Central Michigan University Athletics
No. 9 Chippewas Ready For 50th Annual Midlands Championships
12/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
MOUNT PLEASANT - Coming off a three-week hiatus from competition, the Central Michigan wrestling program will travel to Evanston, Ill., this weekend for the 50th annual Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern University.
The two-day competition will begin Saturday morning at 9:30 inside Welsh-Ryan Arena with the second session taking place Saturday evening at 7. Session III, which features the semifinals, consolations and seventh-place matches will begin at noon Sunday while the first, third and fifth place matches will take place Sunday at 7 p.m.
CMU is one of 14 teams currently ranked in the most recent NWCA/USA Today top 25 set to the compete in the tournament and the second highest ranked team behind only No. 6 Illinois. The No. 9 Chippewas will be joined by No. 10 Oregon State, No. 11 Virginia Tech, No. 12 Michigan, No. 13 Pittsburgh, No. 14 Oklahoma, No. 15 Northwestern, No. 17 Nebraska, No. 18 Edinboro (tie), No. 18 Maryland (tie), No. 21 Purdue, No. 22 Penn, No. 23 Wisconsin and No. 25 Lehigh.
Final tournament seeds and brackets will be announced Saturday morning, but four senior Chippewas - Christian Cullinan (125/No. 8), Scotti Sentes (133/No. 1), Ben Bennett (184/No. 2) and Jarod Trice (285/No. 1) - were announced as "Top Contenders" by the tournament committee last week. Trice will compete unattached and his points will not count towards the Chippewas' score.
Follow the Action
Those who are unable to attend Midlands can watch Sunday's finals LIVE on the Big Ten Network at 7 p.m. CT. Be sure to follow @NU_Wrestle (general tournament updates) and the #Midlands50 hashtag on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend. Updated brackets also will be posted on NUSports.com and CMUChippewas.com.
Last Year at Midlands
Ben Bennett (184 pounds) finished runner-up for the third-straight year and Joe Roth (125 pounds) finished sixth in his first appearance in the tournament. Jarod Trice (285) won his second career Midlands title, competing unattached as a part of his Olympic redshirt season.
Nearing 100 Victories
Senior 184-pounder Ben Bennett could become the 16th CMU wrestler to reach 100 career victories this weekend. The Rockford, Mich., native and three-time All-American is currently ranked No. 5 in the country with a perfect 6-0 record. He has a career record of 96-22 with a 41-14 mark in tournaments.
The Chippewas return home to McGuirk Arena to take on Bucknell Jan. 6 before traveling to the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va., Jan. 11-12. CMU will get back to Mid-American Conference action Jan. 18 when it travels to DeKalb, Ill., to take on Northern Illinois.
