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Thursday, February 13, 2020 — 5A

Michigan learning to adapt with three wrestlers out on Olympic redshirts

Shortly 
after 
the 
World 
Wrestling Championships ended, 
Michigan coach Sean Bormet met 
with his competitors in a hotel 
room. They had 24 hours to make 
a decision.
At the week-long competition, 
two 
Michigan 
wrestlers 
had 
qualified for the Olympics. Two 
others had a shot at Olympic 
Trials. But now, they had to decide 
if they wanted to remain with 
the Wolverines or disenroll from 
classes and take Olympic redshirts.
Worlds ended on Sept. 22. The 
add/drop deadline was Sept. 23. 
Each wrestler had put this choice 
aside for a bit, but now, they had to 
make a decision.
The 
NCAA 
offers 
Olympic 
redshirts to wrestlers who meet 
certain conditions: past national 
team members, top-3 finishers 
at NCAAs, top-8 finishers at the 
Senior U.S. Open or previous 
medalists at Cadet, Junior or U23 
Worlds. This year, Michigan — 
coming off a fifth-place finish at the 
NCAA Championships in 2019 — 
had four wrestlers who met those 
conditions.
Myles Amine and Stevan Micic 
both finished fifth at Worlds — 
competing for San Marino and 
Serbia, respectively — and punched 
their tickets to Tokyo. Logan Massa 
and Kanen Storr both compete for 
the United States and would have 
opportunities throughout the year 
to qualify.
Because 
they 
compete 
for 
European countries, Micic and 
Amine had travel obligations that 
would make attending classes 
difficult. Olympic wrestling has just 
six weight classes compared to the 
NCAA’s 10, so Micic needs to drop a 
weight and Amine is moving up one 
in preparation. 
The four decided that whatever 
they did, they would do it together. 
Amine, Micic and Massa were set 
to be fifth-year seniors, and they 
wanted to complete their last year 
of eligibility together to ensure the 
team was as strong as possible that 

year. Storr, a redshirt junior, had 
two years left, so he could go either 
way.
By the end of the day, they’d 
made their decision: All four 
withdrew from classes to chase 
their dreams. And with that, the 
rest of the Wolverines entered 
uncharted territory.
Though he’s just in his second 
year 
as 
head 
coach, 
Bormet 
competed for Michigan in the 
early 1990s and returned as an 
assistant coach in 2011. Through 
his years with the program, Bormet 
doesn’t remember an instance of 
the Wolverines using even a single 
Olympic redshirt. At the start of 
the season, Bormet had to take a 
team with high expectations and 
navigate through the loss of four of 
its top wrestlers.
Michigan scuffled out of the gate, 
dropping a dual to North Carolina 
and finishing in the middle of the 
pack at invitationals. Meanwhile, 
Storr realized his chances for the 
Olympics were dwindling — his 
main hope to qualify for Olympic 
Trials was to win an NCAA title. 
So he registered for classes for 
the winter semester and pulled 
his redshirt at the Midlands 
Championships in December.
“Midway through the (fall) 
semester, I thought, ‘I really don’t 
wanna put off school any longer. 
I wanna wrestle a long time, so 
there’s no point for me to delay my 
career,’ ” Storr said. “And ... I think 
me coming back was just a good 
little kickstart to kind of start the 
second half strong.”
Storr’s 
return 
helped, 
but 
the results for the team have 
nevertheless been mixed. Michigan 
still has three top-10 wrestlers — 
Storr and redshirt freshman Will 
Lewan are both ranked No. 9 in 
their respective weight classes, 
while sophomore Mason Parris is 
No. 2 in the country at heavyweight. 
But there’s only so much three 
wrestlers can do.
Many of the Wolverines’ matches 
tell similar stories: Michigan starts 
out stong and builds up a lead, but 
that cushion evaporates as the 
middle of the lineup comes up — 

the spots Massa, Amine and Micic 
usually fill. Young wrestlers try 
their best to hold their own against 
tough Big Ten competition. Then 
Parris comes and tries to save 
the day. Sometimes it’s enough. 
Sometimes it isn’t.
Bormet admits that he’s a 
competitive person and he’s not 
fully satisfied with Michigan’s 
results. But he also views this 
season as a challenge to his entire 
staff — how can they get the most 
out of a depleted roster?
Sometimes, wrestlers have had 
to compete in higher weight classes 
than normal — redshirt junior 
Tyler Meisinger has wrestled at 
three different weights this year 
and junior Reece Hughes has 
wrestled at four.
Michigan knows it’ll take its 
lumps at times. From there, it 
becomes about limiting damage. 
Even in losses, individual wrestlers 
can mitigate the blow by keeping 
opponents from earning bonus 

