Wrestling team loses second straight Sunday to Purdue
Central Michigan wrestling couldn't pull out a second-straight victory against Purdue Sunday at Oregon, Ohio.
The Chippewas lost 19-18 in a rematch from last Sunday in the National Duals against Purdue. Each squad won five matches.
A team normally focused on individual goals was discouraged by the loss.
“I was pretty disappointed. We probably should have won the dual meet,” CMU freshman Zach Horan said, who lost 12-4. “We weren’t able to get bonus points in a few situations where we were close to getting them. We gave up bonus points in some matches we shouldn’t have.”
Freshman Mike Ottinger, of the 165-pound class, defeated Kyle Mosier by pin 4:23 into his match. He was frustrated with losing to a lesser opponent in Mosier last weekend.
“When Mike is focused and thinking right (and) has the right attitude, he’s very hard to beat,” head coach Tom Borrelli said. “Sometimes like any freshman, he loses focus, maybe starts feeling sorry for himself a little bit, and he’s not in the right frame of mind. He’s very vulnerable at those times.”
The victory by Ottinger narrowed the Chippewas deficit to seven. It was not enough for the Chippewas to earn a comeback victory though.
Down 19-15, heavyweight senior Peter Sturgeon needed to win by eight to tie it and 15 for CMU to win. Sturgeon won 7-2. It was his second victory against Alex White in the past week.
Redshirt freshman Anthony Bill and junior Ben Bennett also tallied their second wins for CMU over Drake Stein and Braden Atwood, respectively.
Bill has won three of his past four matches after starting the season 5-10.
The Chippewas did not gift wrap six points to the Boilermakers as a result of being without Joe Roth to begin their second dual against Purdue like they did last week.
Roth pulled out a victory in overtime 4-2.
The 133-through-149 weight divisions cost CMU once again. Purdue picked up 13 of 19 points in those classes.
The wrestlers in the three divisions have lost in the same dual in four of the past eight.
CMU junior Donnie Corby, of the 157-pound class, lost to Tommy Churchard for the third time this season.
The Chippewas will have two weeks to prepare for the Mid-American Conference Championships March 4.
“We're going to refine some things, but we’re also going to try to get a little sharper, and a little better conditioning and get a little better at grinding out victories,” Borrelli said. “We just have to be a little more focused on what we’re trying to accomplish.”
