No. 8 Wrestlers Fall To No. 7 Michigan, 20-12
1/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 28, 2001
EAST LANSING, MICH. - The No. 8 Michigan State wrestling squad fell to No. 7 Michigan, 20-12 in front of a jammed Jenison Field House on Sunday. Nearly 1,300 fans watched the heated rivalry between the two schools. Along with the excitement of four overtime matches, the fans also celebrated 100 years of MSU wrestling alumni with Spartan wrestlers from Dale Ball, the 1939 Interstate wrestling champ to the Spartans most recent Big Ten and two-time All-American Nick Muzashvili in 1999.
The dual started at the 197 weight-class with No. 11 Nik Fekete facing off against No. 14 Joe DeGain. Fekete had won the first match this year in overtime, 6-4. This match-up didn't fair as well for Fekete, as DeGain won the rematch, 7-3.
The Wolverines went ahead 3-0 in the match and the heavyweights featured old foes in Matt Lamb and No. 2 Matt brink. The match was a defensive stand-off, as each wrestler fended off the others repeated shot attempts. Lamb and Brink exchanged a pair of escapes in the match, knotting the score at one all at the end of regulation. The overtime was not favorable to Lamb, as Brink shot in and got the takedown, seven seconds into the overtime.
No. 12 Chris Williams squared off against No. 8 A.J. Grant at 125 pounds, in what would be the second of four consecutive overtime matches. Williams and Grant have faced one another several times in their careers, with Grant taking the last dual match, 3-2. Grant scored early on a takedown and the 2-0 score ended the first period. Grant choose down and Williams rode out the second period, not allowing the escape point in the second. Williams scored on a escape in the third and accumulated riding time, giving him the bonus point that tied the score at 2-2 at the end of regulation. Williams went on to score the takedown with 11 seconds remaining to get the, 3-2 decision.
"To me this win was just another win," said Williams. "With one big difference, the crowd. This was awesome. In a match, sometimes you get tired but when you hear all those people you never get tired, you just want to keep going. That's what I want. I love that pressure to perform."
The 133 pound match featured No. 6 Pat McNamara against No. 14 Foley Dowd. McNamara got off to a slow start, falling behind 2-0 on a Dowd takedown, thirty seconds into the match. McNamara got the quick escape, bringing the score to 2-1 at the end of the first. McNamara got the takedown at 1:23 in the second to go ahead, 4-2. Foley bounced back tying the score at four all at the end of the third, sending the third match to overtime. McNamara scored a takedown with 16 seconds left in overtime to win the match, 6-4.
With the team score tied at 6-6, the dual headed into the 141-weight class, were No.16 Mike Castillo took on No. 12 Clark Forward. The match started similar to that at 133, with Forward scoring a takedown early and Castillo with the escape to have the score, 2-1 at the end of the first. With little offense coming in the second, Forward was up on 3-1 going into the third. Castillo chose down and got the escape at 1:36 and scored on a takedown a 1:24 to take a 4-3 lead. Forward got the escape tying it up and sent it into overtime. The first overtime saw a flurry of offensive action, with neither wrestler scoring. Forward scored first in the match and therefore got the choice of position in the second overtime. Forward choose bottom but was unable to score the escape as Castillo rode out the 30 seconds and won the double overtime.
The Spartans took the team led at 9-6 going into the 149 match-up. No., 17 Karl Nadolsky looked to continue his strong wrestling against No. 13 Mike Kulczycki. Nadolsky wrestled strong, exchanged takedowns with Kulczycki and was only down by two with 1:50 left to go in the third. Kulczycki warded off all of Nadolsky's shot attempts and eventually won the match, 7-5.
MSU's No. 13 157-pounder Gray Maynard came out slow against Pat Owen. Maynard got twisted up on an Owen takedown early in the first period and had to take injury time to assess his injured knee. Maynard continued in his match, falling behind 3-1 by the end of the second, but came back strong in the third, scoring two takedown an two near fall points to take the lead and win the decision, 7-4.
Maynard's decision at 157 was the last Spartan points scored as Corey Posey lost a 7-3 decision to No. 6 Charles Martelli, Nate Mesyn fell to No. 2 Otto Olson, 14-5 at 174 and John Wechter dropped a major decision to No. 11 Andy Hrovat.
The Spartans will look to get back on the winning track next weekend against No. 15 Ohio State on Feb. 2 and Purdue on Feb. 3.