points 
or 
major 
decisions 
— 
potentially allowing a teammate 
like Storr or Parris to aid in a 
comeback later.
Meanwhile, Amine, Micic and 
Massa are still in Ann Arbor. They 
go through individualized workout 
regimens, but still occasionally 
practice with the team, along 
with providing moral support and 
offering advice. That gives the 
wrestlers a chance to learn from 
some of the best in the sport — 
and an extra year to compete with 
them, too.
“It’s not the end of the world 
cause it’s … just a redshirt,” Lewan 
said. “They’re gonna get back and 
be able to wrestle for us still. It just 
gives me a longer time to get people 
that good in the room.”
It’s not hard to see the flip side 
of the struggles this year. Amine, 
Micic and Massa plan to return for 
their final year of eligibility next 
season. Storr will be back too, along 
with Lewan and Parris. That’s 60 

percent of Michigan’s lineup spots 
going to top-level wrestlers. With 
that much talent and experience, 
the Wolverines have a good chance 
to contend nationally.
There 
are 
a 
few 
roster 
complications, of course. Losing 
three wrestlers to the Olympics 
wasn’t part of any long-term 
plan for Bormet; rather, it was 
something that the athletes and 
staff only started discussing in the 
last 6-8 months. That would throw 
a wrench into even the best thought 
out recruiting plans, but the 
nature of wrestling scholarships 
mitigates that issue somewhat. 
Division I wrestling teams get 
9.9 scholarships to work with; 
Michigan has 33 athletes on its 
roster this year. So most wrestlers 
are on just partial scholarship, if 
they’re on scholarship at all.
On the other hand, the redshirts 
mean there are people who believed 
they would have lineup spots next 
year who suddenly won’t. But 

any wrestler knows that intense 
roster competition comes with the 
territory, and Bormet believes the 
idea of a powerhouse team next 
year will be just as enticing.
“Even in the recruiting process, 
that’s talked about a lot,” Bormet 
said. “And when you go to a school 
that has a really good wrestling 
program like ours and a really 
competitive program, next year 
we’re trying to put our best lineup 
on the mat to win a national 
championship, guys know that 
it’s gonna be competitive to get a 
starting spot.”
Bormet sees it as a two-way 
street. Of course it’s a sacrifice for 
any college coach to lose three of 
his best wrestlers for a season. But 
wrestling is also one of the most 
difficult sports to make an Olympic 
team in — just 16 athletes make it at 
each weight.

Hayhurst helped by position switch

Back 
in 
December, 
Mel 
Pearson leaned back in his 
chair at Yost Ice Arena and 
reflected on graduate transfer 
forward Jacob Hayhurst’s first-
half performance.
At 
the 
time, 
Hayhurst 
had only one goal through 
his first 20 games — after 
Pearson picked him up as a 
graduate transfer because of 
his offensive ability. In each of 
his last two years at Rensselaer 
Polytechnic 
Institute 
(RPI), 
Hayhurst led the Engineers in 
points with 23.
But when he started at 
Michigan, the offensive output 
dried up. In game after game, 
Hayhurst found himself with 
Grade-A scoring chances, but 
just couldn’t find the back of 
the net. It took until Nov. 8 for 
him to light the lamp, and it 
was the only goal he scored in 
the first half of the year.
“I thought he’d be a better 
goal 
scorer,” 
Pearson 
said 
Dec. 11. “He’s had some great 
chances, even this weekend he 
had some. Saturday, (he had) 
some great looks. He just can’t 
finish.”
When the Wolverines came 
back from the mid-season break, 
it appeared that Hayhurst’s old 
issues had come back with him. 
In the second game back — the 
GLI 
championship 
against 
Michigan Tech — he caught 
the post late, when Michigan 
needed a goal to tie things up 
and force overtime.
Then the Wolverines got 
back into conference play, and 
a switch flipped. After moving 
from center to the wing in late 
November, Hayhurst looked 
settled in his new role by the 
time Michigan went to Notre 
Dame in early January.
It was a move made by 
necessity 
— 
Hayhurst 
was 
injured in November and it 
wasn’t clear if he’d be able to 
play, so Pearson had him work 
as the extra skater instead 
of centering a regular line in 
practice — but it ended up being 
exactly what Hayhurst needed 

to find his footing.
“That’s been an awesome 
transition for me,” Hayhurst 
said Wednesday. “Wing wasn’t 
something that I was really 
used to to start the season. … 
I think jumping to a wing just 
gives you a little more space. 
You get to kind of observe 
the ice a little more instead of 
having a definite defensive-end 
responsibility where you need 
to pick a guy up and stay on 
him, so it definitely gives you a 
lot more option for creativity.”
Complicating the adjustment 
was that Hayhurst’s transition 
in roles at Michigan wasn’t just 
moving from center to winger 
— he went from go-to scorer to 
playing more of a depth role.
At RPI, Hayhurst carried the 
mantle of the leading scorer 
on a team that struggled to get 
wins. For the Wolverines, even 
when they were struggling for 
most of the year, the offense 
has come by committee, and 
Hayhurst has spent most of the 
year on the third line. Adjusting 
to a new role, in a new system, 
at a new school, took longer 
than anyone expected, but now 
it looks as though Hayhurst has 
fully acclimated.
“I don’t think, for me or 
for the coaching staff, things 
transitioned as fast as we 
would’ve liked,” Hayhurst said, 
“but I think now you can see 
that they’ve finally transitioned 

