The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, January 14, 2020— 7
Parris plays hero against Spartans
Sean Bormet saw the look on
Mason Parris’ face and knew
what was going to happen.
The
Michigan
wrestling
team may have lost its last four
bouts. It may have nearly blown
a 16-point lead to Michigan
State. But the Wolverines knew
that in the moment, none of
that mattered, because they
had a cheat code the Spartans
didn’t: sophomore heavyweight
Mason Parris.
The
look
Bormet
saw
didn’t betray him. Parris got
a takedown right off the bat.
After 29 seconds he had his
opponent pinned, a result that
gave the Wolverines six points
and sealed their 22-14 win
over Michigan State on Friday
night.
“I was pretty confident that
Mason was capable of pinning
him,” Bormet, the Michigan
coach, said. “I didn’t know
exactly how fast he would get
there. But the minute he got
the takedown and got those
arm bars, I could see the look
on his face and he was gonna
turn the guy and pin him.”
This is par for the course for
Parris, who is the third-ranked
heavyweight in the country
and has five pins in seven
matches. But it’s less often he
has a performance as vital as
Friday’s.
Coming off a loss to Oregon
State
and
two
lackluster
invitational
finishes,
the
25th-ranked Wolverines knew
the
opportunity
they
had
kicking off the Big Ten season
against the unranked Spartans.
The start of the match reflected
that, with Michigan taking the
first five bouts and building a
16-0 lead.
But Michigan State mounted
a comeback, taking the next
four
bouts
—
including
a
technical fall that sent the
Spartans’ side of the arena into
a frenzy. With only one bout
remaining,
the
Wolverines’
lead had shrunk to two.
Many other heavyweights
would’ve crumbled in that
situation. But Parris embraced
the pressure, stepped on the
mat and did the deed.
“I just saw their whole
bench, Michigan State’s bench
just getting off and getting
really rowdy and everything
and I mean, props to them, but
I kinda knew what was coming
up
next
with
Mason Parris,”
freshman
Cole
Mattin
said.
“Whenever
that guy steps
on the mat, you
know
there’s
definitely
a
probability
of getting six
points on the
board for us and
I knew that was coming, no
matter what.”
There’s
no
one
else
Michigan would rather have
in a close match, and there’s
no
environment
in
which
Parris thrives more. From the
moment Parris stepped on the
mat, Bormet was excited —
not just for his star wrestler,
but for the Cliff Keen crowd,
because he knew it was about
to be on its feet cheering.
Parris
approaches
every
match the same, he says, but he
loves being the heavyweight,
because it means his bout is
always last. There’s always a
possibility the match comes
down to him.
“It’s a lot of good pressure
on me and it helps me wrestle
better,” Parris said. “ … I
just kinda wanted to get the
crowd pumped up and put an
exclamation point on the dual
win.”
So when Parris held his
opponent’s
shoulders to the
mat after just
29 seconds, he
lifted his arms
up in response,
getting
the
crowd loud as
the fight song
rang over the
speakers.
He
flexed for the
fans. He wanted
an exclamation point, and boy,
did he create one.
The Wolverines all saw it
coming. But they enjoyed it just
as much.
“I knew, especially who it
was coming up next, Mason
Parris, I kinda knew they didn’t
really have a chance,” Mattin
said. “I’m just being honest.
“Mason’s
obviously
very,
very good. He’s super talented,
he’s great at what he does, and
he just went out and showed
it.”
Wolverines reinvigorate rivalry
Whether Indiana wants to
admit it or not, it has a rival in
Michigan.
Since the 2015-2016 season,
the Michigan men’s swimming
and diving team has traded
first and second place finishes
with the Hoosiers at the Big
Ten Championships. Of the 17
swimmers and divers named to
the 2019 All-Big Ten First Team, 15
came from the two programs.
“I really like our rivalry with
them, if they consider it a rivalry
with us,” senior Tommy Cope said.
One may attribute Indiana’s
recent dominance over Michigan
to Cope’s comment.
The Hoosiers have notched back-
to-back Big Ten championships
and third-place finishes at the
NCAA Championships in the past
two seasons. Back in November,
Indiana handed the Wolverines
their first loss of the season at a
dual meet in Bloomington.
However, on Saturday, No.
3 Michigan (4-1 overall, 2-1 Big
Ten) redeemed itself by upending
the fifth-ranked Hoosiers’ (6-3,
2-1) recent reign of dominance
and giving them their first Big
Ten dual-meet loss in four years,
resolidifying the rivalry.
“It’s really fun to go race
against top-notch people,” Cope
said.“That’s how I know if I am
doing well in the sport or not. It’s
good to race against similar people.
Iron sharpens iron.”
