Wrestling splits weekend dual, seven place in EMU open
Central Michigan split in two duals against Drexel and No. 11 ranked Oregon State at the Eastern Michigan duals, while seven Chippewas placed in the EMU Open.
No. 24 CMU (2-1) opened strong with a commanding victory against Drexel, winning the first seven matches to take a 26-0 lead. It dropped the last two but pulled out the win, 29-10.
Big points came from No. 16 sophomore Zach Horan, who pinned Matt Cimato after 31 seconds at the 141-pound weight class. Redshirt freshman Nick Becker and No. 15 junior Mike Ottinger both earned bonus points, winning by major decision.
Redshirt freshman Austin Severn was injured in his 174-pound match, causing him to be pinned in overtime. He joins injured seniors Joe Roth and Craig Kelliher, who will have plenty of time to heal up in a nine-day hiatus before taking on Stanford Nov. 25.
"I think we wrestled pretty good considering we had a match the night before and we had to make weight and travel early this morning," said head coach Tom Borrelli. "Unfortunately our 184-pounder was injured and, with Kelliher injured, we were in a bad position going into the next match."
The Chippewas continued to fight against Oregon State taking a 10-0 lead with a major decision from redshirt freshman Corey Keener, who was 2-0 on the day. No. 1 Scott Sagaguchi of OSU led a three match rally that brought the score within one team point 10-9.
Ottinger beat Joe Lethem to boost CMU's lead but Severn's injury caused Borrelli to void the 184-pound match, putting Oregon State ahead 15-13. The Chippewas were unable to beat No. 1 Taylor Meeks at the 197 weight class, putting the match out of reach going into the heavyweight bout.
CMU fell 22-13.
In the EMU Open tournament, freshman Colin Heffernan won the 149-pound weight class for the second week in a row. He was 4-0 on the day, defeating Nick Trimble of Michigan State, 4-1.
"We're really excited about the start that Colin is off to; it's a really important weight class for us in the future," Borrelli said. "I think some of our other freshmen competed really well, too, and this weekend they represented themselves well."
Freshman CJ Brucki and Jordan Ellingwood both placed at 174, taking third and fifth, respectively. Freshman Newton Smerchek finished second at heavyweight ahead of senior Mike Murray, who took fourth after being injured.
Central Michigan will return Nov. 25, hosting Stanford at McGuirk Arena.
"We want to get Joe, Austin and Craig healthy," Borrelli said. "I think this is a good break for us. We're going to have to work hard to prepare for the rest of the month but it does give us some time to get them ready"
