Central Michigan University
MAC Championships
Horan, Keselring Will Wrestle for MAC Titles
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Two Chippewas will wrestle for Mid-American Conference titles on Sunday at Missouri's Hearnes Center.
Zach Horan (141 pounds) and Tyler Keselring (133) each went 2-0 Saturday on the opening day of the MAC Championships to earn a spot in the final of their respective weight classes.
Seven other Chippewas are still in the hunt to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Horan, who is 19-4 and seeded No. 1, will face third-seeded Chris Mecate, 21-7, of Old Dominion in the finals. Both are juniors and have split their previous two meetings.
"There's really not a whole lot of pressure on Zach, but I know he'd like to win the conference championship," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "It'll help his seeding in nationals."
Horan opened with an 18-3 technical fall victory over Joel Shump of Ohio, then downed Jake Hodges of Northern Iowa, 5-3, in the semifinals.
"Zach was pretty aggressive in his first two matches," Borrelli said. "He scored a lot of points in his first match and he got two takedowns in the semifinals. I'm happy that he's trying to score points."
Mecate upset second-seeded Lavion Mayes of Missouri, 3-1 in sudden victory, in the semifinals after opening with a 7-1 win over Tyler Argue of Northern Illinois.
"I think Zach needs to get a takedown (against Mecote)," Borrelli said. "If he gets a takedown, he's probably going to win the match. I don't know that that guy can take Zach down, but Zach's got to figure out a way to take him down."
Keselring (15-9), the lone senior in CMU's lineup, will face Missouri's Zach Synon (24-7) in Sunday's final. Synon is seeded No. 1, Keselring No. 2. Synon defeated Keselring, 3-2, in a dual meet two months ago.
The match takes on added importance because the winner will claim the MAC's only automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Keselring opened the tournament on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Michael Hayes of Old Dominion, then topped Vincent Pizzuto of Eastern Michigan, 8-3, in the semifinals. Synon started with a 4-2 win over Jordan Northrup of Northern Illinois, then downed Kagan Squire of Ohio, 4-3.
Keselring, Borrelli said, "did what he needed to do to win" in his opening match, and was close, on several occasions, to opening things up.
"He was really close to getting a couple takedowns, he was in on a couple of shots," Borrelli said. "I really think he'll wrestle better (Sunday) than he did (Saturday).
"He's the No. 2 seed, so in my mind he should be in the finals, but he's got to steal that top spot. We only have one (NCAA qualifier) spot at that weight class, so he's got to have a good finals match."
Synon is one of eight Missouri wrestlers who will wrestle in championship matches. The Tigers, who are ranked No. 1 in the nation, are first in the team standings with 122 points.
Old Dominion (76 ½) is second, followed by Northern Iowa (63), Ohio (55), the Chippewas (54 ½), Kent State (48 ½), Eastern Michigan (24 ½) and Northern Illinois (23 ½). Buffalo, the ninth MAC school that sponsors wrestling, is not competing in the tournament because of academic sanctions.
Six other Chippewas remain in the hunt to finish as high as third after each finished 1-1 on Saturday. Each wrestler needs a win in his opener on Sunday in order to reach the third-place match. If they lose their Sunday opener, they will drop into the fifth-place match.
They are:
• 125: Brent Fleetwood (13-13), who opened with a 2-1 loss to Derek Elmore of Northern Illinois, then scored an 11-2 major decision over Blake Caudill of Eastern Michigan. He will wrestle Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion on Sunday.
• 149: Colin Heffernan (21-11), who opened with a 3-1 loss to Michael Depalma of Kent State, then defeated Gunner Wolfensperger of Norhtern Iowa, 8-6. He will wrestle Ohio's Tywan Claxton on Sunday.
• 157: Cody LeCount (23-10), opened with a 5-3 loss to Brandon Zeerip of Eastern Michigan, then defeated Devin Geoghegan of Old Dominion, 3-1. He will wrestle Northern Iowa's Jarrett Jensen on Sunday.
• 165: Jordan Wohlfert (18-12), who opened with 3-2 win over Mike England of Missouri, then fell to Tristan Warner of Old Dominion, 7-4, in the semifinals. Wohlfert will wrestle Shaun'Qae McMurtry of Northern Illinois on Sunday.
• 174: Jordan Ellingwood (16-11), who opened with a 4-2 sudden victory over Austin Coburn of Old Dominion, then dropped a 3-0 decision to Cody Walter of Ohio in the semifinals. Ellingwood will wrestle Trace Engelkes of Northern Illinois on Sunday.
• 184: Austin Severn (13-12), who fell to Andrew Romanchik of Ohio, 4-2, in his opening match, then defeated Michael Curby of Eastern Michigan, 8-6. Severn will wrestle Jerald Spohn of Kent State on Sunday.
Two other Chippewas, Jackson Lewis (197) and Adam Robinson (HWT), finished 0-2 on Saturday.
Lewis (8-14) opened by dropping a 17-3 major decision to J'Den Cox of Missouri, the top seed and the defending national champion in the weight class, and then fell, 7-6, to Basil Minto of Northern Iowa.
Because the MAC has six automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, Lewis still could qualify, but he would have to win two matches on Sunday, the second of which (provided he wins the first) would be for a "true" sixth-place finish.
Robinson (15-13) fell to Mimmo Lytle of Kent State, 2-1, and then to Jesse Webb of Ohio, 6-3.
Fleetwood, LeCount, Ellingwood and Heffernan are freshmen, while Severn and Wohlfert are sophomores, and Lewis and Robinson are juniors.
"I really feel like our youth showed up a little bit (on Saturday)," Borrelli said. "We lost some matches where I don't think we were aggressive enough. I think we were a little timid, a little unsure of ourselves. I think that's more youth and inexperience than anything else.
"It's a little bit frustrating. You're hoping that those guys have grown out of some of that through the course of the season. You're hoping that doesn't show up at the MAC Tournament, and it did.
"It's growing pains. We're still fighting to get guys to the nationals (Sunday). Hopefully we'll have a better day."
Players Mentioned
