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Post by ssentes on Sept 26, 2008 20:09:26 GMT -5
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Post by ssentes on Oct 1, 2008 19:29:14 GMT -5
Sports
On Schedule: Five home dates highlight wrestling lineup
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:01 AM EDT
By JIM LAHDE
Sun Sports Editor
The upcoming collegiate wrestling season is still sitting out there on the horizon, a good five weeks away.
And as of now the Central Michigan University wrestling team is still waiting to officially open the preseason per NCAA rules and regulations.
While there are still lots of unknowns going in there is one item that is known and it is that the 2008-09 season is going to be a very difficult one for the Chippewas.
Over the course of the last couple of weeks the Chippewas' season schedule was released. And in short it reads like a who's who of Division I wrestling.
"We're going to be facing some pretty good teams this year," said CMU head coach Tom Borrelli, who's team finished tied for seventh nationally in 2007-08. "We're going to go to some different places but we'll still be wrestling against good teams."
As it stands CMU, which won its seventh straight Mid-American Conference Championship crown and 10th-straight MAC regular-season title in 2008, opens at the Oklahoma Gold Classic in Brockport, N.Y. on Nov. 8.
The Chippewas will compete against three or four top-20 teams in this tournament in Hofstra, Edinboro, Army and Oklahoma.
From there CMU will host it's annual Intrasquad meet on Nov. 16 before hitting the road for the next nine weeks.
During this lengthy road trip the Chippewas will take on No. 1 Iowa as well an numerous other highly-touted programs ranging from Michigan to Michigan State to Bloomsburg to Pittsburgh.
Moreover CMU will also compete at the always-tough Midlands tournament as well as the Virginia Duals.
All in all the road will be tough for Borrelli and his team during the initial two months of the season, yet also equally necessary in numerous ways.
The Chippewas will open the home slate on Jan. 22, 2009 against EMU.
From there they will host Nebraska and Virginia Tech in a triangular on Jan. 25 before welcoming in Buffalo on Jan. 31 and Old Dominion on Feb. 1.
CMU then closes the regular season out with three of its final four meets on the road.
The home finale could be huge though as Kent State, which might be favored to win the MAC this season, comes a calling on Feb. 19.
"I'm excited about our home schedule because we have five really quality home dates," said Borrelli. "Old Dominion is one of the best programs in the Colonial Athletic Conference and Nebraska finished fourth last season. Our match with Kent State could very well be for the MAC (regular-season) title."
As a whole the Chippewas were tough as nails one year ago as they climbed the national rankings to the No. 2 spot before finishing tied for seventh at nationals.
As a dual meet team they also finished ranked No. 2 in the country.
However they do lose a good number of talented grappers, including four All-Americans from a year ago. Replacing the likes of Brandon and Christian Sinnott won't be easy.
Additionally national finalist Wynn Michalak and heavyweight Bubba Gritter have been mainstays for years.
"It's going to be fun in that the experience we had in the past few years isn't there," said Borrelli. "We have some solid individuals but we also have some inexperienced guys around them."
Of the 10 spots in the lineup the Chippewas return five national qualifiers and one All-American. Yet having five starting spots up for grabs opens up numerous opportunities and an equal amount of question marks.
To Borrelli it's all about getting for the postseason and this year's schedule should do just that.
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