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NCAA RECAP - Bennett leads Chipps with 3rd All-American honor

By Jeff Chaney

MI Grappler Staff Writer

ST. LOUIS – The Central Michigan University wrestling team went

to this year's NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with a

young team and a little bit of uncertainty.

Of the seven the Chippewas that qualified for last weekend's finals

at St. Louis' Scottrade Center, four were first-time qualifiers, and

only one, junior Ben Bennett, was a returning All American.

When the last championship was won Saturday night, many

lessons were learned, and Bennett became the program's fifth

three-time All American, placing sixth at 184 pounds.

And even though only one Chippewa came back to the state with

an All American trophy, Central Michigan coach Tom Borelli was

pleased with how he is team performed over the three-day

tournament, but likes how the future is starting to look.

“I really feel our program is heading in the right direction,” Borelli

said. “We got some guys some valuable experience this year. We

had a really good weekend two weeks ago when we won the (Mid-

American Conference championship), I think we peaked there, and

it's hard to peak two straight weekends.”

On March 4, Central Michigan won its 11th straight MAC title, 14th in the past 15 years and 16th overall, the most in MAC history.

When the seven Chippewas showed up in St Louis to face the nation's best, the team won nine of the 25 matches

wrestled, including freshman 133-pounder Zach Horan who went 3-2 and was one win away from earning All American status, and Bennett, the former Rockford High School three-time state champion, who went 4-3 to place sixth.

In the final team standings, Central Michigan ended up in 24th place with 24 points. Penn State won its second straight national title with 143 points, followed by runner-up Minnesota and third place Iowa.

Last year the Chippewas finished in 13th place with just four qualifiers. But two of those qualifiers, 125-pounder Scotti Sentes and heavyweight Jarod Trice, earned All American status like Bennett, but took an Olympic red-shirt year this season.

So wrestlers like Horan, freshman 125-pounder Joe Roth, sophomore 141-pounder Scott Mattingly, junior 157-pounder Donnie Corby and freshman 165-pounder Mike Ottinger got some excellent experience this year competing on the sport's biggest stage.

Senior heavyweight Peter Sturgeon was the last Chippewa qualifier, and went 1-2.

Roth, who went 1-2, knows he will take a lot away from St. Louis that he hopes to use next season.

“There is always a level above where you are at,” said Roth, who prepped at Dixon High School in Dixon, Ill. “I now know what I need to work on. I wrestled at a good pace here, but got caught in positions that I wasn't familiar with. I know what I need to work on in the offseason. I need to work on more diversity in my game.”

Mattingly, who prepped at Lake High School in Uniontown, Ohio and went 1-2 this past weekend, also knows he needs some more work before he's wrestling deeper into the tournament.

“Anybody can beat anybody here,” Mattingly said. “You have to be confident in your stuff. If you wrestle like that, you'll do well. I didn't wrestle my match in my losses. Both of those guys controlled position.”

Bennett, who knows what it takes to be successful at nationals, says its more of a mindset than a physical thing that earns wins at the finals.

“We have a lot of young, tough guys,” Bennett said. “They need to expect more of themselves. They need to expect that they will get on the podium, and then on top of that podium.”

The good thing for Central Michigan fans is that the Chippewas will get Sentes and Trice back, and with the lessons learned this year by the group of young wrestlers, Central Michigan is heading in the right direction.

“We are going to need a good spring and summer of work,” Bennett said. “We get Scotti and Jared back, and we should be even better next year.”

Mattingly is already learning that Bennett was, and is ready to get back to work.

“I think our expectations need to be higher,” he said. “I you look at the teams in contention down here, Penn State, Minnesota and Iowa, their guys expect to win. We need to adopt that mindset.”

How the Chippewas did: