The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 25, 2002 - 3B WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS ALBANY, N.Y. APHAEL OODSTEIN Disappointments abound for Michigan No. 1 ranked and three-time All-American Olson falls in semifinals, places fifth By E& CI=~ Dail Sports Writer______________ ALBANY, N.Y. - Coming into the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Michigan had the highest of expecta- tions. After a disappointing third-place finish at Big Ten Championships, the Wolverines were hoping to rebound with a strong showing at nationals. It wasn't to be, though, as Michigan fin- ished in a dismal ninth after coming in as the No. 3 team in the nation. Top- ranked Minnesota captured the NCAA title for the second straight year. "Obviously I'm disappointed. We came in with high expectations, and we didn't meet them," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "We didn't wrestle the kind of NCAA tournament we want- ed." Michigan's downfall came on the second day of the tournament. With five wrestlers in the quarterfinals, it looked as though the Wolverines would be contending for a top-three finish. But everything came apart as Michigan lost nine of the 12 matches wrestled on that day. The Wolverines didn't send a single wrestler to the finals or even the conso- lation finals. The highest finish came from 174-pound senior Otto Olson, who ended in fifth-place. Olson entered the tournament undefeated as the No. 1 seed, but he failed to come through for the national title in his last season at Michigan. The now three-time All- American advanced to the semi-finals but was upset by the No. 4 seed, Prince- ton's Greg Parker, 12-8. Parker, who became the first All-American from Princeton since 142-pounder John Orr in 1985, looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the match and looked shocked that he had just upset the top- seeded Olson. "I was the underdog out there, and the crowd was really behind me;' Park- Bottoming out Michigan finished in a disappointing ninth place, but the Big Ten was still well represented, with five teams in the top 10. Here are the final standings. Tem Points 1. Minnesota 126.50 2. Iowa State 104.00 3. Oklahoma 101.50 4. Iowa 89.00 5. Oklahoma State 82.50 6. Ohio State 64.50 7. Lehigh 61.00 8. Nebraska 54.00 9. Michigan 51.00 10. Illinois 47.50 NCAA isforc some difficuL ne year ago, I ate lunch with 1 a prominent player from the Michigan basketball teams ; of the early and mid-'90s and got + into a discussion about Eddie L. I Martin. He told me a story about a + conversation that he had with a teammate regarding Ed Martin. Before they knew it, they were talk-1 ing about what would happen if 7 Martin offered them money. How would they react? Would they tell Maybe the NCA anyone? players money. Would they take NCAA allows pl the money? out a loan, at le When the con- versation was over, moderate what the two agreed that- if offered, they probably would have taken the money. Martin's indictment taints the legacy of the Fab Five and the other Michigan teams of the mid-'90s, one of the most successful times in Michigan's storied history. It's pos- sible that victories will now turn into forfeiture, and banners will be brought down - just as they should be. But ultimately, the NCAA needs to decide how it is going to prevent what happened at Michigan from happening at other programs. Because it does happen. Ed Martin had an influence at more schools than just the University of Michi- gan. And to believe that there aren't other Ed Martins at other schools is naive. So what is the NCAA to do? Is making an example out of Michigan going to deter other play- ers from taking money? The NCAA making an example out of Michigan would only hurt people who are not related to Ed Martin. Tommy Amak- er had nothing to do with Ed Mar- tin. And if the NCAA is looking for justice, why not go after Steve Fish- er at San Diego State? At this point, so many years, coaches and losses later, hitting Michigan with serious sanctions shouldn't be a viable option. Athletic Director Bill Mar- tin is right when he says that Michi- gan has been on de facto probation for years. Also, the NCAA realizes that whenever a program the size and stature of Michigan commits such egregious acts, it reflects poorly on more than just the university. It also reflects poorly on the NCAA. So what's the NCAA to do? Pay 1 fe f to answer questions players? Personally, I think it would be a sad day to see a university sign a high school recruit to a million dollar contract. This would ulti- mately make college sports the equivalent of what Major League Baseball is, where the teams that will pay the most will get the best players. The NCAA realizes this is not in its best interest, so it's doubt- ful this will ever happen. Would a M