Central Michigan University
NCAA Championships
CMU's Oliver To Face No. 1 Seed On Friday
3/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
NEW YORK - Six Chippewas are in the hunt for All-America honors after the opening day at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Madison Square Garden.
One of those CMU wrestlers, freshman 149-pounder Justin Oliver, made it through the day unbeaten and will wrestle a quarterfinal on Friday morning.
His opponent is Penn State sophomore Zain Retherford, who is 31-0 and seeded No. 1 in the weight class.
Five other Chippewas went 1-1 on Friday while senior Zach Horan finished 0-2, dropping his final match by medical forfeit to Tyler Smith of Bucknell.
The Chippewas' Brent Fleetwood (125), Corey Keener (133), Luke Smith (157), Mike Ottinger (174) and Jordan Ellingwood (184) are in the wrestlebacks. Each will wrestle on Friday morning in elimination matches.
A wrestler must finish in the top eight to earn All-America honors.
The Chippewas have 5½ team points, tied for 30th with Minnesota and Wyoming. Penn State leads with 27½ points, while Ohio State and Oklahoma State are tied for second with 24.
"We're competing and I've got to be happy with that," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "But if you're going to make a dent in this tournament, make some noise, you've got to win some of those matches.
"You've got to be happy with the way you're competing, but you'd like the results to be a little different."
Oliver (30-5) scored a 9-7 sudden victory-1 win over Bryan Clagon of Rider, an All-American last season who came in unseeded. Oliver, who is seeded ninth, posted an 11-7 victory over Clayton Ream of North Dakota State in his opening match.
"I knew he was tired," Oliver said of Clagon. "A little more tired than I was. I knew I was in better shape and I knew I was going to be able to get a takedown in overtime."
Retherford opened the tournament on Thursday with a win by technical fall and followed with a pin to reach the quarterfinals. He has 13 pins and eight technical falls on the season.
"Obviously it's going to be a tough match," Oliver said. "He's undefeated. I've got nothing to lose, he's got everything to lose. I've just got to go out there, wrestle my match, not get too star-struck by all the people and lights and whatnot.
"Once I step on the mat everything just kind of goes away. I know that nothing really high is expected out of me. But I expect a lot out of myself, which kind of makes it less pressure because it's just me pushing myself instead of pressure from others."
Borrelli said he was happy with the way Oliver competed - and won - his two Thursday matches.
"That was a good win for him," Borrelli said of the win over Clagon. "He's wrestling pretty good. He was in some tough situations. Both matches were pretty tight and he kept wrestling and he figured out how to win."
• Fleetwood, a sophomore, opened the tournament with a loss, by 24-8 technical fall, to No. 4 seed Thomas Gilman of Iowa. He came back to beat Zachary Fuentes of Drexel, 3-1 (SV-1), taking Fuentes down in overtime.
Next for Fleetwood (20-12) is a matchup with Joshua Rodriguez (33-9) of North Dakota State.
• Keener dropped a 6-5 decision to fifth-seeded Jordan Conaway of Penn State in his opening bout, then rebounded with a 9-4 victory over Zach Synon of Missouri.
Keener (19-11) will wrestle Dom Forys (26-4) of Pittsburgh on Friday.
• Ottinger, seeded 10th, took a 3-2 decision from Te'Shan Campbell of Pittsburgh in his opening bout then lost to seventh-seeded Cody Walters of Ohio, 3-2.
Ottinger (30-7) will face eighth-seeded Zach Epperly (11-3) of Virginia Tech in his opening bout on Friday.
• Ellingwood, who was unseeded, upset 15th-seeded Nicholas Gravina of Rutgers, 9-3, before dropping a 10-8 decision to second-seeded Sammy Brooks of Iowa.
Ellingwood (29-13) will face Jack Dechow of Old Dominion (20-4) in his first match on Friday. Ellingwood is 1-1 against Dechow this season. He beat Dechow, 7-3, in the title match at the MAC Championships. He lost to Dechow, 4-3, during a Feb. 21 dual.
• Smith, a senior who was seeded 11th, was upset by Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa, 4-1, in his opening bout. Smith (31-9) rebounded with a 2-0 win over Jake Ryan of Ohio State and will face Dylan Palacio (14-2) of Cornell, the fifth seed, on Friday.
• It was a disappointing end for Horan, who was competing in the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in his career.
He dropped a 2-1 tie-breaker-1 decision to Stanford's Joey McKenna, the No. 2 seed, in his opening bout.
Horan, who finished 25-13, 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.
"I felt like he had a takedown," Borrelli said. "But they reviewed it and I can't change the decision. I didn't think it was the right call, but that's the way it goes.
"(Horan) had some difficult luck this year, a little bit snake-bit. Hopefully he can move forward from this, learn from the sport. That's what it's all about."
Players Mentioned
