The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
December 12, 2016 — 3B
WRESTLING
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
Wolverines suffer narrow loss to Minnesota
“Disappointing” was the word
Michigan coach Joe McFarland
repeatedly used to describe his
team’s 22-18 loss to Minnesota.
Coming off an appearance at the
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational,
the Michigan wrestling team
headed into Sunday’s dual against
the Golden Gophers after the
Wolverines experienced a solid
start to the season.
Michigan was focused on
setting the tone from the start,
and did just that throughout
the initial stages of the dual.
Freshman Sal Profaci defeated
Gannon Volk with an 11-5 decision
in the 141-pound category, giving
the Wolverines a 3-0 lead.
In the 149-pound category,
sophomore Zac Hall extended his
team’s lead, beating the Golden
Gophers’ James Berg with a major
decision.
But Michigan’s initial success
hit a snag in the 157-pound
category
after
senior
Brian
Murphy lost a decision to Jake
Short, cutting the Wolverines’
lead by three points.
Despite
this
temporary
setback,
redshirt
freshman
Logan Massa jolted new hopes
into Michigan’s game after he
defeated Minnesota’s Brandon
Kingsley 17-2 via a technical fall.
Massa’s win came one week after
the rising star won an individual
title at last week’s invitational.
But the Wolverines could not
convert this momentum into a
win. Freshman Myles Amine lost
a decision to Nicholas Wanzek,
and junior Ernest Battaglia lost
a major decision to the Gophers’
Robert Stevenson.
The
Wolverines
were
in
desperate need of a victory to
turn their woes around. However,
neither
redshirt
freshman
Jackson Striggow nor freshman
Dan Perry were able to cut their
opponent’s lead, losing a major
decision and by technical fall,
respectively.
Michigan
freshman
Austin
Assad’s following match against
Steven Polakowski was therefore
a must-win for the Wolverines.
While Assad was able to keep
the score close, it was not
enough, losing a 6-4 decision to
Polakowski. This put the Golden
Gophers up 22-12, and Michigan
was out of reach.
Though the score did not
finish in the Wolverine’s favor,
freshman Stevan Micic would
end the dual on a high note. In the
133-pound category, Micic pinned
Minnesota’s Mitch McKee to win
via a technical fall, but his victory
was not enough to turn the tables
for his team.
“Some of those matches, we
just got out-handed, out-fought
and out-hustled,” McFarland said.
“We didn’t execute the way we
should have.”
Despite
seven
out
of
10
Michigan
atheletes
being
freshmen, McFarland said that
the team’s youth should not be an
excuse for underperforming.
McFarland
also
said
that
his team has to make some
improvements this week.
The Wolverines will now have
a couple of weeks to reflect and
do that, with their next match
not until their dual against
Iowa after the winter break.
Sunday
reminded
Michigan
of the importance of starting
well and taking advantages of
opportunities when they present
themselves.
“We had opportunities to score
and we weren’t able to capitalize
on that,” McFarland added. “And
that cost us.”
Massa gives dominant
effort in Michigan loss
Eight days before Logan
Massa, the now-No.2 wrestler
in the 165-pound weight class,
faced off against Minnesota’s
Brandon Kingsley, the redshirt
freshman
increased
his
momentum at the Cliff Keen
Las Vegas Invitational. After
going 6-0 in Las Vegas, Massa
became the fourth wrestler
in Michigan history to take
the individual championship,
earning the Big Ten Wrestler
of the Week award for the
165-pound
weight class.
“That was
a huge honor
and winning
out
there
was a great
experience,”
Massa
said.
“It
gave
me a lot of
confidence
going
into
the second part of the season.”
His road to the award began
with victories over two top-
10 opponents. In his semifinal
match, Arizona State’s then-
No. 9 Anthony Valencia proved
not to be an issue, as Massa
accumulated four takedowns to
rack up 17 points. Valencia tried
fighting back late in the first
period, but Massa retaliated
in the third, earning the 17-4
victory.
“I was patient, attacked a
lot and let the points build up,”
Massa said. “I’ve been being
offensive, having fun with it
and building off each match.”
