Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, March 7
DeKalb, Ill.
11 a.m.
Central Michigan University
vs
Mid-American Conference Championships
Three Chippewas Seeded No. 1 For MAC Championships
3/6/2020 7:03:00 PM | Wrestling
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A much bigger field that should add an awful lot of intrigue.
And, as is annually the case, Central Michigan will play a major role in how things play out.
The CMU wrestling team is set to join 14 others in the Mid-American Conference Championships this weekend at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center in DeKalb.
It's the largest field in tournament history, the result of the conference expanding to 15 teams prior to the 2019-20 season.
Still, the team to beat is Missouri, which has won the tournament every year since it joined the league as a wrestling-only member in 2013. The Tigers are ranked 23rd nationally.
"I think the tournament will be really interesting," said Tom Borrelli, the dean of MAC coaches in his 29th year in charge of the CMU program. "Obviously Missouri is the odds-on favorite. With 15 teams for the first time, there'll probably be a lot of upsets.
"I think it spreads out the points a little bit more and you won't have one team running away with all the points like we've had recently. We'll see how it plays out."
The tournament gets underway on Saturday, March 7 (11 a.m.) and concludes on Sunday, March 8 (1 p.m.). The title matches are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The Chippewas
CMU finished 8-4 in duals, including 7-2 in the MAC. The Chippewas' losses came to Missouri and at Northern Illinois. Missouri finished 8-0 in league duals (12-7 overall). CMU and NIU finished tied for second behind the Tigers in the MAC West.
The Chippewas won their final six duals.
Rider won the MAC East, going 7-1 in league duals. The Broncs' one MAC dual loss came to the Chippewas, 28-10.
In the final MAC coaches team rankings have Missouri No. 1 and the Chippewas tied with Rider for second.
Seedings
Five Chippewas are seeded, three of them No. 1, in their respective weight classes.
Two-time defending MAC champion Matt Stencel (285 pounds), Drew Hildebrandt (125) and Dresden Simon (141) are the CMU wrestlers who are seeded first. All three are juniors.
Two other Chippewas, senior Logan Parks (157) and junior Landon Pelham (197), are seeded sixth.
Hildebrandt leads the Chippewas with 28 victories (against three losses), while Stencel is 26-4 and Simon is 25-8.
Both Hildebrandt and Stencel finished 9-0 in MAC duals, while Simon went 7-2. Nationally, Stencel is ranked fourth by flowrestling.org, Hildebrandt is ranked eighth, Simon is 12th and Parks is 16th.
Stencel is third nationally with 14 pins, while Simon is tied for fifth with 10 major-decision victories. Hildebrandt's 28 wins ties him for 10th nationally. Both Hildebrandt and Stencel are riding nine-match win streaks.
Hildebrandt has posted eight pin-fall victories this season; five of them have come in his last seven matches.
Five Chippewas go into the tournament unseeded. Of those five, only Drew Marten (133), a redshirt sophomore, has wrestled in the MAC Championship. He finished fourth last season at 141.
The other Chippewas set to compete are Corbyn Munson (149), Tracy Hubbard (157), Jake Lowell (174) and Ben Cushman (184). All four are redshirt freshmen.
"Be excited for the opportunity to prove yourself," Borrelli said of his message to his younger wrestlers. "All of those guys, they've definitely improved. We'll just see how consistent they can be this weekend."
Format
Each weight class features a 16-wrestler bracket with an opening-round bye, conducted by blind draw, going to one wrestler in each class. A wrestler not receiving a bye will have to win four-consecutive matches over the two-day tournament to earn the championship.
Moving On
The MAC has been allocated 41 NCAA Championships bids from a high of six at 157 pounds to a low of two at 165. The others: 125, three; 133, five; 141, five; 149, five; 174, four; 184, three; 197, four; 285, four.
A total of 283 bids have been allocated to the seven Division I conferences, the ACC, the Big 12, the Big Ten, the EIWA, the Pac-12, and the Southern. There are 330 spots – 33 in each of the 10 weight classes – in the NCAA Championships. The remaining 47, after the allocated spots have been filled in the conference tournaments, will be doled out on an at-large basis.
