CMU (13-6, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) is in a six-team bracket with Cornell, Illinois, Oklahoma, Purdue and American, four of which are ranked in the top 25 nationally according to InterMat.

The Chippewas will face Purdue in the first round Sunday at the NWCA/Cliff Kleen National Duals. They are the No. 4 seed and Purdue is the No. 5 seed.

“I know we should be able to be very competitive,” head coach Tom Borrelli said. “We want to be successful.  We would like to go have some success individually and as a team.”

If the Chippewas win their first match, they will take on the No. 1 seed Cornell in the semi-finals. The Purdue match will be at 10 a.m. Sunday. If CMU beats Purdue, the Cornell semi-finals will start at noon.

“If we make the semifinals, we should have a real good challenge,” Borrelli said.

Junior Donnie Corby said he expects it to be quality competition throughout the Mat Mayhem Regional.

“I’m really excited to go there because I know it will be tough competition,” Corby said. “If we wrestle Cornell, they have a two-time national champion in my weight class (157-pounds).  I’m pretty excited to wrestle him because it’s going to show me where I’m at.”

Junior Kyle Dake of Cornell is currently ranked No.1 nationally at 157-pounds.

Corby has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success the past four weeks, going 6-1 in his last seven dual meets.

“I’ve been working harder in practices and doing the little things that really make the match,” Corby said.

The Boilmakers are 8-9 overall and are coming off a 19-16 win at Indiana last Sunday.  They have three wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Junior Ivan Lopouchanksi is 12-3 on the season and is ranked eleventh at 133-pounds.  No. 9 Cashe’ Quiroga is 14-4 at 149-pounds and No.11 Braden Atwood is 19-8 at 184-pounds.

This is the first time the National Duals will feature a regional format. The four winners of each region will move on to compete for the National Championship on Feb. 19.

Even if CMU loses its first match, it is still guaranteed another match. Borrelli likes the new format.

“I think it’s a real good change for college wrestling,” he said.

He said he also thinks it will be great preparation for the NCAA Tournament.

“Everybody says that dual meets don’t mean anything when it comes to the national tournament, but they do,” Borrelli said.  “Usually the best dual meet teams also win the NCAA tournament.  If you have strong individuals whether it’s a dual meet or a tournament, those guys are going to do well.”

He was able to hold Old Dominion wrestler Grant Chapman scoreless, but that was not enough to complete the comeback attempt.

CMU lost to Old Dominion 18-17 Sunday in Norfolk, Va.  The Chippewas also wrestled the night before, defeating George Mason 23-13.

“I tried to attack as much as I could, but the other kid knew he only needed to not get beat by a certain amount of points,” Sturgeon said.  “He didn’t really give me any openings.”

CMU jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but then squandered 15 straight points to the Monarchs.

“They were wrestling hard and had us scouted real well,” said head coach Tom Borrelli.  “We just didn’t take advantage of our situations.”

Junior Ben Bennett would pull the Chippewas within one after earning an 8-0 major decision over redshirt sophomore Billy Curling.

Borrelli said he believes his team could have won if they capitalized on some earlier opportunities.

“We had our chances to win the dual meet, we just didn’t make it happen,” Borrelli said. “We had some guys that we felt were very capable of winning, but they just didn’t win their matches.”

On Friday, CMU fell behind early 4-0, but responded with seven straight points. Freshman Zach Horan earned a 12-4 major decision at 133-pounds and sophomore Scott Mattingly won his match 6-2 at 141-pounds.

“He wrestled good from a front headlock,” Borrelli said of Horan’s performance. “He was very good on top and very good defensively and on his feet.”

Redshirt freshman Anthony Bill later broke a 10-10 tie with a 7-4 decision.

Junior Ben Bennett followed Bill’s performance with a pin at the 1:05 minute mark, stretching the Chippewas lead to 19-10.

Sturgeon sealed the win for CMU with a 17-5 major decision at 285-pounds.

“Sturgeon wrestled really well,” Borrelli said. “He probably had around six or seven takedowns and was a lot more offensive than he has been.”

Next Sunday CMU (13-6, 4-1 in Mid-American Conference) goes to Ithaca, New York compete in the regional round of the national duals.

CMU fell behind early 4-0, but responded with seven straight points.  Freshman Zach Horan earned a 12-4 major decision at 133-pounds, and sophomore Scott Mattingly won his match 6-2 at 141-pounds.

“He wrestled good from a front headlock,” head coach Tom Borrelli said of Horan’s performance.  “He was very good on top and very good defensively, and on his feet.”

