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 I You ike Fun, eiuszc, Dancing... We're for you!!! Call 9 949 Today Applications BeingAccepted For Training Class 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 DON'T MISS THIS MAJOR OPPORTUNITY 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. *7 _ Md - PRINTING LOWEST PRICES! HIGHEST QUALITY! FASTEST SER WCE! ® 1002 PONTIAC TR. U ® 994-1367 U..""m"" p! TO LEARN FIRST-HAND ABOUT FROM PRESENT AND FUTURE PRACTITIONERS DURING PHARMD NIGHT 2000 TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2000 6-8 P.M. ROOM 1544 C.C. LITTLE BUILDING COMPLIMENTARY REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED _______._..__.. . .. .