should loan stipend help? This ... If the is what the player Layers to take with whom I ate esItcoutake lunch with sug- last It could gested. But I tend 's going on. to doubt that it _ - would help a whole lot. If Chris Webber felt like everyone was making money off of him - from Nike to Mr. Spot's - while he didn't have enough money to go out at night, it's likely that he still would have taken Ed Martin's money. So while giving a stipend would probably help players to an extent, it probably wouldn't prevent players from taking a large sum of money when the opportunity comes along. Maybe the NCAA should loan players money. After all, the NCAA allows for certain players to take out a $1,000,000 insurance policy, which is ultimately paid back. Isn't that a loan? And if the NCAA allows players to take out a loan, at least it could then moderate what is going on. So how will this end for Michi- gan? My guess is it will get off, relatively speaking. The NCAA probably won't damage Michigan's future, since it did everything it could to rid itself of Martin. What happened Thursday isn't really even much of a black eye for Michigan. That black eye came five rounds ago. Everyone has known for years that Ed Martin was paying these players. But regardless of what the NCAA does to Michigan, the NCAA needs to realize that somewhere there are two basketball players asking each other if they should take dirty money. And the NCAA needs to figure out what it's going to do to prevent these players from taking the money. Raphael Goodstein can be reached at raphaelg@umich.edu. ALYSSA WOOD/Daily Despite his No. 1 seed, sixth-year senior Otto Olsen finished the NCAA Championships in sixth place with a 4-2 record. er said. "I just wrestled as hard as I could, and it worked out for me. To beat a guy from a Big Ten school like Michigan really gives our small pro- gram some credibility. The competition level in our wrestling room just gets better every day." In the consolation bracket, Olson lost to defending national champion Josh Koscheck of Edinboro, who Olson had beaten before. Olson rebounded in the fifth-place match against Rick Spring- man of Penn. In the final match of his illustrious college wrestling career, Olson pulled off a close 5-4 victory over Springman. None of the nine Michigan wrestlers who qualified for the NCAA tourna- ment finished at or above his seed except for sixth-seeded 157-pound Ryan Bertin, who finished sixth. The redshirt freshman claimed his All- America status by mechanically wrestling through the tournament, not upsetting any higher seeds or being upset in the process. "It felt good, but I knew I just had to keep wrestling to go after third place," Bertin said of his win over Ohio State's Josh Janson to become an All-Ameri- can. Senior Andy Hrovat and redshirt jun- ior Kyle Smith each finished in sev- enth-place to claim All-America status. For both wrestlers though, the All- America title was no consolation prize for the team's poor finish. "Yeah sure, maybe when I'm old and I look back on it, it (being an All- American) will be nice, but not now, "Hrovat said. "Right now, I'm just dis- appointed in how I finished." A.J. Grant and Mike Kulczycki - both All-Americans last year - were unable to make it past the second day of competition. In an ironic twist of fate, Grant wrestled former Michigan wrestler and current North Carolina standout Chris Rodrigues. Rodrigues, the nation's top recruit in 2000, came to Michigan with hopes of starting for the Wolverines in his first year. But- Grant had different ideas as he beat out Rodrigues for the 125-pound spot. Realizing he wouldn't be able to com- pete at Michigan for the next two years, Rodrigues transferred to North Carolina, where he immediately became the team's star wrestler. Grant jumped out on Rodrigues early in the match and was winning in the second period, but Rodrigues caught him on his back and pinned him. The loss eliminated Grant from the tournament and prevented the jun- ior from improving on his fourth-place finish at last year's NCAA Tourna- ment. Rodrigues went on to become an All-American by finishing in eighth place. "I'm really happy for (Rodrigues). He's a great wrestler, and he proved that round after round," McFarland said. "It's not a sore spot for me. I'm real-proud of him." Individual NCAA champions were Fresno State's Stephen Abas, Okla- homa State's Johnny Thompson, Iowa State's Aaron Holker, Minnesota's Jared Lawrence and Luke Becker, Iowa State's Joe Heskett, West Vir- ginia's Greg Jones, Lehigh's Rob Rohn, Iowa State's Cael Sanderson and Ohio State's Tommy Rowlands from 125 pounds to heavyweight, respectively. The best match of the tournament came from Lehigh's Rohn in the finals, when down 14-5 to Oklahoma's Josh Lambrecht in the third period, he hit a front headlock