Wrestling Recap

After Cliff Keen Invite

Notes:

• Michigan hasn’t put out a full strength lineup yet for any duals or tournament.  This last weekends Cliff Keen Invite was the closest, still missing just 9^th ranked 125lber Sean Boyle. 

• The Wolverines have had two exhibition tournaments, a dual win at Buffalo 27-13, a dual loss at #11 Pitt 13-19 and a second place finish at Cliff Keen.

• Michigan went without #9 Boyle(125),  #1 Russell(141), #6 Grajales(149) and Collins(184) for the Buffalo Dual.  Only putting Grajales back in for the one at Pitt. 

• Kellen Russell missed both duals as he was selected to the NWCA All-Star match.  He ended up pulling out and not wrestling, but, was still honored.

• Michigan was ranked 8^th with 7 top 20 wrestlers.  (125 Boyle 9^th, 133 Stevens 13^th, 141 Russell 1^st, 149 Grajales 6^th, 165 Yates 18^th, 174 J.Zeerip 11^th, Hwt Apland 13^th)

Recap by Weight:

• 125 –  Grant Pizzo has filled in for Boyle, losing both dual matches and posting a 1-2 finish at Cliff Keen.  Would have been interesting to see how Boyle did at CK.  He would have made 4 top 10 competitors at the tournament.
• 133 - #13 Zac Stevens posted major decisions and bonus points in both duals against unranked wrestlers.  He went 4-2 and a 4^th place finish at Cliff Keen.  His losses came to #4 Stieber from Ohio (6-14) and #18 Keith from Harvard (0-6), while picking up a win against #17 Kiley from Nebraska (7-4).  Solid showing for Stevens.
• 141 – Michigan put out Donnie Watkins for both duals in place a Russell where he dropped both two unranked wrestlers.  Russell Returned for Cliff Keen for a 3^rd place finish and a 6-1 record.  His loss was to #15 and Freshman Hunter Stieber from Ohio (5-6).  He notched wins against #20 Pennesi from WVU (8-1), #12 Nevinger from Cornell (7-1) and #2 Novachkov in a tiebreaker from Cal Poly (same guy he beat for the National Title last year).  Bump in the road against Stieber, which he will see again a few more times.  Russell tends to wrestle on the edge with his tremendous feel and confidence, opening himself up for something like that.  The tournament winner was #5 Mangrum from Oregon State, so the field was pretty stacked at this one. 
• 149 – #6 Grajales missed the first dual where Mike Hillock fell to an unranked.  Grajales returned for Pitt and dropped a close one to #3 Nauman (2-4).  Grajales almost got his rematch at Cliff Keen, but, Nauman fell in the quarters, while Grajales took down #17 Walsh from Indiana (19-4) and #5 Von Ohlen from Air Force (9-1) to win the 149lb title.  Grajales dominated the tournament.
• 157 – Brandon Zeerip won both is duals against unranked competition.  He made a run at Cliff Keen before losing to #1 ranked and returning national champion 0-6 in the quarters.  No signature wins yet for Zeerip or bad losses.  I’ve said I think he is a top 20 wrestler by the end of the year.  He wrestled like it last year before getting wore down in his first full season.  He’ll still be in the fringe after this tournament.
• 165 – #18 Dan Yates off to a slow solid start.  Picked up both dual wins against unranked guys.  Posted a 4-2 record as well as a 7^th place finish at Cliff Keen.  His losses were against #12 Burak from Northern Colorado (6-9 in a tiebreaker) and #16 Ben Jordan from Wisconsin (3-8).  He gets another shot at Jordan Sunday when Wisconsin comes to Michigan for a dual. 
• 174 - #11 Justin Zeerip is up and running in his senior campaign.  He went 2-0 in duals with a pin and 4-1 at Cliff Keen with a 2^nd place finish.  He was aided by a med forfeit in the semis against #1 Amuchastegui from Stanford, but, only lost in a 5-6 tiebreak loss to #7 DesRoches from Cal Poly in the finals.  He is certainly one to look out for this year.
• 184 – Chris Heald filled in for Collins for both duals, going 0-2.  Collins returned for Cliff Keen and went 1-2.  His shot at #3 Bosak from Cornell ended in him getting pinned.  This continues to be the weak spot for the Wolverines. 
• 197 – The lone Newcomer to the projected starting lineup Max Huntley has started off strong.  He pinned in his dual at Buffalo and dropped a close one to #7 Wilps from Pitt (2-6) in the other.  He went 3-3 with an 8^th place finish at Cliff Keen.  In doing so he picked up a win against #19 Smith from Cal Poly (11-5) and closed the gap to Wilps in a 4-6 lose.  The Big Ten has some quality at this weight they need Huntley to compete. 
• Hwt – #13 Ben Apland got a tech fall in his dual against Buffalo and then dropped a 1-3 tiebreaker loss against an unranked at Pitt.  He fell in the quarters of Cliff Keen to an unranked Capone from Ohio (2-5).  Dropped another to #16 Barlow from Kent State (1-3 in a tiebreaker) and then won the 7^th place match over #20 Felix from Boise State (10-2). Finished with a 4-2 record. 

Michigan looks to still be getting into the swing of things.  Which is fine, it’s a long season.  A Full lineup would have won the Cliff Keen tournament.  Ohio certainly showed they will make a big leap this year with their freshmen.  Michigan has a home dual Sunday the 11^th against Wisconsin that should provide a couple good matchups as they kick off the B1G schedule.