Matt Stencel top MAC wrestler, Tom Borrelli named MAC Co-Coach of the Year
Matt Stencel capped off his junior season with his third Mid-American Conference 285-pound championship and has continued to add to his collection of accolades.
Stencel, a junior from Oregon, Ohio, was named MAC Wrestler of the Year on Tuesday. Stencel is the sixth Chippewa to earn the award when the conference's specialty awards were announced Tuesday.
With his third MAC title, Stencel qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third-straight year and was tabbed as the fifth seed before the event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, Stencel was ranked No. 4 in the country.
In the 2019-20 campaign, Stencel posted a 30-4 record and recorded 15 pins, which was good for second in the country, and has 49 pins in his career, good for fourth in CMU history. With one season remaining for Stencel to compete, he has an 89-25 career record.
After dropping the title match at the Midlands Championship to Iowa's Anthony Cassioppi, who was the No. 3 seed for nationals, Stencel closed the season on a 13-match winning streak. He posted an 11-1 record in duals and a 9-0 mark in MAC duals.
Stencel is the first Chippewa since Ben Bennett, an assistant coach for the program, won the award in 2012.
Borrelli was named Co-Coach of the Year at the conference tournament in early March and shared the honor with Ryan Ludwig of Northern Illinois.
The award was the 14th for Borrelli in his 29-year tenure at Central Michigan. Three of Borrelli's wrestlers — Stencel along with fellow juniors Drew Hildebrandt (125) and Dresden Simon (141) — captured individual conference titles and a total of six Chippewas qualified for nationals.
At the MAC Championships, CMU was the only team to have multiple conference champions.
In Borrelli's career, he has put together a 337-151-7 record in duals, his win total second to Oklahoma State's John Smith (426) for active coaches at the Division I level and 17th in NCAA history.
