6B - The Michigan Daily - January 24, 2000 - SportsMonday
Wrestlers toss Wildcats, 24-1j
JOANNA PAINE/Daily
Pr man Mike Kulazycki tries to prevent Michigan State's Corey Posey from escaping his hold. Kulczycki recorded his fourth
consecutive dual match victory in leading No. 9 Michigan to a 15.18 tie versus the eleventh-ranked Spartans.
GYMNASTS
Continued from Page iB
Following Dehr, freshman Jamie
Hertza and junior captain Justin Toman
hit personal bests on the pommel horse,
matching Dchr with 9.85s of their own.
Donning a Jamal Crawford-esque
blue headband, sophomore Scott Vetere
continued the rout in the next event by
posting a 9.9 on the still rings, tying a
personal best. With that performance,
Vetere earned the all-around title for the
meet.
Junior captain Justin Toman also
turned in a personal best on the pommel
horse. but struggled on the vault, miss-
ing his landing. Toman is still perfecting
his new routine --instead of launching
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himself off the sprinboard with his feet,
Toman uses his hands to catapult him-
self into the air. Saturday night was only
the second time he had used the difficult
maneuver in competition. .
"(Vault) is still a work in progress. I
just have to nail the landing," Toman
said.
Although they had mounted a large
advantage in their first three events,
Iowa won the vault and parallel bars
events - events that were supposed to
be Michigan's strongest - causing
some concern amongst the Wolverines.
Dehr said the Wolverines need to
improve intensity and focus in the last
three events of the meet, despite their
gaudy lead. Improvement will come
with the return of two All-Americans to
the last few events. Justin Toman and
sophomore Daniel Diaz-Luong should
contribute later in the year, once they
heal from nagging injuries that the
events could have aggravated.
For Golder, the most encouraging
item from Saturday's meet was the per-
formance on the high bar. While Golder
concedes that the event will never be a
weapon for Michigan, he set a presea-
son goal to win the event at least once.
The Wolverines trumped the
Hawkeyes by a tenth of a point in their
first home meet, 38.1-38.0 to fulfill
their coach's goal. Golder appears to
have found a winning lineup in the
event, a list that will soon be bolstered
by the addition of Diaz-Luong, an All-
American in the event last year.
By Dan Williams
Daily Sports Writer
It may not have been the most excit-
ing win of the year, but the Michigan
wrestling team did enough to capture a
24-15 victory over an outmatched
Northwestern team Friday.
Michigan held just an 18-15 advan-
tage going into the final match, but
sophomore Andy Hrovat received a six
point victory via default.
Northwestern's 17th-ranked, 184-
pounder, Tom Ciezki, suffered a neck
injury earlier in the season and could
not wrestle.
"Forfeit or not, I feel real confident
putting Andy Hrovat out there for the
last match of the night," Michigan
coach Joe McFarland said. "I'll put him
out there anytime."
The Wolverine's key victory came
when Michigan freshman Mike
Kulczycki pinned sophomore J.R.
Youth pre
By !on Schwartz
Daily Sports Writer
In the beginning, it was difficult to tell
exactly which side had the crowd's favor
in yesterday's wrestling match between
Michigan and Michigan State at Cliff
Keen Arena.
But in the afternoon's second match,
at 184 pounds, pitting Michigan's Andy
Hrovat against the Spartans' James
Brimm, it became clear - these fans
were behind the Michigan youngsters.
The Wolverines have an abundance of
young stars on this year's roster, includ-
ing several wrestlers who have had to
step up due to the team's many injuries.
But none have had a bigger all-around
impact than Hrovat, a sophomore, and
125-pound freshman A.J. Grant.
And it showed against the Spartans.
Hrovat's match against Brimm was
their second duel this season - Hrovat
tallied a fall 1:16 into the match the first
time they met. From the start, when meet
announcer Matt Stout informed the
crowd of the previous meeting, the
Michigan faithful were hoping for a
repeat performance by Hrovat.
He didn't disappoint.
"I knew (Brimm) was going to be
more defensive," Hrovat said, "so I'd
have to get my offense going."
After a scoreless first round, Hrovat
took a 3-1 lead into the third round. But
the sophomore star wasn't ready to settle
for a minor decision. He wanted the fall.
"I kind of knew that he was going to get
tired," Hrovat said. "I knew that later in the
match I'd have the chance to pin him."
Hrovat took over in the third round.
After running the score up to 10-4, he
finally recorded the pin that he was wait-
ing for at 1:39 of the third round.
"Andy got us rolling again," Michigan
coach Joe McFarland said. "Those extra
points, that's what we've been talking
about all week. That makes the differ-
Scott. The two Ohio natives were famil-
iar opponents, having faced each other
in the high school state semi-finals.
