Saturday, March 7
DeKalb, Ill.
11 a.m.
Central Michigan University
vs
Mid-American Conference Championships
CMU''s Dresden Simon flexas after a technical-fall victory on Saturday at the MAC Championships in DeKalb, Ill.
Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf
Three Chippewas Will Wrestle For MAC Titles
3/7/2020 10:26:00 PM | Wrestling
CMU second after day one of league championships
DeKALB, Ill. – An awful lot of good, a dash of some not-so-good.
And a chance, still a chance, for the Central Michigan wrestling team to make a run at the team title at the Mid-American Conference Championships at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center.
Three Chippewas – Drew Hildebrandt (125 pounds), Dresden Simon (141) and Matt Stencel (285) – went unbeaten on Saturday on the first day of the tournament and will wrestle for the title in their respective weight classes on Sunday.
They are three of seven Chippewas still alive in the tournament. CMU's Drew Marten (133), Logan Parks (157), Jake Lowell (174) and Landon Pelham (197) are in the consolation bracket in their respective weight classes.
The Chippewas collected 86 points and stand in second place behind No. 23 Missouri, the seven-time defending MAC champion. The Tigers have 112.5 points. Host Northern Illinois (67.5) is third in the 15-team field.
It will take some doing for CMU to run down Missouri, but it is possible.
"To catch them we're going to have to be perfect and they're going to have to falter a little bit," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "That's all there is to it.
"There's highs and lows in any tournament. I wouldn't say I was really happy because there's certain things you wish we would have done a little better. And then there's some things that we did that were pretty darned good, actually amazing.
"We're competitive. We've had a pretty good tournament, but there's spots where we could have been better."
Highlights
Two of the biggest Chippewa highlights came from sophomore Jake Lowell and Corbyn Munson, a redshirt freshman.
Lowell (174) entered the tournament with a 5-15 record and was unseeded. He opened with a 2-1 upset of eighth-seeded Logan Stanley of Ohio, and then pulled off a stunner, a 13-5 major-decision victory over Edinboro sophomore Jacob Oliver, the No. 1 seed in the weight class and who is ranked 13th nationally by flowrestling.org and is now 24-5 on the season.
"He was probably the surprise of the tournament up until now," Borrelli said of Lowell, who dropped a 9-4 decision to Jared Siegrist of Lock Haven in the semifinals.
Munson, who was seeded eighth, pinned Aaron Coleman of Bloomsburg in his opening bout. It was Munson's third pin of the season and his first since Nov. 17.
In the Finals
Hildebrandt, Simon and Stencel were seeded No. 1 and lived up their seed, mostly in impressive fashion.
• Simon opened with a 3-2 win over Nate Hagan of Edinboro and then posted a 14-5 major-decision victory over Rider's Peter Lipari, an NCAA qualifier last season. In the semifinals, Simon scored an 18-3 technical fall of Missouri's Grant Leeth, an All-American and the MAC champion at 149 in 2018.
"He teched a returning All-American which doesn't happen very often," Borrelli said.
• Hildebrandt received a first-round bye and then scored a 4-0 win over Tomas Gutierrez of Kent State. He then posted an 11-2 major-decision win in the semifinals over Missouri's Cameron Valdiviez, the No. 4 seed.
• Stencel opened with a pin in 3:44 of Old Dominion's Jacob Bullock, and then posted a 13-1 major-decision victory over Cleveland State's John Kelbly. Stencel then defeated Rider's Ryan Cloud, 6-1, in the semifinals.
Stencel is ranked fourth nationally, Hildebrandt is eighth, and Simon is 12th.
In Sunday's finals, Stencel will face No. 2-seed Jon Spaulding of Edinboro; Simon is set to battle Evan Cheek of Cleveland State, also the No. 2 seed; and Hildebrandt will face Old Dominion's Kilian Cardinale, the third seed.
Stencel is vying for his third-consecutive MAC title; Hildebrandt was the runner-up last season at 125; while Simon placed third a year ago at 149.
"Stay aggressive, keep doing what you're doing, and you'll be fine," Borrelli said of his advice to his trio of wrestlers who will vie for titles on Sunday.
Consolation Brackets
• Marten, a sophomore who was unseeded, drew top-seeded Tim Rooney of Kent State in his opening match and dropped a 9-3 decision. He rebounded with a pin in 1:30 of Edinboro's Tye Varndell, the seventh seed, and is set to open on Sunday against Josh Jones of George Mason.
