Wrestling team swept away in National Duals
The Central Michigan wrestling team lost 12 points by forfeit and its spark plug in the National Duals Sunday at Ithaca, New York.
The Chippewas were defeated in the first round 27-9 by Purdue and in the consolation round 25-16 by American without Joe Roth, ranked No. 17 at the 125-pound class.CMU faced a large deficit entering Mike Ottinger’s 165-pound match, only to make a gallant effort in a matchup with the American Eagles.
Things looked as bleak as ever when they were down 16-5. But the Chippewas higher weight classes rallied a comeback.
Mike Ottinger and Ben Bennett outscored their opponents by a combined total of 24-6 that amounted to four points each. Anthony Bill, 174-pound class, gave the Chippewas three points.
No. 17 ranked in the heavyweight Peter Sturgeon then faced an opponent in Ryan Flores who has been unstoppable.
Flores is the No.1 heavyweight in the country and was 10-0. It showed when he got his ninth pin of the season and second of the day against Sturgeon 2:11 into the match.
“(Flores) is a very good wrestler for a heavyweight,” Chippewas coach Tom Borrelli said. “He doesn’t go out on the mat and push and shove. He goes out and attacks and wrestles.”
CMU began the first round dual against the Boilermakers down 21-0.
“We couldn’t match their intensity,” Borrelli said. “We had the lead in a lot of matches, but we couldn’t finish.”
Anthony Bill, unlikely winner of two duals for CMU, tallied the first points of the match for the Chippewas. He rode a 4-1 first period lead to win 10-5.
He tried to be more aggressive by taking more shots at the advice of his teammates and coaches.
The last time CMU allowed more than 19 points to start a dual was against Minnesota on Dec. 3, 2011, Bill tallied the first points for his team then, too.
“I usually don’t pay attention to the score really, just try to focus on my match” Bill said. “I kind of just black everything out.”
The only other wrestler who did not suffer a loss on Sunday was Bennett. He most impressive win was against No. 19 Brian Atwood of Purdue on a 7-2 decision.
The Chippewas will move on from their losses and host Michigan State on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
“We got a good team and we can get past these two losses and work hard and refocus,” Bill said. “It’s all about the MAC tournament and getting guys to nationals, so that’s going to be our focus and our goal.”