CMU redshirt freshman Anthony Bill later broke a 10-10 tie with a 7-4 decision.

Junior Ben Bennett followed Bill’s performance with a pin at the 1:05 minute mark, stretching the Chippewas lead to 19-10.

Senior Peter Sturgeon sealed the win for CMU with a 17-5 major decision at 285-pounds.

“Sturgeon wrestled real well,” Borrelli said.  “He probably had around six or seven takedowns, and was a lot more offensive than he has been.”

CMU will have a quick turnaround as its back in action tomorrow when it travels to Norfolk, Va. to face Old Dominion.

“I know making weight with a little bit of time between matches is going to be tough on these guys,” Borrelli said.  “We just felt like we needed to rest some of our guys because it’s tough to make weight back-to-back.”

The No. 22 Chippewas hit a cold streak, losing three of five duals after starting 10-2.

Their three losses were all against top-15 teams.

“I think sometimes evaluating things has a lot to do with the level of competition, not necessarily the outcomes,” head coach Tom Borrelli said. “We had some disappointing losses toward the end of the month, but overall we got better.”

The road will not be any easier in February.

Some of the best teams in the U.S. are competing in the National Duals after this weekend’s set against two Colonial Athletic Association members.

It will be no pushover 3 p.m. Sunday at Norfolk, Va., when CMU faces No. 25 Old Dominion.  Last year the Monarchs were two points away from beating CMU.

They have one ranked wrestler, and three on the cusp of the top-20 according to wrestlingreport.com.

George Mason should be an easier test.  The Patriots only have one wrestler with more than 12 wins.  The Chippewas have five.  They face off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Washington, D.C.

CMU has never lost to either team.  They are 4-0 against Old Dominion and have not wrestled GMU before.

Donnie Corby and Mike Ottinger undefeated in January

Donnie Corby and Mike Ottinger were the only Chippewas that came out of the month of January unscathed with a combined record of 9-0.

“They’ve been practicing hard,” Borrelli said. “When you’re making those sacrifices and you’re doing the things you’re suppose to be doing in practice, then you feel like you deserve to be successful in competition and you carry that on to the mat with you.”

Both have faced their own obstacles this season.  Ottinger is in his first year of collegiate wrestling and Corby was hampered by a foot injury.

“I think I’ve performed well in the last month, but the most important time is coming up, so I got to be ready for that,” Ottinger said. “I want to win the (Nationals), it’s going to be a tough task to do that, and also All-American isn’t going to be easy either, but those are my goals.”

Borrelli used the word “spark” and “catalyst” to describe Ottinger.

“Whenever a freshman can go out and perform the way he’s performed it can inspire and motivate everyone else,” Borrelli said.

Corby and Ottinger will be challenged this weekend against two of ODU’s top three wrestlers in 157-pound John Nicholson (21-5) and 165-pound Tristan Warner (23-11).

Although things looked grim for the Chippewas when they were down 13-0 and Donnie Corby was losing 2-0 in his match, they battled back.

Corby tallied five unanswered points to win a 5-2 decision to gave CMU a spark at Kent, Ohio.

Fast forward to Chad Friend’s match against KSU’s Keith Witt and the Chippewas losing 16-13 with the score 1-1 with less than two minutes left in the third period.

But the CMU comeback attempt was foiled when Witt snagged a takedown with seconds remaining.

“I knew the (last) two were both going to be pretty close” CMU wrestler Ben Bennett said. “I felt like we had a pretty good chance.”

No. 12 Chippewas wrestler Peter Sturgeon closed out the dual against No. 20 Brendan Barlow and lost in riding time after four overtimes.

Bennett put the Chippewas within striking distance by earning a pin to narrow the deficit to three.

‘(Bennett) wrestled really good today,” Chippewas Coach Tom Borrelli said “He was dominant.  He really controlled the match (and) hand fighting.”

The Golden Flashes wanted no part in being second fiddle any longer.

Their five MAC losses since 2005 have all been dealt by the Chippewas.  It was the first KSU win against CMU at home since 1996.

The two programs have finished in the top two every season since 2005-06. KSU only has two first place finishes in the MAC to show for it, because of the Chippewas.

CMU has won at least a share of the MAC regular season championship for two straight years and 12 of the past 13 seasons.

For the Chippewas to finish tied in first this season the Golden Flashes will have to lose to Buffalo or Eastern Michigan.