Saturday’s meet in Ann Arbor
emulated the two schools’ tense,
back-and-forth competition that
has persisted over the years. In a
meet where every dive and every
race seemed to matter, both sides
battled and exchanged first place
finishes throughout the day.
Impressive
individual
performances by Cope and junior
Ricardo Vargas led the way for the
Wolverines.
Cope took first place in both
the 100 and 200-yard breastroke
(1:56.34,
1:58.97),
with
senior
Charlie Swanson and sophomore
Will Chan finishing behind him
in respective events. A crucial first
place finish by Cope in the 200-
yard individual medley (1:45.61)
helped Michigan pull away in the
latter half of the meet.
Capturing the sentiment of
the rivalry, Cope splashed the
water around and pumped his
fist following his victory in the
individual
medley
to
mimic
Indiana swimmers’ ostentatious
celebrations in previous races.
Vargas, meanwhile, placed first
in the 500 and 1,000-yard freestyle
with times of 4:21.85 and 9:01.82,
with sophomore Patrick Callan
and senior Felix Auböck placing
second and third behind Vargas in
the 500.
Even when Indiana took first
place in events, Michigan found
ways to garner points in close races
to secure second, third and fourth
places.
In the 200-yard butterfly, senior
Miles Smachlo and Vargas finished
second and third behind the
Hoosiers’ Brendan Burns to pick up
seven points for their side. Smachlo
avenged himself to edge out Burns
in the 100-yard butterfly with an
impressive finish of 46.84.
In the diving well, although
Indiana’s Mory Gould finished first
place in the 1-meter and 3-meter
events, junior Ross Todd, senior
Jake Herremans and junior Chris
Canning placed behind him in both
events. The trio netted 18 points to
cancel out the 18 points Gould won
for his team.
“Everyone was up and scoring,”
Michigan coach Mike Bottom said.
“When (Indiana) won an event, we
were right behind them with two
or three people. We took away their
superstars with our team. And
that’s how you win these meets.”
Building off mounting mid-
season momentum, the Wolverines
were able to rise to the challenge
and prove why they have been
right behind the Hoosiers in Big
Ten rankings recently.
Off the blocks
The pistol fired, sending
the runners into motion at the
Wolverine
Invitational
and
signaling the beginning of the
indoor track and field season
for both the Michigan men’s
and women’s teams.
Out of 30 final events on
Saturday, the Wolverines had
25 individuals land podium
finishes in 18 events — six of
which were first place. The
unscored invitational featured
Eastern
Michigan,
Toledo,
Buffalo,
Miami
(Fla.)
and
professional
non-collegiate
athletes. Among them were
notable
runners
Melissa
Bishop-Nriagu — a Canadian
Olympian who ran at the 2012
and 2016 Olympics — British
Olympian Tiffany Porter and
Olympic
hopefuls
Mason
Ferlic and Shannon Osika, both
former Wolverines.
“So we invite those kids in,
those young men and women in,
when we’re not having a scored
meet,” Michigan co-head coach
James Henry said. “We want
our kids to aspire that, ‘I want
to be there’ and, ‘I’m right next
to an Olympian,’ and they’re
out there in the meet and they
see this is what it’s like. . . . So
we want them here so they can
aspire to be a part of that.”
But Michigan
didn’t
need
to look far for
inspiration.
Both
senior
thrower Briana
Nelson
and
junior
thrower
Courtney
Jacobsen broke
the
previous
school record of
19.53 meters in
the weight throw.
Additionally,
multiple
athletes
recorded
personal
records, including high jumpers
Jada
Wimberly
and
Katt
Miner — a junior and a senior,
respectively.
“Me and Jada wanted to
be really relaxed today and
not stressed about anything,”
Miner said. “Our goal was just
to make bar and just try to be
consistent. And it just went way
better than we both expected.
But I think that’s just because
we
weren’t
stressed
about
height or anything at all today.”
Wimberly placed third by
jumping over a 1.70-meter bar,
besting her previous indoor
record of 1.66 meters. Miner
shattered her 1.71 indoor record
by clearing a 1.80-meter bar and
claimed first in the high jump
event.
“I think other
meets, we put
pressure
on
ourselves
to
make
certain
bars,”
Miner
said. “We end
up just kind of
getting
really
tense and not
fluid
through
it,
so
moving
through them was really nice.
And then, when we got to higher
heights, we were just kind of
like ‘OK, let’s keep it going.’ ”
Other first place finishers
included
sophomore
Eric
Harris in men’s pole vault,
freshman Amanda Schaare in
women’s shot put, sophomore
John Meyer in men’s shot put,
sophomore Colton Yesney in
the men’s 3,000-meter run and
both the men’s and women’s
teams in the 4x400-meter relay.
