Central Michigan University Athletics
Wrestlers Set To Compete In Prestigious Midlands Tournament
12/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 23, 2001
MOUNT PLEASANT-- The Central Michigan wrestling team (0-2, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) travels to another top tournament as it heads to the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., to compete in the Midlands Championship. The tournament will take place on Dec. 29-30. Some of the top ranked teams that are schedule to attend are No. 1 Minnesota, No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 9 Pennsylvania. Thirteen of the top 25 teams in the nation will compete in the tournament and over 50 teams are entered to compete. Last year, CMU took 13th place out of 54 teams and had three individuals place.
THE COACH-Tom Borrelli is in his 11th season as head coach of the Chippewas. CMU is 107-63-5 overall and 39-11 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 20 nationally in three of the last four seasons.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP - "The Midlands is always a great tournament for us because it give us a chance to compete against the best in the nation," said Borrelli. "That area is one of our main recruiting spots and some of our kids are from that area, so it will be nice to go there and try and make a good showing. It is a tournament that carries a lot of importance because it helps to decide the rankings at nationals. Hopefully, our guys can step up to the challange and do well there."
LAST WEEK - The Chippewas placed fifth in the prestigious 16-team Reno (Nev.) Tournament of Champions on Dec. 20. Missouri was first followed by Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Penn State and CMU.
Senior heavyweight Jack Leffler (Morris, Ill./Coal City) was 4-1 and led Central with a second-place finish while freshman 125-pounder Jason Borrelli (Mount Pleasant) was 5-1 and took third. Three Chippewas took fourth and all were 4-2: Jordan Webster (Washington, Ill./Community/Jr.) at 133, Russ Vanderheyden (Rockton, Ill./Hononegah/Fr.) at 174 and Alex Lammers (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne/Fr.) at 184. Placing fifth with a 5-2 mark was Ty Morgan (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne/So.) at 149 and Kevin Carr (Warsaw, Ind./Wawasee/So.) went 2-3 and was sixth at 165. Carr and 197-pounder Brett Faustman (Mason/Jr.) sustained knee injuries and defaulted.
CMU NEWS AND NOTES -Central Michigan University assistant wrestling coach Casey Cunningham placed second last weekend in a national freestyle tournament hosted by the New York Athletic Club. Cunningham, a national champion for CMU at 157 pounds in 1999, is currently training for a spot on the 2004 USA Olympic team.
Cunningham went 2-1 in the tournament wrestling for Sunkist Wrestling Club. He decisioned T.J. Williams (Hawkeye WC), 12-2, and then won a decision over Chris Ayres (NYAC), 10-0.
Chris Bono (Sunkist) won the 69 kg class with a 6-0 decision over Cunningham in the finals.
