Michigan
Michigan finished in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships for the 2nd season in a row for the first time since 1973-1974. The Wolverines came in 5th place with 62.5 points and three All-Americans. They actually finished worse in the Big 10 Championships, coming in 6th behind Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. Michigan had a very strong dual season going 13-1 with their only loss coming against the perennial national champions. Their biggest victory came against the perennial recruiting champions. The Wolverines also finished in 5th place at Cliff Keen.
Michigan loses 3-time AA Alec Pantaleo and 2-time NCAA qualifier Malik Amine. Their two other AAs are back (if they don’t take Olympic redshirts), Stevan Micic and Myles Amine and they have four other returning qualifiers. With a full line-up, Michigan has good upside to at least match last year’s performance if Massa and Parris get past the round of 12 this season. In addition, their two freshmen coming off of redshirts (Silva and Lewan) should both at least be NCAA qualifiers.
Edit: Schedule update. In addition to 9 Big Ten duals, Michigan will be wrestling North Carolina, Central Michigan, Oregon State and Edinboro. They will also be at the Black Knight Invitational and Cliff Keen.
125
Drew Mattin (Jr) <Delta, OH>
Mattin qualified for his 2nd NCAA Championships after finishing 7th at the Big Ten Championships (9 allocations). Matten went 21-9 overall and had the 16 seed at NCAAs. Mattin defeated Devin Schroder (Pur) in the 7th place match at Big Tens and in a quirk of seeding, defeated Schroder again in the first round of NCAAs. He went 2-2, losing to (9)RayVon Foley (MSU) in the round of 16. <Bonus: 16.7%, RPI: .630>
133
Stevan Micic (Sr) <Hanover Central, IN>
Micic will be looking to break through and win the NCAA championship in his final season after coming just short with three straight top 4 finishes. He won his first match at the Big 10 Championships before forfeiting the remainder of his matches due to injury (placing 6th). Micic went 19-1 overall and had the 2 seed at NCAAs. He lost to Suriano in the semi-finals and defeated Pletcher in the 3rd place match. <Bonus: 60.0%, RPI: .729> {Micic is wrestling internationally for Serbia. Can he take a second Olympic redshirt?}
141
Joey Silva (Fr) <Lake Highland Prep, FL>
Silva went 7-1 during his redshirt year and 1-1 against NCAA qualifiers/past qualifiers @133. He defeated Derek Spann (Buff) and lost to Zach Sherman (UNC).
149
Kanen Storr (Jr) <Leslie, MI>
In his first year with the Wolverines, Iowa State transfer Kanen Storr qualified for his first NCAA Championships @141. He placed 5th at the Big 10 Championships and was seeded 8th at NCAAs. Storr couldn’t finish to seed as he was defeated by (9)Dom Demas (OU) in the 2nd round and then by (16)Chad Red (Neb) in the round of 16. Storr finished with a 26-8 record. <Bonus: 14.7%, RPI: .657>
Last season @149, outgoing senior Malik Amine went 12-11 and qualified for the NCAA Championships for a second time after receiving an at-large bid. He finished 8th at the Big 10 Championships (6 allocations). Amine was the 33 seed and went 1-2. (Shayne Oster-NW who defeated Amine for 7th at Big Tens also received an at-large bid.)
157
Will Lewan (Fr) <Montini Catholic, IL>
Lewen went 9-2 in his redshirt year. His loses were to Elijah Cleary (tOSU) and NCAA qualifier Quincy Monday (Prince). Lewen’s biggest win came against teammate Alec Pantaleo at the Michigan State Open.
Last season, outgoing senior Alec Pantaleo ended his collegiate career on a high note and became a 3-time AA. He avenged a quarterfinal loss by defeating (5)Hayden Hidlay (NCSt) for 3rd place.
