Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Hosts MAC Wrestling Tournament This Weekend
3/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 6, 2003
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Central Michigan University wrestling team (13-3, 4-1 Mid-American Conference), ranked 21st in the NWCA coaches poll, hosts the MAC wrestling tournament this weekend in Rose Arena.
The tournament will be held on March 8-9 to determine the MAC tournament champion and the individual wrestlers that will represent the MAC at the national championships in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 20-22. Live updates, brackets and team scores can be found on CMU's official web site, cmuchippewas.com.
CMU won the tournament last season and has won it four of the past five years. Ohio won the tournament in 2001, which it hosted. Last season, CMU placed all its wrestlers in the top three in the tournament along with two champions, senior Jordan Webster (Washington, Ill.) at 133 and since graduated Jack Leffler at heavyweight. Webster injured his knee in the preseason and is redshirting this season. CMU finished the tournament with 93 points with Northern Illinois finishing second with 69.5 points. Kent State took third with 55.5 points, Ohio was fourth with 53.5 points, Buffalo fifth with 30.5, and last year's host Eastern Michigan took sixth with 26 points.
The Chippewas enter the tournament as the tri-conference champs with Kent State and Northern Illinois. NIU returns three champions and Kent State two from last year. Ohio and Buffalo both return one champion and CMU and Eastern Michigan return none. Two Chippewas are assured the first seed in the tournament by going 5-0 in MAC competition. Kevin Carr (Warsaw, Ind./Jr.) at 165 and Brett Faustman (Mason/Sr.) at 197 both went 5-0 in the MAC this season. Jason Mester (Mineral Point, Wis./Jr.) at 141, Kyle Stoffer (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Fr.) at 125 and Mitch Hancock (Royal Oak/So.) at 174 all went 4-1 in the MAC and have the possibility of being the first seed.
BORRELLI ON MAC TOURNAMENT: "I am excited to be hosting the tournament this year because it should be the most competitive tournament this conference has had in the past few years. It will also be the first time in many years that we are not the favorite heading into the tournament. I think that Northern Illinois has to be the favorite with three returning champions and six seniors on their squad. Kent State will also be strong in the tournament along with Ohio, which is more of a tournament team then a dual meet team. We can't count out Buffalo or Eastern because they both have some strong wrestlers on their teams.
"The most important thing for us is that we wrestle our style of match by being aggressive and smart. Since the tournament is so close this year, it is important that we have great support by our fans like we usually do. They give us a lot of momentum in our home duals. Hopefully, that carries over to the tournament. This is what we have been working for all year, so I think our wrestlers should be ready to go."
MAC TOURNAMENT: The first session on Saturday, March 8, will begin with the first-round at 1 p.m. The second session on Saturday will begin at 6:00 p.m. On Sunday, March 9, the championship and consolation matches will take place at 1 p.m., and any true second place matches will occur at 3 p.m.
CMU is the defending tournament champion. Seven wrestlers will try and defend their title from last year at the tournament. The seven are: junior Jared Opfer of Kent State at 125; sophomore Jake Percival of Ohio at 149; senior Scott Owen of Northern Illinois at 157; senior Nick Nemeth of Kent State at 165; senior Bill Lowney of Northern Illinois at 174; junior Ben Heizer of Northern Illinois at 184; and sophomore Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo at 197. Owen was both the MAC "Wrestler of the Year" and "Outstanding Tournament Wrestler" last year, and Percival was named MAC "Freshman of the Year."
