Ironically enough the Chippewas are strongest at both the lightest and heaviest weight classes, with two other weights in contention for All American status and at least one other that should qualify for the NCAA tournament. The upper middle weights into the lower of the heavyweights seems to be pretty bare, but nevertheless look for Central Michigan to produce up to four MAC champions.
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| 125 Drew Hildebrandt Senior Record: 105-41 NCAA: 19'NQ, 20'NQ, 21'4th MAC: 19'2nd, 20'1st, 21'1st MIDLANDS: 19'R12, 20'4th |
An article on Hildebrandt from the Chippewa website written by Andy Seddon stated the following, "ST. LOUIS – 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." With that said I'm going to treat Hildebrandt as if he IS coming back & here is what I have to say....
4th in the nation a year ago, Hildebrandt is in the royal rumble of 125 lbs'ers looking to face Iowa's Spencer Lee in the finals. As to the MAC? He'll have to contend with Luke Werner of Lock Haven who he squeaked past 3-2, as well as Willy Girard of Bloomsburg.
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| 133 Drew Marten Junior Record: 64-42 NCAA: 20'NQ MAC: 19'5th, 20'3rd, 21'7th |
Here's the deal, as of right now I see Marten finishing about 5th in the MAC. I don't know if that will be a high enough placing to secure him a spot to the NCAA's or not. I don't see him beating Derek Spann of Buffalo or Mario Guillen of Ohio. Richie Koehler of Rider defeated him 7-1 & Aaron Schulist of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville pinned him. He's going to have to turn some of these losses into wins, which I think is possible.
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| 141 Dresden Simon Senior Record: 87-52 NCAA: 20'NQ, 21'R12 MAC: 19'3rd, 20'1st, 21'1st MIDLANDS: 20'7th |
With wins over All Americans Chad Red of Nebraska 6-3, Dylan Duncan of Illinois 3-1 and Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven 18-5, there's no reason not to think that Simon himself can be an All American. With little competition in the MAC, he'll add in another conference title for the Chippewas.
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| 157 Johnny Lovett Record: 30-14 NCAA: 21'NQ MAC: 21'3rd |
With the extra year of eligibility, I think Lovett could potentially be a 4 time All American as well as a 4 time MAC champion for the Chippewas. I want to see him against Justin Ruffin of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, as well as Ben Barton of Lock Haven before I count those unhatched chickens, but I see a lot of potential in Lovett. What impresses me most about him is his ability to make improvements and adjustments in a short amount of time. Missouri's Jarrett Jacques lit him up at the MAC championships in a 14-4 major decision. Two weeks later Lovett turned that loss into a 3-2 victory. What concerns me about Lovett is that within the whacky world of collegiate wrestling, there is a lot of parity. There are wrestlers that Jordan Slivka of Ohio can't beat that Lovett can, BUT thus far Lovett has been unable to defeat Slivka. Not a good draw for him.
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| HWT Matt Stencel Record: 113-30 NCAA: 18'NQ, 19'7th, 20'NQ, 21'NQ MAC: 18'1st, 19'1st, 20'1st, 21'1st MIDLANDS: 18'4th, 19'3rd, 20'2nd |
He had a bad tournament last season. It happens. He lost a 2-1 decision to Trent Hillger of Wisconsin, who he defeated twice earlier. He's not the first person to have a bad tournament. Shane Webster Oregon had a bad tournament his junior season where he went 0-2 and the next season he came back to win the whole thing. I don't know if these wrestlers realize how fortunate they are to get a "do over" if their "senior" year didn't work out the way they wanted. Leroy Vega of Minnesota, Evan Sola of North Carolina, Witt Durden of Oklahoma, Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra, there are a lot of wrestlers who had bad tournaments their senior seasons who would love to have that year over again.
I say that Stencel comes back this season a man on a mission. Capable of in the finals Vs Gable Steveson of Minnesota. He's beating Anthony Cassioppi of Iowa and he's beaten Mason Parris of Michigan. I already know your rebuttal before I hear or read it. "Stencel beat up on Cassioppi and Parris when they were freshman, they both beat him after that." True, but I come back at you with this... Only Cassioppi and Parris are capable of getting better? Is Stencel frozen in time or something? Is he too not capable of getting bigger, stronger, more technically sound? Of course he is! Give me a break! He has 113 victories and 61 of them have been by fall. That's over 50% of his victories via putting shoulders to the mat. I may eat crow on this one come the Midlands, but as of today, I put Stencel in category of potential runner up/champ.
125 - 2nd
133 - On the Edge of Qualification
141 - All American
149 - DNQ
157 - All American
165 - DNQ
174- DNQ
184- DNQ
197 - DNQ
HWT - 2nd/Champ (Depending on where Gable Steveson is)
That's the best I can see things happening for the Chippewas this season. It's most certainly on the side of optimism in the weights where they are strong, but remember I'm going with best case scenario.
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