Central Michigan University Athletics
Three Chippewas Secure All-America Honors
3/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
All three won consolation matches Friday night that secured them top-eight finishes in their respective weight classes. Each of the three is a first-time All-American and will wrestle for his place-finish Saturday morning. ESPNU will provide live coverage of Saturday morning's session beginning at 10 a.m. Central Time.
CMU will boast multiple All-Americans for the seventh straight season and the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.
"It's nice to have three All-Americans," said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli. "Obviously it was important for Steve to go out on a good note. Any time you have seniors you want them to finish their careers on a good note, and being an All-American was really important to him.
"The other thing that is important is the other two guys that are All-Americans are young, so they're coming back next year. It's always important to have young All-Americans in your program."
Through four sessions of competition, CMU is in 11th place in the team standings with 39.5 points.
Brown, seeded 12th at 157 pounds, secured his place on the medal stand with a 5-2 victory over No. 3 Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech). Brown scored a key takedown on the edge in the first period to take a 2-0 lead and build riding time. That lead held until the third period, when Dong escaped to draw within 2-1. Brown scored a second takedown with 40 seconds left, and Dong was only able to muster an escape in the closing seconds of the third period.
Brown lost a 12-4 major decision to No. 2 Adam Hall (Boise State) later in the session. Brown will face Justin Gaethje (Northern Colorado) in the seventh-place match Saturday morning.
Bennett's All-America match with Oregon State's Colby Covington was delayed 10 minutes by a protest of the previous match on the mat. Bennett, the No. 7 seed, wasted no time once the whistle blew, however, scoring a fall in just 44 seconds.
After a scramble, Bennett and Covington, the No. 8 seed, became tied up on the mat. Bennett gained leverage and sat back into Covington, putting Covington's shoulders to the mat and securing the fall.
Bennett becomes just the fourth freshman in CMU history to earn All-America honors, joining Wynn Michalak (2005), Mike Miller (2007) and Scotti Sentes (2009).
Bennett scored a second pin later in the session, sticking Norther Iowa's Jarion Beets in just 1:23. Bennett held built a 7-0 lead with five back points prior to the fall.
Bennett will wrestle No. 3 Chris Henrich (Virginia) Saturday morning, with the winner advancing to the third-place match. The loser will wrestle for fifth place later Saturday morning.
Trice locked up All-America honors in dramatic fashion, claiming a 6-5 tiebreaker victory over Minnesota's Ben Berhow. Trice led 3-1 entering the third period, but he was called for locked hands and surrendered an escape that drew Berhow even. Berhow scored a takedown with just 10 seconds remaining, but Trice immediately escaped on the edge and used riding time to force sudden victory.
The score remained locked at 5-5 through the sudden victory period. Trice began the tiebreaker in the bottom position and escaped, then rode out Berhow in the second 30-second period to secure the 6-5 decision.
Later in the session, Trice dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 11 Mitchell Monteiro (Cal State Bakersfield). A third-period escape was enough for Monteiro to earn the victory.
Trice will wrestle for seventh place against No. 5 Daniel Erekson (Iowa) Saturday morning.
Central Michigan Complete Results
125 Pounds: No. 8 Matt Steintrager
First Round: W, dec. James Knox (Maryland), 3-2 TB1
Second Round: L, dec. Brad Pataky (Penn State), 3-2
Consolation Second Round: L, dec. Jason Lara (Oregon State), 6-4
133 Pounds: No. 7 Scotti Sentes
Pigtail First Round: L, Matthew Fisk (Lehigh), fall at 3:29
Consolation Pigtail: W, dec. Brandon Low (UC Davis), 8-3
Consolation First Round: L, dec. Kendric Maple (Oklahoma), 5-0
141 Pounds: Conor Beebe
First Round: W, dec. No. 11 Chris Diaz (Virginia Tech), 4-0
Second Round: L, dec. No. 6 Montell Marion (Iowa), 10-5
Consolation Second Round: L, dec. Todd Schavrien (Missouri), 9-4
149 Pounds: Tony D'Alie
First Round: W, dec. No. 10 Barrett Abel (UC Davis), 5-2
Second Round: L, dec. No. 7 Mitch Mueller (Iowa State), 8-4
Consolation Second Round: W, maj. dec. Glenn Shober (Navy), 12-3
Consolation Third Round: L, dec. Kyle Borshoff (American), 10-6
157 Pounds: No. 12 Steve Brown - All-American
First Round: W, maj. dec. Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (The Citadel), 12-1
Second Round: L, dec. No. 5 Steve Fittery (American), 8-6
Consolation Second Round: W, dec. Kyle John (Maryland), 10-7
Consolation Third Round: W, dec. Kurt Kinser (Indiana), 3-1
Consolation Fourth Round: W, dec. No. 3 Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech), 5-2
Consolation Fifth Round: L, maj. dec. No. 2 Adam Hall (Boise State), 12-4
Seventh-Place Match: Justin Gaethje (Northern Colorado)
165 Pounds: Tyler Grayson
First Round: W, maj. dec. No. 8 Shane Onufer (Wyoming), 14-4
Second round: L, dec. No. 9 Andrew Rendos (Bucknell), 3-2
Consolation Second Round: L, dec. No. 3 Nick Marable (Missouri), 4-3
174 Pounds: No. 7 Ben Bennett - All-American
First Round: W, dec. Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 4-2 TB1
Second Round: L, dec. No. 10 Jordan Blanton (Illinois), 5-2
Consolation Second Round: W, dec. Brad Darrington (Utah Valley), 4-3
Consolation Third Round: W, dec. No. 5 Scott Glasser (Minnesota), 7-3
Consolation Fourth Round: W, pin No. 8 Colby Covington (Oregon State) at 0:44
Consolation Fifth Round: W, pin Jarion Beets (Northern Iowa) at 1:23
Consolation Semifinals: No. 3 Chris Henrich (Virginia)
184 Pounds: Mike Miller
Pigtail First Round: W, dec. No. 10 Mike Pucillo (Ohio State), 4-2
First Round: L, dec. Jason McCroskey (Chattanooga), 5-2
Consolation First Round: L, dec. Josh Ihnen (Nebraska), 3-1
197 Pounds: Eric Simaz
First Round: L, dec. Joseph Kennedy (Lehigh), 3-1
Consolation First Round: L, maj. dec. Daniel Mitchell (American), 10-2
285 Pounds: No. 7 Jarod Trice - All-American
First Round: L, Brandon Williamson (West Virginia), fall at 6:59
Consolation First Round: W, dec. Nathan Fernandez (Oklahoma), 5-4
Consolation Second Round: W, dec. Tucker Lane (Nebraska), 3-1 SV1
Consolation Third Round: W, dec. No. 12 Scott Steele (Navy), 6-2
Consolation Fourth Round: W, dec. Ben Berhow (Minnesota), 6-5 TB1
Consolation Fifth Round: L, dec. No. 11 Mitchell Monteiro (Cal State Bakersfield), 1-0
Seventh-Place Match: No. 5 Daniel Erekson (Iowa)
