With mixed results, 'M' wrestlers 5th

By Jon Schwartz

Daily Sports Writer

WEST LAFAYETTE - When Ferris Bueller was taking his day off, he coined the phrase, 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Apparently, the same is true for the Michigan wrestling team.

At the Big Ten Championships held this past weekend, the Wolverines saw their emotions reaching new heights of instability.

But, for the most part, their score remained steady throughout the event, which Iowa won with 139.5 points, beating Minnesota by only seven.

Michigan drove home with a fifth place, 73-point finish heading into the NCAA Championships to be held in two weeks in Saint Louis.

But it was the way that the Wolverines earned fifth that made the tournament so interesting. After the second session on Saturday night, half of the Michigan competitors were devastated by their performances.

The others were ecstatic with their surprising successes.

By the end of the evening, Michigan was entering the second day of competition without a single wrestler in the finals.

Senior 133-pounder Joe Warren was one person crushed with his inability to advance. Facing Michigan State's Pat McNamara - the same McNamara who had beaten Warren in the finals last year at Crisler Arena - Warren lost a 10-8 semifinal decision in a match that could have gone anyway at any point.

The loss was tough for Warren - who eventually finished third in a class won by Iowa's Eric Juergens - particularly because of the now familiar opponent.

"I hate that kid," Warren said of McNamara, who has beaten him in their last six meetings. "To lose to him was even worse for me."

Damion Logan, Mike Kulczycki and Andy Hrovat, at 141, 149 and 184 pounds respectively, suffered the same fate as Warren. All three liked their chances going into the semifinals and all three were forced to accept the consolation bracket.

Most importantly, all three responded with third-place finishes.

"The last thing (Michigan coach Joe) McFarland said was 'let's get as many thirds as possible,'" Logan said of his coach's reaction to the disappointing first day. "And we got a lot of thirds."

But Michigan took plenty of positives from the meet - evidenced by the fact that, despite not having a single wrestler in the championship bracket on the last day, the Wolverines are still sending seven wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.

"I was happy with the way that we came back and wrestled," McFarland said. "I think that's a tribute to the guys realizing what the hell they're capable of performing out there."

A.J. Grant, Michigan's 125-pound true freshman, finally found his confidence again and was able to finish with a fifth-place showing.

Grant, who had struggled throughout the season in one of the Big Ten's toughest weight classes, lost to third-place finisher Leroy Vega of Minnesota.

The loss was Grant's second of the season to Vega. He lost 14-0 yesterday and 15-7 in a dual meet in February at Cliff Keen.

But on the whole, Grant said that he felt better about himself after today's fight than he has felt all season.

"I'm really happy for A.J." Warren said. "A.J. wrestled as hard as he could. Now he's going to nationals with a fifth-place finish."

Also notable was Matt Brink. Though the heavyweight suffered a disappointing loss to Michigan State's Matt Lamb, he recovered to place fifth and punch his ticket to NCAAs.

"My first matchup was against a kid that I beat four out of six times," Brink said. "I'm disappointed because I thought I'd get a win there."

But by the end, the Wolverines had turned around a devastating day and come out with one that everyone could be happy about.

While fifth-place was not what the Wolverines were hoping for, it was a sign of perseverance.

"For us to not have anyone in the finals is bad," Warren said. "Fifth with no one in the finals is good."