Click here to view full Big Ten Championships Brackets.
The Wolverines finished in 8th place overall, which shows the tremendous depth of great teams in the Big Ten this year.
While they failed to get an individual to the finals, the Wolverines showed some good top-to-bottom depth with 7 Individuals placing in the top 7. Add in that they had 6 grappelrs competing in the first Big Ten tournament of their career, and I think it is definitely a positive overall for the Maize and Blue.
The highest finisher was true freshman Domenic Abounader who placed well above his #5 seed, finishing 3rd at 184lbs with a big win over 2x All-American Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota. Abounader has been pretty competetive all year with a handful of notable wins, but his showing last weekend proved that he is a legitimate All-American contender this year as a true freshman.
Veterans Steve Dutton (141) and Eric Grajales (149) both finished 4th and both lost to the Minnesota Dardanes brothers in the finals. Both Dutton and Grajales had solid showings and neither lost to anyone outside the Top 6 nationally in their respective weight class.
True freshman Brian Murphy (157) shined in his first Big Ten showing with both losses coming to #1 seed Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin, once in the quarters and once in the Consi finals, good for a 4th place finish. Murphy avenged a loss to Dylan Alton of Penn State from earlier in the year and should have raised his stock heading into the NCAA tournament.
Conor Youtsey (125lbs) and Dan Yates (165) each locked up NCAA tournament berths as well with 7th place finishes while Collin Zeerip (174) finished 8th and was just outside of automatic qualifier status.
True Freshman Adam Coon had his first real hiccup of his first season, going 0-2 in the 285lb bracket with losses to a pair of opponents he beat earlier in the season. Coon came back with two wins Sunday morning to claim 9th place and secure a spot in Nationals, where he will likely still be seeded and still be considered a national title contender.
Rossi Bruno (133) finished 9th as well and will have to hope for an At-Large bid into the NCAA tournament.
The Spartans were paced by their Senior standout Mike McClure who put together an impressive two day showing in his final Big Ten appearance.
McClure, who came in seeded 6th, lost to the #4 and #5 ranked wrestlers nationally and finished 4th. His performance will likely secure a top 6 or 7 seed at the NCAA Tournament and put him in position to give the Green and White an All-American in St. Louis.
John Rizgallah locked up his 2nd straight NCAA tournament berth with a 7th place finish at 184lbs. Rizgallah, who came in unseeded, scored a monster win over #4 seed and #9 ranked TJ Dudley of Nebraska to get in to the Top 8.
Two Spartans finished 9th and 10th and will look for At-Large bids into the National Tournament. Bobby Nash won 2 matches Sunday morning to finish 9th at 165lbs and Nick McDiarmid finished 10th at 197 after losing in SV to Caleb Kolb of Indiana.
The NCAA Seeding Committe will select 4 at-large berths at each weight class, and those will be announced on Wednesday.
A pair of former Michigan State Champions placed this weekend while competing for out-of-state colleges.
Tim Lambert of Forest Hills East High School finished 5th at 125lbs competing for the University of Nebraska and Jackson Morse of Lowell HS finished 5th at 165lbs for the University of Illinois.
Lambert finished above his seed after coming in as the #6 seed, scoring a pin over Ohio State's Nick Roberts in the 5th Place match.
Morse finished up right at his seed after scoring a win over fellow MI native Dan Yates in the quarterfinals, Morse dropped two pins in a row to David Taylor and Peirce Harger, but got things back on track with a 6-2 win over Austin Wilson of Nebraska to finish 5th.
Both Lambert and Morse secured NCAA berths with their 5th place finishes.
Please login to comment.
Let’s get the conversation started! Post your comment.
Become a Grappler Gold member and get access to premium Grappler articles and videos. Now only $12.99/month!