3 Chippewas Win Opening Match At NCAA Championships
3/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
NEW YORK - Three Central Michigan wrestlers won their respective opening matches Thursday at the NCAA Championships at Madison Square Garden.
Four other Chippewas lost their respective opening bouts. All seven CMU wreslters will be in action tonight.
Freshman Justin Oliver (149 pounds), senior Mike Ottinger (174) and sophomore Jordan Ellingwood (184) were victories on Thursday afternoon.
CMU's Brent Fleetwood (125), Corey Keener (133), Zach Horan (141) and Luke Smith (157) dropped their openers and will wrestle Thursday night in the wrestlebacks. The best any of those four can hope to finish is third place.
• Oliver, who is seeded ninth, posted an 11-7 victory over Clayton Ream of North Dakota State. Oliver (29-5) will wrestle Bryan Clagon (20-10) of Rider tonight.
• Ottinger, seeded 10th, took a 3-2 decision from Te'Shan Campbell of Pittsburgh in his opening bout. Ottinger (30-6) will wrestle seventh-seeded Cody Walters (27-4) of Ohio tonight. Ottinger defeated Walters, 3-2, in a dual meet on Jan. 10.
• Ellingwood, unseeded, upset 15th-seeded Nicholas Gravina of Rutgers, 9-3 and will face No. 2 seed Sammy Brooks of Iowa tonight. Brooks is 25-3.
The winners of those three matches advances to the quarterfinals on Friday morning.
• Fleetwood, a sophomore, lost by technical fall to No. 4 seed Thomas Gilman of Iowa, 24-8. Fleetwood will wrestle Zachary Fuentes (22-13) of Drexel tonight.
• Keener lost to fifth-seeded Jordan Conaway of Penn State, 6-5.
Keener (18-11) will wrestle Zach Synon of Missouri (16-13) in the wrestlebacks tonight.
• Horan, a senior, dropped a 2-1 tie-breaker-1 decision to Stanford's Joey McKenna, the No. 2 seed. Horan appeared to take a 3-1 lead with a takedown with 3 seconds remaining in regulation, but after officials reviewed the replay, the takedown was nullified. McKenna won with an escape.
Horan (25-12) will wrestle Tyler Smith (22-13) of Bucknell in the wrestlebacks tonight
• Smith, a senior who was seeded 11th, was upset by Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa, 4-1. Smith (30-9) will wrestle Jake Ryan of Ohio State in the wrestlebacks tonight.
Players Mentioned
