Hildebrandt becomes All-american once again
If it’s the end for Drew Hildebrandt, it’s a pretty darned good way to go out.
If it’s not, and if he opts to return to Central Michigan for one more year, the goals and expectations will be sky high. And that’s a pretty darned good way to go into a wrestling season.
Hildebrandt finished fourth at 125 pounds at the NCAA Championships, closing the ultimate event in college wrestling on Saturday at the Enterprise Center with a 5-3 loss to Minnesota’s Patrick Mckee in the consolation final.
Hildebrandt, who was seeded fourth in the tournament, reached the third-place match with Mckee by defeating second-seeded Sam Latona of Virginia Tech, 5-4, on Saturday morning.
It marked the second-consecutive year that Hildebrandt earned All-america honors. He was named an All-american in 2020 by the National Wrestling Coaches Association when the national tournament was canceled because of COVID. He qualified for the nationals in 2019 but did not place.
Proving it on the mat this year was gratifying, Hildebrandt said.
“There’s one thing I’ve definitely taken from the sport and that’s to be grateful for every time you’re wrestling,” he said. “I’m glad that they (chose) All-americans last year, but this tournament’s fun. It’s a grind, but it’s fun.
“You have great memories getting to wrestle here and participate in it. I’ve been going to it since I was in high school and always dreamed about being in it, always thought that would be so cool, and then all of a sudden, I’m a semifinalist. It’s just awesome. I had a great tournament; it was fun.”
Hildebrandt went 4-2 in the tournament. He fell to top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Spencer Lee of Iowa, 110, on Friday night in a nationally televised semifinal match. That dropped him into the consolation bracket where he outlasted Latona, winning on a riding-time point.
He fell into a 2-0 deficit against
Mckee in the third-place match and then tied it with a second-period takedown. Mckee scored a 2-point reversal out of a restart with 12 seconds remaining in the second period to go back up, 4-2. Hildebrandt managed a third-period escape to draw to 4-3, but could not get a critical takedown and Mckee added a ridingtime point.
“Tough kid,” Hildebrandt said of Mckee. “He had a game plan. He came out hard. I was a little flatfooted in the first (period) and there were some key, crucial moments where I relaxed and I shouldn’t have, but it is what it is. Everyone’s good at this tournament, and that’s what happened.”
Hildebrandt and Matt Stencel (285) are both twotime All-americans still with coach Tom Borrelli’s CMU program. Both are seniors and will have another year of eligibility, granted by the NCAA because of COVID.
In placing fourth, Hildebrandt is the highest-placing Chippewa at the NCAA Championships since Ben Bennett in 2013 and he joins the likes of Bennett and other relatively recent greats, such as Jarod Trice, Scotti Sentes, Mike Miller and Bubba Gritter, as a multi-time All-american.
“CMU has a rich program history and to be up there with the greats like that, it’s awesome,” said Hildebrandt, who finished the season 14-3 and was ranked as high as second in the nation by at least one organization throughout the season. “I enjoyed it and I’m proud of it. Obviously (fourth is) not what I set out to do; I wanted to win it, but I’m still proud of it.”