Wrestling picks up three wins in California over weekend


No. 12 wrestling extended its winning streak to nine duals with a 3-0 road trip in California over the weekend.

The Chippewas wrestled against Stanford on Saturday and California State-Bakersfield and California Polytechnic State on Sunday.

“The team really dominated on their feet,” said head coach Tom Borrelli. “We got takedowns and really initiated the attack."

The squad ended the weekend by defeating the Roadrunners 26-12, winning seven of 12 matches.

Junior 141-pounder Scott Mattingly pinned Timmy Box to give the Chippewas a 12-0 lead after seniors Christian Cullinan and Scotti Sentes had won their matches at 125 pounds and 133 pounds, respectively.

No. 2 Ben Bennett won his third-straight technical fall match of the weekend, 18-0, against Sean Pollock at 184 pounds. The senior dominated this match early on, which increased the team’s lead to 23-6.

Senior No. 5 Jarod Trice won 2-0 in the heavyweight bout against junior Sammy Cervantes to finish off the Roadrunners, earning the Chippewas another road win.

Their second dual of the weekend was a 41-6 victory against Cal Poly State earlier Sunday.

“It was clear to me that our guys were making sure to be aggressive against Cal Poly when we wrestled them,” Borrelli said. "Overall, on our feet, we've been focusing on countering and using what our opponents give us."

CMU got some forfeited falls early at 133 pounds and 141 pounds, which gave it an early 15-0 team lead only three matches into the dual.

That 15-0 lead quickly became 21-0 due to a first period pin by senior Donnie Corby at 149 pounds against Dillen Rocha.

Bennett got another technical fall in his second match of the weekend, this time defeating the 184-pound junior Sean Dougherty.

Trice would only need to step on the mat for another forfeit at the heavyweight class to close out the 41-6 win.

The Chippewas took down the Cardinal 30-3 to start their weekend in Palo Alto.

Bennett gained his first technical fall of the weekend against Stanford freshman Ryan Davies, getting a last-second takedown to secure the 15-point lead.

“These kind of wins don’t surprise me," Borrelli said. “That’s just what you come to expect from Ben.”

Freshman Jackson Lewis lost a 4-1 match to Michael Sojka at 197 pounds after spraining his ankle, which prevented him from wrestling the rest of the weekend.

“Lewis sprained his ankle in his match against Stanford,” Borrelli said. “We just hope he will be good to go on Friday when we wrestle Michigan State.”

Trice earned another win to cap off the win against the Cardinal.

“The whole team wrestled well this weekend,” Borrelli said. “Even in matches we lost, we wrestled sound, fundamentally and wrestled hard, so I’m happy with the road wins.”

The Chippewas will wrestle again at 7 p.m. Friday against in-state rival Michigan State in East Lansing.

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