8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 17, 2003 'M' wrestlers clutch in upset over Buckeyes By Eric Chan Daily Sports Writer The No. 9 Michigan wrestling team appears to be stepping it up at just the right time. With the Big Ten Champi- onship two weeks away, the Wolverines looked dominant yesterday afternoon against No. 5 Ohio State. On the strength of two pins and a technical fall, Michigan scored a 26-17 upset over the Buckeyes. "It's nice when you're winning at the end of the year," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "It's good when you're putting together your best wrestling towards the end of the season." The match began at 125 pounds, when senior A.J. Grant stepped onto the mat at Cliff Keen Arena for the last time. Grant and 197-pounder Kyle Smith were both honored for their accomplishments as Wolverines prior to the match. Grant would not disap- point in his final home dual meet. The fourth-ranked All-American put on a takedown clinic at the expense of a hapless Nathan Costello, scoring 15 points in the first period. Grant added two sets of near-fall points in the sec- ond and third period to score a 26-11 technical fall. Michigan redshirt junior Foley Dowd, currently ranked No. 7 in the country at 133 pounds, would not be outdone by his fellow lightweight Grant. Dowd scored four takedowns in the first period before pinning his opponent, Rob Rosenfeld, at the 2:41 mark. "A.J. (Grant) got us started on the right foot, and then Foley (Dowd) get- ting the pin for us was huge," McFar- land said. "It got the momentum going on our side, and was definitely a piece of the puzzle as far as our win tonight." After junior Clark Forward fell to Ohio State's Jeff Ratliff, the Wolver- ines held an 11-3 lead. The bout between Michigan freshman Ryan Churella, ranked fifteenth in the coun- try, and No. 17 Josh Daugherty had all the implications of a marquee matchup, but injury spoiled the com- petition. Daugherty scored the only takedown in the first period to go up 2- 0, but Churella would put Daugherty to his back in the second period with some impressive leg riding. As Churel- la held Daugherty on his back, the Ohio State 149-pounder signaled to the ref for an injury timeout. After the match resumed, Churella began leg rid- ing again, and Daugherty signaled for another injury timeout. This time around though, Ohio State was out of injury time, and was forced to take an injury default, giving the Wolverines six points and a hefty 17-3 lead. "I think Daugherty had a rib injury. When you get stretched out there like Ryan (Churella) did to him there, that kind of thing happens," McFarland said. The Buckeyes would regain some momentum in the next match that featured two of the top 10 157- pounders in the country. Ohio State's Keaton Anderson recently moved to No. 1 in the country after routing top- ranked Luke Becker of Minnesota 10-3 last week. Anderson controlled the match against Michigan All- American sophomore Ryan Bertin, scoring a pair of takedowns and a reversal en route to a 7-3 victory. Ohio State looked poised to make a charge with four of its next five wrestlers ranked in the top 20, includ- ing three ranked in the top 10. With the Wolverines leading 17-6, Michigan redshirt junior Pat Owen was sent out to wrestle No. 4 Johnny Clark. With the score knotted at 2-2 in the second peri- od, Owen put Clark to his backand pinned him to score a stunning upset. "That was a big win for us. There's no doubt about it," McFarland said. "Pat has come through for us on more than one occasion." The pin gave the Wolverines a fair- ly insurmountable 23-9 lead going into the 174-pound matchup between Michigan freshman R.J. Boudro and No. 6 Blake Kaplan. Boudro got two late takedowns, but came up one point short. Kaplan scored an escape with 20 seconds left to win the match, 10- 9. "R.J. (Boudro) is right there," McFar- land said. "He's right in position to win these matches. He's just got to get over a hump and figure some things up." At 197 pounds, Smith looked like the aggressive wrestler that fans saw at the NCAA Championships last season. The All-American scored two late take- downs to score an upset over No. 8 Anton Talamantes. "This win was good for our confi- dence, and we're just going to use it to build momentum through Big Ten and Nationals," McFarland said. "I like where we are at right now." INIC.OLE ITERWYILLIGERU/O Senior Foley Dowd pins Rob Rosenfeld of Penn State at the 2:41 mark. The Wolverines defended Cliff Keen Arena with a 