Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Michigan
Chippewas Fall To No. 4 Michigan
2/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan won seven matches, scoring bonus points in five of them, in handing Central Michigan a 30-9 loss on Sunday in a nonconference wrestling dual at the Wolverines' Cliff Keen Arena.
It was the final regular-season meet for the 20th-ranked Chippewas, who finished 8-6 and now look ahead to the March 3-4 Mid-American Conference Championships in their home facility, McGuirk Arena. Michigan, which is ranked fourth, is 11-3.
CMU WINS
The Chippewas' victories came from Mason Smith (141 pounds), Colin Heffernan (157) and Jordan Atienza (197).
BIG VICTORY
Heffernan, who missed seven weeks midway through the season with an injury, took down Alec Pantaleo early in overtime for a 6-4 win. Heffernan, a senior, had been ranked in the mid-teens for much of the season, but fell out of the rankings after a loss last weekend at Kent State.
Pantaleo is a junior who is ranked sixth nationally by InterMat.com, and two years ago was an All-American. He redshirted last season.
"It's a huge win," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said, adding that Heffernan wrestled four matches on Saturday at the Lock Haven Open and then drove all night to get to Ann Arbor for Sunday's dual. "I don't know very many people that could do that. (The win) will do a lot for him psychologically."
Heffernan competed at Lock Haven in order to log enough matches to qualify for an RPI as he aspires to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
ATIENZA & SMITH
• Atienza posted an 8-7 victory over Kevin Beazley, a wrestler very familiar to the Chippewas after a standout career at Old Dominion. He took a graduate transfer to Michigan this season and is ranked 12th. Atienza is unranked.
"He's another guy that's hoping to bring us a qualifying spot and get to the nationals," Borrelli said of Atienza. "That'll do nothing but help him."
• Smith, who is ranked 10th, took a 6-5 victory from Salvatore Profaci. It marked the fourth time the two have met in the past two seasons. Smith has won all four.
"(Profaci) and Mason have had pretty good battles the last two years," Borrelli said. "Mason beat him last year the NCAA Tournament and beat him twice during the regular season. That's a big win for Mason because you know that (Profaci) really wants to beat him."
OLIVER SITS
CMU's Justin Oliver, who is ranked fourth nationally at 149 pounds, did not wrestle. The junior has been battling through an injury this season, and, by the time his match came up - the meet started at 184, so 149 was the second-to-last match of the day - Borrelli thought it better to rest his former All-American ahead of the MAC Championships and a potential spot in the NCAA Championships.
BONUS POINTS
The Wolverines collected one win by pin, two by technical fall and two by major decision.
"Those three spots (Smith, Heffernan, Atienza) were our only bright spots," Borrelli said. "I didn't feel like we were aggressive, we weren't ourselves in certain situations. That's something we've got to work on this week getting ready for the MAC Tournament."
MICHIGAN 30, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 9
125: Drew Mattin (M) dec. Drew Hildebrandt, 4-1
133: Stevan Micic (M) tech. fall Dresden Simon, 22-7
141: Mason Smith (CMU) dec. Salvatore Profaci, 6-5
149: Malik Amine (M) tech. fall Nolan Saxton, 15-0
157: Colin Heffernan (CMU) def. Alec Pantaleo, 6-4, SV-1
165: Logan Massa (M) major dec. Logan Parks, 13-6
174: Myles Amine (M) dec. CJ Brucki, 8-2
184: Domenic Abounader (M) major dec. Jordan Ellingwood, 12-2
197: Jordan Atienza (CMU) dec. Kevin Beazley, 8-7
285: Adam Cool (M) pinned Matt Stencel, 3:19
Players Mentioned
