"I thought we responded well in a real tough environment," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "They wrestle in a real small arena and their fans are real close to the mat and I thought we handled the noise and the pressure well."
CMU, which is ranked 19th, finishes the season 11-5 overall and 6-2 mark the MAC, placing third behind No. 6 Missouri and No. 17 Kent State in the final regular season standings. Old Dominion finishes 6-13, 1-7.
The meet began at the 184-pound weight class where CMU's Jordan Ellingwood dropped a close 4-3 decision to No. 11-ranked Jack Dechow.
The Chippewas took a 6-3 lead over the Monarchs with wins from Austin Severn and Jackson Lewis at 197 and heavyweight, respectively.
Both Severn and Lewis bumped up from their normal weight classes in the win. Severn began the season as CMU's starting 184-pounder and Lewis has wrestled exclusively at 197 this season.
"They shuffled their lineup a little bit like we were expecting them to so we did our best to try to match that," Borrelli said. "They really wanted their 197-pounder to wrestle Newt (Newton Smerchek), so by bumping Jackson up and putting Severn in there we were able to avoid that matchup."
Sophomore Colin Heffernan also saw action above his normal weight class, spelling Jordan Atienza at 165. Heffernan, a sophomore who has wrestled exclusively at 149 in his career, dropped a 5-3 decision to Seldon Wright.
"It was just one of those days for us where we saw an opportunity to give Atienza some rest, but also see what (Heffernan) could do for us," Borrelli said.
CMU forfeited six points at 125 pounds where sophomore Brent Fleetwood was held out of the lineup for the fifth time in the last six duals with injury. Heffernan wrestled in Thursday's victory over Wisconsin.
"After we went back and watched the way he wrestled in Thursday's match with Wisconsin we didn't feel he was quite ready," Borrelli said. "We want to make sure he's healthy enough to compete in the MAC (Championships in two weeks) and we didn't want to risk anything."
Junior Corey Keener gave the Chippewas their only bonus points of the afternoon with a first-period pin of Josh Markham at 133.
At 141, CMU's No. 14-ranked Zach Horan fell, 3-1, in overtime to longstanding rival and Chris Mecate, who is ranked 16th.
Horan and Mecate have wrestled five times throughout their collegiate careers. Mecate has won three times, Horan has won twice including a 5-3 overtime win in the title match last year at the MAC Championships.
Freshman standout Justin Oliver, ranked No. 9 according to intermatwrestle.com, continued his torrid pace claiming a 5-4 decision over Alex Richardson. It was the 13th consecutive win for Oliver, who is unranked by Amateur Wrestling News but ninth by intermatwrestle.com. Richardson, a junior, is ranked sixth by AWN.
"(Oliver) just continues to get better and does all the things we ask of him," Borrelli said. "He works hard in practice every day and has real good practice partners and he's wrestling with a lot of confidence right now."
Seniors Luke Smith (157) and Mike Ottinger (174) also picked up decisions.
The Chippewas will get a week off before competing in the MAC Championships March 5-6 at Eastern Michigan.
The NCAA Championships are slated for March 17-19 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"I'm pretty excited for the next few weeks," Borrelli said. "We want to finish the season strong and make sure we are putting the right guys in best situations to do well in the MAC tournament and the (NCAA Championships)."
Results:
125: Brandon Jeske (ODU) won by forfeit
133: Corey Keener (CMU) pin Josh Markham (ODU), 0:58
141: Chris Mecate (ODU) dec. Zach Horan (CMU), 3-1 OT
149: Justin Oliver (CMU) dec. Alexander Richardson (ODU), 5-4
157: Luke Smith (CMU) dec. Devin Geoghegan (ODU), 3-0
165: Seldon Wright (ODU) dec. Colin Heffernan (CMU), 5-3
174: Mike Ottinger (CMU) dec. Jared Swan (ODU), 5-4
184: Jack Dechow (ODU) dec. Jordan Ellingwood (CMU), 4-3
197: Austin Severn (CMU) dec. Kaleab Fetahi (ODU), 8-2
285: Jackson Lewis (CMU) dec. Austin Coburn (ODU), 5-3
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