Central Michigan University Athletics
Wrestling Prepares For MAC Tournament
2/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 19, 2001
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THE TEAM--The 24th-ranked Central Michigan University grapplers take a week off after winning the Mid-American Conference regular season crown. The Chippewas accomplished the feat after defeating Kent State University, 19-12, on Sunday, Feb. 18. The victory gave the Chippewas their third consecutive regular season title and extended their MAC dual winning streak to 19. The last MAC loss was to Ohio (22-17) on Jan. 25, 1998. CMU remained undefeated in MAC action for the second straight season with a 5-0 mark.
CMU will look to capture its fourth consecutive MAC Tournament championship on March 3-4, in Athens, Ohio. Last season, all 10 CMU grapplers placed in the top four and five earned national championship bids. Three wrestlers walked away as MAC champions.
THE COACH--Tom Borrelli is in his 10th season as head coach of the Chippewas. CMU is 107-60-5 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 10 nationally in two of the last three seasons.
WEEKEND REVIEW--The Central Michigan University wrestling team came from behind to defeat Kent State on Sunday afternoon, 19-12. CMU claimed its third consecutive MAC regular season title with the victory.
The come-from-behind Chippewa victory was fueled by two consecutive major decisions to end the meet. Jordan Webster (Washington, Ill./So.) scored a 9-1 major decision at 133 and Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis./Fr.) extended his winning streak to 12 straight matches with a 15-5 major decision at 141 pounds.
Ty Morgan (New Carlisle, Ohio/Fr.) began the meet strong with a 8-2 decision at 149 pounds. After three straight victories by the Golden Flashes, the Chippewas countered with three of their own. Jeff Pangborn (Durand/Fr.) began the surge by picking up his first MAC victory of the season with a 10-5 decision at 184. Brett Faustman (Mason/So.) followed with a 10-4 decision at 197 and Jack Leffler (Morris, Ill./Jr.) capped off the run with a 6-3 decision at heavyweight.
RAISING THE BAR-"I feel like we have not been all that sharp in our last two duals," said head coach Tom Borrelli about the Buffalo and Kent State meets. "Its nice to win, but I just don't feel like we have been on top of our game. I am concerned about getting our guys ready for the conference championship. I know the conference championship is going to be competitive this year and we have not proven we are a dominant team, even though we won the regular season. We have got a big bullseye on our back. CMU has been the program everyone has been chasing. When we go down there (Athens, Ohio) everybody wants to see us fail. We have got to be ready."
PROUD TO BE A CHIPPEWA-"I am happy with the way our young people have come around," said Borrelli on the regular season. "They have been coachable all year and seem proud of being Chippewas. They want to carry on the tradition or raise the tradition to the next level. Those things are important to me. We are starting to get a large amount of support and had a nice crowd this weekend. Those things are huge. Our guys have a lot of pride at CMU. They bleed Maroon and Gold."
