Wrestling begins season with intrasquad scrimmage
Schecksville senior Mike Ottinger (left) faces off against Orland Park sophmore CJ Brucki (right) during an intra-squad scrimmage at Mcguirk Arena on October 25th.
The mats are rolled out in McGuirk Arena and bodies are back hitting the floor.
Central Michigan wrestling saw its first competition Sunday in the form of an intrasquad scrimmage, which ended in a 16-16 draw.
Head Coach Tom Borrelli said he thought his team was aggressive, considering they were competing against their own teammates.
“We’re kind of trying to gauge our guys,” Borrelli said. “Whether they have enough composure to do the things we've been working on in practice during the competition. We’re trying to get them to be more aggressive, but that’s hard to do when you’re wrestling each other, because the guys know each other so well.”
The Maroon team won the final match, which tied the teams at 16. Redshirt sophomore heavyweight Newton Smerchek outlasted fellow heavyweight, senior Adam Robinson.
“I always need to get better,” Smerchek said. “Me and Adam (Robinson) have been partners for three years. We’ll just continue to push each other. Whoever is out there on the mat, we’ll be confident with that person out there.”
Considering the Mid-American Conference preseason rankings have six Chippewas in the top three of their weight classes, confidence may be difficult not to have.
Seniors Zach Horan and Lucas Smith ranked second in their respective classes of 141 lbs. and 157 lbs.
Mike Ottinger (174), Jordan Wohlfert (164), Corey Keener (133) and Brent Fleetwood (125) all ranked third in their classes.
“I thought Keener looked really good,” Borrelli said. “I thought Lucas (Smith) and Mike (Ottinger) still need to work on being more offensive on their feet. They are real hard to beat. Both are really good defensively.”
The Chippewas begin their season Saturday, Nov. 7 at Eastern Michigan.
Smerchek said he’s just looking to progress early in the season.
“Nobody wins a national title in November,” he said. “We just need to keep getting in shape and working on our technique.”
