New challenges await wrestling team as MAC tournament approaches
New teams mean new challenges for the Central Michigan wrestling team as it prepares for the Mid-American Conference tournament next weekend in Kent, Ohio.
Unlike years past, CMU is not one of the favorites to win the tournament, but head coach Tom Borrelli said the lower seeding could be an advantage for his team.
“I would just like to see us wrestle hard for seven minutes and just be the best we can be," Borrelli said. "Regardless of whether we win or lose I just want to see us compete hard and not be tentative and be aggressive and let things happen."
The CMU wrestlers remain busy with practices, workouts and drills in preparation for the most important part of their season.
“Practice started Thursday morning for the team at 6 a.m. when we had lifting. We had that for an hour and then we had individual drills," Borrelli said. "Some guys lifted, some did an individual workout. It was a pretty busy day.”
Inconsistencies in performance have been a problem as of late for the Chippewas.
Borrelli said in the days leading up to the tournament, the team is focusing on conditioning more than anything else.
“We’re not really doing a whole lot of specific things to prepare," he said. "We’re just really trying to peak our conditioning and get a little better at the things we do well.”
With two weeks between their final dual of the season and the conference tournament, the Chippewas have a lot of time to prepare and find solutions to issues the team and each wrestler is having.
“That’s the tough thing about wrestling. In a lot of sports there is a constant variable. In wrestling there is an ever-changing variable every week," Borrelli said. "A guy might wrestle a different style. You put yourself in as many different situations as you can in practice in order to prepare for those situations that might come up in a match. Hopefully, even though your opponent does a lot of different things what you do best will work against anybody.”
