Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Kent
Wrestling Wins Second Straight MAC Title
2/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 20, 2000
KENT, OH -- The Central Michigan University wrestling team captured its second straight Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship on Sunday with a 27-9 dual meet win at Kent State University. The Chippewas captured the title with a 5-0 MAC record and 9-4-1 overall slate. Ohio finished in second-place with a 4-1 mark while Kent was third at 3-2.
CMU also went undefeated during the 1998-99 MAC season posting a 6-0 record. CMU has now won 14 straight MAC matches dating back to the 1997-98 season. Over Central Michigan's past two undefeated seasons, the Chippewas have outscored their MAC foes by a cumulative score of 390-54.
Kent won the first match of the day at 133-pounds and CMU won the next seven to take the win. The Golden Flashes also won at heavyweight and 125.
Chris Marshall (Washington, D.C./Sr.) put CMU on the board with an 8-4 decision at 141. Jeremy Hardman (Constantine/Sr.) picked up a pin at the 8:08 mark to extend the lead and Russell Clark (Holt/Fr.) added a major at 157. Four of CMU's seniors closed out the scoring with 165-pounder Vernon Cannon (Indianapolis, IN) winning a decision, Ryan Cunningham (Middleton) picking up a major, Phil Baroni (Massapequa, NY) adding a decision and Chris Vike (Stoughton, WI) closing with another CMU major decision.
The Chippewas will make a run at their third-straight MAC tournament title on March 4-5 at Buffalo. Several Chippewas will likely be the No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes after going through the MAC regular season undefeated. Marshall was 5-0, along with Cunningham and Vike. Hardman went 4-0 in MAC contests on the year.