• Parks, who is seeded sixth and is the lone senior in the Chippewa lineup, posted a 5-1 win over Kolby Ho of George Mason in his opening bout, and then dropped a 12-3 major decision to third-seeded Jarrett Jacques of Missouri. Parks rebounded to top Mason Kaufman of Northern Illinois, 2-1, and is set to wrestle Bloomsburg's Alex Carida in his first match on Sunday.
• Lowell's first opponent on Sunday will be either Kenny Moore of Northern Illinois or Alex Cramer of Old Dominion.
• Pelham, who is seeded sixth, pinned Aric Bohn of SIU Edwardsville in 1:46 in his opening bout and then downed Old Dominion's Timothy Young, 7-3. He fell in the semifinals to second-seeded Ethan Laird of Rider, 3-2. Pelham's first opponent on Sunday will be either Colin McCracken of Kent State or Benjamin Smith of Cleveland State.
Freshman Ups and Downs
Munson along with teammates Tracy Hubbard (165) and Ben Cushman (184) finished 1-2 and were eliminated from the tournament.
• After his tournament-opening pin, Munson dropped a 10-4 decision to top-seeded Brock Mauller of Missouri and then fell, 6-4, in overtime to Brock Port of Lock Haven.
• Hubbard, like Marten, drew the top seed in his weight class to open the tournament. He fell on a 19-0 technical fall to Buffalo's Troy Keller. Hubbard came back with a 10-1 major-decision win over Chase Diehl of SIU Edwardsville, and then dropped a 6-5 decision to Edinboro's Derek Ciavarro.
• Cushman opened with a 7-3 loss to fourth-seeded Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois. He bounced back with a 6-3 win over Kent State's Shane Mast, and then bowed, 3-1, to Old Dominion's Antonio Agee, the No. 6 seed.
Munson, Hubbard and Cushman are redshirt freshmen and, as evidenced by the scores in their respective final bouts, went down swinging, which is a very good sign, Borrelli said.
"We're getting better," Borrelli said. "Those guys really have improved during the year.
"You have to figure out how to win the close matches and how to have things fall in your favor. There's a lot of little things that go into that. But the other thing that's a positive, you talk about Munson, you talk about Hubbard and even Cushman – they've improved enough to where it takes a pretty good guy to beat them and it's a pretty close match. They're hustling, they're working hard, they're just not quite ready yet."
And a chance, still a chance, for the Central Michigan wrestling team to make a run at the team title at the Mid-American Conference Championships at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center.
Three Chippewas – Drew Hildebrandt (125 pounds), Dresden Simon (141) and Matt Stencel (285) – went unbeaten on Saturday on the first day of the tournament and will wrestle for the title in their respective weight classes on Sunday.
They are three of seven Chippewas still alive in the tournament. CMU's Drew Marten (133), Logan Parks (157), Jake Lowell (174) and Landon Pelham (197) are in the consolation bracket in their respective weight classes.
The Chippewas collected 86 points and stand in second place behind No. 23 Missouri, the seven-time defending MAC champion. The Tigers have 112.5 points. Host Northern Illinois (67.5) is third in the 15-team field.
It will take some doing for CMU to run down Missouri, but it is possible.
"To catch them we're going to have to be perfect and they're going to have to falter a little bit," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "That's all there is to it.
"There's highs and lows in any tournament. I wouldn't say I was really happy because there's certain things you wish we would have done a little better. And then there's some things that we did that were pretty darned good, actually amazing.
"We're competitive. We've had a pretty good tournament, but there's spots where we could have been better."
Highlights
Two of the biggest Chippewa highlights came from sophomore Jake Lowell and Corbyn Munson, a redshirt freshman.
Lowell (174) entered the tournament with a 5-15 record and was unseeded. He opened with a 2-1 upset of eighth-seeded Logan Stanley of Ohio, and then pulled off a stunner, a 13-5 major-decision victory over Edinboro sophomore Jacob Oliver, the No. 1 seed in the weight class and who is ranked 13th nationally by flowrestling.org and is now 24-5 on the season.
"He was probably the surprise of the tournament up until now," Borrelli said of Lowell, who dropped a 9-4 decision to Jared Siegrist of Lock Haven in the semifinals.
Munson, who was seeded eighth, pinned Aaron Coleman of Bloomsburg in his opening bout. It was Munson's third pin of the season and his first since Nov. 17.
