The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2022 THE WOLVERINE 55 H ead coach Sean Bormet's squad went 12-1 in the regular season, with its lone loss coming to Penn State, and was picked to finish third — behind the top- ranked Nittany Lions and national No. 2 Iowa — at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Neb. March 5-6. Instead, the Wolverines pulled a stun- ner and captured their first Big Ten title since 1973. With two champions and 10 total placewinners, U-M accumulated 143 points to edge runner-up Penn State by 1.5 points. "No one else believed that we could be Big Ten champs, but we believed," Bormet said. The Wolverines were in first place after Day 1, placing five wrestlers in champion- ship bouts, but needed to put together a big final day in those and the consolation rounds to pull off the title. Sixth-year senior Nick Suriano, a grad- uate transfer from Rutgers and the 2019 NCAA champion at 133 pounds, was the No. 1 seed and defeated Wisconsin's Eric Barnett by major decision (12-4) in the 125-pound final. U-M got some other key results, in- c l u d i n g r u n n e r- u p f i n i s h e s f ro m 157-pound redshirt junior Will Lewan, 165-pound redshirt sophomore Cameron Amine and 174-pound seventh-year se- nior Logan Massa. The co-Wrestler of the Championship, seventh-year 184-pounder Myles Amine rallied past PSU defending national champion Aaron Brooks, who entered the final 45-1 in his career. Amine notched a takedown in the final 20 seconds of regu- lation to force overtime, where he added another takedown to win 6-4. The Wolverines entered the third-place heavyweight match needing only for se- nior Mason Parris to avoid a fall to capture the title. He lost 5-2 to Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet, but that was enough — U-M finished on top. "This tournament's been part of the mission all year. That's why a lot of these veteran guys came back," Bormet said. "It's a tribute to how hard they worked — both days, every session, every match. It's a tribute to the 25 guys we have back in Ann Arbor who helped us train and prepare." U-M qualified nine wres- tlers for the NCAA Cham- pionships March 17-19 in Detroit — including Suriano and Amine, both of whom earned No. 1 seeds. Bormet said his team still has more to accomplish and more history to write. "Winning the Big Ten championship was phase one," stated the coach. "In Detroit, we've got to put our best wrestling on the mat at the NCAAs — that's phase two." WOMEN'S HOOPS EARNS NO. 3 NCAA TOURNAMENT SEED AFTER STELLAR REGULAR SEASON U-M entered the final day of the reg- ular season (Feb. 27) with a shot to win its first-ever Big Ten championship. All it needed was a win over Iowa, but the Wolverines fell 104-80 in Iowa City and squandered their chance. It was still a stellar regular season for U-M, which posted a 22-6 overall record and 13-4 mark in Big Ten play. The Wol- verines' 13 conference victories tied the program record and marked the fifth time they posted double-digit league wins un- der Kim Barnes Arico, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time. Senior forward Naz Hillmon became U- M's first-ever four-time All-Big Ten first- teamer and grabbed a spot on the league's all-defensive team. She was a unanimous pick by both the coaches and media for a third straight year. The Cleveland native averaged 21.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game during the regular season. Senior guard Leigha Brown was named second-team All-Big Ten for a second consecutive season, after registering 14.5 OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Wrestling Wins First Big Ten Title Since 1973 The Wolverines were projected to finish third behind No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Iowa at the Big Ten Championships, but ended up edging the Nittany Lions by 1.5 points to earn the con- ference crown. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY National Rankings For Winter Olympic Sports As of March 13 Team Record Ranking Baseball 8-6 — Women's basketball 22-6 12 Men's gymnastics 10-1 4 Women's gymnastics 12-1 3 Men's lacrosse 7-1 13 Women's lacrosse 7-0 8 Softball 15-6 16 Men's swimming and diving 6-1 12 Women's swimming and diving 6-1 9 Men's tennis 7-2 11 Women's tennis 7-4 32 Wrestling 12-1 3