165
Logan Massa (Sr) <St. Johns, MI>
Would anyone have guessed that Massa would be just a 1-time AA at this point in his career after his strong 3rd place finish in 2017? For the second year in a row, Massa was upset in the 2nd round of the NCAA Championships, this time to (11)Bryce Steiert (UNI). Massa won a couple of matches in the wrestlebacks and then lost to Alex Marinelli (Iowa) in the Round of 12. Massa placed 3rd at the Big Ten Championships defeating Evan Wick (Wisc). <Bonus: 50.0%, RPI: .672>
174
Myles Amine (Sr) < Detroit Central Catholic, MI>
Fun fact: Amine is 0-5 vs Hall with a combined score differential of 5 points. Will this be the year Amine finally breaks through Mark Hall? (The answer is “no” in case you were wondering.) Or will one or both take Olympic Redshirts? Myles is wrestling internationally for San Marino so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Anyway, Amine had yet another great season becoming a three-time AA and finishing 3rd at the NCAA Championships to go along with his 3rd place finish in 2018 and 4th in 2017. Amine finished 2nd (of course, to Mark Hall) at the Big Ten Championships for the second year in a row. He had an overall season record of 22-4 with 3 of those losses to Mark Hall and one to Zahid Valencia. <Bonus: 26.9%, RPI: .724>
184
Jelani Embree (So) <Warren Lincoln, MI>
I’m betting that Embree will be Michigan’s most improved wrestler this season. Last season, Embree didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championships after having a rough run in the Big 10 Championships. He went 0-3 and didn’t place (9 allocations). Embree was injured mid-season and had a 13-7 record. <Bonus: 30.0%, RPI: .583>
197
Jackson Striggow (Sr) <Orono, MN>
Andrew Davison (So) <Chesterton, IN>
Striggow went 13-10 and didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championships last season after going 0-2 at the Big Ten Championships. He had one win against a NCAA qualifier, Bob Coleman (OreSt). Davison went 10-3 in opens last season. His losses were to NCAA qualifiers Rocco Caywood (Army) and Thomas Lane (Poly) and to some guy named Michael Beard.
Heavy
Mason Parris (So) <Lawrenceburg, IN>
Parris went 33-9 as a true freshman last season. He finished 7th at the Big 10 Championships (7 allocations) and got the 5 seed at the NCAA Championships (he had dual wins against Dhesi and Hillger). Parris was upset by (28)Sam Stoll (Iowa) in the first round. He won three straight in the wrestlebacks before being pinned by Matt Stencel (CMU) in the Round of 12. <Bonus: 47.6%, RPI: .642>
New Faces
Michigan has one top-20 (in weight class) incoming freshman:
Cameron Amine <Detroit Central Catholic, MI>
Another Amine comes to Michigan (Myles and Malik are his cousins). Cameron is a three-time Michigan state champion. He’s ranked #2 at 152 by Intermat and projected at 165 for Michigan.
Michigan finished in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships for the 2nd season in a row for the first time since 1973-1974. The Wolverines came in 5th place with 62.5 points and three All-Americans. They actually finished worse in the Big 10 Championships, coming in 6th behind Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. Michigan had a very strong dual season going 13-1 with their only loss coming against the perennial national champions. Their biggest victory came against the perennial recruiting champions. The Wolverines also finished in 5th place at Cliff Keen.
Michigan loses 3-time AA Alec Pantaleo and 2-time NCAA qualifier Malik Amine. Their two other AAs are back (if they don’t take Olympic redshirts), Stevan Micic and Myles Amine and they have four other returning qualifiers. With a full line-up, Michigan has good upside to at least match last year’s performance if Massa and Parris get past the round of 12 this season. In addition, their two freshmen coming off of redshirts (Silva and Lewan) should both at least be NCAA qualifiers.
Edit: Schedule update. In addition to 9 Big Ten duals, Michigan will be wrestling North Carolina, Central Michigan, Oregon State and Edinboro. They will also be at the Black Knight Invitational and Cliff Keen.
125
Drew Mattin (Jr) <Delta, OH>
Mattin qualified for his 2nd NCAA Championships after finishing 7th at the Big Ten Championships (9 allocations). Matten went 21-9 overall and had the 16 seed at NCAAs. Mattin defeated Devin Schroder (Pur) in the 7th place match at Big Tens and in a quirk of seeding, defeated Schroder again in the first round of NCAAs. He went 2-2, losing to (9)RayVon Foley (MSU) in the round of 16. <Bonus: 16.7%, RPI: .630>
133
Stevan Micic (Sr) <Hanover Central, IN>
Micic will be looking to break through and win the NCAA championship in his final season after coming just short with three straight top 4 finishes. He won his first match at the Big 10 Championships before forfeiting the remainder of his matches due to injury (placing 6th). Micic went 19-1 overall and had the 2 seed at NCAAs. He lost to Suriano in the semi-finals and defeated Pletcher in the 3rd place match. <Bonus: 60.0%, RPI: .729> {Micic is wrestling internationally for Serbia. Can he take a second Olympic redshirt?}
141
Joey Silva (Fr) <Lake Highland Prep, FL>
Silva went 7-1 during his redshirt year and 1-1 against NCAA qualifiers/past qualifiers @133. He defeated Derek Spann (Buff) and lost to Zach Sherman (UNC).
