Bennett, Brown and Trice earn All-America status
OMAHA, Neb. — Redshirt freshman 174-pounder Ben Bennett pinned his opponent 44 seconds into the third round of his consolation match to secure All-America honors for the first time in his career.
Bennett followed that performance with another first-round pin to advance in the tournament. He takes on Virginia junior Christopher Henrich in the final day of the tournament for the opportunity to wrestle in the third-place match.
“It felt really good to be able to get two pins in a row,” Bennett said. “My original goal was to win it all, but I lost in the second round. But I am still going to do everything I can to win every match and help my team.”
Central started the second day of the national tournament with seven wrestlers still in contention to finish as an All-American. However, after losing three of them in the first round and one more in the next, the team still came away with three All-Americans.
Senior 157-pounder Steve Brown opened the match with a quick takedown and a two-point lead. However, he was nearly unable to finish the bout as he hyper-extended the shoulder he had injured earlier in the season.
Brown removed the shoulder brace he wore to begin the match and finished with a 5-2 victory to seal his All-America season.
Sophomore heavyweight Jarod Trice rode out the third overtime period to hold on to a narrow 6-5 lead to become CMU’s third All-American.
Three of CMU’s seven were eliminated in the second round of the consolation bracket. Senior 149-pounder Tony D’Alie won his second-round match with a 12-3 major decision. However, D’Alie was eliminated from the tournament in his next bout with a 10-6 loss.
“Three All-Americans are great,” said coach Tom Borrelli. “We were looking for seven, but a couple of the guys we have are young, and it is a good place to build the program.”