And build off it he did. Massa
went on to win the tournament
with a win over Wisconsin’s
then-No.
2
Isaac
Jordan,
capturing a title that only
three Wolverines before him
had earned. The victory also
allowed him to advance to the
No. 2 spot in the country.
By amassing enough riding
time late in the third period,
Massa was able to earn the one
point advantage needed to win
the match over the three-time
All-American.
“He goes out and continues
to
execute
and
attack,”
said
Michigan
coach
Joe
McFarland. “Logan does a
great job. … He’s progressing
because he goes
out and wrestles
hard.”
Building
off
his
success
a
week
earlier,
Massa
forced
Kingsley to the
mat in his dual
match
Sunday
and
practically
controlled
the
bout the entire
time. His 17-2 victory over
Kingsley came as no surprise,
though, as he improved his
already perfect season to 15-0.
Though
the
Wolverines
lost the dual meet against
No.18 Minnesota to start off
the Big Ten campaign, Massa
was able to lead by example
with his decisive win over his
opponent.
McFarland said that Massa’s
successes
stem
from
his
consistent intensity in practice
and in meets. With the rest of
Big Ten play coming up, Massa
will look to notch a few more
Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
awards as Michigan seeks to
become a dominant force in the
conference.
Blue notches victory
in intrasquad meet
From the moment the Maize
and Blue Intrasquad began to the
moment it ended, Cliff Keen Arena
was never silent. But it wasn’t
because of the crowd. On the
sidelines, the booming cheers and
words of encouragement from the
Michigan men’s gymnastics team
filled the room as they supported
their teammates.
“As soon as I heard the
team behind me, I just got the
confidence in my abilities,” said
freshman Mitchell Brown. “It
helped me realize that I knew how
to get the job done.”
The sideline support clearly
paid off for the team’s newest
members, as four of the team’s
eight
freshmen
—
Brown,
Mack Lasker, Justin Murphy
and Thomas Paul — all earned
mentions in the awards ceremony
in their collegiate debut. Lasker
and Paul took first-place titles in
the pommel horse and still rings
during the first and third rotation,
respectively, each with a score of
13.500.
This
annual
intrasquad
functioned as a way to get the
men’s gymnastics team in a
competitive
mindset,
and
to
give the freshman a taste of
competition in preparation for the
upcoming regular season.
The Blue team outperformed
Maize in four out of the six events
— floor, pommel horse, still rings
and high bar — contributing to
its 242.450 to 236.550 victory
Saturday afternoon.
Blue maintained a solid lead
throughout most of the dual,
with the exception of the end of
the third rotation, where Brown
and redshirt sophomore Marty
Stretch’s
outstanding
vault
performance put Maize ahead.
Sophomore
Emyre
Cole
proved himself key to the Blue
squad’s
domination,
earning
the all-around title with the top
score of 78.100. His highlights
included taking joint first-place
titles on both vault and high bar,
with scores of 14.600 and 13.900,
respectively.
He
additionally
placed second on floor after
sticking a two-and-a-half twisting
double back, and earned a joint
third-place title on still rings.
Placing
second
all-around
with a score of 77.050, Stretch
impressively
executed
his
routines as well. He took the joint
event title for vault with a score
of 14.600, and took the event title
for parallel bars with a 13.650.
Additionally, he earned second
place on still rings and third place
on the high bar.
Senior captain Tristian Perez-
Rivera and sophomore Justin
Hopgood secured event titles as
well. Perez-Rivera scored a 13.900
with a strong floor routine in
the first rotation, and Hopgood
earned his joint first-place title on
high bar in the final rotation, also
scoring a 13.900.
The intrasquad was not only a
debut for the freshmen, but also a
debut for the new Code of Points
that was implemented for the
2017 season. The starting values
for routines in every event have
been altered, with vault start
values being lowered by .040 and
all other event start values being
lowered by .050.
“It will probably take a season
for (the new rules) to become
natural,” said Michigan coach
Kurt Golder.
While impressed with many of
the skills he saw executed by both
teams, Golder was disappointed
with the hit percentage, which
was around 50 percent and was
lower than it had been a few weeks
prior during training in the gym.
