Wrestling team crowned MAC champions, earns eight individual automatic bids to NCAAs
CMU coach Tom Borrelli waved to the home crowd and took his place on the podium with the rest of his team after being announced the Mid-American Conference tournament champions.
Borrelli went to the tournament with high expectations for his team and came away with five individual championships, eight automatic bids to the NCAAs and his ninth consecutive MAC tournament title.
“Our goal was to get ten guys into the national tournament, then the MAC tournament would take care of itself, and that’s what happened,” Borrelli said.
Seniors led the Chippewas as 125-pounder Matt Steintrager, 141-pounder Conor Beebe, 165-pounder Tyler Grayson and 157-pounder Steve Brown all came away with individual titles.
“This really means a lot to our seniors,” Borrelli said. “It is pretty special to be on the team for four or five years and come away with a tournament title their last year.”
Also earning a tournament title for CMU was 174-pound redshirt freshman Ben Bennett.
Likely to add to the list of Chippewas heading to the NCAA tournament are sophomore heavyweight Jarrod Trice, as his national ranking should garner an at-large bid.
“Our main goal has always been to take 10 guys to nationals,” Brown said. “We are glad that we took home this MAC title, especially here in our home stadium. But, we were much more pleased with the eight guys who earned automatic bids to Omaha.”
