If there’s one thing Kent State’s Danny Mitcheff has learned as a Division I college wrestler is that injuries happen.
So, the Elyria High grad says, why waste time worrying about them? That’s one way he was able to cope with missing time this season with an ankle injury.
“It was my left ankle,” said Mitcheff, a red-shirt sophomore. “I took a couple weeks off just to let it heal and do rehab. When I came back, I was a little cautious about how I wrestled. As it started to get better, I was able to move on, get more confident and just wrestle harder.
“While I was on the sideline, (I learned that) you’ve got to be able to keep your head straight and deal with injuries because it’s most likely going to happen. You can’t let them get to you. You’ve just got to keep doing rehab and just come back hard.”
Mitcheff has done that. The 133-pound junior will bring a
27-6 record with one pin and four major decisions into this weekend’s Mid-American Conference Tournament at Kent State.
Kent has its eye on taking down Central Michigan. No easy task since the Chippewas have won the last six MAC Tournament titles. The Golden Flashes (14-5, 4-1 MAC) were ranked 20th in the nation before a 25-9 loss to Central Michigan on Feb. 22. They’re now No. 21.
The Chippewas (16-2, 5-0) were ranked fourth in the country at the time and are now second in the NWCA/InterMat Division I poll, trailing only the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Mitcheff, who is ranked 19th in his weight class, can draw on some success from that last meeting, having handed Central’s Conor Beebe a 5-3 defeat.
He’s making no promises about this weekend, however, except he’ll be giving it his all.
“For me, you can expect me to wrestle hard, that’s for sure, just wrestle and do my best,” Mitcheff said. “Whatever happens happens from there. Our team’s been doing really good this year. We’re looking at competing with them at the MAC. It’ll be close. We could take it, but we’re going to need a little bit of luck.”
The comfort of wrestling at home should be a bonus, Mitcheff said.
“It’s a definitely a huge benefit,” he said. “I could come home to my apartment to rest after the tournament and be real comfortable. I’m close to work out if I need it to lose weight. It’s a good experience. It happens once every six years, I think, so it’s definitely cool that it’s home this year.”
Last year, Mitcheff went 3-1 and finished second at the MAC Tournament, earning a wild-card berth to the NCAA Tournament in the process. He then went 2-2 at the NCAA Tournament in Auburn Hills, Mich.
After a first-round bye, Mitcheff wrestled against top-ranked Nick Simmons of Michigan State. Though Simmons earned the 13-2 victory, Mitcheff was not deterred. In wrestlebacks, he recorded an 8-4 decision over Tyler Dillashaw of Cal State-Fullerton and advanced one more round with a 9-7 victory against Zach Tanelli from Wisconsin. Mitcheff was finally eliminated when he dropped an 8-2 decision against Old Dominion’s Christian Staylor.
“I went 2-2 and got some good experience down there,” Mitcheff said. “It was cool just going down there as a red-shirt freshman and it gave me a lot of confidence for this year.”
As for the MAC, Mitcheff knows it won’t be easy to duplicate last year’s success.
“I’ve learned that it’s a hard tournament because you’ve wrestled all the guys before,” Mitcheff said. “We know what each other has — shots or whatever. You have to go into the MAC Tournament and you’ve got to have a good tournament. You’ve seen all of them before so you’ve just got to go with your best game going into the tournament.”
The confidence Mitcheff gained helped him improve on last season, in which he went 22-15 with one pin and four decisions. He went 11-6 in dual matches and 4-1 against MAC competition during the regular season.
“It’s been real fun,” Mitcheff said of this season. “I started off doing pretty well. I started off better than last year, that’s for sure.
“I wouldn’t say it made me train harder because I’ve always trained hard. I learned from the NCAAs that I have to be a little bit stronger and work on more of an offensive attack.”
He’ll keep his prematch routine the same, however.
“The only thing I did was just say a prayer,” Mitcheff said. “I’ve been doing that for a long time, pretty much every time I go out.”

Jones helps Walsh

Avon Lake native and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School graduate Corey Jones led the Walsh University Cavaliers to a 25-4 record and a 12-2 mark in American Mideast Conference play.
The Cavaliers defeated the Malone College Pioneers in the AMC North/South Championship game Feb. 26. By beating Malone, Walsh clinched an NAIA Division II Tournament berth and did not have to enter AMC Tournament play. Malone was given the No. 1 seed, but fell to Cedarville in the championship.
Jones is second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.7 points per game, a number that jumps to 15.1 per game in league play. Jones has handed out 52 assists against 21 turnovers and has 21 steals.
A big reason for his scoring prowess is his ability to shoot the basketball effectively. Jones, a
6-foot-3 guard, shoots 87.5 percent from the line, 53.4 percent from the field and 57 percent from 3-point land (85-149).

News and notes

Chad Szalay (Clearview) scored 19 points to lead Heidelberg College to just its third appearance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament with an 83-75 victory over Capital University in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament final.
Szalay, a second-team All-OAC selection, and Heidelberg travel to Centre College for a first-round game against Ohio Wesleyan University, champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference.
• An eight-point loss may have ended the season for the Notre Dame College women’s basketball team, but it was still a memorable year for Avon Lake graduate Molly Baker.
The Ohio Wesleyan transfer started all 30 games for the Falcons (23-7) and was second on the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game. Baker, who played in 996 minutes, was also second in rebounds (6.1) and led the Falcons with 80 steals.
Contact Matt Florjancic at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

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