Central Michigan University
TBD
Four Chippewas In The Hunt
3/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CLEVELAND - Not exactly the kind of day that Central Michigan wrestling coach Tom Borrelli might have had in mind.
Still, it wasn't the worst case scenario, either.
Four Chippewas remain alive in the NCAA Championships after a long opening day at Quicken Loans Arena.
CMU qualified seven wrestlers for the tournament. Three - Colin Heffernan (157 pounds), Jordan Atienza (197) and Matt Stencel (285) - went 0-3 on Friday and were eliminated.
The other four - Mason Smith (141), Justin Oliver (149), CJ Brucki (174) and Jordan Ellingwood (184) -- each went 1-1 and are in the wrestlebacks in their respective weight classes.
Each of those four will need three wins on Friday during day two of the tournament to guarantee themselves a spot on the podium and All-America honors, which go to the top eight finishers in each class.
Smith, Oliver, Brucki and Ellingwood each won his first match of the day on Friday and then dropped his second.
• Oliver, a junior who is the highest-seeded Chippewa (sixth at 149), will wrestle unseeded Malik Amine of Michigan on Friday. Oliver dropped a 3-2 decision to 11th-seeded Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton on Thursday night after opening with a 3-1 win over Sam Krivus of Virginia.
• Smith, the 10th seed, lost 4-3 to seventh-seeded Brock Zacherl of Clarion on Thursday night and is slated to wrestle eighth-seeded Nick Lee of Penn State on Friday. Smith, a sophomore, opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Minnesota's Thomas Thorn on Thursday.
• Brucki, who was seeded 16th, dropped an 18-5 major decision to top-seeded Zahid Valencia of Arizona State on Thursday night and is scheduled to wrestle Johnny Sebastian of Northwestern on Friday. Brucki, a senior, opened the tournament with a 10-2 major-decision win over Seldon Wright of Old Dominion.
• Ellingwood, like Brucki, was the 16th seed in his weight class and faced the top seed, Penn State's Bo Nickal in his second-round bout. Nickal, the defending national champion, topped Ellingwood, 10-4. Ellingwood, a senior, posted a 12-5 win over Eastern Michigan's Kayne MacCallum in his tournament opener on Thursday.
• Heffernan, a senior, fell on a 22-7 technical fall to defending champion Jason Nolf of Penn State in his opening match, and then dropped a 3-1 heartbreaker to Old Dominion's Larry Early in the consolation bracket, ending his season at 19-8. Early scored a takedown with 3 seconds remaining for the winning points.
• Atienza, a junior, was pinned in the first period in both of his matches on Thursday. He fell in his opening bout to Matt Williams of Cal State Bakersfield, and then to Jacob Smith of West Virginia. Atienza finished the season 19-13.
• Stencel, a redshirt freshman who was seeded 16th, lost 8-3 to Campbell's Jere Heino in his opening match and then was pinned by Ryan Solomon of Pitt in a consolation match. Stencel finished the season 28-15.
Players Mentioned
