10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 0 WRESTLING After mix up, Shutich returns to M' lineup By Mark Giannotto Daily Sports Writer Since the Dec. 10 meet against Cleveland State, when sophomore Mark Moos decided to move up to the 133-pound weight class, the No. 8 Michigan wres- tling team has been without a 125-pound wrestler. At first, it appeared that this predicament had little effect on the performance of the Wolverines. Michigan was able to get around having just nine wrestlers in its lineup. Despite having to forfeit one match each meet, Michigan picked up easy victories over quality oppo- nents like No. 11 Central Michigan, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 19 Penn State. But reality set in two weeks ago at the NWCA Cliff Keen National Dual Tournament. The Wolverines lost dual meets to Minnesota and Oklahoma. In both meets, giving up a forfeit in the 125-pound weight class proved to be the difference in the final score. "We try to forget about it and act like we are start- ing every meet at (the 133-pound weight class), instead of focusing on the fact that we didn't have anyone at the 125-pound weight class," junior co-captain Ryan Churella said. Forfeiting the starting 125-pound weight class meant the Wolverines began every meet down 6-0. The only other way to receive six team points is via a pinfall, and, against good teams like No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 4 Minnesota, pins are hard to come by. The early deficit sometimes forced the other wrestlers on the team to wrestle a different style than they were accustomed to. Some felt it was necessary to make up for the forfeit by going exclusively for a pin. This strat- egy frequently backfired, when wrestlers fell behind going for difficult moves. But the Wolverines finally had a complete set of wrestlers this past weekend when they beat both Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road. Sophomore Jim Shutich made his 2004-2005 debut in the varsity lineup at the 125-pound weight class. Shutich lost his first match, 5-3 to Wisconsin's Collin Cudd and fell to Minnesota's Bobby Lowe, 19-7 on Sunday. Despite the losses, his presence alone helped the Wolverines avoid starting with a six-point deficit. But what took so long for Shutich to finally appear in the lineup? The answer lies in a simple misstep by Shutich and the coaching staff. Over winter break, Shutich competed in an open tournament where he weighed in to wrestle in the 133- pound weight class. NCAA rules state that a wrestler can only lose 1.5 percent of his body weight per week. This meant that for Shutich to lose the eight pounds necessary to wrestle in the 125-pound weight class, he had to wait at least four weeks. "(Shutich) didn't realize that, even at an open tour- nament, NCAA rules still apply," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "It was just a mistake, and I wasn't on top of that one like I should have been. I'm blaming myself for that one." Although last weekend was Shutich's first varsity action this season, he did not come in without expe- rience. Last season, as a true freshman, Shutich com- piled a 13-8 record, while winning the Edinboro Open and placing fourth at the Eastern Michigan Open. "Everyone is excited about getting a kid like him into the lineup," McFarland said. "I like what I'm see- ing in the (wrestling room). He's going to give us a guy at a starting weight class that is going to go out there and wrestle hard." Even though Shutich has been unable to wrestle, it has not diminished what the coaching staff and the rest of the team expect out of him. BREMMER Continued from page 9 at the latest) and enter the Draft. The thinking goes that neither player would have helped the future of the program in the long haul, so it's not as big a loss that they didn't come to Michigan. But it's hard not to think about what life would be like if the team had a guy like Hairston to fill in for an injured Abram. The future is just as murky. None of Michigan's recruits for next year are highly ranked enough to be considered "blue chip" recruits. Who knows what the future of the program will hold? All that we know for sure is what has already happened. Looking at the state of the program now, as opposed to when I started out as a student four years ago, it's amazing to see the difference. We were a laughing stock of the Big Ten - and maybe even the coun- try - a team without any aspirations and a team that was under NCAA investigation, and later, faced sanc- tions for the Ed Martin scandal. People were so used to losing in 2001 that people barely cared about hoops at all, let alone with the passion that they do today. And, while this year might be one to forget, the Michigan basketball team again commands respect and is clean of any NCAA wrongdoing. So, while there are certain areas of this year's downfall that you can pin on Amaker, it's not all his fault, as many critics would have you believe. Now, as a student, I can only hope that things will look up soon in the future. Daniel Bremmer can be reached at bremmerd@umich.edu. FACEOFFS Continued from page 9 "It's definitely a mentality," Kolarik said. "When I feel like I'm really bearing down, then I'm defi- nitely going to win it. But if I'm just going in there nonchalant, then there's a better chance that I'm going to lose it." Last Wednesday in practice, Berenson took aside all of the for- wards to discuss some of the intri- cacies of winning a faceoff. He talked to all of the forwards - not just the centers - because he thinks everyone on the ice has to be able to take the draw. Sometimes during penalty kills, there are no centers on the ice, and, even when centers are available, sometimes they get pulled from the circle for trying to get an unfair advantage. "I find myself getting kicked out all the time because I try to cheat a lot," Kolarik said. "If you're not cheating then you're not trying, right? I'm a smaller guy, so I need to get all the benefits I can get. So I try to cheat. "I try to bring my legs more into the circle, and I try to bring my head more over the faceoff dot so that he can't get in there and he can't get his body in. So I have more leverage." Whatever the strategy, Michi- gan has worked hard in practice to improve on its faceoffs. The Wol- verines would like to be able to con- vert and score more off of its own draws. But the real focus has been in the defensive zone. Because they don't want their sea- son to end sometime in March just because they lost a draw. -Jv Luuw/umy Michigan coach Joe McFarland believes Jim Shutich can make the NCAA Tournament at his new weight class. "Jim can qualify for the (NCAA tournament)," McFarland said. "Even though it's a tough weight class, I know what Jim is capable of doing, and I guess time will tell. He is a great competitor. There's no one who is going to put more pressure on himself than Jim will. He knows a lot of guys on this team are counting on him." The Wolverines feel that having a 125-pound wres- tler in the lineup will give them the momentum needed to win close dual meets. Although they were forced to get used to wrestling a man down, it is not something that they want to make a habit. "Just getting a 125-pound wrestler back in the line- up is going to be a huge thing for our team because (by) starting every dual at the 133-pound weight class, everyone is rushed," Churella said. "Everyone is used to starting with a 125-pound wrestler, and getting Jim into the lineup will get things back to normal." al :a