Two Chippewas In The Hunt In Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Two Central Michigan wrestlers are still standing after the opening day of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

CMU 285-pounder Matt Stencel and Jordan Atienza (184) are scheduled to wrestle in consolation-bracket matches in their respective weight classes on Saturday.

Stencel, a redshirt sophomore who was seeded seventh, fell on a pin in 4:33 to Ohio State's Chase Singletary in a championship-bracket quarterfinal match on Friday night.

Stencel opened the tournament with a pin in 1:37 of Northern Iowa's Carter Isley. He then posted an 11-3 major-decision victory over Haydn Maley of Stanford.

Atienza, the lone senior on the Chippewa roster, went 4-1 on Friday and is scheduled to wrestle seventh-seeded Nino Bonaccorsi of Pittsburgh in a consolation semifinal on Saturday.

Atienza opened the tournament with a 12-6 loss to sixth-seeded Drew Foster of Northern Iowa, 12-6. He rebounded with four straight victories, the first on a pin in 1:52 over Charlie Andrews of Campbell; the second on a 14-4 major decision over Tyler McNutt of North Dakota State; the third a 15-11 decision over Trey Rogers of Hofstra; and the fourth on a 10-8 decision over Jackson Hemauer of Fresno State.

CMU's Colin Lieber (174), Logan Parks (157), and Drew Hildebrandt (125) each finished the tournament 2-2, while teammates Landon Pelham (197) and Bret Fedewa (165) each went 1-2, and the Chippewas' Brock Bergelin (133), Dresden Simon (149) and Drew Marten (141) each finished 0-2.

• Hildebrandt opened with a 2-0 win over Trey Keeley of Brown before falling on a 14-4 major decision to No. 1 seed Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern. Hildebrandt came back with a 14-5 major decision win over Dominic Lajoie of Cornell and then bowed to ninth-seeded Gabriel Townsell of Stanford on a 7-3 decision.

• Parks dropped his opening bout on a pin at 6:58 to sixth-seeded John Van Brill of Rutgers, and then came back to pin Matthew Dallara of Campbell in 6:11, and then posted an 11-5 victory over Jordan Robison of Northern Colorado. Parks then bowed to Alex Mossing of Air Force on a 7-1 decision.

• Lieber opened with a 4-3 loss to fifth-seeded Dylan Lydy of Purdue, and then came back with a 12-5 win over Bryan McLaughlin of Drexel and a 15-4 major-decision victory over Taylor Cahill of Clarion. Lieber then bowed to Garrett Strang of California Baptist on a 7-3 decision.

• Pelham pinned Connor Kirkland of Western Wyoming in 4:16. He then dropped a 15-5 major decision to fifth-seeded Christian Brunner of Purdue and then bowed, 7-3, to Wyoming's Cale Davison.

• Fedewa lost on a 19-4 technical fall to seventh-seeded Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech, then came back with an 8-4 win over Walker Johnson Nebraska Kearney. Fedewa then bowed to Tanner Skidgel of Navy on an 8-0 major decision.

• Bergelin lost to 11^th-seeded Cam Sykora of North Dakota State, 9-3, and then to 12^th-seeded Colin Valdivz of Northwestern, 4-2.

• Marten opened with a 5-3 loss to Dominic Latona of Virginia Tech and then bowed, 3-2, to Grant Willits of Oregon State.

• Simon opened with an 8-5 loss to Shayne Oster of Northwestern, and was eliminated on a pin in 3:57 by Jaden Van Maanen of North Dakota State.

Central Michigan University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jordan Atienza

Brock Bergelin

Bret Fedewa

Drew Hildebrandt

Drew Marten

Logan Parks

Landon Pelham

Dresden Simon

Matt Stencel

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