Central Michigan University
Midlands Championships
Oliver 2nd, Heffernan 6th at Midlands
12/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Midlands Championships Brackets
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
EVANSTON, Ill. - Central Michigan's Justin Oliver and Colin Heffernan came away with top-eight finishes in their respective weight classes Friday at the prestigious Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern.
Oliver finished second at 149 pounds, while Heffernan was sixth at 157.
The Chippewas, who are ranked 14th, finished 11th in the 42-team field with 56.5 points. No. 3-ranked Iowa was first with 150.5, followed by No. 7 Nebraska, 135.5; No. 19 Arizona State, 106.5; and No. 11 Rutgers, 93.
"I just know we can do better and we're real close," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "We lost a lot of really, really close matches today and throughout the tournament. I know our guys are capable of fixing those things and making adjustments. I think we'll be much better in March."
Oliver, who is ranked sixth nationally by InterMat at 149, lost, 7-1 in sudden victory-1 to No. 2-ranked Brandon Sorensen of Iowa. Sorensen was the top seed in the tournament, Oliver was No. 2. Oliver pinned 18th-ranked Joey Delgado of Oregon State in 2:52 in his semifinal match earlier on Friday.
The Oliver-Sorensen title match went to sudden victory tied 1-1. Sorensen countered an Oliver takedown attempt and scored a takedown plus a four-point nearfall.
"(Oliver) was real close to getting that shot," Borrelli said. "If he'd gotten his hands locked we would have scored."
Oliver went 5-1 in the tournament with two falls and two technical falls. He is 17-3 on the season. His other two losses have come to fifth-ranked Micah Jordan of Ohio State.
"He's improving," Borrelli said of Oliver, a sophomore who earned All-America honors last March with his seventh-place finish in the NCAA Championships. "He's right there with the best guys in the country. We've got two months where we feel like we can get better. He's doing the right things."
Heffernan, who was seeded fifth at 157, lost in the semifinals to No. 1-seed Tyler Berger of Nebraska in his opening bout on Friday, dropping into the consolation bracket. There, he lost, 10-7, to Evan Wick of Wisconsin. In the fifth-place match, Heffernan fell to Jason Tsirtis of Arizona State, 3-2.
Tsirtis, who was seeded third, was a national champion in 2015 at Northwestern. He transferred to Arizona State before the 2016 season.
"He had a tough day (on Friday)," Borrelli said of Heffernan, a junior who finished 4-3 in the tournament and is 18-4 on the season. "Those are learning things. He was a little flat today. He'll be fine. I'm not worried about Colin."
Three other Chippewas - Brent Fleetwood (125), CJ Brucki (174) and Austin Severn (197) - lost their respective consolation matches on Friday.
Fleetwood fell, 7-5, to Johnny Jimenez of Wisconsin; Brucki lost, 7-5, to Josef Johnson of Harvard; and Severn dropped a 6-4 decision to Shawn Scott of Northern Illinois in sudden victory-1.
Severn and Brucki each finished 3-2 in the tournament, while Fleetwood went 2-2. On the season, Fleetwood is 12-5, Brucki is 17-4, and Severn is 14-4.
The Chippewas wrestle at Ohio on Sunday, Jan. 8, in their Mid-American Conference opener.
Players Mentioned
