The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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12 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2018 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ADAM COON WINS SILVER MEDAL AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS On Oct. 28, former U-M wrestler Adam Coon ac- complished an impressive feat when he took home the 130-kilogram (286.6-pound) silver medal in Greco- Roman wrestling at the 2018 UWW World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Coon's achievement marked the first world medal for an American in Greco-Roman wrestling since 2015. He was the first U.S. grappler to reach the world finals in the style since 2009. The last wrestler from the U.S. to claim a Greco-Ro- man world title is another Wolverine alum, Joe Warren, who won at 60 kilograms (132.3 pounds) in 2006. Coon fell to Russia's Sergey Semenov in the gold medal match, in what was his second international meeting with the Russian (Semenov also beat him in the 2014 Junior World Championships). The U-M graduate beat Korea's Min-Seok Kim in the semifinals with a fall early in the second period, and grabbed a win with a first-period fall against Ger- many's Eduard Popp — who took fifth place at the 2016 Olympics and won a 2010 Junior World bronze — in the quarterfinals. As a result of Coon's achievement, he is now a ca- det, junior and senior world medalist. The Fowlerville, Mich., native also claimed the 2011 Cadet freestyle gold, and double bronzes in junior freestyle and Greco-Roman in 2014, prior to this year's silver medal. WOLVERINES SHINE IN FALL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS On Nov. 11, women's tennis senior Kate Fahey fell to Georgia sophomore Katarina Jokic in the singles title match at the Oracle ITA National Championship. The event was held in Surprise, Ariz. Fahey fell in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. Before the national meet, Fahey swept the singles and doubles titles of the ITA Midwest Regional Champion- ships for the second time in her career Oct. 18- 23. The senior claimed the championship with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over junior teammate Chiara Lommer in the final, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first set before hanging on for the 6-4 triumph. Fahey made it to the title match after coming from behind for a 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-3 win over classmate Brienne Minor. As a duo, Fahey and Minor took home the doubles crown with an 8-6 victory over Ohio State's Shiori Fu- kuda and Luna Dormet in the title match. The Maize and Blue tandem found themselves in a 2-0 deficit, but won four of the next five games to grab a break. Fahey and Minor kept the break advantage throughout the rest of the set and came through on a deuce point on their third match set to wrap up the championship. Minor and Lommer also helped U-M make up three of the top four spots in the singles semifinals, which assured the Wolverines would have a player in the fi- nal — Lommer wound up knocking off Northwestern's Clarissa Hand in three sets, while Minor was taken down by Fahey. CHARLES MATTHEWS NAMED TO TWO PRESEASON WATCH LISTS Men's basketball redshirt junior guard Charles Mat- thews found himself on two watch lists for college basketball's most impressive awards in early November. On Nov. 5, he was tabbed to the Citizen Naismith Tro- phy Men's Watch List, and then two days later landed on the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List. The latter's website terms the accolade as "the most prestigious honor in college basketball," and the winner will be declared at the ESPN College Basketball Awards April 12, 2019. The Naismith Trophy, meanwhile, will reveal its win- ner April 7, 2019, during the Final Four in Minneapolis, after its watch list will have been trimmed to four final- ists March 19. Despite transferring in from Kentucky and sitting out the 2016-17 campaign, Matthews has already reeled in several accolades during his time in Ann Arbor. He was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team last season and was tabbed the NCAA Tournament's West Regional Most Outstanding Player in March, helping lead Michigan to the national championship game. At year 's end, Matthews finished second on the club in both points (13.0) and rebounds (5.5) per contest. — Austin Fox MAIZE AND BLUE NOTEBOOK Michigan graduate Adam Coon won a silver medal at the World Championships Oct. 28 to capture the first American medal in Greco-Roman wrestling since 2015. PHOTO BY SAM JANICKI