The Echo

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jason Kile A pretzel, anyone?: Cody Cleveland, who is ranked 13th nationally at the 141-lb. weight class, resists a hold by Central Michigan's Eric Kruger, who is ranked 11th. Cleveland would go on to lose the match 7-2. The Mocs lost the match overall 26-11, but are anticipating both the SoCon Championships and the NCAA Championships later this semester. They have one more regular season match this weekend against UNC-Greensboro at McKenzie Arena.

After a surprising win over a ranked team early in the season, the wrestling Mocs have had a rough time with opponents ranked in the top ten this season.

No. 5 Central Michigan visited the Mocs this past Sunday and snapped their five-game winning streak in a convincing fashion. Central Michigan, who won 26-11, has a six game winning streak of their own.

The feeling was a familiar one for the upperclassmen on the team. The same Central Michigan team snapped the Mocs 11-game winning streak last year.

This year, the Mocs, 10-6, struggled heavily with a 14-2 Central Michigan team who had a twelve point lead against Chattanooga before the Mocs put up its first points of the night.

"We do not shy away from the top teams in the nation," Chris Bono, head coach of the wrestling team, said. "We will have to wrestle the best guys at the NCAAs anyway and the competition will serve us well at the end."

The Mocs did make it easy on themselves. Central Michigan took the first two matches at the 125-lb. division and the 133-lb. division because of forfeit.

Chattanooga's first points of the night came when 17th-ranked Joey Knox, a sophomore, scored an 8-6 decision against CMU's Nathaniel Holt in the 149-lb. weight class.

In the next match, Chattanooga senior Seth Garvin scored a 10-8 win against Steve Brown in the 157-lb. weight class, giving the Mocs back to back wins.

Central Michigan would then go on to continue its dominance, winning four of the last five matches.

Continued...

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