The Chippewas provided plenty of both on Friday in winning seven of 10 matches en route to a 28-9 Mid-American Conference dual victory over Old Dominion at McGuirk Arena.
The 17th-ranked Chippewas improved to 4-2, 2-2 MAC. They host Northern Illinois in a league dual on Sunday (2 p.m.). Old Dominion is 4-9, 1-5.
Senior Austin Severn put the exclamation point on the victory with a second-period pin of 14th-ranked Kevin Beazley at 197 pounds, the final match of the night.
“That's huge for me, for my confidence and whatnot, for the MAC and the seedings,†said Severn, who is ranked 18th. “It's definitely a win I needed to get.â€
The Chippewas also got a 16-1 technical fall victory from Colin Heffernan at 157, and major decision wins from Brent Fleetwood (125) and Justin Oliver (149). CMU's Corey Keener (133), CJ Brucki (174) and Newton Smerchek (HWT) won their respective matches by decision.
The Chippewas recorded 18 takedowns to Old Dominion's six, and they had three near-falls while the Monarchs had none.
“There's always things you can do better,†CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. “I felt like we were a little lethargic in a couple matches. I felt like they beat us back to the center a lot.
“You're always looking for those things, you're always looking for attitude and effort, just body language and those things tell you a lot about conditioning and what you need to work on. There's some things we can improve on in that area, but for the most part, when we're attacking and trying to score points, we're getting more efficient. And that's important.â€
The Chippewas' three losses – Mason Smith (141), Logan Parks (165) and Jordan Ellingwood (184) – each came by two points and all three of those matches were very competitive and down to the wire.
“Mason Smith's right in his match, Logan Parks is right in his match, Ellingwood's right in his match,†Borrelli said. “We were competitive and that's what you're looking for.â€
Severn had lost his one previous match with Beazley, 9-4, at the Midlands Championships in late December. On Friday, Severn trailed, 2-1, in the second period and evened the match with an escape. He then took down Beazley, a junior and an NCAA qualifier last season, and finished him with a cradle.
“He out-wrestled me that match,†Severn said of the December bout. “I kind of had a feel for what he was going to do and I knew I had to get moving there in the second (period). I kind of had a slow first period and I knew I had to open up in the second.
“I worked a lot more on bottom, getting away, more movement on bottom. … I've really been working on that.â€
Said Borrelli: “I was real happy for Austin. That's a big win for him. He was wrestling a real quality opponent and he's behind and figures out how to get to a front headlock and turns that into a cradle. Real important for Austin. He needs that.â€
Results:
125: Brent Fleetwood, (CMU) major dec. Steven Simpson, 10-2
133: Corey Keener (CMU) dec. Alex Madrigal, 6-0
141: Kevin Budock (ODU) dec. Mason Smith, 3-1
149: Justin Oliver (CMU) major dec. Michael Hayes, 12-4
157: Colin Heffernan (CMU) tech. fall Shane Jones, 16-1, 6:09
165: Seldon Wright (ODU) dec. Logan Parks, 5-3
174: CJ Brucki (CMU) dec. Antonio Agee, 8-5
184: Jack Dechow (ODU) dec. Jordan Ellingwood, 3-1
197: Austin Severn (CMU) fall Kevin Beazley, 4:57
HWT: Newton Smerchek, CMU, dec. Will Hilliard, 4-1
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