COLUMN: Team never wavered during championship run
In the middle of January, not too many people thought a championship was possible for the CMU wrestling team. The Chippewas were 3-7, injury riddled and without a lot of hope.
But CMU’s win against Kent State Sunday afternoon in McGuirk Arena earned it a share of its second consecutive Mid-American Conference championship, and its 12th in 13 years.
One person who knew another MAC title was possible was head coach Tom Borrelli. During the rough stretch, Borrelli’s resolve never waivered. Even after losses, he had a quiet confidence about him that was unique and refreshing.
One would think that even Borrelli would have lost confidence after the team traveled to Athens, Ohio, and lost 21-17, handing Ohio its first win against CMU since 1998. The loss was just its third in the last 64 MAC dual meets,
“I felt like we out-wrestled them in the dual meet, and they had three takedowns to our 10 or more,” Borrelli said after the match. “If you look at it there was a 22-point swing that the officials had to do with.”
Borrelli also attributed the bad start to a tough schedule and inexperience of a couple new athletes. The team's record was very deceiving earlier in the year. Five of CMU’s first six losses came at the hands of teams ranked in the top 21 in the country, based on Intermat rankings. They weren’t losing against cupcakes.
“I’m proud of our team. We started 7 new guys most of the year,” he said. “We probably asked too much of our young team. I’m glad they hung in there and they fought and they fought.”
Another reason the team struggled was because for most of the season, they were without their senior All-American Mike Miller. The 165-pounder sat out most of the year with every injury imaginable.
Miller got healthy, just in time for the biggest dual of the season, and stepped right into the hero role, winning his match decisively, with more braces on him than a teenage girl. He had protective devices on his shoulder, ribs and knee.
Borrelli raved about his senior and what he has had to go through in his career.
He dislocated his shoulder this year at practice, then he sprained his knee real bad at (Las) Vegas,” he said. “For a kid to go through the things he’s gone through and still mentally be able to compete the way he does, he’s a really special kid.”
Miller said he wanted to come back to get another title.
“To me, I wanted to win the MAC championship, I wanted to do things right and have fun,” he said. “I get another MAC ring so (it) just makes it fun.”
Miller and the Chippewas are scrappy group of guys who don’t care what the rankings are, don’t care what the record is and don’t care who the opponent is.
The team has one goal: Win.
Like Borrelli said, his team ‘hung in there.’ They hung in there just long enough to snag a share of the MAC title in the last seven seconds of the final dual meet of the regular season. Sunday’s match was a microcosm of the Chippewas season. They started slow, came back, things got interesting, but eventually came out with the win.
