The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OLYMPIC SPORTS suffered a loss, which bumped them all into the consolation bracket. After the first day, the Wolverines were in eighth place with 49.5 points. Michigan had much better for- tune on the second day, though not enough to make up for the day one struggles. Freshman Domenic Abounader, the No. 5 seed in the 184-pound di- vision, defeated No. 6 seed Kenny Courts of Ohio State 6-0. He finished with a 6-4 upset of No. 2 seed Kevin Steinhaus to earn a third-place finish. Redshirt junior Steve Dutton, the No. 4 seed in the 141-pound division, and fifth-year senior Eric Grajales, the No. 5 seed in the 149-pound division, each finished the tournament with fourth-place finishes and 2-2 records. Freshman Brian Murphy, the No. 8 seed in the 157-pound division, earned fourth place, posting a 4-2 record after losing to No. 1 seed Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin in the third- place match. Fifth-year senior Dan Yates, the No. 4 seed in the 165-pound divi- sion, went 2-2 in the tournament and lost 4-0 to Indiana's Ryan Leblanc to finish in seventh place. Redshirt freshman Conor Youtsey, the No. 5 seed in the 125-pound division, also took seventh place, finishing with a 3-2 record. The No. 8 seed at 174 pounds, redshirt junior Collin Zeerip, fin- ished with a 2-3 record and in eighth place in his division. The Wolverines finished in eighth place with 71.5 points. Penn State earned the Big Ten title with 140.5 points. "We're disappointed in how we performed," head coach Joe Mc- Farland said. "As a team, we didn't wrestle well the first day. We came back and wrestled much better the second day, but we had already put ourselves in a huge hole. "I think that three-week layoff hurt us a bit, because we were not in that competition groove that first day. We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be. I thought there were some big bright spots, but there were also some weights that just didn't perform as they are capable. We need a much better complete team effort." Eight Wolverines earned place- ment in the NCAA Tournament March 20-22: No. 4 seed Coon, No. 9 seed Grajales, No. 9 seed Abounader, No. 13 seed Dutton and No. 13 seed Yates; Murphy will wrestle in the 157-pound division's pigtail match; and Bruno and Youtsey earned at- large bids. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HAS SOLID SHOWING AT BIG TEN TOURNAMENT After a 60-44 win at Wisconsin Jan. 26, the Michigan women's bas- ketball team stood at 5-2 in Big Ten play, a very good start, considering the team's youth and the fact that it had to replace its top five scorers from last year's NCAA Tournament team. In the back half of the conference slate, the Wolverines fell back to real- ity slightly. In their next nine confer- ence games, they went 3-6, with all six losses coming against teams that