roll, a move Rohn calls "the Special" to put Lambrecht to his back. With 17 seconds left in the match, the pin was called and the 14,000 fans in attendance exploded to their feet in applause. T!7 Iowa State's Sanderson ends career in style with title No. 4 By Eric Cm Daily Sports Writer ALBANY, N.Y. - There are hundreds of All- Americans. There are handfuls of Hall of Famers. There is only one "greatest of all time;" and there is only one Cael Sanderson. At the NCAA Championships this past weekend, Sanderson captured an unfathomable fourth straight national title and joined Oklahoma State legend Pat Smith as the only wrestlers ever to accomplish this feat. Sanderson bettered Smith, though, in the fact that Sanderson never lost - ever. The Iowa State 197- pounder finished his career with a record of 159-0. Sanderson was almost mechanical in his quest for the NCAA crown. As 14,000 fans watched him - some cheering, and some in awe - Sanderson scored takedown after takedown on opponents ranked in the top 20. "I like to score as many points as possible ... work as many of my shots as possible," Sanderson said. "I always want to get better and better as the tournament goes on." Better? What's better than a pin? Sanderson won his first two matches by fall, and his third match by technical fall over No. 8 Jason Payne of Northern Iowa, 23-8. The first "problem" Sanderson ran into was Ohio State's No. 4 Nick Preston. Sanderson was unable to pin or tech Preston and had to settle with an 18-7 major decision. Preston became just the second wrestler all season to go a full seven-minute match with Sanderson. In the finals, Sanderson squared off against No. 2 Jon Trenge, a highly explosive sophomore from Lehigh. In the first three rounds of the tournament, Trenge managed to score three pins in a combined time of just six minutes. "Well, at the Midland Opens, he beat me 16-5, and at the All-Star meet, he beat me 6-1," Trenge said before the big matchup. "I need to find a way to score on him offensively - which I haven't done yet - and I also need to find a way to stop him from scoring on me, which I also haven't done yet." This time around, Sanderson won again 12-4. In the history-making match, Sanderson showed nothing but class as he stepped on the mat, wrestled, won and DAILY SPORTS - FOR $280 K, WE WOULD KNOW HOW MANY TIMEOUTS WE HAD LEFT. ALYSSA WOOD/Daily Cael Sanderson (top) handled Lehigh's Jon Trenge to become the true undisputed champion of wrestling. walked off. No strutting. No showboating. No dramat- ic poses for the photographers. As he walked towards the locker room corridor, the crowd was on its feet and a thunderous applause filled Pepsi Arena. The fans knew they had just witnessed the last match of the sport's greatest. "I don't think it's quite hit me what he's accom- plished yet," Iowa State coach Bobby Douglas said. "Maybe it will when I get home, sit down and have a couple beers." Milano _ _ Poor defense ends streak at eight By Duiel Brommer Daily Sports Writer The Michigan water polo team improved its conference win total to 13 on Saturday in Bloomington, while suf- fering its lone conference setback of the season on Saturday. No. 13 Michigan (13-11 overall) bet- tered to 13-1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association, after defeating No. 15 Indiana 9-7 and falling to.No. 15 Princeton 17-16. In its morning game against Prince- ton, Michigan jumped out to an early . n ead behindgals from seniorl lead over the Maize and Blue. Michigan tied the score at 16 in the fourth quarter, before giving up the eventual game winner with less than two minutes remaining. Princeton won 17-16. The loss snapped Michigan's eight-game win- ning streak. "(The girls) were probably more angry about it than anything," Drury- Pinto said about the loss. "We played such poor defense." Going into their second game against host Indiana, Michigan was anxious to recover from the morning's defeat. "It made us want it just a little bit things and it worked." After trailing 2-1 against Indiana, the Wolverines rallied to score three of the next four goals and take a 4-3 halftime lead. The Hoosiers scored two quick goals in the second half before the teams traded goals back and forth. The Wolverines were down 7-6 with less than a minute to go when junior Julie Nisbit netted the game-tying goal to send the game to overtime. "I was very excited that someone stepped up," Drury-Pinto said. "To have Julie step up was incredible." The first overtime oeriod was all Free trip to Sun History Trekking Jerusalem Archaeology Earn a Master of Science degree in: * Urban Policy Analysis and Management " Human Resources Management " Nonprofit Management " Health Services Management and Policy " Organizational Change Management Ph.D. degree: " Public 6 Urban Policy . W ~a2' - *4 -- . I