Stencel, Hildebrandt and Parks qualified for the nationals a year ago. Stencel finished seventh to earn All-America honors.
And, as is annually the case, Central Michigan will play a major role in how things play out.
The CMU wrestling team is set to join 14 others in the Mid-American Conference Championships this weekend at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center in DeKalb.
It's the largest field in tournament history, the result of the conference expanding to 15 teams prior to the 2019-20 season.
Still, the team to beat is Missouri, which has won the tournament every year since it joined the league as a wrestling-only member in 2013. The Tigers are ranked 23rd nationally.
"I think the tournament will be really interesting," said Tom Borrelli, the dean of MAC coaches in his 29th year in charge of the CMU program. "Obviously Missouri is the odds-on favorite. With 15 teams for the first time, there'll probably be a lot of upsets.
"I think it spreads out the points a little bit more and you won't have one team running away with all the points like we've had recently. We'll see how it plays out."
The tournament gets underway on Saturday, March 7 (11 a.m.) and concludes on Sunday, March 8 (1 p.m.). The title matches are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The Chippewas
CMU finished 8-4 in duals, including 7-2 in the MAC. The Chippewas' losses came to Missouri and at Northern Illinois. Missouri finished 8-0 in league duals (12-7 overall). CMU and NIU finished tied for second behind the Tigers in the MAC West.
The Chippewas won their final six duals.
Rider won the MAC East, going 7-1 in league duals. The Broncs' one MAC dual loss came to the Chippewas, 28-10.
In the final MAC coaches team rankings have Missouri No. 1 and the Chippewas tied with Rider for second.
Seedings
Five Chippewas are seeded, three of them No. 1, in their respective weight classes.
Two-time defending MAC champion Matt Stencel (285 pounds), Drew Hildebrandt (125) and Dresden Simon (141) are the CMU wrestlers who are seeded first. All three are juniors.
Two other Chippewas, senior Logan Parks (157) and junior Landon Pelham (197), are seeded sixth.
Hildebrandt leads the Chippewas with 28 victories (against three losses), while Stencel is 26-4 and Simon is 25-8.
Both Hildebrandt and Stencel finished 9-0 in MAC duals, while Simon went 7-2. Nationally, Stencel is ranked fourth by flowrestling.org, Hildebrandt is ranked eighth, Simon is 12th and Parks is 16th.
Stencel is third nationally with 14 pins, while Simon is tied for fifth with 10 major-decision victories. Hildebrandt's 28 wins ties him for 10th nationally. Both Hildebrandt and Stencel are riding nine-match win streaks.
Hildebrandt has posted eight pin-fall victories this season; five of them have come in his last seven matches.
Five Chippewas go into the tournament unseeded. Of those five, only Drew Marten (133), a redshirt sophomore, has wrestled in the MAC Championship. He finished fourth last season at 141.
The other Chippewas set to compete are Corbyn Munson (149), Tracy Hubbard (157), Jake Lowell (174) and Ben Cushman (184). All four are redshirt freshmen.
"Be excited for the opportunity to prove yourself," Borrelli said of his message to his younger wrestlers. "All of those guys, they've definitely improved. We'll just see how consistent they can be this weekend."
Format
Each weight class features a 16-wrestler bracket with an opening-round bye, conducted by blind draw, going to one wrestler in each class. A wrestler not receiving a bye will have to win four-consecutive matches over the two-day tournament to earn the championship.
Moving On
The MAC has been allocated 41 NCAA Championships bids from a high of six at 157 pounds to a low of two at 165. The others: 125, three; 133, five; 141, five; 149, five; 174, four; 184, three; 197, four; 285, four.
A total of 283 bids have been allocated to the seven Division I conferences, the ACC, the Big 12, the Big Ten, the EIWA, the Pac-12, and the Southern. There are 330 spots – 33 in each of the 10 weight classes – in the NCAA Championships. The remaining 47, after the allocated spots have been filled in the conference tournaments, will be doled out on an at-large basis.
Stencel, Hildebrandt and Parks qualified for the nationals a year ago. Stencel finished seventh to earn All-America honors.
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