CMU wrestlers knocked out of NCAA tournament
After a weekend wrestling in the NCAA Tournament at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Central Michigan wrestlers Alex Cramer, Johnny Lovett and Corbyn Munson fell short of All-American honors.
Unable to record a takedown, Munson (157) opened the tournament on Thursday with a 10-1 loss against Jared Franek of North Dakota moving him to the consolation bracket. Struggling to find his footing, Munson dropped his next match to Cael Swenson of South Dakota with a final score of 7-0 knocking him out of the tournament. Munson ended his first season in the 157-pound weight class with a record of 25-14 and placed fifth in the Mid-American Conference.
Wrestling in the 149-pound weight class, Lovett opened the NCAA tournament facing off against Andrew Gomez of Wisconsin. Unable to escape enough takedowns, Lovett moved into the consolation bracket falling to Gomez with a final score of 18-10, ending his 12-match win streak. Coming back from his opening loss, Lovett defeated Isaiah Delgado of Utah Valley with a score of 7-1 to keep him alive and move onto Friday's matches.
Despite a hard fought battle on Friday, including tying the match with an escape in the third period, Lovett fell to fourth-seeded Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech 5-3, knocking him out of the NCAA tournament. Lovett ended the season with a record of 21-11 and the 149-pound MAC champion title.
After getting pinned in the first period by Cade DeVos of South Dakota State, Cramer in the 174-pound weight class found himself in the consolation bracket. Unphased by his opening bout pin, Cramer kept himself alive with a 7-5 win over Cael Valencia of Arizona State on Thursday.
Falling behind early in his first match on Friday, Cramer was unable to come back from two takedowns, a two-point near fall and a four-point near fall against Northwestern's Troy Fischer eliminating him from the tournament with a score of 10-1. Wrestling in his first season with the Chippewas, Cramer ended the season 31-10 and secured the 174-pound MAC championship title.
