NCAA Berths On The Line At MAC Championships

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It would take some doing for the Central Michigan wrestling team, or anybody else, for that matter, to knock off fifth-ranked Missouri this weekend at the Mid-American Conference Championships.

But that is not to suggest that there is nothing for the Chippewas and their MAC brethren to strive for. On the contrary, berths in the NCAA Championships are at stake and at the end of the day, that is the Holy Grail for a college wrestler.

The Chippewas and seven other teams will partake in the MAC Championships on Friday and Saturday at Old Dominion.

"it's been a tough year, but I think we're peaking at the right time," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "We'll see this weekend."

The Chippewas went 3-4 in MAC duals this season (5-8 overall) and finished in fifth place in the eight-team league. The league dual losses, save for the one at Missouri, were close. Certainly, some conclusions can be drawn from regular-season duals and some educated predictions made based on those results.

"A great tournament for us would probably be finishing second," said Borrelli, who may have the youngest team in the tournament with just one senior in his lineup. "And we feel like we're capable of that. After Missouri, second through eighth, I think it's wide open. But we have to wrestle well.

"I think our guys are excited about seeing how much they've improved. They're going to get to wrestle some of those guys they wrestled during the year, and it'll be for the second or third time, and seeing what type of improvement they've made."

SEEDINGS
The Chippewas are seeded first in one weight class. Not unexpectedly, that is at 285 pounds where Matt Stencel is the defending MAC champion. The sophomore from Oregon, Ohio, is 24-4 with a national-best 17 pins. He has won his last 13 matches and 20 of his last 21.

CMU sophomore Drew Hildebrandt is seeded second at 125 pounds, while Collin Lieber (174) and Jordan Atienza (184) are both seeded fourth. The Chippewas' Drew Marten (149), Logan Parks (157) and Landon Pelham (197) is each seeded fifth.

Missouri is seeded first in seven of the 10 weight classes; Old Dominion wrestlers are seeded first in the other two.

QUALIFYING SPOTS
The MAC has been allotted 27 NCAA Championships qualifying spots: Four at 125, three at 133, four at 141, one at 149, five at 157, one at 165, two at 174, two at 184, one at 197, and four at 285. A wrestler finishing at or higher in that particular weight class earns a bid to the NCAA Championships, which are scheduled for Pittsburgh March 21-24.

At-large qualifiers, based on RPI and the National Wrestling Coaches Association individual rankings, will be announced on Monday, March 11.

With the number of qualifying spots at their weight classes and based on their respective track records, Stencel and Hildebrant, who is 17-7 and has won his last six matches, appear to be near locks for NCAA berths.

Atienza (16-9), the lone senior on the Chippewa roster and a returning national qualifier, could make a legitimate run at a return trip to the nationals. In order to guarantee that, he will have to place above his seed, fourth, in a weight class that has just two qualifying spots.

Parks (19-11), the only junior in the lineup, also stands a good chance of qualifying based on the fact that he has proven himself quite capable of beating just about anybody in his weight class on any given day, including Old Dominion's Larry Early, the top seed in the tournament, who Parks defeated 4-0 in a dual earlier this season.

ON THE MAT
As everyone in the wrestling game knows, tournament championships and NCAA-qualifying spots aren't awarded on paper, but earned on the mat.

"We also feel good about our other guys," Borrelli said. "They're going to have to have great tournaments. They're not seeded to make it, but you never know. Some of those weight classes have enough qualifying spots, who knows, if we wrestle well, we can steal a spot.

"Regardless of whether someone qualifies for the national tournament or not, you want to finish the season on a high note, you want them confident going into the offseason. The biggest thing with those guys is they've gotten that experience now and they have a taste of it and they know what's expected of them going into next season."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jordan Atienza

Drew Hildebrandt

Collin Lieber

Drew Marten

Logan Parks

Landon Pelham

Matt Stencel

Central Michigan University Athletics