Stencel Joins Exclusive Club With 4th MAC Title

Saturday, February 27

Trenton, N.J.

12 p.m.

Central Michigan University

MAC Championships

2/27/2021 9:13:00 PM | Wrestling

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Hildebrandt, Simon repeat as league champions; Chippewas finish second

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

TRENTON, N.J. – An historic accomplishment for Matt Stencel, three individual champions, and a team runner-up finish for the Central Michigan wrestling team.

Yes, it could have been better – it can almost always be better – but all in all, a good showing once again by the Chippewas at the Mid-American Conference Championships.

Stencel, a CMU senior, became the ninth wrestler in Mid-American Conference history to win four individual league titles when he defeated Rider's Ethan Laird, 7-2, in the final at 285 pounds on Saturday at Cure Insurance Arena.

Stencel, who is ranked fourth nationally by flowrestling.com and is a two-time All-American, joins Wynn Michalak (2005-08) and Ben Bennett (2010-13) as the Chippewa wrestlers to have won four league titles.

"It was extremely hard this year (for Stencel), I thought," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "That was the toughest weight class in the conference, I thought, by far. You had two top-10 guys – plus him – and I think eight of the guys in that weight class are ranked in the top 33 (nationally).

"Just to navigate that this year, there was a lot of pressure on him; he didn't act like it, he didn't wrestle like it, but anytime you've got a target on your back like that it isn't easy.

"I didn't say a whole lot to him. I think he just knows what he has to do; he has a lot of confidence in himself. I think he likes competing, he likes being in those situations and that's what you want from your athletes."

CMU's Drew Hildebrandt (125) and Dresden Simon (141) repeated as champions in their respective weight classes, joining Stencel in leading CMU to a runner-up finish behind fifth-ranked Missouri, which claimed its ninth-consecutive MAC title with a record 188.5 points.

Stencel, Hildebrandt and Simon are headed to the March 18-20 NCAA Championships in St. Louis and will be joined by teammate Johnny Lovett, a redshirt freshman who placed third at 157 pounds.

The Chippewas collected 129 points to finish as the conference runner-up for the second-straight year. CMU, which is ranked 21^st, entered Saturday one-half point ahead of third-place Rider, the host team which came into the tournament ranked 25^th. The Broncs finished with 120.5 points.

Closing the Deal
Hildebrandt posted a 6-1 win over Noah Surtin of Missouri in the title match at 125, while Simon won on a 12-5 decision in the 141 championship over McKenzie Bell of Rider.

"The thing about Drew is we had 10 guys in the placing round and (Surtin) wasn't an easy opponent," Borrelli said. "For him to get us started the way he did -- he kind of dominated the match. Even though it was only 6-1 I don't think the guy really had a chance to score a point unless Drew decided to cut him. He got us started on a good note and give us momentum."

Simon earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the 2020 MAC Championships as he ripped through the competition. He wasn't quite as dominant this weekend in Trenton, but he was plenty good enough. He recorded a pin and a major decision, and his closest match was an 8-4 win in the semifinals.

"Dresden went out and bombed (Bell) three times with double legs (takedowns)," Borrelli said.

Finishing Strong
The Chippewas finished on a very strong note, winning all 10 of their matches in the final session. The placing matches in each weight class were contested simultaneously on adjoining mats.

Hildebrandt got it started with his win, and then Drew Marten (133) won his seventh-place match before Simon captured his title. The Chippewas collected three firsts, two thirds and five seventh places. All of those wins lifted CMU past Rider and into second place.

"It would have been easy for our guys to get real down on themselves and just kind of fold up, but they didn't," Borrelli said. "We came back and we won every placing match that we had. That just shows a lot of resilience.

"It was great to have three champions obviously, but just to see everybody kind of rally around each other and fight for that (team) second place and win the next-best thing, do the best you can."

Lovin' It
Lovett, who was seeded sixth, continued his season-long trend of improvement.

His lone loss in the tournament came in the semifinals on Friday to Missouri's Jarrett Jacques, a two-time national qualifier. Lovett came back on Saturday to defeat Michael Petite of Buffalo, 13-9, and in the third-place match he posted a 10-2 major-decision win over Peter Pappas of Edinboro to punch his ticket to the nationals.

"I think he was very disappointed with taking third and that's what we want, we want people who want to be champions," Borrelli said. "I get the feeling that he's going to learn from that. He's a special talent. We've got to really work with him on honing that talent, but he's pretty special. He's got a ton of ability – a lot to work with."

Cramer Close
Alex Cramer, a sophomore in his first season at CMU after transferring from Old Dominion, pinned Kolby Ho of Clarion in 6:50 in a consolation semifinal at 165 and then downed Riley Smucker of Cleveland State, 4-3, in the third-place match.

Cramer, who was seeded fifth, took on 165 runner-up Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois in a true-second place match with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championships. Olejnik defeated Cramer, 9-0.

Cramer placed eighth last season at the MAC Championships at 174 pounds while wrestling for Old Dominion.

"(Cramer) hurt his knee a little bit in the third-place match so he was pretty limited in the true-second match," Borrelli said. "I don't think that (result is) an indication of how he wrestled in the tournament."

CMU's Drew Marten (133), Corbyn Munson (149), Jake Lowell (174), Ben Cushman (184) and Landon Pelham (197) each placed seventh.

• Marten dropped his opening match on Saturday to Aaron Schulist of SIU Edwardsville on a first-period pin and then posted a 7-2 victory over Brendon Fenton of Kent State in the seventh-place match.

• Munson took the long road to his seventh-place finish after dropping his opening bout of the tournament on Friday. On Saturday, he topped Seth Koleno of Clarion, 11-7, and then dropped a tough 5-4 decision to Wyatt McCarthy of Rider. In the seventh-place match, Munson won by forfeit over Cardeionte Wilson of SIUE.

• Lowell dropped a 3-2 decision to Mason Kauffman of Northern Illinois in his opening bout on Saturday and then rebounded to post a 15-0 technical-fall victory over Anthony Rice of Cleveland State in the seventh-place match.

• Cushman dropped a 6-4 decision to Ethan Ducca of Edinboro in his first match on Saturday and then came back to win the seventh-place match, 13-6, over Ryan Yarnell of SIUE.

• Pelham was pinned by Matt Correnti of Rider in his opening bout on Saturday and then came back to win the seventh-place match, 10-3, over Austin Stith of George Mason.