Wrestling dominated by Michigan in season opener
Despite only a few wins, Central Michigan wrestling struggled as they fell the Michigan Wolverines in McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas fell 32-12 to the Wolverines on Sunday, Nov. 11 and were pinned three times.
One of the bright spots for the Chippewas was junior Logan Parks (149) as he battled Ben Lamantia to the ninth period to secure a 4-2 decision.
“I didn’t create the angles as much as I would like,” Parks said. “But sometimes you just have to stick through to win, and that’s what I did.”
Parks’ victory came as he earned a takedown against Lamantia in the final seconds of the ninth round, creating a “buzzer beater” effect and the crowd erupted in McGuirk Arena.
“He needed a takedown to win,” Parks said. “He started opening up more and that’s I found an opportunity for the leg and that’s when I had the takedown.”
The Taylor, Michigan native scored the decision which cut the Wolverine lead to 14-6 as the teams headed to the locker rooms for the intermission.
Head coach Tom Borelli was optimistic despite the domination from the Wolverines saying, “the potential is there to grow a lot.”
There is a lot of wrestling left, and the Chippewas will have to climb their way to the top.
“This is a good place for us to start,” Borelli said. “Sometimes you have to know how high the mountain is before you know how hard you have to work to get there.”
Results
Sophomore Drew Hildebrandt (125) kicked off the dual with an 8-4 decision over Drew Mattin in a match he took early control and was able to finish with a victory.
Redshirt freshman Brock Bergelin lost by fall to Stevan Micic in the second round 133-pound weight class match.
Fellow redshirt freshman Drew Marten (141) lost by major decision to Kanen Storr in a match that Storr dominanted from early on.
Sophomore Dresden Simon (149) lost to Malik Amine 10-2 to give the Wolverines their second consecutive major decision and extend their lead to 14-3.
Sophomore Blake Montrie (165) and redshirt freshman Collin Lieber (174) were both pinned by Logan Massa and Myles Amine, respectively. Montrie fought hard to advance into the second round and was pinned late in the second round. Lieber had control of his match in the first round and was ultimately pinned towards the end of the second round.
In the 184-pound weight class, senior Jordan Atienza battled hard against Jelani Embree but Embree took the 9-4 decision as Michigan extended its lead to 29-6.
Sophomore Landon Pelham (197) lost a hard-fought match by 7-4 decision to Jackson Striggow.
In the final match of the meet, sophomore Matt Stencel continued his winning ways as he pinned Like Ready in the 285 pound-weight class.
What’s Next
The Chippewas will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Friday, Nov. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 1.
