Wrestling places three at Southern Scuffle tournament, hopes to turn corner after slow start to season
Wrestling met mixed successes at the 2014 Southern Scuffle with three wrestlers placing in the two-day meet.
“We're getting better; we had some guys that gained confidence," said head coach Tom Borrelli. "Obviously, we always think we can do better, but guys that got off to a slow start this season gained some confidence at the tournament."
Senior Joe Roth finished fifth in the 133-pound weight class, defeating Jordan Conway of Penn State by 5-2 decision. Roth was seeded No. 4 entering the tournament.
Roth opened with four straight victories before losing in the semifinal to Jon Morrison of Oklahoma State in a close, 3-2 match. He then dropped a second match in the consolation bracket semifinals in another one-point loss to Chattanooga's Nick Soto, 6-5.
"I know Joe was disappointed; he felt like he could have gotten into the finals but he lost a tight match,” Borrelli said. “He wrestled a good tournament and came back from that loss.”
Sophomores Zach Horan and Luke Smith both finished in the top ten, wrestling back from quarterfinal losses to place.
At 141, Horan was seeded No. 4, but a shutout loss from nationally ranked Zain Retherford of Penn State knocked Horan into the consolation bracket. Horan won his way into the seventh place match but did not wrestle due to an injury sustained earlier in the day.
Smith was a relative unknown entering the tournament, unranked and unseeded, but wrestled his way to seventh place at 157-pounds.
“Luke broke out in this tournament,” Borrelli said. “He struggled early in the year, but this was a good tournament to gain some confidence. He should feel like he’s getting better.”
CMU wrestlers were able to face elite competition, with most getting at least four matches in, some earning vital practice against Mid-American Conference opponents. Shifting from dual meets into a long, two-day tournament was a drastic change of pace for the Chippewas, some of whom had trouble in their first matches adjusting to the flow of tournament pacing.
“That’s the tough thing about going from dual meets to the MAC and NCAA tournaments at the end of the year,” Borrelli said. “It was good for us to practice this early in the year and shift gears a little.”
CMU wrestlers earned 42.5 team points, finishing 13th of 34 teams. Penn State won the team title with 184 points, placing six wrestlers and vastly outscoring Minnesota and Oklahoma State, who had been engaged in a three-team race in the first day of competition.
On display was the strength of enemies in the MAC, which will need to be matched by Central Michigan in the coming weeks with a packed conference dual schedule.
Missouri, Kent State and Old Dominion outperformed Central Michigan in terms of team score, finishing in the top ten. Missouri earned fifth place with a team score of 101.5
Borrelli was unconcerned with the team score, saying that while he anticipated the MAC schools present to perform well, Central Michigan was not at full strength and their roster featured some holes.
One of these holes was junior 174-pounder Mike Ottinger, who was scratched from the competition despite being favored to place in the top five. Borrelli said Ottinger sustained a minor injury and was being rested in preparation of the upcoming dual contests.
The Chippewas will return to the mat in a conference dual meet against Northern Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 11 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
