Wrestling earns two first places in opening meet at MSU
Sophomore Zach Horan and freshman Colin Heffernan earned first place finishes in the first meet of the 2013-14 wrestling season Saturday at the Michigan State Open.
Overall, the Chippewas found success with six top eight finishes. Head coach Tom Borrelli said the tournament was a good chance to gauge where his athletes are at early in the season and see some good competition.
"We're just trying to see where we're at with our conditioning, technique and strategy right now," Borrelli said. "I think all of our athletes learned a lot today; they can do some self reflecting on their matches and work on the things they need to work on."
Horan claimed the top spot in the 141 pound open division, going 5-0 on the day with three of his wins coming from outscoring his opponents in major decision victories. Horan was stacked up against No. 2 ranked Edinboro wrestler Mitchell Port, but the matchup was avoided when Port injury defaulted in the Semifinal match.
"Zack had a good tournament; he ended up winning and I know he would have liked to wrestle one of the guys in his weight who was in the NCAA finals,” Borrelli said.
Heffernan claimed first place in his first collegiate action with a 6-4 decision over Nick Trimble of Michigan.
?"I saw his finals match and he wrestled a sophomore who started last year? for Michigan State and took him into overtime to win the match,” Borrelli said. “So for (Heffernan's) first college tournament, I think that was a very good championship for him."
Redshirt freshman Corey Keener took second in the 125 pound open division after being outscored in the finals by Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello 12-4. Keener was off to a hot start in the first round, defeating his opponent by a technical fall before wrestling in three close scoring matches to fight to the finals.
In the 174 pound open division, junior Mike Ottinger placed third after losing in the semifinals to Division II national champion Joey Davis of Notre Dame (Ohio). He battled back in the third place to defeat Matthew Miller of Navy by decision 5-4.
Also in the top eight were seniors Joe Roth and Scott Mattingly. Roth took fourth in the 133 pound open after suffering an injury that ended his day in the semifinal match, while Mattingly finished sixth in the 149 pound division.
Several of the up and coming Chippewa wrestlers found success in the freshman/sophomore division, with five unattached true freshman placing.
Freshman Austin Severn and Jordan Ellingwood finished in third place in the 184 and 174 pound weight classes, respectively.
Overall, Borrelli said the tournament was a good opportunity to see some new competition beyond the CMU wrestling room.
"It was a long tournament; most of the guys were able to wrestle five or six matches," Borrelli said. "It put them in a lot of different situations and showed them what we need to work on. They wrestled a lot of different people and it was good competition that they saw"