Additionally,
freshman
distance
runner
Ericka
VanderLende placed seconf in
the mile, only behind Nike-
sponsored runner and Tokyo
2020 Olympic hopeful Shannon
Osika. After a successful cross
country season, VanderLende
chose to work on her get-off
and focused more on speed
work during the
winter. Despite
the
change
going into her
first
indoor
season, she still
managed
to
finish favorably
in her event.
At the end
of
the
meet,
Henry gathered
both
teams
together and had the athletes
share not only their successes,
but their disappointments and
failures as well.
“I want the kids to hear
all levels of how well we’re
doing so you can take that and
become better,” Henry said.
“So if someone wet the bed, use
that to get better. If someone
had an average day, use that to
get better. If the throwers or
whatever had a great day, use
that to step up.
“So all action is a positive
reaction.”
The goal is to get better.
That’s why Henry has been
having his athletes practice this
self-reflection for over 30 years
and why he’ll have them do it
after every meet this year.
“It’s a process for all of
our kids,” Henry said. “If you
do well, it’s a
process. If you
do
bad,
it’s
a
process.”
The
results
of the Michigan
men’s
and
women’s
track
and field teams’
first meet make
one thing clear —
each
Wolverine
is in a different
part of the process. Some broke
school and personal records.
Some ‘wet the bed.’ And some
didn’t even make it to the
starting block on Saturday.
But one part of the process is
clear — they are all expected to
get better.
Every meet is a part of the
process. From a non-scoring
meet in early January to the
NCAA Championships, there
is value in every competition.
Saturday, on an otherwise
uneventful day, that value
came from young athletes
making their indoor debut
for the Michigan men’s and
women’s track team.
“The
biggest
thing
I’m
always looking for is that the
kids get some competition
in,” Michigan co-head coach
James Henry said. “They get
to the line, they finish the line
and they’re healthy.”
A
lot
of
freshmen
did,
in fact, get to the line and
finish. In the 800-meter run,
freshman Ben Jacobs sprinted
to a fourth-place finish in 1:58.
In the men’s mile, freshman
Anthony DeKraker powered
down
the
home
straight
coming in third with a time
of 4:12, with freshman John
Florence right behind him
in fifth with a time of 4:17.
Later in the meet, freshman
Nick Trevisan came in third
in the 3000-meter with a time
of 8:43, surpassing several
competitors who had taken an
early lead over the pack.
A
solid
showing
from
the
men’s
newcomers
was duplicated
on
the
women’s side.
Freshman
Samantha
Saenz
took
fourth in the
3000-meter,
covering the 15
laps in 10:02.
And freshman
Ericka VanderLende — coming
off her All-American cross
country season — took second
place in the women’s mile with
a mark of 4:49, losing only to
Nike’s
professional
runner
Shannon Osika.
“In high school, I didn’t
really do a lot of hard stuff
in the winter, and now I’m
doing a lot of hard workouts,”
VanderLende
said
of
her
transition to her first track
season. “So I’m seeing a lot
of big improvements for the
indoor season.”
VanderLende’s second place
finish was only surpassed by
one Michigan newcomer —
freshman Amanda Schaare.
Schaare won the women’s
shot put with a throw of 15.22,
besting the rest of the field by
over two-tenths of a meter.
“She redshirted last year.
She wasn’t ready for the big
leagues,” Henry said. “But she
was trained to be a big leaguer,
and she stepped onto the stage
and she performed like a big
leaguer. That’s just a part of
the process.”
Henry stressed the process
for
these
young
athletes.
For him, it’s all about the
Wolverines coming in and just
getting better and committing
to it, and all of these young
competitors
seem
to
be
responding.
“It’s a process for all of our
kids,
especially
(Michigan
co-head coach Jerry Clayton)’s
kids, it’s important,” Henry
said. “If you do well, it’s a
process. If you do bad, it’s a
process.”
Schaare
is
a
shining
example of this,
with her year-
long break from
competition
allowing
her
to be a force in
the field events
like she was on
Saturday.
“That
kid
spent the whole
year training and
not competing,”
Henry said. “And when it’s her
time to get on the stage, she
shined.”
So, if the athletes who suited
up for their debut Saturday
trust the process as Schaare
has, then there’s no telling just
how bright the future can be.
Michigan starts season by showcasing young talent in Wolverine Invitational, landing 25 podium finishes
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Sophomore heavyweight Mason Parris pinned his opponent after 29 seconds.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
I kinda knew
what was
coming up next
with ... Parris.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
CAMERON HUNT/Daily
The Michigan men’s swimming and diving team has enjoyed a rivalry with Indiana since the 2015-16 season.
DREW COX
Daily Sports Writer
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan women’s track and field team broke numerous school and personal records at the Wolverine Invitational.
Our goal was
just to make bar
and just try to
be consistent.
If you do well,
it’s a process. If
you do bad, it’s
a process.
They get to the
line, they finish
the line and
they’re healthy.