Squad will finally take the mat in short season
CMU wrestling finally gets to compete on the mat
Under normal conditions and in normal years they’d be about halfway through the season right now.
Too bad 2020 and 2021 are not normal, rather they’re anything but.
As it stands the 2021 NCAA wrestling season just got underway last weekend for the 21st- Central Michigan University wrestling team as it pounded Olivet 44- 0 Sunday from Mcguirk Arena.
By mid-january the Chippewas are usually in mid-season form after having competed in the Midlands in late December and having had numerous dual meets throughout late November and December.
But this year has been a bit difference because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, this season has been shortened significantly because of the pandemic as the Chippewas will compete in seven meets over the course of the next 43 days.
Usually, college wrestling season runs from November through mid-march. This year it runs from January through earlyMarch, a significant abbreviation.
“We’re happy to have a season,” said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli, who’s in his 30th year at the helm with the Chippewas. “It’s different, but the goal is the same, to get as many guys as we can to the national tournament. There’s going to be a lot more wrestling in a shorter amount of time.”
As a whole the CMU wrestling team has been practicing together since September, outside of a two-week COVID-19 forced break. Thus, the Chippewas are in good shape and ready roll.
But how will they roll?
On paper the Chippewas went 8- 4 in dual meets and 7-2 in MAC duals last year en route to a second-place finished behind only eight-time defending champion Missouri.
Drew Hildebrandt (125), Dresden Smith (141) and Matt Stencel (HWT) are all returning All-americans for the Chippewas while, in all, five national qualifiers return. Drew Marten (133) is also currently ranked in the top-20 nationally, giving the Chippewas four ranked hammers to content with.
Whether the Chippewas make some noise and make a run at the MAC title and a top-15 showing at nationals awaits to be seen, but Borrelli has done more with less during his three- decade tenure.
If the Chippewas continue to grow and improve they should be a team worth watching from here on out because Borrelli knows how to get the most out of his wrestlers, year-in and year- out.
The Chippewas travel to 12th-ranked Missouri Friday where they will take on the host Tigers and 24th-ranked Wyoming.
“We’re happy to have a season. It’s different, but the goal is the same, to get as many guys as we can to the national tournament. There’s going to be a lot more wrestling in a shorter amount of time.”
— CMU head coach Tom Borrelli