2008 Woodie Awards
A fitting farewell
By: Robbie Sgro
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Sports
Any number of matches could have put the wrestling team into a top-four spot at the NCAA Championships.
There was senior Brandon Carter coming up short against Ohio State's Lance Palmer for an All-American spot at 149 pounds.
There was junior 165-pounder Trevor Stewart falling just short of All-America honors as well, losing 5-1 to Iowa State's Jonathan Reader on a four-point move at the buzzer.
And the highlight of the weekend - senior Wynn Michalak's 7-2 loss against Penn State's Phil Davis in the finals of the 197-pound weight class - would have helped CMU improve from its seventh-place finish to possibly a top-four trophy.
But for coach Tom Borrelli, senior heavyweight Bubba Gritter's 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Northwestern's Dustin Fox, the eventual champion, hurt the most.
Gritter was close to an escape several times in the third period, which could have meant the difference in Fox earning the decisive riding time point. And when the match was over, the crowd in St. Louis voiced its disapproval.
"That was the match that really stood out," Borrelli said.
Even with the near misses, Mid-American Conference CMU earned the respect of some of college wrestling's best programs. The Chippewas were the only team not from the Big Ten or Big 12 to finish in the top seven, and Michalak was one of three wrestlers not in the two conferences to advance to the finals.
"Most people are really caught up in the Big Ten and the Big 12 when it comes to wrestling," Borrelli said. "Those are the two major conferences. When you've got a team from a small conference like the MAC doing what we did, being in the hunt for a trophy pretty much the whole tournament, I think that makes people stand up and take notice."
What Central accomplished was remarkable.
None of its wrestlers lost to higher seeds, and each of its nine qualifiers won a match, even though all were placed in the same half of the bracket with the No. 1 seed.
There was senior Brandon Carter coming up short against Ohio State's Lance Palmer for an All-American spot at 149 pounds.
There was junior 165-pounder Trevor Stewart falling just short of All-America honors as well, losing 5-1 to Iowa State's Jonathan Reader on a four-point move at the buzzer.
And the highlight of the weekend - senior Wynn Michalak's 7-2 loss against Penn State's Phil Davis in the finals of the 197-pound weight class - would have helped CMU improve from its seventh-place finish to possibly a top-four trophy.
But for coach Tom Borrelli, senior heavyweight Bubba Gritter's 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Northwestern's Dustin Fox, the eventual champion, hurt the most.
Gritter was close to an escape several times in the third period, which could have meant the difference in Fox earning the decisive riding time point. And when the match was over, the crowd in St. Louis voiced its disapproval.
"That was the match that really stood out," Borrelli said.
Even with the near misses, Mid-American Conference CMU earned the respect of some of college wrestling's best programs. The Chippewas were the only team not from the Big Ten or Big 12 to finish in the top seven, and Michalak was one of three wrestlers not in the two conferences to advance to the finals.
"Most people are really caught up in the Big Ten and the Big 12 when it comes to wrestling," Borrelli said. "Those are the two major conferences. When you've got a team from a small conference like the MAC doing what we did, being in the hunt for a trophy pretty much the whole tournament, I think that makes people stand up and take notice."
What Central accomplished was remarkable.
None of its wrestlers lost to higher seeds, and each of its nine qualifiers won a match, even though all were placed in the same half of the bracket with the No. 1 seed.
Be the first to comment on this story