11 Chippewas Place In Season-Opening Tourney

Saturday, November 2

East Lansing, Mich.

9 a.m.

Central Michigan University

Michigan State Open

CMU freshman Johnny Lovett placed first at 157 pounds in the Freshman/Sophomore Division at the Michigan State Open.

Photo by: Allissa Rusco

11/2/2019 11:51:00 PM | Wrestling

Freshman Johnny Lovett places first at 157 pounds in collegiate debut

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Eleven Central Michigan wrestlers placed in the top five in their respective weight classes on Saturday as the Chippewas kicked off the season at the Michigan State Open.

Four Chippewas – Drew Hildebrandt, Matt Stencel, Dresden Simon and Landon Pelham – placed in the Open Division of the tournament. Seven CMU wrestlers placed in the Freshman/Sophomore Division, including freshman Johnny Lovett, who went 4-0 to win at 157 pounds.

Hildebrandt (125) and Stencel (heavyweight) both finished second, while Simon (141) was third, and Pelham (197) placed fifth.

In the Freshman/Sophomore Division, CMU's Corbyn Munson (149), Ben Cushman (184) and Mason Breece (149) each placed third; Tracy Hubbard (157) and Drake Pauwels (HWT) each placed fourth; and Cade Dallwitz (197) was fifth.

"That tournament is probably as good as it's been in 10, 15 years," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "It was a really good tournament this year. Ohio State was there, Michigan was there, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, plus Pitt and Penn and four or five (Mid-American Conference) schools.

"We're trying to find some guys who will step up and we started that today. We're seeing some spark at some of those weights where we need somebody to step up."

• Hildebrandt finished 4-1, falling on a 3-2 decision to Brock Hudkins of Indiana in the title match. Hildebrandt, a junior, opened with a 9-1 major-decision victory over Nate Cummings of Purdue, and then posted another major-decision win, 17-3, over Ethan Curtin of Michigan State. Hildebrandt then defeated Justin Cardani of Illinois, 1-0, and then posted a 7-5 (SV-1) decision over Malik Heinselman of Ohio State in a semifinal match. Heinselman is ranked 18^th; Hildebrandt is ranked 15^th.

• Stencel also went 4-1, falling in the title match to Mason Parris of Michigan, 9-2. Stencel defeated Parris in March en route to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Stencel, a junior, opened Saturday's tournament with a 4-3 victory over Terrese Aaron of Northern Illinois, and then posted consecutive pins over Raiden MacLeod of Davenport (49 seconds), over David Eli of Purdue (1:51), and over Christian Rebottaro of Michigan State (2:21) before falling to Parris.

It marked the fourth time that Stencel and Parris have met in the last two years. They are 2-2 and Saturday's showdown in the final marked the first time that any of their four matches have gone beyond the first period. Stencel is ranked fifth nationally, Parris is ranked ninth.

• Simon went 5-1, bouncing back from a loss in his opening bout to win five consecutive matches. He fell to third-ranked Luke Pletcher of Ohio State on a 19-9 major decision to open the tournament. He followed with a pin in 3:57 of Anthony Gonzales of Rochester; an 11-3 major-decision victory over Lucas Revano of Penn; a 7-1 win over Drew Mattin of Michigan; a 12-3 major-decision win over CMU teammate Drew Marten; and a 3-1 win over Dylan Duncan of Illinois. Because Simon had wrestled six matches on the day, he was unable to take the mat for his third-place match with Purdue's Parker Fillus.

"He beat some pretty good guys along the way," Borrelli said of Simon. "He beat Michigan's starter, he beat Illinois'' starter. He had a really good tournament."

• Pelham went 3-2 on the day, winning the fifth-place match by medical forfeit over Sam Schuyler of Buffalo. Pelham opened with a 3-1 victory over Michigan's Jackson Striggow, and then downed Jake Walker of Ohio, 6-3. Pelham lost on a 21-5 technical fall to Kollin Moore of Ohio State, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 197 in the country, and then dropped a 7-3 decision to eighth-ranked Christian Brunner of Purdue.

"Moore was an NCAA finalist last year and Pelham lost to the Purdue guy and they've had some battles," Borrelli said. "I don't think Landon's ever come out on the good side of that, but he's getting closer and closer."

• Lovett, wrestling in his first collegiate tournament, defeated Nick South of Indiana, 7-5, in the title match of the Freshman/Sophomore Division at 165. He opened with a 5-1 win over Hunter Reed of Findlay, then defeated Kamal Adewumi of Ohio, and pinned Dylan Miracle of Cal Poly in 3:00 in the final.

"He won the tournament pretty convincingly," Borrelli said of Lovett. "He had a great day for a true freshman."

• Breece and Munson, both redshirt freshmen, shared third place at 149 in the Freshman/Sophomore Division. Breece came back from a 3-1 loss to Luke Baughman of Indiana to finish 5-1 on the day. He pinned Brad Paquette of Olivet in 2:05; topped Aaron Galef of Purdue, 8-0; posted a pin in 1:26 of Jarrett Thorne of Olivet; scored a 9-0 major-decision win over Tyler Greer of Pitt; and then defeated Baughman, 7-2, to earn a spot in the third-place match with Munson. Breece and Munson did not wrestle the match because Breece had reached his daily limit of six matches.

Munson posted back-to-back technical-fall wins, the first 18-2 over Levi Jones of Ashland and the second 21-3 over Olivet's Thorne, to open the tournament. He dropped an 8-7 decision to Legend Lamer of Cal Poly and then posted a 7-6 victory over Eddie Bolivar of Indiana to reach the third-place match.

• Cushman scored a 13-4 major-decision victory over David Crawford in the third-place match at 184 to complete a 3-1 tournament run. He opened with a 2-0 win over Mark Trifelos of Findlay and then lost, 8-2, to Jesse Quatse of Penn. He defeated Lars Schaefle of Buffalo, 6-5, to reach the third-place match.

• Hubbard went 4-2 on the day, dropping a 7-5 (SV-1) decision to Hunter Keman of Pitt in the third-place match. Hubbard opened with a 6-0 win over Mark Williams of Ohio and then lost, 5-3, to Indiana's South. He then defeated Levi Six of Davenport, 4-0; and Hayden Lohrey of Purdue, 2-1. He advanced to the consolation final when his opponent, Miracle of Cal Poly, injury defaulted in the semifinal match.

• Dallwitz took an 8-6 victory from Tyler Stein of Ohio State to open the tournament, and then dropped an 11-3 decision to Buffalo's Samuel Mitchell. He lost to Keigan Yuhas of Findlay, 6-3, and won by forfeit in the fifth-place match over Austin Cooley of Pitt.

• Pauwels finished 4-2 in his first tournament wrestling at heavyweight. He opened with an 8-1 victory over William Leonard of Buffalo, then dropped a 2-1 decision to Samuel Aguilar of Cal Poly. Pauwels then posted consecutive victories over Noah Price of Ohio, 5-2; over Lance Clapp of Mott Community College, 3-2; and over Mitchell Bischoff of Akron, 3-2. He dropped his final match, 2-0, to Greg Hagan of Indiana.