The Central Michigan wrestling team goes into the two-day Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships at Ohio's Convocation Center as the favorite after a 12-4 dual-meet season including a 7-0 mark and a first-place finish in the MAC West.
CMU, which is ranked 23rd in the InterMat dual meet national poll, won 14 of 15 MAC Championships titles from 1998-2012. That streak was followed by a number of second- and third-place finishes after Missouri joined the league in 2013 and proceeded to win nine consecutive crowns through 2021.
The Tigers have left the MAC for the Big 12 and the Chippewas are right where they have been so many times in legendary coach Tom Borrelli's three-plus decades in charge of the storied program.
The Chippewas go into the tournament with two defending champions and they are seeded No. 1 in three weight classes. CMU is seeded in the top four in seven of the 10 weight classes.
"You have to show up and perform," Borrelli said. "Nobody's going to give you anything; it's not going to be easy. Our conference is pretty balanced in just about all the sports. You just have to perform."
MAC supremacy is important to the Chippewas, and ultimately, that leads to berths in the NCAA Championships. The champion in each weight class advances to the NCAA, scheduled for March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Additional qualifying spots are at stake in most of the weight classes, and the number per class varies based on the collective strength of the league in a particular weight class.
Matt Stencel and Dresden Simon headline a strong CMU lineup that won most of its MAC duals rather handily.
Stencel, who wrestles at 285 pounds, will vie for his record fifth MAC individual title, a situation that resulted in an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to COVID. North Carolina State's Hayden Hidley will go for his fifth ACC title this weekend. Stencel and Hidley could become the first college wrestlers to capture five league titles.
Stencel is winding down a magnificent career during which he has twice earned All-America honors, has posted a remarkable 128-34 career record, recorded a program-record 72 pins, and has gone 40-2 against MAC wrestlers, winning his last 34 consecutive league matches.
Simon (141), likewise, is at the end of an outstanding career during which he has amassed a 104-55 career mark and is seeking his third consecutive league crown and his third straight NCAA Championships berth.
Stencel and Simon are seeded No. 1 in their respective weight classes as is teammate Johnny Lovett (157), a redshirt sophomore who last March finished third at the MAC Championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Stencel is ranked eighth nationally in a stacked weight class, while Simon is 12th, and Lovett is 17th.
One other Chippewa, Corbyn Munson, is ranked nationally (33). He is seeded fifth at 149. The weight class has a MAC-high five national qualifying spots.
CMU's Brock Bergelin (125) and Aaron Bolo (197) are seeded second in their respective weight classes, while Bret Fedewa (174) is seeded third, and Tracy Hubbard (165) is fourth.
Bergelin, Fedewa and Bolo are all in their final year with the Chippewas and have logged a good number of matches in their respective careers. That said, it is the first time that both Bergelin and Bolo will wrestle in the pressure-cooker of the MAC Tournament – with an NCAA berth at stake – and it marks the second time, and first since 2019, that Fedewa will step onto the mat on the league's biggest stage. The MAC has just one qualifying spot at 125 and at 197 and two at 174.
"Even though we have older guys, it's not like they're that experienced in this," Borrelli said.
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March 03, 2022 at 09:23PM
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Chippewa Wrestlers Eye Return To Top Spot In MAC - Central Michigan University Chippewas
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