CMU wrestling goes 0-2 in Illinois
Competing in dual meets on Sunday, Central Michigan wrestling fell to No.22 North Carolina and host Illinois.
The Chippewas fall to 0-3 on the season.
“Even though the dual meet scores weren’t that close, we’re more competitive in the individual matches than we were early last year at this point which is a positive,” head coach Tom Borelli said.
Match one
Starting against North Carolina, CMU dropped its first four matches to trail 14-0 early.
Extending his win streak to five, Johnny Lovett defeated Sonny Santiago. Lovett’s win came by a major decision with a score of 11-3 to get the Chippewas on the board, 14-4.
Continuing the momentum, CMU won its next two matches at 165 and 174.
Competing in a dual for the first time as a Chippewa, in the 165-pound match, sophomore Tyler Swiderski defeated Isasias Estrada 11-5 to make it 14-7.
“He’s a good wrestler,” Borelli said. “He has a lot of ability. It’s his first dual meet for us and he’s trying to figure some things out, but he’s got potential.”
Senior Alex Cramer (174) gave the Chippewas their final win against the Tar Heels defeating Sabino Portella 6-3, making the team score 14-10. Cramer moves to 5-1 on the season.
Dropping the rest of its matches, CMU fell to North Carolina 25-10.
Match two
Looking to rebound following the loss to North Carolina, the Chippewas moved on to the host Illinois.
Despite opening with a win in the 125-pound match, CMU dropped the rest of its matches to fall to Illinois 32-3.
Redshirt sophomore Sean Spidle shutdown No. 27 Justin Cardani. Following a scoreless first period, Spidle earned a riding point at the end, riding Cardani for the entire second period. Escaping in the third period followed up by a takedown, Spidle sealed the deal with a score of 5-0. Spidle moves to 3-2 on the season.
“He (Spidle) is very capable of wrestling matches like that all the time,” Borrelli said. “Styles affect him a little bit and when he figures out how to beat guys who have a certain style, he's going to do fine.”
Unable to keep the momentum going despite close scores, the Chippewas dropped the rest of their matches to Illinois.
“Johnny should have beaten the guy from Illinois,” Borelli said. “Alex wrestled a really good guy, but he could have been more competitive in that match.”
CMU has a long break before heading to Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. to take on the Indiana Hoosiers.
