Central Michigan University Athletics
Three Chippewas Hit NCAA Mats
3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
ST. LOUIS - It's only for the best of the best.
Three Central Michigan wrestlers will see how they stack up in that field this weekend at the NCAA Championships at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Zach Horan (141 pounds), Colin Heffernan (149) and Jordan Ellingwood (174) will partake in the three-day event, which begins on Thursday. The top eight in each weight class earn All-America status.
Horan, a junior, is in the NCAA Championships for the third time in his career. Last year he finished 2-2 in the tournament. Ellingwood and Heffernan are freshmen.
Horan is 20-4 on the season, seeded 10th, and will open against unseeded Matthew Kraus (20-10) of Arizona State. Horan and Kraus have never met. Horan has won 11 straight matches and 18 of his last 20.
All four of Horan's losses came to wrestlers who are in the bracket in St. Louis, including No. 2 Mitchell Port (32-1) of Edinboro, a potential quarterfinal opponent for Horan.
"He's going to have to wrestle really well," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said of Horan. "He's capable of that and he really needs to stay focused and wrestle one match at a time, not get caught up in the tournament, just stay within himself and wrestle to the best of his abilities and I think he'll be fine."
The Horan-Kraus winner will face either seventh-seeded Anthony Ashnault (26-6) of Rutgers or Mike Longo (21-14) of Appalachian State.
Heffernan (22-12) is slated to open against ninth-seeded Gabe Moreno (26-6) of Iowa State. The other side of the bracket pits eighth-seeded Alexander Richardson (25-7) of Old Dominion against Chris Perez (16-9) of Princeton. Heffernan and Richardson met earlier this season, with Richardson taking a 5-2 decision.
Heffernan and Moreno split their two meetings this season. Moreno won the first, 7-6, during a dual meet in November; Heffernan took the second, 12-7, at the Southern Scuffle in January.
"I think it always is an advantage to have wrestled a guy already because you kind of know what to expect," Borrelli said. "I think psychologically it kind of takes some anxiety away."
Ellingwood (18-11) is scheduled to open against Blaise Butler (18-4) of Virginia with the winner advancing to face either Jadaen Bernstein (25-13) of Navy or Kyle Crutchmer (19-6) of Oklahoma State. Butler is seeded fifth, Crutchmer 12th.
Ellingwood and Butler have never met.
"I just want all three of them (Horan, Heffernan and Ellingwood) to wrestle hard every minute of every match and I think if they do that they can be happy with themselves and we'll be happy with them," Borrelli said. "If they do that they're all capable of accomplishing some things."
