The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition -Thursday, September 6, 1990- Pag5 WOLVERINES DROP FROM UPPER ECHELON Wrestlers slip by Jeff Sheran Daily Sports Writer The Michigan wrestling team ranking slipped con- Fritz Lehrke,1 siderably last season, finishing 31st nationally, as op- January, andi posed to 5th in 1989. Half as many Wolverines quali- who wrestled fied for the national tournament as did the previous sea- However, Go son, and none of the four achieved All-American status. standout Sam) Michigan (6-2 in the Big Ten, 11-4 overall) Amine's to maintained a strong showing in dual meet competition, rolled around, and held a No. 8 national ranking at the end of the dual seed for the B season. Indiana, which placed sixth in the nation, every seeded handed Michigan its first home defeat after 25 straight Gotcher and L wins, a streak dating back to 1986. weight classes Key Michigan victories included a road win against Gilbert (134) f Northwestern, the nation's fourth-best team, 22-20. But in qual Two weeks later, the Wolverines notched wins over two Championshil higher-ranked squads, Minnesota and Iowa State. conference tout Michigan coach Dale Bahr found the upsets was rated eight especially pleasing, because it made opponents At the NCA recognize the Wolverines as a national contender, and winning round not simply a team decimated by the graduation of three and third mat All-Americans in 1989. Gotcher, who "This team seems to bend, but not break," Bahr said Spewock alsoi after the victory in Minneapolis. "Every time one of our However G big guns gets beaten, the other guys pick up the slack." in the tourna The big guns for Michigan included 190-pounder American statu to 31st the Big Ten's Wrestler-of-the-Month.for two-time All-American Larry Gotcier, 3 most of the season at 150 pounds. etcher moved up to 158 after fellow Amine injured his knee at Iowa State. ass loomed large when tournament time as Michigan lost its only would-be top ig Ten Championships. It followed that Wolverine placed as projected, with ehrke placing second in their respective s, and Justin Spewock (167) and Jody inishing fourth and fifth, respectively. ifying only four wrestlers for the NQAA ps, Michigan fell to sixth in the rnament, a disappointment for a team that th in the country for much of the season, LA's, no Wolverine advanced to the place- s. Lehrke, seeded fifth, dropped his second aches en route to an early exit, as-did held the seventh seed. The unseeded notched one victory before eliminatior. filbert, a true frosh, compiled a 3-2 record ment and fell one match short of All- us. JOSE JUAREZ/Daily Larry Gotcher, who attained All-American status twice while at Michigan, dropped his second and third round matches at the 1990 NCAA meet - preventing him from becoming a three time All-American.