Ben Bennett earns All-American honors for third time
Zach Horan and Ben Bennett’s contrasting paths crossed as the only Central Michigan wrestlers remaining in the tournament after session one of the NCAA Championships Friday afternoon atSt. Louis.
Horan is a true freshman who finished the regular season 12-11 and 0-1 in the conference, while redshirt junior Ben Bennett had a 28-3 record and was 5-0 in the conference.
“Unfortunately both are in the (wrestlebacks). We would like some people to be in the front side,” head coach Tom Borrelli said before their matches for All-American status. “But we still have a chance at two All-Americans, so we’ll try to wrestle as good as we can tonight and see what happens.”
One of two CMU wrestlers will be named an All-American. Bennett came out victorious and Horan was defeated.
Bennett is the third CMU wrestler to ever be a three-time All-American. But he will not be a national champion.
Bennett was pinned by an aggressive Quentin Wright ofPennState, in his first match Friday.
Six-seeded Wright charged at Bennett about a minute into the match and scored a takedown to make it 2-0. Using a cradle, he scored a pin with 25 seconds left in the first period.
“I had an idea of what he was going to do and what his main tactics were. He just got to where he was good at and scored,” Bennett said. “I’m obviously pretty disappointed. That’s what I’ve been working toward.”
Horan lost his chance at the All-American tag by losing 4-3 after his comeback attempt failed. Riding time pushed the result in his opponents favor.
Horan won two matches today.
He lost to Mason Beckman of Lehigh by tiebreaker during the regular season, beat him by scoring a takedown in the final seconds Friday.
Uncharacteristically, Horan grabbed the lead early in his next match and won 5-3.
“During the year, I think that he felt like there was a lot of pressure on him,” head coach Tom Borrelli said after his first two matches. “Right now I don’t see that. I see him pretty relaxed and wrestling the way he was always capable of wrestling.”
The other three Chippewas
Peter Sturgeon, Joe Roth and Scott Mattingly were eliminated Friday afternoon in wrestlebacks.
Sturgeon’s one-year stint with the Chippewas ended against No. 12 Matthew Gibson ofIowaState8-0.
Joe Roth lost to No. 7 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma. He was one win shy of tying for 10th in single season victories in CMU history with 35.
As one of six wrestlers in the entire field to make it into the NCAA Championships with a losing record, Scott Mattingly finished with one win in the tournament.
