If Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center at Northern Illinois University proved anything, it proved his Cinderella story may be just beginning. He pinned Kent State 's Jermail Porter in the Mid-American Conference Championship finals for his 35th win of the season at the 4:23 mark of the match, giving the long shot his first MAC title.
The Bulls, led by a record-tying seven placewinners and champions Sherrell and junior Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) (133 pounds), pulled a little but of a Cinderella story of their own, finishing third with 60 points, ahead of 24th-ranked Northern Illinois. It is the highest finish for the Bulls since joining the MAC in 1998-99.
"This is an unbelievable conference," head coach Jim Beichner said. "It's so tough. Every single match through the entire weekend was just hard-fought right to the end."
Budd also claimed his first Mid-American Conference title with an injury default against Eastern Michigan 's Phillip Plowman. Budd took a 2-0 lead in the first period on a takedown and soon after, Plowman was hurt on a mat return, defaulting the match.
Senior Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) (197 pounds) came up on the short end once again in his rematch with top-ranked Wynn Michalak, 7-5. Cerminara came out firing, getting a takedown 15 seconds into the match. After a restart, Michalak was able to roll through Cerminara and get a reversal and a three-point near fall, but Cerminara responded with a reveral of his own, making the score, 5-4. Michalak got two escapes and Cerminara got one to close the scoring. With eight seconds left, it looked as if Cerminara might get a takedown, taking Michalak to the mat, but, just like the Feb. 5 showdown where Cerminara lost 3-2, once again, no points were rewarded after the flurry. The second-ranked wrestler in the nation, Cerminara did receive an NCAA wild card bid.
Sherrell did not let the previous match affect his, as the heavyweight was able to trade shots with Porter, a 6-6, 280-pound grappler, in the first period, rolling through a possible takedown.
"It almost feels better that I had to beat the Kent State kid," Sherrell said. "It would have been great to beat Bubba Gritter (the top-seed and Sherrell's only MAC loss of the year), but my whole season, I've been going against guys way bigger than me. That's, no doubt, the biggest and tallest guy I wrestled all season."
In the second period, Sherrell chose to be on top and after a stalemate, got the spread eagle grip on the Golden Flash and was able to seal the pin in 4:32.
"He's absolutely the Cinderella story that everybody hopes to have," Beichner said. "He came in and never qualified for a qualifier to get to the New York State Championships. Nobody would ever say Harold Sherrell is going to be a Division I wrestler. He's come along in such a great way. It's such a huge success story because he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
At 184 pounds, senior Garrett Hicks (Chautauqua , NY /Chautauqua Lake) closed out his career in style, beating Ohio 's Brian Cesear, 8-0, for third-place. Hicks finishes the season, 24-12.
Three other UB wrestlers, senior Cliff Smith (Merrick , NY/Calhoun) (141 pounds), sophomore Dana Gingerich (Spring Grove, PA/DeLone Catholic) (149 pounds) and sophomore Mickey Moran (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler Area) (165 pounds) placed fourth after dropping third-place matches on Saturday.
Buffalo finishes behind fourth-ranked Central Michigan , which with 102.5 points wrapped up its fifth straight championship with four first-place finishes. Kent State , ranked 25th in the final NWCA poll, took second with 75.5 points. Behind Buffalo , 24th-ranked Northern Illinois had 56.5 points, Ohio had 25.5 and Eastern Michigan had 13.5.
Budd, Cerminara and Sherrell will hit the mats at the NCAA Championships on March 16 in Oklahoma City , OK .
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