Three Chippewas Alive At Midlands

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Three Central Michigan wrestlers remain alive in their respective consolation brackets after day one of the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern, at the Sears Centre Arena.

CMU's Drew Hildebrandt (125 pounds), Logan Parks (157) and Matt Stencel (285) are still in the hunt to finish as high as third place in their respective weight classes. Parks, a junior, went 5-1 on Saturday, while Hildebrandt went 3-1 and Stencel finished the day 2-1.

Thirteen other CMU wrestlers were eliminated on Saturday. The tournament is scheduled to conclude on Sunday.

• Hildebrandt, a sophomore who was seeded ninth, opened the tournament with a pin in 6:29 of Skyler Petry of Minnesota. He followed with a 6-3 win over Joseph Melendez of North Carolina, and then a 6-1 win over Elijah Oliver of Indiana.

Hildebrandt then lost on an 18-0 technical fall to top-seeded Spencer Lee of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Lee, a sophomore, is the defending national champion and is ranked No. 1. Hildebrandt is slated to wrestle Kyle Biscolglia of Northern Iowa in a consolation-bracket match on Sunday.

• Parks, who was seeded 13^th, opened with a 9-1 major decision victory over Purdue's Kendall Coleman, and then was pinned in 1:45 by Leonard Merkin of Princeton.

Parks came back to win four consecutive matches, the first on a pin Carl Antrassian of Penn in 2:38. He then took an 8-1 win from Cayd Lara of Northern Iowa, a 7-0 victory from 10^th-seeded Zander Wick of Wisconsin, and then a 6-2 win over Jacob Wright of Fresno State. Parks is scheduled to wrestle ninth-seeded Quincy Monday of Princeton in a consolation-bracket match on Sunday.

• Stencel, the lone Chippewa who is ranked nationally (16^th), was seeded sixth in the tournament. He opened with a 12-4 major decision victory over Terrese Aaron of Northern Illinois; pinned Caleb Gossett of Northern Illinois, the 11^th seed, in 3:51; and then lost on an injury forfeit to Tanner Hall of Arizona State in the quarterfinals. Hall is seeded third. Stencel is scheduled to wrestle Aaron Costello of Iowa on Sunday in a consolation-bracket match.

Other CMU Saturday results:

• Deven Perez (133) went 2-2 on Saturday. He opened with an 8-5 loss to David Campbell of Bucknell, then came back with a pin in 5:32 of Old Dominion's Tyler Delaware and then posted a 7-6 victory over Jack Skudlarczy of Northern Iowa. Perez then bowed to 10^th-seeded Jens Lantz of Wisconsin, 8-3.

• Brock Bergelin (133) finished 1-2, falling on a 5-3 decision to Drew West of Northern Illinois in his opening bout. He came back to pin Conner Ziegler of Army West Point in 3:58, and then dropped a 9-1 major decision to eighth-seeded Derek Spann of Buffalo.

• Drew Marten (141) went 3-2 on the day. He opened with an 8-3 loss to fifth-seeded Yahya Thomas of Northwestern, and then came back with an 8-0 major decision victory over sixth-seeded Mike Vanbrill of Rutgers, and then topped Marcus Robinson of Buffalo, 6-1; and defeated AJ Vindici of Penn, 7-5; before bowing, 4-1, to Ben Freeman of Michigan.

• The Chippewas' two entrants at 149, Luke Raczkowski and Dresden Simon, both finished 0-2 on Saturday. Raczkowski lost, 5-3, to 12^th-seeded Ryan Diehl of Maryland, and then lost, 10-3, to Jake Bergeland of Minnesota. Simon lost 8-7 to seventh-seeded Anthony Artalona of Penn, and then lost 11-4 to Chris Martorello of Franklin & Marshall.

• CMU's two entrants at 165, Bret Fedewa and Blake Montrie, also went 0-2. Fedewa dropped a 16-0 technical fall to Northern Iowa's Bryce Steiert, the No. 4 seed; and then lost, 4-3, to D.J. Hollingshead of Bucknell. Montrie opened with a 15-3 major decision loss to Jonathan Viruet of Brown, and then dropped a 2-1 decision to Kenny O'Neil of South Dakota State.

• Collin Lieber (174) and Jake Lowell (174) both finished 0-2. Lieber was pinned in 5:38 by fourth-seeded Ryan Christensen of Wisconsin in his opening bout, and then lost, 4-3, to Jake Hendricks of Penn. Lowell dropped a 15-3 major decision to sixth-seeded Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois, and then fell, 11-8, to DJ Shannon of USA Wrestling's Elite Acceletrator Program.

• Jacob Gray (184) opened with a 13-2 major decision victory over Niko Cappello of Maryland, and then was pinned in 3:59 by Drew Foster of Northern Iowa, the No. 1 seed. Gray's tournament came to an end with a 10-2 major decision loss to Thomas Penola of Purdue.

• Jordan Atienza (184), the lone senior in CMU's lineup, was seeded seventh. He lost, 2-1, to Arizona State's Cade Belshay in his opening bout, and then came back with an 8-6 win over 10^th-seeded Billy Janzer of Rutgers and moved past Kendall Elfstrum of Princeton on a medical forfeit before dropping a 9-7 decision to fifth-seeded Christian LaFragola of Brown.

• Landon Pelham went 2-2 on the day, recording both of his victories by pin fall. He opened with a 13-6 loss to Northwestern's Lucas Davison, and then came back to pin Zachary Chakonis of Northwestern in 6:16. He then pinned David Eli of Purdue in 4:21 before bowing out on a pin in 4:01 to Beau Breske of Wisconsin.

• Nicholas Jenkins dropped a 5-0 decision to Conan Jennings of Northwestern, the eighth seed; and then fell 5-2 to Brian Burns of Illinois.

Central Michigan University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jordan Atienza

Brock Bergelin

Bret Fedewa

Jacob Gray

Drew Hildebrandt

Collin Lieber

Jake Lowell

Drew Marten

Blake Montrie

Logan Parks

Landon Pelham

Deven Perez

Luke Raczkowski

Dresden Simon

Matt Stencel

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