Stencel, Guillen fail to place at NCAA

Central Michigan University senior wrestler Matt Stencel (Clay) went 1-2 at the NCAA Division I national tournament and failed to place this year.

Stencel, the No. 3 seed at 285 pounds and a two-time All-American, overcame a 5-2 deficit in pinning Binghamton’s Joe Doyle, the 30th seed, with 30 seconds remaining in the match to open the tournament. At this point, Stencel was 11-0, but he would lose two straight to finish 11-2.

In his next match, Stencel dropped a 2-1 decision to Wisconsin’s Trent Hillger. Stencel took a 1-0 lead with an escape early in the second period.

He started the third period on top and managed to ride Hillger until the Wisconsin junior scored a reversal on the edge of the mat with under 35 seconds remaining. At that point, Stencel was just five precious seconds from achieving a minute of riding time, which would have given him another point. Instead, he went down 2-1 with the reversal and could not manage an escape.

“I realize it’s the NCAA Tournament, but when you’re wrestling tight matches like that, crazy stuff happens,” CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. “You can’t put yourself in those positions. You’ve got to go get the guy, you’ve got to get a takedown, you’ve got to get off the bottom when you need to; he’s 5 seconds from getting riding time and he gets reversed; he’s got 30 seconds to get out and he can’t get off the bottom.

“All of that was created because he didn’t go out and get a takedown. He had a nice single-leg up in the air and didn’t finish. Those little things make a huge difference in this tournament. He’s got to win three matches to place; that’s not easy to do in this tournament. It’s tough.”

Stencel was eliminated from the tournament the next day. Stencel dropped a 7-4 decision to Oklahoma State’s Austin Harris, the 29th seed. 

Ohio University redshirt senior Mario Guillen (Perrysburg), who was raised in East Toledo by his stepfather Joe Cantos, saw his run at the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships come to a close on Friday (March 19) at the Enterprise Center, falling in the second round of the consolaton bracket of the 133-pound weight class.

Guillen was edged by Air Force junior Jared Van Vleet in a 4-3 decision. Making his second appearance at nationals in three years, Guillen opened nationals on Thursday (March 18) by scoring an overtime takedown for a 4-2 sudden victory triumph over Oklahoma junior Tony Madrigal. He then lost to Missouri redshirt junior Matt Schmitt by a 9-0 major decision.

Guillen finished the 2020-21 season with a record of 9-5 and earned a third-place finish at 133 at the 2021 Mid-American Conference Championships last month.

Both Stencel and Guillen grew up wrestling biddy for the East Toledo Wrestling Club. Campos remains an assistant coach at Waite under head coach Russell Jennings. The Indians won a third straight Toledo City League championship this season. Stencel wrestled for Clay coach Ralph Cubberly, which won its ninth Three Rivers Athletic Conference title in 10 years this season. (— by CMU and OU SID)