Wrestling goes for fourth consecutive MAC title
The wrestling team is looking to climb one more rung on its way to the national tournament.
The Chippewas will face off against Kent State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
If the Chippewas beat Kent State for their 24th consecutive MAC dual victory, CMU will gain its fourth consecutive outright Mid-American Conference title.
“Obviously it’s important to our school, so we always make the MAC title a goal,” said Head Coach Tom Borrelli.
“The MAC tournament is more what we’re trying to peak for, that and get as many guys as we can, not the national tournament.”
Heading into the final dual meet of the season, CMU boasts four wrestlers that have perfect 4-0 marks in conference competition.
One of the four is 125-pound freshman Jason Borrelli. Borrelli will face KSU’s Jared Opfer, who has an identical record to that of Borrelli’s.
At 133 pounds, the Chippewas have No. 13 Jordan Webster, who has a perfect mark in the MAC and a 30-8 overall record.
Webster draws Kent’s Joe DiMichele. DiMichele has a 1-1 conference record and is 14-7 overall.
David Bolyard is another CMU freshman with a perfect conference record. He draws Kent State’s Mike Tolar.
Tolar is 27-6 overall with one MAC loss coming vs. Northern Illinois’ Scott Owens.
“At 157 pounds they have Mike Tolar. He’s ranked pretty high nationally and some polls have him ranked higher then David (Bolyard),” Borrelli said.
Rounding out the undefeated MAC wrestlers for the Chippewas is senior heavyweight Jack Leffler.
Leffler is 4-0 and he faces the only other perfect MAC heavyweight, KSU’s Jim Swetter. Swetter is 29-5 overall and has a conference-high 14 pins.
Still nursing injuries for the Chippewas are Alex Lammers, Kevin Carr and Russ Vanderheyden.
“The upper weights are going to be real important in this dual because of all our injuries there,” Borrelli said.
Lammers will undergo surgery today on his injured knee and is out for the remainder of the season.
Kevin Carr, who initially injured his knee at the Reno Tournament in December, will be out of competition this weekend in hopes he will be ready for the MAC tournament.
Vanderheyden injured his ankle wrestling at 184 pounds vs. Northern Illinois, and has been replaced by Jeff Pangborn.
“We’re going to try and get Russ (Vanderheyden) on the mat this weekend and then we’ll see what happens with him and Jeff (Pangborn) in wrestle-offs before the MAC tournament,” Borrelli said.
