With the culmination of a season riddled with unexpected twist and turns and without a win in the Mid-American Conference, the wrestling team hopes to change its fortunes around this weekend at the MAC Championships.
"We have nothing to lose," said wrestling head coach Jim Beichner. "We had a team that was a very upper-class team that became a very young team due to injuries and illness. We dealt with a lot during the year."
This year, the MAC Championships will be held in Buffalo at Alumni Arena.
"It's nice to host (the Championships)," Beichner said. "We don't have any of the pressure of staying in the hotels. It makes a difference for us individually. Being home it makes it easier to compete. So I would say it is a positive to be home and our fans will show up to the MAC Championships to give us a needed boost."
Unlike last season's MAC Championships that were held in DeKalb, Ill., the Bulls will only have one wrestler that is considered a contender for winning an individual championship. Senior 133-pounder Mark Budd has gone undefeated this season in the conference and won the 133-pound MAC title last year. He will enter the Championships as the No. 1 seed for his weight class, and is ranked within the top 20 of all the major national wrestling rankings.
"(Budd's) our captain, our team leader and a returning MAC Champion," Beichner said. "We're not over planning. We are going for the MACs and then the NCAAs. That's our plan and our focus on the MAC Championships and then on to the next step after that. I think he's been wrestling extremely well and he seems to be feeling good about himself and his chances here in the way he's been training and competing. It looks like he's ready to go. It's good to be upbeat and that's key he looks like he's ready to wrestle.
There are only two other Buffalo wrestlers that are ranked in the MAC. Senior 184-pounder Ray Lamb and junior heavyweight Jeff Parker are both ranked fourth in the conference.
Parker made his return to the line-up in Buffalo's last dual meet against Binghamton, when he picked up a 7-4 decision. He had missed a good portion of the season with a torn PCL.
"You tear a PCL or any ligament its just doesn't feel better over night," Beichner said. "It takes weeks and weeks to heal. I worked with him personally and of course we try to rehab him and our trainers have done an excellent job. I think in a few days he'll be close to 100 percent and he'll need to be mentally. I think he'll be there and I have a good feeling that he's real hungry and wants to compete."
Regardless of how this season has gone for the Bulls, there is still an adamant feeling that they can make an impact at the Championships.
"We managed to finish the season on a winning note," Beichner said. "In 12 year I've coached, we've had 11 winning seasons. The MAC is very tough a very well balanced conference. We got nothing to lose. We'll go out there ready to fight and battle. I like to think our guys have a lot left in the tank and come in fresh and the right state of mind and ready to battle. We want to finish your season or continue the season for some guys."
Of the five opposing conference schools coming to Alumni Arena, two of them are ranked in Intermat's Top 25. The Central Michigan Chippewas are No. 5 and the Kent State Golden Flashes are currently ranked 25th in the country.
The Chippewas will be bringing five nationally ranked wrestlers with them in hopes of repeating last year's success of winning the conference title. Four of CMU's grapplers are ranked in the top 10. Bubba Gritter is the Chippewas' highest ranked wrestler as he is second in the 285-pound weight class.
Kent State and Northern Illinois also enter the Championships with nationally ranked wrestlers. Most notable for the two squads are 125-pounder Chad Sportelli for the Golden Flashes, who is 18th in the nation, and the Huskies' Johnny Galloway who ranks ninth nationally at 165 pounds.
"This is absolutely the most difficult tournament in the country to wrestle," Beichner said. "We take 19 kids to the NCAA Championships and my advice to everybody else on my team, I think Mark Budd included, is to win the tournament."
The MAC Championships start at 11 a.m. on Saturday with the quarterfinals and then the semifinals and consolation matches at 4 p.m. The championships matches start on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
