Central Michigan University Athletics
Wrestling Travels To Northern Illinois
1/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 29, 2001
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THE TEAM--The 25th-ranked Central Michigan University wrestling team travels to DeKalb, Ill., to take on Northern Illinois in Mid-American Conference competition on Friday, Feb. 2. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CST). The Chippewas look to improve on a 19-21-2 series mark against Northern Illinois. Last season, the Chippewas posted a 33-3 victory against the Huskies. CMU heads into the weekend after beating the Eastern Michigan Eagles, 29-6, in the MAC home opener on Sunday, Jan. 28. The win improved the Chippewas to 2-0 in the MAC and kept their MAC unbeaten streak alive at 16 matches. The winning streak dates back to Jan. 25, 1998 when they lost to Ohio, 22-17.
THE COACH--Tom Borrelli enters his 10th season as head coach of the Chippewas. CMU is 104-60-5 overall and 36-11 in the MAC under Borrelli. The veteran coach has been named MAC "Coach of the Year" four times and was tabbed "National Coach of the Year" by two organizations in 1998. He has coached 27 MAC champions and 11 All-Americans. Central has finished in the top 10 nationally in two of the last three seasons.
WEEKEND REVIEW--The 25th-ranked Central Michigan University wrestling team defeated Eastern Michigan Sunday afternoon, 29-6. With the victory, the Chippewas extended their MAC winning streak to 16 matches. The meeting was the first home dual of the MAC season for the Chippewas.
The dual started with an Eagles' victory at 184. But the Chippewas countered with eight consecutive wins. Brett Faustman (Mason/So.) began the surge with a 9-1 major decision at 197. The win was followed by victories from Jack Leffler (Morris, Ill./Jr.) who picked up a 2-0 decision at heavyweight, No. 14- ranked Ahmad Sanders (Flint/Sr.) won be forfeit at 125, Jordan Webster (Washington, Ill./So.) picked up a 7-2 decision at 133, No. 13-ranked Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis./Fr.) claimed a 4-1 decision at 141, Ty Morgan (New Carlisle, Ohio/Fr.) scored a 21-9 major decision at 149, Brad Anderson (Grand Rapids/Fr.) picked up his first varsity win at home with a 7-4 decision at 157 and Mitch Hancock (Royal Oak/Fr.) finished the run with a 10-7 decision at the 174 weight class.
MIXED EMOTIONS-"I felt like we could have been a little sharper," said head coach Tom Borrelli, referring to the dual match with Eastern Michigan. "I'm glad we had some of our freshmen, who have been struggling lately, pull out victories. But, I felt like some of the others could have wrestled more aggressively, so it's kind of a mixed feeling. In certain ways I was happy but in other ways I wish we would have went after them more aggressively."
ROUGH ROAD AHEAD-"The next three weekends are going to be tough," said Borrelli of the last three dual matches of the season. "With our youth we are going to have to do things right. We got a big bullseye on our back and I know all three of those team are going to be real competitive. Anything could happen."
NOTES-Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis/Fr.) continued to take control on the mat this weekend, extending his winning streak to nine straight matches with his victory on Sunday against Eastern Michigan.
