Borrelli lands four recruits for 2011-12 season
Central Michigan wrestling took a step toward improving the future of its program with the signing of four new recruits for the 2011-12 season on Monday.
“We’re pretty excited about the four of them,” said head coach Tom Borrelli said. “I think they fit in real well in our program from a weight class perspective, and also we feel like they’ve got a lot of ability. I think maybe three of the four could very easily start for us as true freshmen.”
Ohio native Ty Davis (141) was a three-time state qualifier. In 2009, he finished second in the 130-pound class, finishing with an overall record of 41-7. He followed it up in 2010 with a 39-5 record, finishing eighth at 135.
“We needed some depth at 141 and Ty supplies that,” Borrelli said. “Scott Mattingly is young, but we think he’s really our only 141 pounder right now.”
Ranked by InterMat as No. 16 in the country and No. 2 among 130 pounders, Pennsylvania native Zach Horan will also be joining CMU next season, wrestling most likely in the 133-pound weight class.
Junior Scotti Sentes holds the current starting spot in the weight class, but Borrelli sees Horan as having potential to take the spot in the future.
“Looking down the road for when Scotti is done, we’ll need a capable wrestler,” he said. “Obviously we have Tyler Keselring right now, but we like to have two very good people at each weight class so that we have solid competition, and one guy can help make the other a lot better.”
With a 120-12 record during his three years at Nazareth Area High School, Horan showed promise, winning second place at states three years in a row, all in different weight classes (103, 112, 125).
Adding Horan gives Borrelli another option for the 133-pound weight class as soon as next season.
“We haven’t redshirted Scotti yet, so there’s an opportunity to do that, or redshirt Zach and let Scotti finish his eligibility,” Borrelli said. “Just to have Scotti around to help him grow is important.”
The addition of Devin Pommerenke gives Borrelli another option at the heavyweight position, especially with the 2011-12 season being an Olympic season.
“Jarod (Trice) has an opportunity to take an Olympic year, so Devin could jump right in and start,” Borrelli said. “If Jarod doesn’t take that route, we can always redshirt Devin and he’s going to get a ton better just by having Jarod as a workout partner.”
Pommerenke comes into the season ranked 42nd by InterMat, and fourth among heavyweights in the country. In his three years at Rogers City High School, he was state champion twice and holds an overall record of 171-11, which includes back-to-back 59-0 seasons during his sophomore and junior seasons.
The fourth recruit is Joey Kielbasa, a two-time state champion ranked 59th in the nation and sixth among 152 pounders. After wrestling three state-qualifying seasons, he holds a 124-9 record at Crystal Lake Central High School.
“We’re a little thin at 157, and while we have Adam Miller and Eric Cubberly there, both of those guys are pretty big 157 pounders, so they could move up to 165 after Mike Miller is gone,” Borrelli said. “So that’s why Kielbasa was an important addition.”
Kielbasa, Horan and Davis were all honor roll students in high school, which Borrelli said was something he looks for on his recruiting searches. He said guys coming in with strong academic performance tend to be able to focus more on athletics because school comes easier to them.
The transition between high school and college wrestling can be tough, and Trice said the new guys need to be prepared to work really hard.
“Our conditioning is a huge part of wrestling here at Central Michigan and that’s what we use to run out our opponents,” he said.
