Central Michigan University Athletics
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3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Central Michigan MAC Championships Guide | 2016 MAC Championships Brackets
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - No more building, no more experience-gaining, no more long-term view.
It's about wrestling your best, not holding back, and finding out where you stack up.
The Central Michigan wrestling team will partake this weekend in the Mid-American Conference Championships at Eastern Michigan's Convocation Center.
The tournament opens Saturday at noon and resumes Sunday at noon. The championship matches are scheduled to begin at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The champion in each weight class advances to the NCAA Championships, which are March 17-19, in New York. Another 31 at-large NCAA bids will also go to MAC wrestlers.
Four MAC teams are ranked in the USA Today/National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 25. Missouri, which went 8-0 to win the MAC dual-meet title, is ranked sixth, while Kent State is 15th, the Chippewas are 19th and Ohio is 20th.
The Tigers have won the last three MAC Championships after joining the league before the 2012-13 season. The Chippewas had won the 12 previous consecutively.
Missouri is seeded No. 1 in five weight classes, and second in three others. CMU received one No. 1 seed, that going to Mike Ottinger at 174 pounds.
Ottinger, who is 27-5 overall, finished 8-0 in MAC duals and has claimed two MAC titles in his career, both at 165 pounds, in 2012 and again in 2013. Ottinger, a senior, is ranked seventh nationally by Amateur Wrestling News.
The Chippewas, who went 6-2 in MAC duals and finished third in the standings, are seeded second in two weight classes, third at another, and fourth at four more.
CMU freshman Justin Oliver is seeded second at 149, and senior Luke Smith is second at 157.
Oliver is 26-4, finished 6-0 in MAC duals, and has won 13 consecutive matches, 15 of his last 16, and is ranked 10th nationally.
Lavion Mayes of Missouri, who is ranked fourth in the nation, is the top seed at 149
Smith is 28-6, finished 6-2 in the MAC, and is ranked 16th nationally. His league losses came to fourth-seeded Spartak Chino of Ohio and Ken State's Casey Sparkman.
Sparkman won't wrestle in the Championships and instead the Golden Flashes will be represented by Ian Miller, who is seeded No. 1, ranked third nationally, and is seeking his third consecutive 157-pound MAC title.
CMU's Brent Fleetwood is seeded third at 125, while Corey Kenner (133), Zach Horan (141), Jordan Ellingwood (184) and Newton Smerchek (HWT) are all seeded fourth.
Fleetwood (16-10, 2-2) has missed much of the latter portion of the season with an injury and has wrestled just once, in a dual against Wisconsin, since Jan. 29.
Horan (23-9, 6-2) is the defending MAC champion at 141 and is ranked 16th nationally. Keener is 16-9, 2-2; Ellingwood is 25-12, 5-3; and Smerchek is 11-12, 3-3.
Also for CMU, Jackson Lewis is seeded sixth at 197 and Colin Heffernan is eighth/ninth at 165.
Heffernan has posted a 16-5 record wrestling almost exclusively at 149. He was replaced in the lineup by Oliver because of an injury, and bumped to 165 upon his return after losing a wrestle-off to Oliver.
Lewis, a senior, is 17-14 overall, 3-5 league.
"I think you just have to keep your composure, have fun and compete hard," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "I don't know that age or experience has anything to do with that. If you can kind of enjoy the moment, relax, have fun and wrestle ... it's not any easier to do that when you're a senior than when you're a freshman."