25-17 win over the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Blue's seniors finish home careers i style By Sharad Mattu Daily Sports Writer While the most important part of the wrestling season still remains, Michigan seniors Kyle Smith and A.J. Grant made it clear yesterday that they were ready to move on to other things after the season. "It'll be nice to be done," Grant said. "Everyone says, 'We wish you would still do it' and 'You're going to miss it.' But we'll see if I miss it or not. "I'm not wrestling anymore. I'm done." Smith understands how Grant feels. "It's been a great experience," the future law stu- dent said. "I'm going to miss it a lot. "But I think I'm done wrestling. My body is a lit- tle sore." Although the two veterans may be worn out by a career of wrestling, they showed this weekend that they still have a little gas in the tank. Smith, the fifth year senior, chose Senior Day to regain his All-American form, and Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland couldn't be more thrilled. "That's the Kyle Smith I know and love," McFar- land said. "When he wrestles hard through all dif- ferent positions for seven minutes, he's really tough. I'd like to see him come out at the end of the year the way he did tonight." The 197-pounder started the weekend strong against Penn State's Ryan Cummins on Saturday. All season long, McFarland had been telling Smith to be more aggressive, and against Cummins, he followed the coach's orders. Smith battled Cummins from the start of the first period, and when he finally got the takedown, he didn't let up. With just six seconds left in the peri- od, Smith got him on his back for the pin. Yesterday, No. 17 Smith closed out his wrestling career at Cliff Keen Arena with a dominating 11-6 win over No. 8 Anton Talamantes. Smith was aggressive from the start again and scored two quick takedowns in the first period. He was feisty throughout the match, and clinched the win with a pair of takedowns in the third period. The wrestling season can often become a grind, and at times it has appeared to be just that for Smith. He opened the season ranked as high as fourth, but has struggled since then. But he looked strong and fit this weekend, and with a good finish at Big Tens and Nationals, his rough start will be forgotten. Grant, Michigan's highest ranked and most con- sistent wrestler this season, kept his momentum going this weekend. Grant, ranked fourth, opened up the weekend with a 12-4 major decision over Penn State's Adam Smith at 125 pounds. Grant scored two quick take- downs in the first period and controlled the match the rest of the way. Grant opened up the Wolverines' match against Ohio State and appeared to be revved up after being honored for Senior Day. In a wild first period against Nathan Costello, Grant collected six take- downs and a two-point near fall. But Costello coun- tered with a reversal and a three-point near fall to keep it close at 15-10. From then on Grant regained control and won a technical decision, 26-11. Grant's record is now at 28-5, and he hopes he can finish his Michigan career strong at Big Tens and Nationals. "Everyone wants to go out with a big bang," Grant said. "It's nice to go out being an All-Ameri- can. I got a chance. I'm up at four now. Hopefully I'll end up at least four or higher." Fifth-year senior Mike Kulczycki was also hon- ored yesterday. Kulczycki, an All-American two years ago, has been out since Feb. 1 with an ankle injury. Once Kulczycki gets healthy, he and redshirt junior Pat Owen will have a wrestle-off at 165 pounds. 9 Men's gym breaks .500 with win By Julie Master For The Daily Despite indecisive judging, previ- ous injuries and a battle on the road, the No. 4 Michigan men's gymnas- tics team cruised to a 212.350- 208.975 victory over No. 9 Minnesota. This win gave the Wolverines their first winning record all season at 5-4. Paving the way for Michigan was senior Conan Parzuchowski, who gave a close to flawless perform- ance as he elegantly maneuvered his body on the still rings. When the judges scores appeared, one judge held up a prestigious 9.9. But after viewing the other judges' scores, his 9.9 quickly changed to a 9.7. "The breaks never seem to come our way when we're on the road," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "Just like there are bad calls in foot- ball, there are bad calls in gymnas- tics. A call's a call, so you just live with it." Luckily, Parzuchowski managed to confirm a solid score of 9.725, giving him