Wrestling splits weekend on the East Coast
With the Central Michigan wrestling team trailing 18-14 to Old Dominion heading into the heavyweight match, senior Peter Sturgeon needed a major decision to tie the score or a technical fall/pin to win it.
He was able to hold Old Dominion wrestler Grant Chapman scoreless, but that was not enough to complete the comeback attempt.
CMU lost to Old Dominion 18-17 Sunday in Norfolk, Va. The Chippewas also wrestled the night before, defeating George Mason 23-13.
“I tried to attack as much as I could, but the other kid knew he only needed to not get beat by a certain amount of points,” Sturgeon said. “He didn’t really give me any openings.”
CMU jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but then squandered 15 straight points to the Monarchs.
“They were wrestling hard and had us scouted real well,” said head coach Tom Borrelli. “We just didn’t take advantage of our situations.”
Junior Ben Bennett would pull the Chippewas within one after earning an 8-0 major decision over redshirt sophomore Billy Curling.
Borrelli said he believes his team could have won if they capitalized on some earlier opportunities.
“We had our chances to win the dual meet, we just didn’t make it happen,” Borrelli said. “We had some guys that we felt were very capable of winning, but they just didn’t win their matches.”
On Friday, CMU fell behind early 4-0, but responded with seven straight points. Freshman Zach Horan earned a 12-4 major decision at 133-pounds and sophomore Scott Mattingly won his match 6-2 at 141-pounds.
“He wrestled good from a front headlock,” Borrelli said of Horan’s performance. “He was very good on top and very good defensively and on his feet.”
Redshirt freshman Anthony Bill later broke a 10-10 tie with a 7-4 decision.
Junior Ben Bennett followed Bill’s performance with a pin at the 1:05 minute mark, stretching the Chippewas lead to 19-10.
Sturgeon sealed the win for CMU with a 17-5 major decision at 285-pounds.
“Sturgeon wrestled really well,” Borrelli said. “He probably had around six or seven takedowns and was a lot more offensive than he has been.”
Next Sunday CMU (13-6, 4-1 in Mid-American Conference) goes to Ithaca, New York compete in the regional round of the national duals.
