Wrestling goes for 20, 21
Greg Burghardt
After wrestling vs. the nation’s top competition the Chippewas turn their eyes to the conference with a match against the defending MAC Tournament champion Ohio Bobcats.
This is the Chippewas first action in Rose Arena since the Hampton Inn “Duels” on Jan. 6.
Making his Rose Arena debut will be No. 15 Tony Gansen at 174. Gansen finished 2-1 at the National Duals last weekend.
Gansen, the Oklahoma State transfer, beat out Russ Vanderheyden for the starting spot at 174 pounds.
Expected back at 165 pounds for the Chippewas is Kevin Carr. Carr has been sidelined with a knee injury since the Reno Tournament on Dec. 20.
“Depending on the draw of the dual we’ll see whether or not we wrestle Kevin (Carr),” said Head Coach Tom Borrelli.
“If we need a win late from 165 or if we want to jump out to a quick lead and 165 is early we’ll wrestle Kevin.”
If Carr is unable to go then it will be either Joe Ray Barry or Tyler Hubert at 165 pounds.
Ohio comes into tonight’s dual with a record of 3-5-1 overall.
“Ohio is a young team a lot like us. They’re young but talented,” Borrelli said.
“We’ll see a lot of match-ups that will decide the MAC not only this year but for a couple years to come.”
Leading the way for Ohio is Jake Percival. Percival was named the MAC “Wrestler of the Week” for the week of Dec. 10-16.
Percival comes into the match vs. CMU ranked in the top 10 nationally. Pecival’s record is 18-2.
The Bobcats last action came when they knocked off NC State 26-12 and were beat by UNC 21-17 on Jan. 19.
The Chippewas beat Ohio 19-15 in Athens, Ohio last year during the regular season.
CMU concludes its weekend in Ypsilanti to take on intrastate rival Eastern Michigan.
EMU is under the leadership of second-year Head Coach Charlie Branch.
Last year the Eagles finished last in the MAC with a record of 0-4-1 in the conference. Last year the Chippewas beat the Eagles 29-6 at Rose Arena.
Zac Pyles at 133 pounds leads the Eagles wrestlers. He has posted a record of 18-8 to lead EMU in wins.
Eastern wrestled Cleveland State on Jan. 22. The Vikings beat EMU 24-17 despite major decisions from Ed Magrays at 174 and Darnell Ruffin at 141.
The Eagles are 3-11 heading into the weekends action.
“They (Eastern) were struggling earlier this season but they wrestled very competitively vs. a touch Cleveland State team,” Borrelli said.
“They’re a young program and their coach is starting to get some guys to respond.”