CMU is done with the MAC regular season. The Chippewas face George Mason and Old Dominion next week.

Wrestling coach Tom Borrelli won his 300th career win over Christmas break.

The Central Michigan wrestling team lost to No. 14 Lehigh by a deceiving score of 23-11 at McGuirk Arena Friday night.

“Obviously Lehigh has a good team, but I think we made them look good in certain situations too,” head coach Tom Borrelli said.

Borrelli pointed to missed opportunities such as Ben Bennett and Zach Horan’s losses in overtime.

“If we convert just those situations the dual meet is a lot closer, and we feel a lot better about ourselves,” he said.

No. 5 Bennett lost to No. 4 Robert Hamlin in a rematch from the Midlands Championships.

Hamlin defeated Bennett 3-1 on a takedown as the clock went to zero Friday.  It involved a maddening tussle.

“He kept attacking and kept coming after me,” Bennett said. “I felt like I wrestled pretty well for the most part, just didn’t do the little things right.”

CMU and LU felt the wrath of a wrestler shunning their school to go elsewhere in this matchup.

Mike Ottinger lived in the Mountain Hawks backyard, but chose the Chippewas.  He has no regrets about the decision.

“Honestly, the team here and the coaches, I can’t ask for anything more,” Ottinger said. “It’s a great family here. I couldn’t be happier anywhere else.”

He defeated Sean Bilodeau 3-2 in a heated match that involved the Lehigh bench clearing at the end as a result of not being awarded any more points.

LU senior Kyle Rosser returned to his home state and defeated Joey Kielbasa 5-2 with a boisterous contingent in the stands.

The Chippewas won three of 10 matches, and was 0-4 against ranked Mountain Hawks.

When the dual concluded, Borrelli was recognized for winning his 300^th career game in December, and the team was awarded their Mid-American Conference Championship rings from last year.

Craig Kelliher

Central Michigan wrestler Craig Kelliher was ruled ineligible to wrestle at 174-pounds for the remainder of the season.

Although he has remained in compliance with the NCAA Wrestling Weight Loss Certification Plan guidelines, Kelliher’s competition in four matches at 174 pounds violated NCAA wrestling bylaw 8.3.5.4.  It states: “A wrestler weighing in two weight classes above an original certified weight class shall forfeit his or her right to return to the original wrestled weight class.”

“It wasn’t brought to my attention until this week,” head coach Tom Borrelli said.  “Unfortunately I’m to blame for that because I didn’t give him really good advice.  I wasn’t really aware you couldn’t wrestle two weight-classes up even if you were following your weight decent.”

Kelliher initially certified at the 174-pound weight class prior to the 2011-12 season.  However, he wrestled unattached to CMU in the 197-pound weight class at the Eastern Michigan Open on Nov. 5, 2011.  He wrestled three matches at 197 pounds at the tournament. Kelliher also competed in four dual meets for CMU at the 174-pound weight class between Dec.10, 2011 and Jan.22, 2012.

“It was an honest mistake,” Borrelli said.  “Craig Kelliher had nothing to do with it.  He did everything right.  It’s just unfortunate.”

Kelliher’s results for those matches are vacated, but team scores and all other results for those four dual meets are not changed.

He is still able to compete at any weight class above 174-pounds for the current season.

He will be able to begin wrestling at 174-pounds again next season.

Craig Kelliher

Central Michigan University wrestler Criag Kelliher wrestled in four matches at 174-pounds, but he competed in the Eastern Michigan Open at 197 pounds unattached to CMU.

Before the season CMU cleared him to weigh at 174 which is two weight classes down from the 197 class. Kelliher’s four matches will be vacated, but the team results will not change.

NCAA guidelines state: “A wrestler weighing in two weight classes above an original certified weight class shall forfeit his or her right to return to the original wrestled weight class.”

Kelliher was 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference and earned a pin against Buffalo. In both MAC duels that he won during CMU won by at least 15.

Ben Bennett and the rest of the Chippewas can capture another MAC title on Sunday. (Andrew Kuhn/Staff Photographer)

The Central Michigan wrestling team faces two ranked opponents this weekend with Sunday’s meet having the Mid-American Conference regular season title on the line.

CMU will host No. 14 Lehigh at 7:30 p.m. Friday before traveling to No. 16 Kent State in a pivotal MAC matchup at 2:05 p.m. Sunday.

The Chippewas can earn the outright MAC regular season title with a win at Kent State.  It would be their 13^th MAC title in 14 seasons.

