2008 Woodie Awards
Wrestling dominates Huskies, 41-3
Chippewas earn bonus points in seven matches against NIU
By: Aaron Sides
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Sports
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The senior 125-pounder won by fall against freshman T.J. Wunnicke in the third period at the 5-minute, 28-second mark in CMU's 41-3 win.
Smith held a 2-0 lead going into the third after a takedown in the first. He appeared to come close to scoring the pin several times in the match before locking it in.
"The guy was really tall and he kind of gave me problems," he said. "I just kept working for it and eventually got to a good position."
Including Smith's match, the No. 5 Chippewas scored bonus points in seven matche. Coach Tom Borrelli said he has been instilling more of a drive in his team to pick up bonus points through their training.
"These (bonus points) are the types of things we're trying to emphasize," he said. "We have rewards or punishments in practice based on bonus points."
Also earning bonus points for CMU was senior 149-pounder Brandon Carter. In the quickest match of the night, he pinned NIU senior Kalen Knull in the first period at 1:39.
"I felt pretty much in control throughout the match," he said. "When I see an opportunity I just put that extra effort in."
Senior heavyweight Bubba Gritter also won by fall against NIU's David Benner.
Sophomore 133-pounder Conor Beebe lost Central's lone match of the night. The Huskies' No. 10-ranked Pat Castillo won 5-2.
Coming into this dual meet, Northern Illinois had two close loses to Kent State and Northern Iowa. Borrelli said that the young Huskies may have been a bit down coming in the dual against CMU.
"If you're young and haven't been in this environment it can create problems," he said. "Rose Arena is a hard place to wrestle."
Central will look to use that home advantage again at 2 p.m. Sunday when it steps out of conference against Bloomburg.
"They're pretty scrappy in the lightweights and their heavyweight is really solid," he said. "They've given us some pretty good competition in the past."
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