and I think it’s at a good point 
in the year where the whole 
team’s hot. We’re heading into 
playoffs, we’re kind of on a roll, 
so I think everything’s going 
really well.”
In his seventh game as a 
winger — after playing center 
for almost his entire career 
— Hayhurst found twine for 
his second goal in a Michigan 
sweater. Three games later, 
he added another. Two weeks 
after that, he scored a goal in 
each of the Wolverines’ wins 
over Wisconsin.
Both 
goals 
against 
the 
Badgers 
were 
highlight-reel 
tallies — and Saturday night’s 
goal was the eventual game-
winner. 
The 
goal-scoring 
acumen Pearson saw when 
looking for a transfer back in 
the spring was finally coming 
to light.
“You see it,” Pearson said. 
“The goal he scored Friday, 
he just had patience. Most 
guys will just bang that puck 
right back into the pile, but 
he fakes, takes some time, 
takes a step. He’s got the net 
to shoot at. And then even on 
the goal on Saturday, it was all 
individualistic, but you can see 
the skill and the change of pace 
and the deception that he has.
“He knows how to put the 
puck in the net. I think he’s 
positioned to have a really good 
finish here.”

Livers, Brooks proving dangerous

EVANSTON – Michigan’s 
game 
plan 
against 
Northwestern on Wednesday 
night 
was 
clear 
from 
the 
outset: make the most of a size 
advantage and attack the paint 
all night long.
The first five minutes of 
the 
contest 
made 
it 
clear 
that the plan needed some 
adjustment. The Wolverines 
went 0-for-8 attacking the 
rim over that stretch. Despite 
being significantly smaller, the 
Wildcats looked surprisingly 
solid defending the paint.
So Michigan changed its 
approach, looking more to the 
outside, searching for open 
shots and able shooters.
And there, in the steady 
hands of a pair of juniors, was 
the solution to Wednesday 
night’s 
problems. 
Forward 
Isaiah Livers and shooting 
guard Eli Brooks combined 
for 35 points, 10 rebounds and 
a fair number of electrifying 
shots, helping Michigan to a 
79-54 win.
With Livers’ recent long-
awaited return from a lingering 
groin 
injury, 
Michigan’s 
offense has been finding some 
of the energy and movement 

it had been lacking without 
him. Livers had 17 points 
Wednesday night, but he was 
also key in keeping the ball in 
motion on offense, in creating 
opportunities 
not 
just 
for 
himself, but for everyone.
“When I’m out there, I mean, 
yeah I try to get my shot, cause 
coach (Juwan) Howard tells me 
to be aggressive, but also, I’ve 
been able to move the ball,” 
Livers said. “If I’ve been on 
top, I’m trying to orchestrate, 
get (Jon Teske) the ball, try to 
swing it to Eli for a 3, get (Zavier 
Simpson) 
downhill, 
Franz 
(Wagner) doing what he does. I 
just — I know my players, so I 
know who to swing it to.”
But 
Livers 
is 
one 
of 
Michigan’s top talents, and 
with that mantle comes added 
pressure 
from 
opposing 
defenses. In situations where 
Livers can’t get open, Michigan 
turns to Brooks, who Livers 
refers to as “the silent assassin.” 
When the Wolverines get him 
an open shot, more often than 
not, the result is nothing but 
net. Often, it’s enough to shift 
the rhythm, the pace of the 
game back to Michigan. 
When 
Northwestern 
started making a run late, the 
Wolverines needed something 
to swing the momentum back 

to them, something to stem the 
purple tide. So they looked to 
Brooks outside.
He buried it from the arc.
“That was huge,” Howard 
said. “Eli made that three 
when we’d been struggling to 
score, but more importantly, 
struggling to make a play. The 
three was huge. It gave us that 
momentum that we needed.”
Both players have proven 
themselves capable of making 
those kinds of poster-worthy, 
morale-boosting 
plays 

throughout the season. Late in 
Wednesday’s game, a resurgent 
Livers — still nursing the 
remnants of that nagging groin 
injury — couldn’t resist making 
one more. 
He 
got 
the 
feed 
from 
sophomore point guard David 
DeJulius. The result: a massive, 
one-handed 
airborne 
dunk. 
The healthy Michigan crowd 
at Welsh-Ryan Arena exploded. 
Livers — and the Wolverines 
they knew — were finally back.
“Every time I run down the 
middle, Dave is always giving 
it back to me,” Livers said, 
grinning. “I already knew. I’m 
there in my take-off zone, want 
to jump off one. I’m all good. 
No injuries. So it was exciting 
to get a dunk — two dunks — 
and finish a game.”

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Sean Bormet is dealing with a depleted roster because of Olympic redshirts, but figures to have an improved lineup in the 2020-21 season.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor

ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Graduate transfer Jacob Hayhurst has seen dividends since moving to wing.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Junior forward Isaiah Livers combined with Eli Brooks for 35 points against Northwestern on Wednesday night.

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