WRESTLING
The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 9, 1998 - 7B
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wrestlers split weekend matches
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By Jordan Field
Daily Sports Writer
You win some, you lose some.
The No. 13 Michigan wrestling team learned this
lesson firsthand over the weekend as the Wolverines
whipped rival Ohio State, 31-3, on Friday, but fell to
No. 1I1 Purdue, 18-15, on Saturday night.
The two matches were Michigan's first home
meets of the season. The Wolverines spent every
weekend in January on the road.
"It would have been great to win both," Michigan
coach Dale Bahr said. "But I'll tell you, it's nice to be
home. I don't ever want to have a January like that
again."
The Wolverines came out firing early against Ohio
State and dominated the entire dual meet. Michigan
only dropped one match to the Buckeyes in front of
an excited Cliff Keen Arena crowd.
"It's really great to come out here and compete at
home,' Bahr said. "I think the fans had fun and the
kids wrestled better because of it. I think everybody
on the Michigan side had fun tonight."
The country's best wrestler at 177 pounds, Ohio
State junior Mitch Clark, was out with the flu, leav-
ing the Buckeyes with just one ranked wrestler -
No. 12 Jeff Bucher at 134. But even he couldn't put
points on the board for the Buckeyes after being
upset by Michigan's 20th-ranked Damion Logan.
Logan's victory was his fourth in a row. The
Wolverines claimed two other milestones during the
match. Michigan senior captain Jeff Catrabone
pinned his man at 167 for his 150th career victory,
while fellow Wolverine Bill Lacure earned his 100th
career victory while wrestling at 150.
For Lacure, an Ohio native, it was especially
meaningful to reach No. 100 against Ohio State.
"I was watching for number 100 at the beginning
of the year, but I kind of lost track of it," Lacure said.
"But man, it sure is great to get it against Ohio State.
I hate Ohio State, and to get any win against them is
sweet, but No. 100 is something I'll always remem-
ber."
Joe DeGain, at 177, and Ryan Balcom, at 190, also
earned big wins for the Wolverines. Balcom, an Ann
Arbor native, competed for the first time at home
and earned a 5-3 overtime victory against Ohio
State's Bo James.
"I am especially happy about Joe DeGain's perfor-
mance," Bahr said. "At one point during his match
there was a caution for the other guy and Joe came
over to me. Usually I'd have advice or something to
tell him. But this time I just smiled and said to him,
'This is fun, isn't it.?'
"He smiled back at me and that smile made the
whole match for me.'
But the winning ways didn't continue the next
night for the Wolverines. Purdue's lineup featured
seven ranked wrestlers. The difference in the match
came down to just one tiny second.
With the Wolverines leading 7-6, No. 3 Lacure
met No. 11, Purdue's Mickey Griffin, in the 150
weight class. After one period, Griffin held a 2-1
lead, but Lacure tied it with an escape in the second
period. Then, in the third, Griffin appeared to be
stalling, but the referee didn't make a call despite
yells from the crowd and Michigan's bench. With
time running down, Lacure's riding time was growl
ing toward a minute.
Griffin slipped out of Lacure's hold with an escAp4
and stopped Lacure's riding time at 59 seconds. IHad
Lacure held on for one more second, his point would
have tied the match at three-apiece, and would have
likely sent the match into overtime. But with that
one-second difference, Griffin upset Lacure and put
the Boilermakers ahead, 9-7.
"The whole match was really decided at 150,"
Bahr said. "Bill is a great competitor and we expects
ed him to win that match. But they say sports ark
won by the little things, and Purdue won this match
by a little thing - one second."
The loss was Lacure's first since Jan. 9. But that
loss came at 158 - the loss to Griffin was at 150
Lacure's last loss at 150 this season came at the
hands of No. 2 Eric Seibert of Illinois, back irk
December.
"You can say that we had 10 guys wrestle and we
lost this match together," said Bahr. "But Bill should
have won that match, and he knows it. We've been
struggling at 158, 177 and 190 so we couldn't expo
wins from those classes. But from Bill -- a fifth-year
senior and All-American - we expected him to win.
When he lost there, I felt we lost the match."
The Wolverines will try to get back to their win-
ning ways this weekend at Minnesota against the No.'
3 Golden Gophers, and will close out the dual-meet
season at home against Indiana on the Feb. 20.
LOUIS BROWN/Daily
an's wrestling team soundly beat Ohio State Friday before dropping a close
n to Purdue on Saturday.
Wolverines begin long climb
Logan's five-match winning streak sparks resurgence for Blue
van Braunstein
y Sports Wrter
Making a comeback is never easy, but
the, Michigan wrestling team is doing its
best.
,, The Wolverines began the season
ranked fourth in the nation, but the trau-
ma caused by the December death of
-teammate Jeffrey Reese in December -
combined with injuries to starters Bill
Lacure and Teya Hill - led to some
expected defeats and a drop in the
kings.
But now, the No. 13 Wolverines are
slowly climbing back up the ladder.
Victories over Ohio State and two close
losses to ninth-ranked Michigan State
and tenth-ranked Purdue has the team on
the verge of regaining its early season
form. By winning his last five matches,
freshman Damion Logan has helped cat-
alyze the team's turnaround.
"After that incident in December.
thing has been tough for the whole
team," Logan said. "But there is a lot of
t),pltt on this team, and we're starting to
get, back into the swing of things.
Schedule AIr times EST
Saturday Feb. 20 Mar. 7-8
at Minn. INDIANA at Big Tens,
7:30 pm. 730 pm Penn State
all day.
Everyone is back in shape and we're
excited about winning again. We just
have to open it up now."
Although he struggled at the start of
the season, Logan is now giving the
Wolverines confidence in the 134-pound
weight class. His 17-9 record is the
fourth-best on the team, and his five con-
ference wins in dual meets only rank
behind captains Jeff Catrabone and
Airron Richardson.
Logan began his run on Jan. 23 with a
one-point decision over Northwestern's
Scott Schatzman, who is currently
ranked sixth in the nation. Logan's victo-
ry avenged his earlier loss to Schatzman
in the finals of the Michigan State Open.
Logan defeated Tony Seibert of Illinois
and No. 18 Isaac Miller of Michigan
State before dispatching No. 12 Jeff
Bucher of Ohio State. On Saturday night,
Logan capped off his weekend with a
decision over Purdue's Eric Kerkhof for
his fifth-straight victory.
"Logan has really been on a roll lately,"
Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "If he
continues to perform well, he could posi-
tion himself to be an All-American as a
freshman. He has been wrestling well
enough to be seeded in the top three or
four in the Big Ten tournament, which
would place him in the top 12 in the
country."
All this is music to Logan's ears.
"My confidence is back" he said. "I
have a goal to be an All-American. I'm
not going to waste this whole year down
the tubes and then say, 'I wish I would
have done it' The year is too long. There
is too much brutal beating.
"I'm going to come out of this season
with something in my hand:'
Logan will have another chance to
prove himself this weekend when the
Wolverines take on third-ranked
Minnesota on Friday. The Gophers have a
stacked lineup, featuring No. 5 Troy Marr
at 134 pounds.
Logan said the Wolverines are still
only about 70 percent and will need a few
upsets to get the victory. But after his win
over Bucher on Friday, Logan is ready.
"I'm back," Logan said. "I broke that
guy. He was broken."
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