Four CMU wrestlers place at Midland Championships, team places sixth
After two days of wrestling in Hoffman Estates, Illinois at the Midland Championship, Central Michigan wrestling placed sixth out of 30 teams with four wrestlers placing in their respective weight classes.
"We made a huge improvement from last year in this tournament," head coach Tom Borelli said. "Last year we had one placer and that was Alex Cramer who took fifth, and this year we had four placers and finished in the top 10. That's a big improvement. That's a positive."
After Friday's matches the Chippewas sat in second place. However after Saturday they dropped down to sixth place.
"We just feel like we didn't have a good round (Saturday) morning," Borelli said. "We came back a little stronger in the evening. We were in position to do better as a team and we're a little frustrated with that, but we also know that we did a lot better than we did last year. You've got to take the improvement, be happy with the improvement, but realize the potential is there to do more."
The Chippewas move to 0-4 on the season.
Wrestling in the 141 pound weight class Jimmy Nugent went 3-0 on Friday pinning his first two opponents and then upset No. 5 Dylan Layton of Cleveland State, 8-4, in the quarterfinals. Nugent forfeited due to medical reasons on Saturday, ending his weekend 3-0 and placing seventh.
"He had a great first day," Borelli said. "You couldn't have asked for more of him the first day."
Extending his win streak to nine, graduate student Corbyn Munson went undefeated on Friday opening with his sixth pin of the season against Michigan State's Clayton Jones.
Munson ended the night with a 4-0 win over Andy Troczynski of Penn State, a dominating 9-3 win over Jaivon Jones of Northern Illinois, 9-3, and a final overtime win against Caleb Tyus of SIU Edwardsville, in the quarterfinal to finish 4-0.
Unable to continue his success on Saturday, Munson was pinned by Ty Watters of University of West Virgnia, falling into the consolation bracket. Wrestling his way back, Munson won his next match 5-3 to keep him alive. However, Munson dropped his last two matches placing fourth.
"There were some real bright spots and there some things we've got to improve on," Borelli said. "...He was really disappointed after the semifinals because he had a chance to make the finals, but he came back and fought himself into the third place match. That's a positive."
Wrestling in the 157 pound weight class, Johnny Lovett opened the tournament with a dominating 19-2 win followed up by two major decision victories. Lovett ended the night taking down Chase Saldate of MSU with six seconds left for the final 9-6 win.
Dropping his first match in the semifinals on Saturday, Lovett fell into the consolation bracket. After dropping his first match in the consolation bracket, Lovett wrestled his way back defeating Colton WasilewiskI of Rider University to place fifth.
"It's really tough when you lose a close match in the semifinals and then to come back and try to get back up again for a consolation match right after that because you're really disappointed and you feel like you should've been in the final," Borelli said. "... It takes a lot of maturity and grit to do that."
Coming out strong against NIU's Austin Stewart, Alex Cramer opened with a 16-0 victory followed up by a 6-3 victory to start 2-0.
Falling to 12th-ranked Nick Incontrera of Penn State, Cramer fell into the consolation bracket. Capping off the weekend in the consolation bracket, Cramer ended Saturday with two more wins to place seventh.
"He's real steady," Borelli said. "He has some things he has to improve on too... you're going to get everything he's got in every match, which is all you can ask."
CMU continues on the road in the third edition of the Chippewa Challenge on Sunday, Jan. 14 with the time yet to be determined.
