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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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Biondo's agility helps in From page
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By IAN KAY McFarland said. "He carries a lot of
Daily Sports Writer that stuff with him and I think that's
going to be a real big advantage for
As he has several times before, him as he continues to fill out."
redshirt freshman Anthony Biondo Using shots not often seen in the
has outgrown his wrestling shoes. heavier weight classes, Biondo has
"I thought I was stuck at (size) 11 racked up 23 takedowns this season.
1/2, but I'm busting out of these right Once on the mat, he's shown the abil-
now," he said of his black and white ity to neutralize opponents with his
Nikes. legs, often leading to bonus points.
But unexpected growth is nothing His five falls are tied for most on the
new for Biondo. team.
Wearing size 8 1/2 shoes, he won "In almosteverymatch, Idothings
the Michigan state wrestling title at you wouldn't typically see from a big-
103 pounds as a high school fresh- ger guy," Biondo said. "I think that's
man. By his senior year, he was a state been to my advantage."
champion at 145pounds. At 197 pounds, Biondo fills an
Last year, during his redshirt cam- important spot in Michigan's lineup.
paign,Biondowrestled at174 pounds, In meets, he wrestles after fifth-year
but that slot in Michigan's starting senior captain Eric Tannenbaum,
lineupbelongedto All-American red- Luke, and redshirt junior captain
shirt junior Steve Luke. Tyrel Todd. All three are All Ameri-
Luckily, Biondo kept growing. cans and ranked in the top five
This season he has found a home at nationally.
197 pounds, compiling a 23-10 record Biondo frequently extends rallies
and a No. 14 national ranking in the started in the middle weights, often
NCAA's second heaviest class. making the difference in tightly con-
After bulking up to almost 200 tested meets.
pounds over the summer, Biondo has In duals when Biondo has won,
trimmed down to around 192 pounds Michigan is 12-2. When he has lostor
during in-season workouts. He regu- not wrestled, the Wolverines are 2-6.
larly wrestles opponents who are "It was really nice to see him fill
five pounds heavier and is the only into 197," McFarland said. "It's defi-
non-heavyweight on Michigan's ros- nitely helped us, especially in the Big
ter who doesn't need to cut weight Ten because there are so many well-
before matches. balanced teams this year."
Biondo views his lower weight as McFarland may not want to get too
an advantage because his wrestling used to seeing Biondo at 197 pounds.
style relies far more on speed than Biondojokes about it now, but a future
strength. In years of wrestling in move to heavyweight is not out of the
the lower weight classes, he honed question.
uncommon quickness and agility "The way I've been growing, who
that often catches his bigger oppo- knows," he said. "Those guys are so
nents off-guard. big. I think I would just kill people at
"He grew up a lightweight so he heavyweight."
has really good technique and great For that, he'll definitely need some
leg attacks," Michigan coach Joe bigger shoes.
IA - 0, " w Ylx A VIIla
another chance to prove him-
self at a top-three spot against
Northwestern this Friday.
GOTTLIEB
From page_9A
WHAT MICHIGAN NEEDS TO
DO WITH CRISLERARENA:
"The school hasn't done itself
justice by not updating the facil-
ity. I'm not somebody who's
going to tell you that you have
to have a brand new facility,
because you don't. Sometimes,
you build those NBA arenas and
you lose (something).
But they need to fix Crisler.
Unless they're OK with, 'Let's
just be the academic school
that's good but not great.'... Fine,
you can do that, but you have to
hold your coach to that stan-
dard, too. If you're going to hold
your coaches and your program
to a high standard, you have to
invest, like they are with the
$250 million into the football
stadium. You need to put $50 to
$100 (million) into the arena. If
you do that, now you are really
committing. Until then, you're
kidding yourself."
FACILITY
From page_9A
ines have a long wayto go before
achievingthe breakthrough sea-
son he's been looking for.
"We might wait until the
end of the season to determine
whether its been a breakthrough
year or not," Sapp said. "But we
know that we can win and com-
pete."
other expenses with his roommate's
creditcard,thenewspaperreported.
According to the University's online
directory,hisroommateisfreshman
forward CarlHagelin.Ahearinghas
been scheduled for March 12.
After being removed from the
program, Quick has since signed
a tryout contract with the Norfolk
Admirals, the Tampa Bay Light-
ning's American Hockey League
affiliate.
KOLARIK
From page 9A
Rather than skating to the blue
line as the starting lineups are
announced, Kolarik is struggling
to touch his toes and can barely put
on his socks because of the injury.
Yet he still remains confident his
twice daily treatments will help him
return sooner than expected.
"If I heal quick, you never know,
by Senior Night [in two weeks] hope-
fully," Kolarik said about when he
would return. "Who knows, right?"
QUICK CHARGED: Defenseman
Kevin Quick, who was dismissed
from the team Feb. 1, was charged*
with identity theft, fraud under
false pretenses and using a com-
puter to commit a crime, The Ann
Arbor News reported.
Quick allegedly paid off credit-
card debt, a traffic-violation fine and
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