12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 5, 1999 'M' wrestlers 'Otto' work for success D-III runner making 'run' at rushing record By Brian Galvin Daily Sports Writer With three All-Americans and six of seven NCAA qualifiers returning, the Michigan wrestling team has its eye on the big prize - an NCAA champi- onship. Under new head coach Joe McFarland, the Wolverines are putting in their 20-plus hours a week of run- ning, weight training and constant drilling to prepare for the dual-meet season, which begins in early December. This weekend, several 'M' grapplers will check their progress at the Eastern Michigan Open in Ypsilanti. The competition pits individual wrestlers from each school against each other to gain experience for the season ahead. ,,None of the grapplers can be guided directly by their coaches and no team scores are kept. If the early national rankings are any indication, Michigan should be impressive. But McFarland isn't buying into the hype that has the Wolverines ranked seventh in the country. "I don't know if we're that good," McFarland said. "Maybe by the end of the year, we'll be there." McFarland plans to get to NCAAs the old-fashioned way - through hard work and a little help from technology. The Wolverines will spend a good deal of time watching film of themselves and their opponents and hope that studying past matches will give themf the extra edge on the mat. "The coaches get together individu- ally with the guys to go over film andY critique their form' McFarland said. "I'm big on that." Another factor that may give Michigan an edge is its choice of cap- tain, All-American senior Otto Olson. Olson advanced to the championship match at the NCAA Tournament last season. McFarland hopes his captain can pass along that experience to his teammates. "Otto is one of the mentally toughest guys I've ever worked with,"T McFarland said. "The guys have a, great leader in front of them." Not only is Olson an example of Michigan wrestling success, but three members of the coaching staff are training themselves to make the 2000 . Olympic team. Assistants Sean Bormet and John Fisher, along with The Michigan wrestling team competes at volunteer coach John Vogel, will work with the team extensively in Olson, Damion Logan, and Andy order to pursue their Olympic dreams Hrovat, Michigan adds a heralded and give younger Wolverines an idea seven-wrestler freshman class. of what they can become. McFarland, like most college Although leadership is an asset for coaches, was cautious not to praise Michigan, hard work is what will his young wrestlers, noting that they drive the Wolverines this season. would have to compete for their posi- McFarland praises the team work tions. ethic and maintains that it will serve Freshman Foley Dowd, ranked No. his wrestlers down the road well. I in the nation his senior year, may "We can win a lot of matches by still have to sit behind senior Joe outconditioning and outhustling the Warren in the 133-pound weight other wrestlers," he said. class. In addition to All-Americans Though McFarland wrestled at Michigan with World Championship Wrestling's Steiner Brothers, he sees - the future of his team in amateur competition and not at the "made for television" professional wrestling. "I want out guys to try to make +. , Rworld and Olympic teams," he said. l4UNiTIE5: DAVID R5CHKIND/Daly the Eastern Michigan Open this weekend. 'M'lwrestling roster Ma Bank So. t Matt Ckurella Fr 149 Joe Dein Jr. 184 Foiy Dowd Fr. 133 Clark Forward Fr. 141, Etis Goldenber Fr. 125 Arron Grant Fr. 125 Antkony Hoifiekt F. 157, Andy Hrovat So 184 Nick Kacher So. 149 Mike Kulczycki Fr. 149 Mark Lazzo Fr. 157 Frank Lodeserto Sr. 197 Damion Logan Jr. 141 Brad Lusk Fr. 165 Charles Martelli So._ 15 Jared Martin Fr. 133 MattMichalski Jr. 133 Otto Olson Jr. 174 Pat Owen Fr. 157 Jason FRawls Jr. . 195 Dan Seder Fr. 1.7 Kyle Sith Fr. 197 Katskhiko Seeds Fr. 125 Matt Thomas Fr. 149 Malacki Walker Fr. 149 ron Water So. H Ma Wik Ine. Jrm n 125 Joe Warren . Sr: . 1aa OkCip IWilliamson .So.. 184 GROVE CITY, Pa. (AP) - What Barry Sanders was to NCAA Division I- A, R.J. Bowers is to Division Ill. Bowers doesn't set rushing and scor- ing records, he annihilates them. Just like Sanders did when he played at Oklahoma State, Bowers finds a 100- yard game a huge disappointment. With a normal game Saturday against Muhlenberg - he averages 192.9 yards - Bowers could move into 12th place on the NCAA's all-time rushing list, past Charles White (5,598) of Southern Cal. Bowers then would need about 1,300 yards next year to break the all-class record of 6,958. "What he is doing is simply unbeliev- able," said Chris Smith, Bowers' coach at Grove City College, a small school 60 miles north of Pittsburgh. "I've never seen anything like this" By next year, it could be that nobody in college football will have seen any- thing like this 6-foot-1, 245-pound full- back, who runs through would-be tack- lers as if they were those tiny plastic fig- ures on an electric football board. Bowers is 1,507 yards behind Shay, who last year surpassed former Texas A&M-Kingsville star Johnny Bailey's record of 6,320 yards. "If I don't get injured, I know I can do it," said Bowers, who has rushed for at least 100 yards in a record 26 straight games. "I'd love to set the record, but what I really want to do is play in the NFL" Last year, Bowers led the nation with 2,283 yards and set Division III records with 34 rushing touchdowns and 206 points, despite fracturing his left ankle at the end of the season. Bowers spent most of the offseason recuperating from surgery, and was lim- ited - by his standards - to 121 and 124 yards in a pair of early-season games. But he has four games of 253 yards or more in his last seven games. What's remarkable is that Bowers, who will tomn 26 in February, spent f' years away from football as an outft er in the Houston Astros' farm system. Bowers was recruited to play football out of West Middlesex (Pa.) High School by Division I-A Akron, but switched to baseball after being drafted on the I1th round by Houston in 1992. After quitting baseball, he wound up at Grove City mostly because he -ws looking for a good academic school. Bowers broke into the starting linetp as a 23-year-old freshman and excelled in Grove City's wing-T offen which features the fullback as the first running option. With a combination of size and strength seldom seen In Division III, Bowers has dominated. "I know some people say, 'You're 25, you're a man running against boys"" Bowers said. "But it's not like I'm 20 and everybody else is 15. Most of the players are only a couple of years younger than me and are physically mature.' A year ago, Bowers went to bolt to NFL and didn't anticipate staying for his senior year. But after being timed at 4..1 seconds in the 40-yard dash - too slow for an NFL back - he realized he had no chance of being drafted. Bowers says he can now run between 4.55 and 4.61 in the 40-yard dash. "Do I want to play in the NFL?" Bower said. "Yeah, and if I break the record, I'm sure I'll get invited to sonte all-star games, and then I can show * scouts what I can do. 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