In the Finals
Hildebrandt, Simon and Stencel were seeded No. 1 and lived up their seed, mostly in impressive fashion.
• Simon opened with a 3-2 win over Nate Hagan of Edinboro and then posted a 14-5 major-decision victory over Rider's Peter Lipari, an NCAA qualifier last season. In the semifinals, Simon scored an 18-3 technical fall of Missouri's Grant Leeth, an All-American and the MAC champion at 149 in 2018.
"He teched a returning All-American which doesn't happen very often," Borrelli said.
• Hildebrandt received a first-round bye and then scored a 4-0 win over Tomas Gutierrez of Kent State. He then posted an 11-2 major-decision win in the semifinals over Missouri's Cameron Valdiviez, the No. 4 seed.
• Stencel opened with a pin in 3:44 of Old Dominion's Jacob Bullock, and then posted a 13-1 major-decision victory over Cleveland State's John Kelbly. Stencel then defeated Rider's Ryan Cloud, 6-1, in the semifinals.
Stencel is ranked fourth nationally, Hildebrandt is eighth, and Simon is 12th.
In Sunday's finals, Stencel will face No. 2-seed Jon Spaulding of Edinboro; Simon is set to battle Evan Cheek of Cleveland State, also the No. 2 seed; and Hildebrandt will face Old Dominion's Kilian Cardinale, the third seed.
Stencel is vying for his third-consecutive MAC title; Hildebrandt was the runner-up last season at 125; while Simon placed third a year ago at 149.
"Stay aggressive, keep doing what you're doing, and you'll be fine," Borrelli said of his advice to his trio of wrestlers who will vie for titles on Sunday.
Consolation Brackets
• Marten, a sophomore who was unseeded, drew top-seeded Tim Rooney of Kent State in his opening match and dropped a 9-3 decision. He rebounded with a pin in 1:30 of Edinboro's Tye Varndell, the seventh seed, and is set to open on Sunday against Josh Jones of George Mason.
• Parks, who is seeded sixth and is the lone senior in the Chippewa lineup, posted a 5-1 win over Kolby Ho of George Mason in his opening bout, and then dropped a 12-3 major decision to third-seeded Jarrett Jacques of Missouri. Parks rebounded to top Mason Kaufman of Northern Illinois, 2-1, and is set to wrestle Bloomsburg's Alex Carida in his first match on Sunday.
• Lowell's first opponent on Sunday will be either Kenny Moore of Northern Illinois or Alex Cramer of Old Dominion.
• Pelham, who is seeded sixth, pinned Aric Bohn of SIU Edwardsville in 1:46 in his opening bout and then downed Old Dominion's Timothy Young, 7-3. He fell in the semifinals to second-seeded Ethan Laird of Rider, 3-2. Pelham's first opponent on Sunday will be either Colin McCracken of Kent State or Benjamin Smith of Cleveland State.
Freshman Ups and Downs
Munson along with teammates Tracy Hubbard (165) and Ben Cushman (184) finished 1-2 and were eliminated from the tournament.
• After his tournament-opening pin, Munson dropped a 10-4 decision to top-seeded Brock Mauller of Missouri and then fell, 6-4, in overtime to Brock Port of Lock Haven.
• Hubbard, like Marten, drew the top seed in his weight class to open the tournament. He fell on a 19-0 technical fall to Buffalo's Troy Keller. Hubbard came back with a 10-1 major-decision win over Chase Diehl of SIU Edwardsville, and then dropped a 6-5 decision to Edinboro's Derek Ciavarro.
• Cushman opened with a 7-3 loss to fourth-seeded Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois. He bounced back with a 6-3 win over Kent State's Shane Mast, and then bowed, 3-1, to Old Dominion's Antonio Agee, the No. 6 seed.
Munson, Hubbard and Cushman are redshirt freshmen and, as evidenced by the scores in their respective final bouts, went down swinging, which is a very good sign, Borrelli said.
"We're getting better," Borrelli said. "Those guys really have improved during the year.
"You have to figure out how to win the close matches and how to have things fall in your favor. There's a lot of little things that go into that. But the other thing that's a positive, you talk about Munson, you talk about Hubbard and even Cushman – they've improved enough to where it takes a pretty good guy to beat them and it's a pretty close match. They're hustling, they're working hard, they're just not quite ready yet."
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