Head coach Tom Borrelli knows Kent State will not be an easy environment to play in.

“I know the crowd will be hostile,” Borelli said.  “But I think our guys are used to that.”

Borrelli said he wants his team to maintain focus on what it has been working on all season.

“Really, we’re just working on the same things, kind of adding on to some of the things we’ve been trying to build on all season long,” he said.  “We’re not really focused on outcomes as much as we are improving our technique, our conditioning and just improving our match strategy.  You win and lose based on how good those things are.”

Despite having a young team, Borrelli said his wrestlers shouldn’t have a difficult time adjusting to the pressure.

“I think we put our guys in those situations enough times,” Borrelli said. “This past weekend was one of those situations.  You try and put each individual in those high profile situations so that when they get to the national tournament or get to the finals of the conference, then it’s just another match to them.”

The Kent State lineup will feature fifth-year senior Nic Bedelyon at 125-pounds and freshman Ian Miller at 149-pounds.  Bedelyon is 23-2 overall and Miller is 23-3.  Both are 2-0 in the MAC.

“There are a number of matchups that are going to be interesting to see in both the Lehigh match and the Kent State match,” Borrelli said.  “The difference is you’ll see the Kent State matchups again in the conference tournament, probably.”

Friday’s dual will feature a bout between a pair of top-five ranked opponents at 184-pounds.  No. 5 Ben Bennett will look to avenge his 5-2 loss at the Midlands Championships Dec. 30 against No. 4 Robert Hamlin of Lehigh.

“I’m not going to change a whole lot,” Bennett said.  “I’ve got to keep getting to my attacks and finish solid.”

Lehigh has another top-five ranked wrestler, senior Zach Rey. He is 15-1 overall and ranked third at 285-pounds.

The Chippewas are 24-19 all-time against Kent State, and have won 13 of the past 14 meetings.

They are 2-2 all-time against Lehigh.

The Central Michigan wrestling team has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success this season.

But in order to be labeled as one of the top teams in the nation, it must beat other top-quality opponents.

CMU lost 23-14 against the University of Michigan Sunday, after defeating Northern Illinois 24-9 on Friday.

“I thought we competed very hard,” head coach Tom Borrelli said.  “But I felt like in a few matches we beat ourselves instead of them beating us. We didn’t keep our composure and we took some bad shots.”

The Chippewas had a chance to tie or win the meet Sunday trailing by three points going into the heavyweight bout. But Michigan wrestler Ben Apland halted the Chippewas comeback attempt by pinning senior Peter Sturgeon at the five minute mark.

CMU fell to 12-3 overall, but are still 4-0 in Mid-American Conference action at beating NIU.

Borrelli does not think fatigue played a role in the loss.

“I felt like we were pretty fresh,” Borrelli said.  “Our conditioning held up well today.”

For the second time in three days, sophomore Joe Roth gave the Chippewas a 4-0 lead by earning a major decision over sophomore Grant Pizzo.

The Wolverines countered with three-straight decisions taking the 10-4 lead.

CMU tied the score at 10 with decisions by junior Donnie Corby and freshman Mike Ottinger.  Ottinger improved his record to 14-6 overall.

“The thing Mike does is he is really hard to take down and then he capitalizes on your mistakes,”  Borrelli said.

U-M would later break a 14-14 tie with redshirt freshman Max Huntley defeating senior Chad Friend at 197 pounds.

“I feel like we are making progress,” Borrelli said. “I think we can get much better, but I’m happy about our progress.”

The Wolverines are ranked 10 in the NWCA/USA Today coaches’ poll, CMU is at 19.

CMU beats NIU Friday

On Friday, Roth started the scoring by posting eight takedowns en route to a 17-8 major decision against NIU sophomore Nick Smith.

Redshirt freshman Tyler Keselring followed with 12-1 major decision of his own extending the Chippewas lead to 8-0.

“I really just executed on my feet really well and was able to get to my shots and take him down,” Keselring said.

CMU junior Ben Bennett also had a 14-4 major decision over sophomore Shane Rosenberry. Bennett  is ranked fifth in the nation at 184 pounds.

Sturgeon capped the MAC victory for CMU with a 2-1 decision in overtime against sophomore Jared Torrence.

“He’s had a lot of real big wins for us,” Borrelli said.  “The last couple of matches, Peter hasn’t really been himself.  But with what we have going on with Jarod Trice, he has been a kind of a Godsend almost.”

The Chippewas return home next 7:30 p.m. Friday to face Lehigh.