2008 Woodie Awards
Top-five recruiting class to help replace loss of accomplished seniors
By: Daniel Monson
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: Sports
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Central finished No. 7 in the country at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, and four wrestlers finished in the national top 10, achieving All-America honors. Senior 197-pounder Wynn Michalak finished second in his weight class.
However, when the season starts in November, the seven will have moved on, and a new group has the responsibility to keep up a run that has seen the Chippewas win 10 consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season titles and nine out of 10 MAC Tournament titles.
"Our guys do have really high expectations in our program because of the things that we've done nationally in the last 10 years," said coach Tom Borrelli. "We've been able to recruit some athletes that expect to win individual national championships. If you do that, that's going to place you real high in the national tournament."
And Borrelli's freshman class is one of the best in school history. Ranked as high as No. 2 in the country by W.I.N. Magazine, it features five wrestlers who boast three high school national championships.
Ben Bennett, a 174-pounder from Rockford, was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the national meet.
"They've been successful on the high school level, but there is a big adjustment, there's a big transition they need to make," Borrelli said. "I think they definitely have the talent to make that transition, but it's more of a matter of gaining some collegiate experience. Once they've got some experience under their belt, by the end of the year they could be really successful."
Borrelli said the class is joined by nine other walk-ons who each won Michigan high school state championships.
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