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March 23, 1998 - Image 11

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1998-03-23

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Despite attention paid to Michigan's
iBig Three wrestlers, Warren emerges
With 30 victories this season, 126-pounder has dominated competition all year
a. y Evan Braunstein
Daily Sports Writer
CLEVELAND - With its three seniors obtain-
ing All-America status at the NCAA
Championships this past weekend, it's easy to for- z
- get that the Michigan wrestling team sent four
wrestlers to the tournament. is /.v4<
Jeff Catrabone, Bill Lacure and Airron......
Richardson grabbed most of the attention, but
sophomore Joe Warren contributed to the ? A
olverines' success as well.
In only his second season, the 126-pounder
qualified for the NCAAs by reaching the finals of
the Big Ten Tournament on March 8. $
Although he failed to place at the national tour-
nament, Warren surprised everyone with his tal-
ent and showed he has the ability to lead the
Wolverines in years to come.
"Joe came out here and wrestled really well,"'e
Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "He wrestles
with a lot of emotion, and you could see it upset
iim that he didn't place as an All-American.
"This was a good experience for him, and I'm i
sure he'll be back here next year." A
Warren entered the tournament as the No. 8 " -
seed and compiled a 2-2 record before bowing out
in the consolation matches. His 30 wins this sea-
son are second only to seniors Jeff Catrabone and
Airron Richardson. X,
Warren won his first match by defeating C.C.
Fisher of North Carolina before losing a close 7-
5 decision to Jason Bruce of Oregon State. Thatos pl cdh mi t ec n oai nbr k t ,w ee
osspeim ioano the cnsolation backes whereN
he defeated the seventh seed, Josh Hutchens of
Purdue, 10-6.
The next match pitted Warren against Carl
Perry of Illinois, whom he lost to earlier in the Jeff Catrabone, a 176-pound senior, spent much of his career dominating the spotlight for Michigan wrestling.
season. Perry defeated Warren once agai in a But this season, he and his fellow seniors were forced to make room for 126-pound Joe Warren.
1 1-7 decision, eliminating him from the tourna-
ment.
Despite his impressive season, Warren was dis- expected to challenge for the title in their respec- wrestling book.
appointed lie could not finish it on a positive note. tive weight classes. Catrabone is the Wolverines all-time falls
"I'm pretty upset with the way things went at But, it was not to be. Catrabone garnered All- leader with 55 and is third on the all-time wins
NCAAs," he said. "I wrestled as hard as I could America honors for the third time in his career, list with 160.
and gave everything I had on the mat, but it did- while Richardson and Lacure each obtained the Richardson lead the Wolverines in dual-meet
n't go my way. status for the second. But all fell short in the final wins this season, while both he and Lacure won a
"I thought I had a decent season, but I did not attempt to win a national title. Big Ten title.
finish it off the way I should have." "We definitely wanted to win a title, but I'm The team is losing its captains to graduation
Warren's comment probably describes the feel- happy with the way we wrestled," McFarland said. and will need to find new leaders for the 1998-99
ings of all of Michigan's wrestlers. After strug- "This is a very competitive tournament, and we season.
gling as a team during the regular season, the were in every match. It just comes down to win- Among the natural candidates is Warren, who
Wolverines finally saw some success at the Big ning the close matches. Most of the time they can is one of the most emotional wrestlers on the
Ten Tournament. go either way because all of the guys here are team.
They placed three wrestlers in the finals and quality wrestlers." "I have thought about that a little and the
'laimed two titles, at 150 pounds and heavy- "You have to stay mentally and physically tough coaches have talked to me about it as well,"
weight. throughout all of the matches, and I thought our Warren said. "It will be a whole new responsibil-
The team had hoped to carry its success into the guys did that." ity for me and I don't think I will just jump into
national tournament and produce its first national Although they did not achieve their ultimate it. It is a role I will need to step up to in the
championship in 12 years. All three seniors were goal, all three seniors left marks in the Michigan future."
Wrestling finishes 12th
EN I1RSCleasm in had also been upset by lviiek
SENi~IORS in the championship bracket.
Continued from Page 1B "I"'m proud to finish fifth here and to
dear life. I heard the referee count down have been the Big Ten champ this season,
the seconds, and I had just enough room but I came here feeling I had a realistic
to finish out the clock chance to be the National Champion, and
Catrabone's victory earned the I lost that dream. But it's still nice to
Wolverines nine points, but more impor- know that i finished out my wrestling °
tant for the tournaiment, it denied No. I career with a win."4

