mester takes fifth at wrestling Nationals
Chris McCarty
The Mineral Point, Wis. native lost to eventual champion Teyon Ware of Oklahoma in double overtime in the semifinals. He then split a pair of consolation matches at Kemper Arena in Kansas City Saturday.
Ware won the coin toss after the first overtime and chose to start on the bottom. He reversed Mester’s advantage for two points and the win en route to his first national title.
Mester finished the tournament 4-2 at 141 pounds and was 26-3 on the season. His .897 winning percentage was fourth best in school history. The team finished 32nd at the tournament with 14 points.
“We expected to do better. We wanted to get more than one All-American and finish in the Top 10,” said Head Coach Tom Borrelli. “But at least we did not come home empty handed.”
Oklahoma State won the tournament with 143 points. Minnesota finished second with 104.5 points and Oklahoma third with 78. Northern Illinois finished 22nd with 26.5 points to finish as the highest-placing MAC school.
Kevin Carr was the only other CMU wrestler to have a first-round victory as the team finished 8-14. Seven Chippewas competed at NCAAs.
Mester’s quarterfinal victory was an 11-3 major decision over Iowa State defending champion Aaron Holker.
“He was a coin flip away from possibly being in the National finals. We feel like Jason really competed hard this weekend.”
Carr was seeded No. 12 at 165 pounds and defeated Lock Haven’s Jason Gilligan 5-2 Thursday. He then lost to Missouri’s Tyron Woodley and West Virginia’s Tom McMath. Woodley finished in eighth in the tournament.
Senior Brett Faustman closed his career at CMU with a 1-2 record at Nationals. He defeated David Dashiell of North Carolina 2-0 in the 197-pound consolation bracket. He is the only senior who competed for CMU this season.
Sophomore David Bolyard and junior Ty Morgan each had one victory at the tournament. Bolyard defeated Chris Bitetto of Northern Iowa 6-5 in the consolation bracket of the 157-pound class. Morgan was a 3-2 winner against Boston’s Jason Holder at 149 pounds.
Redshirt freshman Kyle Stoffer and sophomore Russ Vanderheyden were 0-2 on the weekend. Stoffer competed at 125 pounds and lost 11-0 to the fourth-place finisher A.J. Grant of Michigan. Vanderheyden competed at 184 pounds.
Ohio sophomore Jake Percival finished fifth at 149 pounds, and two NIU athletes also received All-American honors for the conference. Scott Owen finished fifth at 157 pounds, and Ben Heizer finished in sixth at 184 pounds for the Huskies.
Central was the MAC regular season co-champions with NIU and Kent State before winning the MAC Championship decisively March 9 at Rose Arena. The team finished the season with a 13-3 record.
Nine starters will return next season, and Jordan Webster is expected to recover from knee surgery in time to compete in his senior season after missing this season. Webster was Central’s best finisher last season at NCAAs.
“Next year should be a good season for us, but we have to get better and improve enough to win all of those close matches,” Borrelli said.
