Page 8-The Michigan Daily-Weekend etc.-April 1,1993
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Blood, sweat, and tears.
Emotions run high at 1993 NCAA Wrestling Championships
AMES, Iowa - "Need tickets? Anyone
need tickets?"
Here was the man, standing outside of
Iowa State's 14,000-seat Hilton Coliseum,
scalping tickets to the 1993 NCAA wrestling
championships.
Scalping tickets? For wrestling?
Welcome to Iowa.
Iowans came from all over the
state to watch their beloved Iowa
Hawkeyes win their third straight
national title. They were not disap-
pointed.
These championships featured
everything the world of sports has to
offer.
There was the dynasty. The Hawk-
eyes have won the NCAA title 12 times
since coach Dan Gable took over in 1976.
"Some of our other teams -were better,"
Gable said, "but I have never been as proud
of a team as I am of this one."
There were the thrills. Every takedown,
escape, pin executed by a wrestler from
Iowa or Iowa State was met with cheers
from the packed house. When 177-pound
Hawkeye Ray Brinzer wrestled, many
spectators called out his name. Some even
round. Lindland, the top seed, had not lost
all season. Afterwards, Lindland sobbed
uncontrollably.
There were the athletes who overcame
adversity. When perennial power Oklahoma
State went on probation, there was a
mass exodus of Cowboys to
other programs. The wrestlers
had to fit into a new school, a
new program, a new life. The six
former Cowboys who competed
in Ames combined for more than
60 team points, which would
have placed them fifth. One of
those wrestlers, North Carolina's
T.J. Jaworsky, won the national
title.
There were the heartbreakers.
When Michigan's Sean Bormet lost
to Michigan State's Dan Wirnsberger
in sudden death, he stormed off the
mat and into the locker room, where
he kicked a chair and paced madly for five
minutes before finally sitting down. His
match was marred by questionable calls by
the official.
"The ref did not want me to win,"
Bormet said later. "That's all there is to it."
Some of the participants walked out of
Hilton Coliseum in a fit of rage. Some
walked out pleased with their performance.-
A select few walked out as champions.
knew his favorite move. Brinzer joined Iowa
two weeks before the championships.
There were the upsets. Boston
University's Earl Walker shocked
Nebraska's Matt Lindland 10-4 in the first
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(top left) Michigan assistant coach Joe McFarland advises Sean
Bormet before Bormet's third-place match against Michigan
State's Dan Wirnsberger. Bormet avenged an earlier loss to
Wirnsberger.
(top right) Sean Bormet mourns his defeat at the hands of
Wirnsberger.
(above) Nebraska wrestler Mike Eierman's girlfriend cheers him on.
(left) Michigan wrestler Jason Cluff shoots at Pittsburgh's Jason
Richey. Cluff defeated Richey 13-5.
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