Maroon defeats Gold in CMU's intrasquad meet
Redshirt junior Landon Pelham, left, and Cade Dallwitz wrestle in Central Michigan's intrasquad meet Oct. 28 in McGuirk Arena.
Blake Montrie and newcomer Alex Jacobs fought each other tough in the 165-pound weight class of the Central Michigan wrestling team's Maroon and Gold Intrasquad meet.
Montrie, a redshirt sophomore, took down Jacobs, a true freshman, in the third overtime period of their match Monday in McGuirk Arena, 2-1.
The win from Montrie put the Maroon squad in front, 11-9, and helped propel it to a 17-16 win over the Gold Team in the scrimmage.
"It's a good starting point for us," said coach Tom Borrelli. "There's a lot of things we need to work on and there's a lot of things we did really well. It's hard when you're wrestling against your teammates in the room and come out here and try to score points and the other guy knows what you're going to do."
Logan Parks returns as the team's lone senior after qualifying for the NCAA Championships last season in the 152-pound weight class.
The Taylor native posted a 23-14 record last season and said he is just excited to get the regular season started.
"I'm ready to compete against other people, not just teammates," Parks said. "Just excited to compete for the year, my last year."
Matt Stencel comes into his junior year with high expectations following last season where he went 31-6 with a perfect 13-0 mark in dual matches, and qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 285-pound weight class.
He finished seventh to earn All-American honors. Stencel said that he, too, is ready for the season to start.
"I'm in a lot better shape this year, which is not good for my opponents," Stencel said. "I want to keep getting in better shape and scoring late. I didn't have that good of a year in the third period and scoring late in matches. So if I can score from hand-fighting, I think I'll be pretty set."
As for the team, Stencel added that he wants the guys to improve with each meet.
CMU opens the season at 9 a.m. Saturday in the Michigan State Open at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing.
Borrelli said he hopes his team can improve on their performance in 2019.
"We had about as bad a day as you could have last year," Borrelli said. "Anything is going to be better than that. You kind of have to look at the bracket and base your success on who showed up."
Here are the results from the Chippewas' preseason scrimmage.
125 - Junior Drew Hildebrandt, wrestling for the Maroon Team, defeated Vince Perez via technical fall, 18-3. Hildebrandt controlled the match from the beginning and dominated similar to his performances last season.
133 - Redshirt junior Deven Perez scored a late reversal to score a 3-2 win for the Gold Team over redshirt sophomore Brock Bergelin.
141 - Gold Team's redshirt junior Dresden Simon picked up an 11-6 win over redshirt sophomore Drew Marten with a strong first round and ability to cruise to a win.
157 - Parks picked up where he left off against freshman Johnny Lovett as he secured a 7-1 win and closed the gap for the Maroon Team to just one point.
165 - Montrie regained the lead for Maroon after defeating Jacobs in the triple overtime match.
174 - Redshirt sophomore Jake Lowell earned a late riding time point for the Maroon Team and defeated freshman Ryan Singler, 2-1.
184 - For the Maroon Team, redshirt freshman Ben Cushman defeated redshirt freshman Jacob Gray, 8-2, with a strong second round.
197 - Redshirt junior Landon Pelham brought the Gold Team within striking distance as he earned four takedowns of freshman Cade Dallwitz in the first round. He finished strong and earned a 13-4 major decision.
285 - Stencel, wreslting for the Gold Team, scored in the in the second and third rounds to cap off a 7-6 win over redshirt freshman Drake Pauwels.
