Central Michigan University Athletics
Wrestling Heads To National Duals
1/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 14, 2002
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The Central Michigan wrestling team (3-2, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) looks to continue its three-match winning streak at the National Duals. CMU will compete against 15 of the top teams in the nation for the unofficial title of national dual champion. The tournament takes place on Jan. 19-20 at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
In the first round of competition, CMU will face No. 5 Iowa at 9 a.m. All of the Chippewas matches will take place in St. Johns Arena. The other teams competing in the duals are: No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 8 Pennsylvania, No. 10 Arizona State, No. 10 Lock Haven, No. 13 Edinboro, No. 14 Northern Iowa, No. 15 Lehigh, No. 17 Michigan State and No. 24 Fresno State.
The last two times CMU has competed in this tournament it took eighth in 1999 and did not place in 2000. Central has already competed against two of the teams, dropping matches to Michigan State, 18-16, and Michigan, 28-8. CMU has never met against first-round opponent Iowa.
THE COACH-Tom Borrelli is in his 11th season as head coach of the Chippewas. CMU is 110-63-5 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.
BORRELLI ON THE NATIONAL DUALS - "It will be a great opportunity for our team and, hopefully, we can take advantage of it. We are starting to get healthy again and hit our stride, and that is going to be important in this tournament. This tournament has the best teams in the nation, so we will find out pretty quickly how we stack up to these other top teams."
INJURY UPDATE -The Chippewas have been battling the injury bug since the beginning of the season and the team is finally starting to get healthy. Returning MAC champion Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis./So.) has been out since Michigan State with a knee injury that required surgery. He is probable for the National Duals. So is Kevin Carr (Warsaw, Ind./So.), who has been out since he injured his knee at Reno. Ty Morgan (Huber Heights, Ohio/So.) wrestled last weekend and is back to full strength after missing Midlands. Brett Faustman (Mason/Jr.) is questionable for the National Duals with a knee injury.
LAST WEEK - The Chippewas won the Hampton Inn "Duels" with wins over Clarion, 34-9, Findlay, 38-6, and The Citadel, 38-6. Earning All-Tournament team honors were: Jason Borrelli (Mount Pleasant/Fr.) at 125, Derek Phillips (Grosse Pointe/Jr.) at 141, Ty Morgan at 149, David Bolyard (Akron, Ohio/Fr.) at 157, Russ Vanderhyden (Rockton, Ill./Fr.) at 174, Alex Lammers (Huber Heights, Ohio/Fr.) at 184, and Bill Stouffer (Lowell/Fr.) at 197.
