Young wrestling team prepares for MAC tournament Sunday
Some say you are as young as you feel.
The Central Michigan wrestling team hopes they don’t feel its youth when pursuing its 11th straight Mid-American Conference tournament title Sunday in Athens, Ohio.
The Chippewas lineup features six underclassmen.
“They got to get ready to compete. I mean some guys are going to have to win it to get to the national tournament,” junior Ben Bennett said. “They got to really believe in themselves and believe they can accomplish and expect it.”
Bennett is the only individual winner of a MAC title participating for the Chippewas. He is 4-0 in the MAC tournament. Bennett is going after his third championship in three tries.
“It’s just another step in getting to the national tournament and accomplishing my goal,” he said. “But at the same time, I want to go out and perform well, (and) execute the things I’ve been working on.”
The 15 MAC championships CMU has won places them tied for first in the conference with Ohio, the host school.
“We’ve had really good athletes here,” head coach Tom Borrelli said. “They just continue to have success in this tournament year after year, so most of the credit has to go to them.”
Borrelli said ‘the deck is kind of stacked” against them this year though. A regular season championship evaded CMU this season, a rarity for the Chippewas.
Borrelli noted the importance of experience in the tournament. He said Scotti Sentes and Jarod Trice will be missed. But the quality of the opponents gives him greater concern.
“We’re going to have to overcome a lot,” Borrelli said.
MAC regular-season champion Kent State is chopping at the bit.
The Golden Flashes finished second in the conference tournament last season with 73.5 points, 5.5 away from the first place, Chippewas. The point margin between the top two teams was the smallest, since 1992.
They have four wrestlers ranked first in the MAC, compared to three for CMU.
“I think all ten guys got to show up and step up from 125 all the way to heavyweight,” Bennett said. “I think we’re capable of more than what we showed this year.”
The 133 and 174 pound weight classes were the most highly contested spots in the lineup for the Chippewas all season.
Anthony Bill will start at the 174-pound class because of how he finished the season, Borrelli said.
The 133-pound weight class was decided by a wrestle-off, and Zach Horan defeated Tyler Kesselring for a shot at a championship.