.Oklahoma State the extra points neces- The three seniors weren't the only;
sary for a victory. The Cowboys finished Wolverines at the NCAA Tournament.
ird in the tournament behind Iowa and Sophomore Joe Warren posted a 2-2 .
innesota by only 2.5 points. When the record in his first visit to the tournament.
referee ruled Smith's escape had come He won his first-ever match at the tour-
after time expired the Iowa fans cheered nament, but lost his second against even-
louder than the small Michigan contin- tual All-American Jason Buce of Oregon,
gency, and Smith stormed off the mat, State. Then in the wrestlebacks, he fell to
flickiiig off the boisterous Hawkeye fans. the hands of another eventual All-
Lacure also reached the third-place American, Carl Perry of Illinois. _
bout, but fell to West Virginias Mike "Joe wrestled great here, McFarland
Mason, 6-4, in overtime. Mason was the said. "He is only a sophomore and this
same wrestler that beat Lacure to oust was his first trip here. I love his attitude,
m from the championship bracket. The and he is a real competitor. I'm sure he'll
All-American honor was the second for be back here again because he got a taste
acure, who had also placed in the top of the NCAAs and I know he's hungry
eight two years ago as a sophomore. for more now." \f
"Bills back was bothering him most of But as Warren will work in the off-sea-
-the week," McFarland said. "But that son and hope to next year return to the
wasn't any excuse, he wrestled hard and tournament, it was the final trip for the
both times he was right in there with seniors.
Mason down to the last second." "This weekend was just bittersweet for
With the other two seniors having me," Catrabone said. "I'm happy and I'm
reached the third-place bout, Richardson proud, but I'm sad too. It was my last
appeared to be headed toward the finals time ever wrestling in the maize and blue 4, .
s he faced off with Iowa State's 1Ith uniform and that's tough to swallow. But ~
seed, Trent Hynek, in the semifinals. But I'm appreciative of everything and I had
Richardson was taken down early in the a lot of great memories in this singlet.
third period and upset by the Cyclone, 4- Between the people I met and my athlet- SARA STILLMAN/Daily
3y Richardson was seeded second in the ic career, I don't think my college experi- Bill Lacure's head-bashing days at Michigan are over. But the senior didn't just
heavyweight bracket and breezed ence could have been any better" nod off in his last NCAA Championships. Lacure finished in fourth place, with a 5.2
through the first three rounds of the tour- As their careers came to an end, so did record and garnered All-American honors.
nament before falling. Richardson had the melancholy 1997-98 season for the
beaten Hynek the previous two times Wolverines in which they lost teammate
they faced off, but the senior said he just Jefferey Reese. Reese was honored with
Wasn't aggressive enough. a moment of silence before the start of
"I was really disappointed to lose that competition on Thursday, and was
match," he said. "I blame myself, memorialized by the Michigan wrestlers
because I went there with the wrong with his initials on their singlets.
strategy. But I knew if I thought about "This season has been trying for all of
that match a lot, I wouldn't be able to get us. But we got through it together. We
back and win the fifth-place match." represented him all season right here 1 9

