The Spartan wrestling team came out victorious for the third match in a row, beating No. 25 Central Michigan 18-14 on Saturday.
Closing their regular season with three straight wins, the Spartans now have an overall record of 8-10 (1-7 Big Ten). The match was held at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, Mich., where seventh-ranked senior heavyweight Mike McClure pinned Central Michigan sophomore Adam Robinson.
This also was McClure’s 95th career victory, which puts him into a tie for 19th on the all-time MSU wins list.
McClure recorded his eighth fall this season, which leads the team. His total of 22 falls in his career ties him for 10th-most in Spartan history with Merle Jennings and David Morgan.
MSU also came out victorious in four other weight categories, but CMU (10-10 overall) took the two first matches of the dual in their favor — the 149- and 157-pound matches.
At 149 pounds, sophomore Nick Trimble lost to Central Michigan senior Scott Mattingly, and at 157 pounds, 20th-ranked CMU sophomore Luke Smith beat MSU sophomore Roger Wildmo.
Senior Bobby Nash got the Spartans on the board with a win over Central Michigan redshirt freshman Nick Becker in the 165-pound weight class.
Extending their lead, eighth-ranked Central Michigan junior Mike Ottinger beat senior Nick Kaczanowski in the first tiebreaker at the 174-pound category.
The team then got three consecutive wins in the individual matches to put them on top. Junior 184-pounder John Rizqallah shutout CMU senior Craig Kelliher. Following Rizqallah, junior Nick McDiarmid got a victory over sophomore Jackson Lewis at 197 pounds.
CMU redshirt freshman Corey Keeners beat MSU senior Brenan Lyon at 125 pounds, but at 133 pounds, redshirt freshman Garth Yenter upset No. 11 CMU senior Joe Roth.
The dual season is now complete and the Spartans are preparing for the Big Ten Championships on March 8.
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