And a very good weekend for Austin Severn.
Severn, CMU's 197-pounder, took a 4-3 decision from Shawn Scott on Sunday at McGuirk Arena to highlight the Chippewas' 33-6 victory over Northern Illinois in a Mid-American Conference dual.
The win lifted CMU to 5-2, 3-2 MAC, and it came two days after the 17th-ranked Chippewas dominated Old Dominion, 28-9, in another MAC dual. The Chippewas won 15 of 20 matches in the two duals, and collected 30 takedowns while allowing just eight.
“I was happy with the way we wrestled the whole weekend,†CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. “There's little things you can fix as far as hustle and effort. We're getting better technically, we're trying to be aggressive and that's what we want.â€
Severn, a senior who is ranked 18th by InterMat, scored his second-straight victory over a higher-ranked opponent on Sunday. On Friday, he pinned 14th-ranked Kevin Beazley of Old Dominion, and on Sunday he defeated ninth-ranked Shawn Scott of NIU.
“Couldn't be a bigger weekend for Severn,†Borrelli said. “He's going to move up in the rankings, but that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is what's going on in his head and that had to help him a lot confidence wise.â€
The two wins lifted Severn's record to 19-4.
“We have been working really hard in the room, just trying to score more points, staying relaxed out there and wrestling like we do in our practice room and I think it's paying off, especially in these past couple of duals,†Severn said.
The Chippewas got a technical fall from CJ Brucki (174), a pin from freshman Mason Smith (141), and a major decision win from Colin Heffernan (157) against the Huskies (6-6, 2-4).
Brucki's match ended 15-0 at 3:20 as he recorded three near-falls on NIU's Trace Engelkes, who entered Sunday's meet 13-2 on the season. Brucki led, 14-0, after the first period and ended the match with an escape 20 seconds into the second period.
Brucki had lost to Engelkes at the university nationals.
“It was good to get a nice win over him, kind of avenge that loss,†said Brucki, a junior who leads the Chippewas, along with Heffernan, with 22 wins on the season. “It was a good show of improvement.â€
The Chippewas also got decision victories from Corey Keener (133), Jordan Ellingwood (184) and Newton Smerchek (HWT). CMU's Brent Fleetwood (125) won by void.
CMU's Justin Oliver, who is ranked sixth, dropped a 7-6 decision to 12th-ranked Steve Bleise at 149.
Bleise took down Oliver in the first period and went up 6-0 with a near-fall. Oliver surrendered just one point the rest of the way, a third-period escape, as he battled to get back in the match.
Trailing 7-4 in the third period, Oliver got a takedown with 3 seconds remaining to draw to 7-6.
“Justin took a shot (in the first period), being aggressive, maybe over-aggressive but that's alright,†Borrelli said. “It' hard to peck your way back. I know Justin is really, really upset, but he fought the whole time. That's all you can ask.â€
The Chippewas host 15th-ranked Michigan on Thursday (7 p.m.) in a nonconference dual.
“I'm happy with the way we're trying to execute the technique we're working on,†Borrelli said. “We'll learn a lot when we wrestle Michigan. I felt like we learned a lot when we wrestled Missouri. They were ranked eighth in the country. I wish we could compete with more teams like that, but it's hard to get teams like that to come to us and we don't want to travel all the time. I think you learn a lot from those matches.â€
Results:
125: Brent Fleetwood (CMU) won by void.
133: Corey Keener (CMU) dec. Alijah Jeffery, 7-2
141: Mason Smith (CMU) pinned Anthony Rubino, 2:21
149: Steve Bleise (NIU) dec. Justin Oliver, 7-6
157: Colin Heffernan (CMU) major dec. Caden McWhirter, 9-1
165: Shaun'Qae McMurtry (NIU) dec. Logan Parks, 4-0
174: CJ Brucki (CMU) tech. fall Trace Engelkes, 15-0, 3:20
184: Jordan Ellingwood (CMU) dec. Bryce Gorman, 4-1
197: Austin Severn (CMU) dec. Shawn Scott, 4-3
HWT: Newton Smerchek (CMU) dec. Caleb Gossett, 2-0
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