Central Michigan University Athletics
Wrestling Heads To MAC Championships
2/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 28, 2000
THE TEAM: The Central Michigan wrestling team takes the trek to Buffalo, N.Y., to compete in the Mid-American Conference wrestling tournament on March 4 and 5. The Chippewas are defending tournament champions and return three individual champions from the 1999 squad. Chris Marshall (Washington, D.C./Sr.) at 141, Ryan Cunningham (Middleton/Sr.) at 174 and the 197-pounder Chris Vike (Stoughton, WI) all return to defend their MAC titles. Central Michigan scored 124.5 points in last year's tournament to set a MAC record.
THE COACH: Tom Borrelli is in his ninth season as head coach of the Chippewas. CMU is 93-55-5 overall and 34-11 in the MAC under Borrelli. The veteran coach has been named MAC "Coach of the Year" three times and was tabbed "National Coach of the Year" by two organizations in 1998. Central has finished in the top ten nationally the past two seasons.
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE: "I think the Mid-American Conference tournament is going to be a lot tighter this year," said Borrelli. "How our team wrestles will determine the tournament winner. If we wrestle up to our capabilities, I think we can defend last year's title. If we make some mistakes, I think that opens the door for anyone to close in on the top slot."
REARVIEW REFLECTION: "Looking at where we started, we've come a long way this season. I'm really excited about where our team is," Borrelli said. "I have asked this team to do a lot more than any other team I have coached. They responded well and won a regular season championship because of it."
MAC REVIEW: Central Michigan won the Mid-American Conference regular season championship for the second season running. The Chippewas were undefeated this season, 5-0, and remain unbeaten in the last 14 MAC duals.
Five Chippewa grapplers ended the MAC season with a perfect slate. Chris Marshall (Washington, D.C./Sr.) at 141, Ryan Cunningham (Middleton/Sr.) at 174 and Chris Vike (Stoughton, WI/Sr.) at 197 all compiled a 5-0 record. At 149, Jeremy Hardman (Constantine/Sr.) went 4-0 and pinned three of his MAC opponents. Phil Baroni (Massapequa, NY/Sr.), who sat out two weeks at 184, tallied a 3-0 mark including one pin and one overtime win.
Central opened the MAC season with a win over Eastern Michigan, 42-3. After a 33-3 victory over Northern Illinois, the Chippewas faced one of the top teams in the MAC, Ohio. Central defeated Ohio in a close dual, 19-13. Chippewa grapplers scored four wins in the last five bouts for the come from behind victory. After a 26-12 victory over Buffalo, the Chippewas needed a win at Kent to secure their second regular season title. Central won seven of the ten matches enroute to a 27-9 victory over the Golden Flashes and back-to-back regular season championships.
NOTES: Ryan Cunningham (Middleton/Sr.) has etched his name in the CMU annals with this year's effort. He is three wins shy of 100 and his .770 winning percentage is fifth best in school history ... Cunningham is 8-1 in MAC tournament action. His only loss was to Dwight Gardner of Ohio who went on to win the national title in 1998.
