WRESTLING The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 10, 1997 - 7B .RAPPLERS totnued fromt Page ID Despite the injuy, Lacre's loss was tore a case of a mental breakdown than physical one. "I got crushed," Lacure said."It got out f hand. I felt like I got in, but I couldn't nish. I didn't try to finish. I felt like I ist wrestled terribly. The kids not that ood, and I made him look that good." aving beat Wilmot three times me,Catrabone was confident going to the match, but was unable to find a eady groove. "I don't know if I froze up, but I did- 't wrestle as well as I had earlier on in ie tournament and as well as I wrestled im at other times, Catrabone said. Whle the captains reached the finals, Kahr was displeased with the wrestling f the underclassmen. With the excep- on of seventh-place finishes by 118- c bisophomore Chris Viola and 142- ound redshirt freshman Teya Hill, and n eighth-place finish by 158-pound ue freshman Otto Olson, the younger gpt)rs did not perform well. "It' nice to have three kids in the inals, but I'd like to have followed up 4th some of (the younger) guys in third, urtli fifth and sixth," Bahr said. Depite his seventh-place finish, 'iQIg did not perform as well as expect- dArinjured shoulder is part of the :ason why Viola did not wrestle the ay he, or Bahr, would have liked. "He'dbe the first to admit it.... Chris prtt'tough, and he downplays it a lot, ut in the last month of the year, he's hurt the shoulder) in practice," Bahr said. Bahr said he is not surprised with the :am's.fifth-place finish. Big Ten powers awQ innesota, Illinois and Penn State iake up four of the country's top five a sense I came into this tourna- ient feeling like fifth was where we voud be, based on everything that's appened," Bahr said. "We've really ought a lot of adversity this year... We've held together pretty well." The Wolverines can now look for- to the NCAA tournament, March 0-22, at Northern Iowa. Aside from acure, Catrabone and Richardson's tomatic bids, Viola will go as a wild ard and Hill as an alternate. As he prepares for nationals, atrab6ne said he will use the weekend's isappintment to motivate himself. "Third time being runner-up at the ig Thns is really starting to piss me >ff," Catrabone said. "Something's got o change. I'm not sure if it's my work :thic or if I just got to relax going out here. ow I'm the best guy at my weight n-country." I'geljng it all in perspective, Lacure s acepting his Big Ten fate, but looking orward to rewriting it at nationals. "Alln all, I can't be too uptight about t" Lare said. "All that matters is two veeks from now, anyways. When it all :ones down to it, aIdrather have him >eat me here and I'll kick his butt in iatibnals. I'll make that trade any day." ry* Blue takes in experience By Tracy Sandier Daily Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS - They came. They saw. They conquered. Well, maybe they didn't conquer. They can conquer next year. This year was about winning, but it was also about being part of the experience. For Michigan wrestlers Mat Warner, Teya Hill, Otto Olson, Joe DeGain and Frank Lodeserto, their first trip to the Big Ten wrestling championships in Minneapolis wasn't exactly perfect, but it was eventful. Warner, Olson and DeGain are true freshmen, while Hill is a redshirt freshman and Lodeserto is a sopho- more. The winner of his first match, 126- pound Warner, lost his second to the No. 2 seed, Eric Jetton of Wisconsin, while 177-pounder DeGain lost both matches. Lodeserto, at 190 pounds, separated his shoulder. Hill, at 142 pounds, wres- tled his way to a seventh-place finish, while 158-pound Olson was pinned in the consolation final for seventh place and suffered a probable pulled muscle in his shoulder or collar bone area. Due to the number of talented wrestlers in the conference, nobody was surprised at the high level of matches that took place. "I was expecting a lot of really tough competition," Warner said. "The Big Ten is one of the toughest (wrestling) confer- ences in the country. It was a great feel- ing (to win my first match). I was glad that my parents could be here and see it and that I could help contribute to team points." Not only was the competition tough, but the competition was also, for the most part, older. The young Wolverines were wrestling against juniors and seniors, wrestlers who had been there and had been to nationals before. "Mat Warner, DeGain and Otto are all true freshmen, and this is not a true freshmen tournament," Bahr said. "Physically, they're not in the same boat as some of these other kids, not maturi- ty-wise." Aside from the difficulty of the com- petition, the atmosphere surrounding the conference championships is not that of a normal dual meet, and the new guys noticed the difference. "It's really electrifying," Warner said. "When I first walked into (Williams Arena), it really got me excited. It made me think of the state finals in high school. "It was definitely an exciting experi- ence, and I'm definitely looking forward to making the trip back and hopefully then going to nationals." LSA NOW HIRING.0 LSA SUMMER ORIENTATION PEER ADVISOR POSITIONS Full time Positions Payment is room & board Plus stipend Applications available in 1255 Angell Hall Deadline to apply: Friday, March 14 Further info: Contact vireese@umich.edu JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily Despite poor performances from underclassmen, the Michigan wrestling team managed a fifth-place finish at the Big Tens. STUDY EUROPE SYRACUSE ABROAD IN STRASBOURG EUROPEAN STUDIES CERTIFICATE COUNCIL OF EUROPE INTERNSHIPS GENEROUS GRANTS & Ir A/ C C1 C" -* l