"I've wrestled this kid in the past in
high school, so I knew what he was
going to do a little bit," Kulczycki said.
Northwestern kept the battle close
when seventh-ranked senior Mark
Bybee pinned Michigan sophomore
Charles Martelli in the 174-pound
weight class.
Though Michigan procured a victory,
McFarland noticed an absence of the
extra effort the team has demonstrated
in the past few weeks.
"We had a few guys that were in
position to get majors, and we just did-
n't do it tonight," McFarland said.
"That's something we need to address,
because those are big."
McFarland said that Michigan need-
ed extra effort for continued success.
"Those kind of things are the things
Va is agansi
It
that help you down the road-pushing
yourself when you're out there-those
things help you and prepare you for the
Big Tens and the national tournament,"
McFarland said.
WARREN STILL INJURED: Michigan
hoped that senior Joe Warren would be
able to return from his knee injury in
last weekend's dual matches. ut
Warren was still experiencing We
soreness, and McFarland didn't want to
risk further damage.
When Warren returns, he carries with
him a No. 4 ranking at the 133-pound
weight class. He had a 15-2 record for
the season, before getting injured in the
Midland Tournament on December 30.
Freshman A.J. Grant, junior, Mat
Warner and junior Matt Michalski have
not won a dual match yet filling in for
Warren.
He expects to return to action~xt
weekend against Illinois and Purdue
Spartans
''#
G RAPPLERS
Continued from Page 113
"That was a heck of a match:'
McFarland said. "Chuck wrestled a great
kid and you can see, Chuck is getting
better every week."
Junior Joe DeGain couldn't keep his
match close against senior Mick
Muzashvili, the No. I 197-pound
wrestler, but he did manage to avoid get-
ting pinned.
Facing Michigan State's best wrestler,
DeGain barely managed to keep his sec-
ond shoulder from touching the mat.
"I should have concentrated on get-
ting more points instead of trying to pin
him," Muzashvili said. "I tried my hard-
est to do it, but he defended really well."
Michigan held an 18-15 advantage
going into the final battle, a rematch
between Michigan junior Jason Rawls
and Michigan State's senior Greg
DeGrand at the 165-pound weight class.
Rawls won a 6-2 decision earlier this
year in a dual match at Michigan State.
DeGrand, an Ann Arbor native, achieved
his payback in front of a large crowd of
friends and family.
"It's redemption,"DeGrand said. "The
first time I got gassed in the middle of
the match. (Rawls) has improved a lot
this year."
Despite the draw, the Wolverines will
extract positives from the match. "A lot
of our Big Ten duals are going to be just
like that;' McFarland said. "It's going to
come down to winning tough matches,
and we've got to make sure that we win
them in order to pull these duals out."
JOANNA PAl
Michigan 125-pounder A.J. Grant has performed beyond his age this year. The fry
man's victory over Michigan State's Chris Williams only added to his successful
)aily
ar.
ence in the dual."
To get the pin, Hrovat used his signa-
ture move, a double leg takedown. It is a
move that he has used at every opportu-
nity so far in his career.
"That's my bread-and-butter shot and
I think that I can hit it on every single
guy in the country" Hrovat said. "That's
what I'm going to keep going back to if
I need to score."
After the Hrovat match, the Michigan
fans were lulled to sleep by Joe
DeGain's loss at 197 pounds and by
heavyweight Matt Brink's 2-1 defensive
and technical victory.
But the excitement returned to the
meet when Grant stepped onto the mat
against Chris Williams.
The 125-pound match had some his-
tory behind it. The two fighters had met
often in high-school with Williams, who
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I
4
is older, often prevailing. And int ir
two meetings this season, Grant hadost
by one point each time.
But Grant wasn't ready to swallow
another defeat.
"I was ready for him;' Grant said. "I
wanted to go out and attack him right
away and that's what I did."
Throughout the first two rounds' the
symmetry of the two wrestlers showed.
Locked 2-2 after the first round and 5-5
after the second, neither wr ler
seemed able to pull out an advant.I
But at 1:15 of the third round, Grant
scored a pivotal takedown that ended up
being the determining point in the
match. As the seconds wound down and
time finally expired, Grant stood at-the
center of the mat, his hands raised in
victory, his mind focused on finally
beating his rival.
"It feels good," Grant said. "I'm start-
ing to get more confidence now it
feels better."
Williams' spirits weren't nearly' as
high. The sophomore had to be pushed
back onto the mat to shake hands with
his opponent after the loss.
At the end of the meet, McFarland
had a smile from ear to ear. Despite a
long season ahead of them, the coach
has two young stars to rely on.
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