the highest score of the meet and his season-best perform- ance. Dominating the competition, he placed in the top five on three events. Freshman Gerry Signorelli also earned a first place finish with an 8.625 on the horizontal bar, mark- ing his first win of the season. Sig- norelli also grabbed a second place finish in the all-around competition with a score of 52.7. An additional "first" was fresh- man Luke Botke's floor routine. In his first action of the season, Botke grabbed a second place finish behind two-time defending national champion, Minnesota's Clay Struther. "Luke did real well for his first time out," Golder said. "He's gone through a lot of hard times with wrist problems, and he's had two surgeries. This was his first oppor- tunity, and I'm real proud." Just like Botke, other gymnasts have had nagging injuries as well. Senior captain Scott Vetere was back in the parallel bar lineup for the first time in a year and a half due to a previous shoulder injury. Three-quarters of the way through his parallel bar routine, Vetere lost his balance and fell off. But he was quick to get back up and finish strong. "Scott did have a missed routine, but it was great to have him back out there," Golder said. "He seems to be in good spirits. After his sec- ond shoulder surgery he was at a stand still for a while, but now he seems like a different person." Overall, Golder was pleased with his team's performance. "Sometimes it's hard to go on the road and be all fired up," he said. "When we don't start (our season) at full strength we learn to tolerate a loss, but it's great to go on the road in the Big Ten and come away with a win. w TOM FELDKAMP/Daily Senior co-captain Janessa Greico finished third in three events as the Wolverines beat Northern Illinois 196.65-192.825. Gymnasts set new WANT TO WRITE FOR DAILY SPORTS? COME TO 420 MAYNARD ST. SUNDAY'S AT NOONK AND TELL US YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS MOMENT. By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer Good teams get frustrated when things don't go as planned. Great teams do something about it. The Michigan women's gymnas- tics team is a great one, and it deliv- ered a medicating performa its avid fans on Friday, 1 Northern Illinois (5-7) 1 192.825. The score was a high for the Wolverines (7- in the past two meets teetere edge of mediocrity. "They're working hard eve Michigan coach Bev Ploc "They know what areas they improve on, and we've bee ing both on the physical asp the mental aspect of what doing out here, and slowly b ly it's getting better." Getting better is a stag understatement. The Wol were on fire, collectively1 nine separate season-high Sophomore Chelsea Krollv of the main reasons for the sive performance. Kroll set highs on vault, bars, and bea performances on bars an were also career-bests. "I was really confident b did really well in pract week," Kroll said. "I kindo feeling." Once again, bars proved challenge for the Wolverin season high ance for for junior Calli Ryals. Ryals, who beating ended last year ranked as the No. 1 96.65- gymnast in the country, was season uncharacteristically rusty on bars, 4), who posting a sickness-inducing 9.05. d on the But she came back firing on all cylinders. She started the turn- ry day," around by balancing her way to a ki said. 9.9 on beam. The real story of the need to night for Ryals was her floor rou- n work- tine, in which she scored a scorch- pect and ing 9.975, including a 10 from one they're of the judges. ut sure- "The bars was kind of a fluke thing,".Ryals said. "Sometimes, it's ggering kind of hard for me to pick it up verines after something bad goes wrong, so posting it was good." scores. Freshman Jenny Deiley also car- was one ried her share of the load, winning impres- the second all-around title of her season career with a personal best 39.550 am. Her and also taking the vault title. d beam The solid all-around performance could not have come at a better time ecause I for the Wolverines, who begin a ice all two-week road trip that will pit f had a them against No. 2 Utah and No. 12 Denver. to be a "At Denver, we're going to have es, who to put four events together," Plocki The University of Michigan Department of Dermatology is currently offering research study for facial acne. If you are over the age of 12 and are in good general health, you may be eligible to participate in a research program for facial acne. Office visits and study agent are provided free of charge to eligible 0 - ---- - ci - - u~ ci