149
Kanen Storr (Jr) <Leslie, MI>
In his first year with the Wolverines, Iowa State transfer Kanen Storr qualified for his first NCAA Championships @141. He placed 5th at the Big 10 Championships and was seeded 8th at NCAAs. Storr couldn’t finish to seed as he was defeated by (9)Dom Demas (OU) in the 2nd round and then by (16)Chad Red (Neb) in the round of 16. Storr finished with a 26-8 record. <Bonus: 14.7%, RPI: .657>
Last season @149, outgoing senior Malik Amine went 12-11 and qualified for the NCAA Championships for a second time after receiving an at-large bid. He finished 8th at the Big 10 Championships (6 allocations). Amine was the 33 seed and went 1-2. (Shayne Oster-NW who defeated Amine for 7th at Big Tens also received an at-large bid.)
157
Will Lewan (Fr) <Montini Catholic, IL>
Lewen went 9-2 in his redshirt year. His loses were to Elijah Cleary (tOSU) and NCAA qualifier Quincy Monday (Prince). Lewen’s biggest win came against teammate Alec Pantaleo at the Michigan State Open.
Last season, outgoing senior Alec Pantaleo ended his collegiate career on a high note and became a 3-time AA. He avenged a quarterfinal loss by defeating (5)Hayden Hidlay (NCSt) for 3rd place.
165
Logan Massa (Sr) <St. Johns, MI>
Would anyone have guessed that Massa would be just a 1-time AA at this point in his career after his strong 3rd place finish in 2017? For the second year in a row, Massa was upset in the 2nd round of the NCAA Championships, this time to (11)Bryce Steiert (UNI). Massa won a couple of matches in the wrestlebacks and then lost to Alex Marinelli (Iowa) in the Round of 12. Massa placed 3rd at the Big Ten Championships defeating Evan Wick (Wisc). <Bonus: 50.0%, RPI: .672>
174
Myles Amine (Sr) < Detroit Central Catholic, MI>
Fun fact: Amine is 0-5 vs Hall with a combined score differential of 5 points. Will this be the year Amine finally breaks through Mark Hall? (The answer is “no” in case you were wondering.) Or will one or both take Olympic Redshirts? Myles is wrestling internationally for San Marino so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Anyway, Amine had yet another great season becoming a three-time AA and finishing 3rd at the NCAA Championships to go along with his 3rd place finish in 2018 and 4th in 2017. Amine finished 2nd (of course, to Mark Hall) at the Big Ten Championships for the second year in a row. He had an overall season record of 22-4 with 3 of those losses to Mark Hall and one to Zahid Valencia. <Bonus: 26.9%, RPI: .724>
184
Jelani Embree (So) <Warren Lincoln, MI>
I’m betting that Embree will be Michigan’s most improved wrestler this season. Last season, Embree didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championships after having a rough run in the Big 10 Championships. He went 0-3 and didn’t place (9 allocations). Embree was injured mid-season and had a 13-7 record. <Bonus: 30.0%, RPI: .583>
197
Jackson Striggow (Sr) <Orono, MN>
Andrew Davison (So) <Chesterton, IN>
Striggow went 13-10 and didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championships last season after going 0-2 at the Big Ten Championships. He had one win against a NCAA qualifier, Bob Coleman (OreSt). Davison went 10-3 in opens last season. His losses were to NCAA qualifiers Rocco Caywood (Army) and Thomas Lane (Poly) and to some guy named Michael Beard.
Heavy
Mason Parris (So) <Lawrenceburg, IN>
Parris went 33-9 as a true freshman last season. He finished 7th at the Big 10 Championships (7 allocations) and got the 5 seed at the NCAA Championships (he had dual wins against Dhesi and Hillger). Parris was upset by (28)Sam Stoll (Iowa) in the first round. He won three straight in the wrestlebacks before being pinned by Matt Stencel (CMU) in the Round of 12. <Bonus: 47.6%, RPI: .642>
New Faces
Michigan has one top-20 (in weight class) incoming freshman:
Cameron Amine <Detroit Central Catholic, MI>
Another Amine comes to Michigan (Myles and Malik are his cousins). Cameron is a three-time Michigan state champion. He’s ranked #2 at 152 by Intermat and projected at 165 for Michigan.
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