Underestimated: The Mike Ottinger story
Central Michigan senior wrestler Mike "Dinger" Ottinger has built a reputation in his four years as a Chippewa, winning two Mid-American Conference Championships and earning two trips to the NCAA Championships.
But, it wasn’t by luck that he got here.
Ottinger grew up in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania and started wrestling when he was 7 years old. After his first year, however, he wanted to quit. His father would not let him.
“I would just get nervous before all the tournaments and I hated it,” Ottinger said. “My dad knew it was a tough sport, but he wanted me to experience some hardship and some life lessons.”
Ottinger stuck with it, but didn't start to excel until he got to high school.
He won back-to-back district championships and won the Class AAA 160-pound State Championship in his senior year. While he defeated the best his state had to offer, he still hadn’t received any national attention.
Ottinger got his chance at the Dapper Dan Classic, a tournament featuring the top wrestlers from Pennsylvania against the best from the rest of the country.
Ottinger went up against five-time Minnesota state champion Destin McCauley, the top-ranked wrestler in the country who was on a 98-match win streak. Ottinger did not fear the No.1 wrestler and beat him 6-4, ending the remarkable streak and making a name for himself.
After upsetting McClauley, Ottinger started to gain the attention of college coaches — Central Michigan’s included.
“Someone sent me some information about him and I got on Youtube and watched some of his matches and thought, ‘He’s going to be pretty good,’” said Head Coach Tom Borrelli.
In his freshman year at CMU, Ottinger posted a 23-10 record and won the MAC Championship at 165 pounds. He and teammate Zach Horan became the first true freshman in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Ottinger went 0-2 at the national tournament and shared CMU wrestling’s Freshman of the Year award with Horan.
“I won by riding time to win the MAC that year and it was probably the only way I made nationals,” Ottinger said. “That was probably my happiest moment so far at CMU.”
In his sophomore season, Ottinger finished 23-15 and won his second straight MAC title at 165 pounds. He was named MAC Wrestler of the Week in January.
That offseason, Ottinger added nine pounds of muscle and jumped up weight classes to 174. He went 27-7 in his junior season and placed third at the MAC Championships. Ottinger returned to the NCAA Championships and went 2-2.
Ottinger has taken his game to the next level in his senior season. He entered the weekend 20-4 and ranked ninth in the 174-pound weight class, the highest of any MAC wrestler in the class. If he continues at this pace and places at the MAC Championships he will qualify for nationals for a third time.
Being one of only five seniors on the team, Ottinger tries to be a leader for the younger wrestlers as much as possible. He isn’t the most vocal, he prefers to lead by example.
“He would rather make you see it and hope you choose to emulate it," said junior wrestler CJ Brucki. "There’s a lot of things he does right and a lot of guys look up to him because of it."
Borrelli echoed the comments by Brucki, saying Ottinger is a silent leader.
“He doesn’t talk a lot in the locker room, but he’s really good friends with all his teammates and I think that’s what makes him such a good leader and teammate,” Borrelli said.
Wrestling isn’t the only thing Ottinger is good at. He is a math major and has a 3.05 GPA. He said he could see himself as either a teacher or a coach one day.
“I’m just going to try out some things and see what I’m interested in. “I’ve been wrestling a whole lot my whole life, so I kinda want to get involved in some other things and see what I like.”
While there is no guarantee if he’ll end up in the classroom or back on the mats, one thing is for sure: He’ll never be underestimated.