Golder attributed this difference
in part to the crowd and to the
harder surface the gymnasts were
landing on in Keen as opposed
to the practice gym, where the
softer floor gave way for easier
dismounts.
Golder intends to focus on
hit percentage in the upcoming
weeks as the Wolverines approach
their regular season, which will
begin Jan. 14 at the Windy City
Invitational in Chicago.
Michigan starts season with exhibition win
Crisler Center hosted an
exciting atmosphere Saturday
with the fans’ first chance since
April to watch the Michigan
women’s
gymnastics
team
compete. From the crowd to the
celebrity judges — who included
former football players to radio
personalities — most of the
building clapped along to senior
Nicole Artz’s floor routine,
which she concluded with her
signature point at the judges.
The
meet
between
the
Wolverines
and
Eastern
Michigan may have just been
an opportunity for the women
to practice their routines in a
competition setting, but that
doesn’t
mean
they
weren’t
taking it seriously.
After trailing at the end of the
first rotation, the Wolverines
stepped it into gear and earned
a victory, 196.200-194.750.
Five new freshmen joined
this season’s roster, and they
had to step up. A wrist injury
kept
out
sophomore
Olivia
Karas — last year’s Big Ten
Freshman of the Year — who is
still recovering from surgery in
the summer.
Michigan’s
first
rotation
was
on
the
vault.
Three
freshmen
competed
and
proved
that
nerves
wouldn’t affect
them.
Senior
Talia Chiarelli
stumbled
on
her
landing,
though
fortunately
for
the
Wolverines,
her
score
was
dropped.
Meanwhile,
Eastern
Michigan was competing on the
bars. Natalie Gervais slipped
off the bar during a release
move and could not continue
her routine. She received a zero
for her performance and didn’t
compete again for the rest of the
day, but her teammates kept the
competition alive.
Michigan fared much better
on the bars. It finished all six
routines cleanly and freshman
Lexi Funk stuck her first career
landing. But, it was Artz and
junior
Brianna
Brown who shined
in this event. They
both finished with
a 9.925 and pulled
the
Wolverines
into the lead.
Funk
and
freshman
Polina
Shchennikova
were the lead-off
routines on the
beam,
an
event
that demands near perfection.
Though they did wobble at
times,
they
finished
what
appeared to be solid routines.
They were awarded a 9.650 and
9.300, respectively. Michigan
coach Bev Plocki saw decent
performances and didn’t think
the scores reflected them, and
she soon found out why.
“I said something to the
judge
and
she
said,
‘The
celebrities gave her a 9.0,’ and
they thought because she had
a stumble on her dismount they
took it from a 10.0 to a 9.0,”
Plocki said. “I was like, ‘Dudes,
you can have two falls for a 9.0.’
But I mean, that’s the fun of
it, hearing commentary from
a person who doesn’t really
know or understand. It’s fun to
hear what are the things they
appreciate about it.”
Sophomore Emma McLean
earned a 39.400 for the day,
securing
her
an
all-around
victory. Due to her hard work
during fall workouts, she was
able to add two more events to
her competition.
“It was really fun,” McLean
said. “The last time I did that
was my senior year (in high
school), and it was reminding
me of what it was like and I
really enjoyed it.”
It was an exciting experience
for the entire team, but the
fun of the day didn’t take the
team’s attention away from
the improvements it needs to
make before the season starts in
January.
MAX KUANG/Daily
Redshirt freshman Stevan Micic beat his opponent, but Michigan fell to Minnesota, 22-18, Sunday afternoon at Cliff Keen Arena.
CHRISTIAN NEUBACHER
For the Daily
Redshirt freshman maintains perfect
15-0 record after beating Minnesota
“He goes out
and continues
to execute and
attack.”
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Writer
ANNA MARCUS
For the Daily
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Sophomore Emma McLean notched an all-around victory en route to the Wolverines’ exhibition win Saturday at Crisler Center.
PAIGE VOEFFRAY
Daily Sports Writer
“I was like,
‘Dudes, you can
have two falls
for a 9.0.’ ”