The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 23, 1998 - 3B

JOHN

LEROI
Out of Bounds

Natrnal championsko to
be settledat JJIzee House
ou remember all the talk of a mythical national championship, I'm sure:
Settle the score once and for all. Pit team vs. team, moxie vs. determina-
tion, brains vs. brawn, Heisman trophy winner vs. convicted felon.
That's right. Just two and a half months ago, you agreed with all those national
media types: Put Charles Woodson on one side of the ball and whoever Nebraska
has on the other and let them slug it out on the field.
Michigan was robbed, right? This is the rational thing to do. You can't decide
on a national champion without a national championship game. And, after all,
when are you going to get to see Charles Woodson play for Michigan again?
It seems that the playoff system that has been debated back and forth at NCAA
headquarters and in the newspapers has gained some momentum. After splitting
the national championship with the Cornhuskers, a final title game seemed a tad
more rational than it had before to Michigan fans who suddenly seemed to have
an inferiority complex as fierce as our brethren in East Lansing.
And now it seems that a playoff format has gained critical support from the
White House.
White House spokespeople announced last week that President Bill Clinton
will put a bill before the House and the Senate requiring the NCAA to establish a
single-elimination football playoff.
Just kidding.
But President Clinton did show the nation his diplomatic roots by inviting both
the Michigan and Nebraska football teams to the White House - on the same
day!
And this is no joke: The Cornhuskers and Wolverines are expected to playfully
settle the national championship on neutral turf- namely, the White House lawn
on April 9.
That's right. Brian Griese and Charles Woodson will take off their sport coats
and loosen their ties, Scott Frost and Ahman Green will remove their camouflage
jackets and Big Johnson T-shirts and the two teams will have at it. The Secret
Service will handle the officiating duties, of course. President Clinton has offered
his services at the coin flip, but White House insiders doubt he'll hang around for
the whole game. Stuff to do, I guess. I hear he's a busy guy.
And even though Michigan officials deny a plan to bring cleats, this will sure-
ly be a nightmare for the White House groundskeeper. He already has to clean up
after the Clintons' new dog (not to mention his owner). Two football teams tear-
ing up the East Lawn isn't his idea of a celebration.
Nevertheless, it's bound to happen. Hopefully, things won't get out of control.
I don't think they will. Michigan has too much to lose. Surely the day will end in
a friendly game of two-hand touch or maybe a passive flag football contest.
But don't expect anything outrageous. It's been almost a decade since the
Wolverines received a White House invitation from the president (the hockey
team had to settle for Al Gore in '96 when they won the national championship)
and you can be sure everybody will be on their best behavior.
Sure, backup fullback Chris Roth, the team's only Canadian, isn't terribly
excited, but the rest of the squad is thrilled to meet the President.
It's a great opportunity. And really, what can go wrong. The Wolverines will fly
to Washington in the morning and fly out that evening - not enough time for
anybody to wreak havoc on our national security.
Just hope that Woodson's draft status isn't harmed by the trip. Scandals are
known to do that to players. And we hear Clinton can coax almost anybody into
the Oval Office for a little game of touch football all his own.
-John Leroi can be reached at jrleroi(umich.edu.
Catrabone playsindirect
role in figuning champ

By Evan Braunstein
Daily Sports Writer
CLEVELAND - Oklahoma State's
wrestling team finished in third place at
the NCAA Tournament by a scant 2.5-
point margin, behind Iowa and
Minnesota. And the rivalry between
these top schools was apparent.
A key match that may have cost the
Cowboys the title was Michigan wrestler
Jeff Catrabone's victory over Mark
Smith of Oklahoma State. Catrabone
claimed third place at 167 pounds, and at
the end of regulation the wrestlers were
tied at four. After a scoreless overtime
period, the match went to a sudden-death
tiebreaker, which Catrabone won on a
controversial call.
With 15 seconds remaining in the
tiebreaker, Smith had almost escaped.
All Catrabone could do was grab
Smith's ankle to prevent him from get-
ting free. But the referee did not make a
stalling call and Catrabone held on for
the win.
The exuberant Iowa fans cheered

loudly for Catrabone as he raised his
arms in victory. Smith, outraged by the
no-call, yelled at the officials and ges-
tured obscenely to the crowd.
"It's a terrible rule," Oklahoma State
coach John Smith said. "Most of the
controversies in this tournament are ceni-
tered around this rule. A guy is about to
escape and the other guy grabs his ankle.
Is it stalling or isn't it? No one knows for
sure. The rule needs to be changed.
There has to be a better way to decide the
matches other than the tiebreaker."
The same situation occurred in a 150-
pound semifinal between Illinois' Eric
Siebert and West Virginia's Mike Mason.
In that match, the referee called stalling
to give Siebert the one-point victory.
UNBEATAKLE IOWA: The Hawkeyes
have won the past four and eight of the
past nine NCAA championships.
Oklahoma State is the only other team to
win a title in the past 10 years. Iowa's Joe
Williams claimed his third consecutive
title at 167 pounds while Mike Ironside
won his second straight at 134 pounds.

PEACE CORPS

Tuesday, March 24
"The Future of Peace Corps:
10,000 by 2000"
Featuring Deputy Director
Charles loquet Ill
Rackham Bldg.,
4th Floor Amphitheater
7:00 p.m.

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