Michigan
Maize and Blue Intrasquad (ex)
Wolverines Host Annual Maize & Blue Intrasquad
10/27/2017 10:42:00 PM | Wrestling
» The Wolverines contested 10 weight classes, including one exhibition, and featured 13 total matches at their annual Maize and Blue Intrasquad.
» Three weight classes went to the rubber match -- 125, 174 and 197 pounds.
» Nine returning Wolverine starters won their respective wrestle-offs, including All-Americans Stevan Micic (133 pounds), Alec Pantaleo (157), Logan Massa (165), Myles Amine (174) and Adam Coon (Hwt).
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Bahna Wrestling Center)
Event: Maize & Blue Intrasquad
Score: Maize 31, Blue 9
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Nov. 5 -- at Michigan State Open (East Lansing, Mich.), 9:30 a.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan wrestling team hosted its annual Maize & Blue Intrasquad dual on Friday (Oct. 27) at the Bahna Wrestling Center. The Maize used several bonus wins, including back-to-back pins, to claim the exhibition, 31-9.
With preliminary matches and the one round of the final series held yesterday at Bahna, the intrasquad dual serves as the final round of wrestle-off final matches. Three weight classes -- 125, 174 and 197 pounds -- required the rubber match as freshman Drew Mattin, junior/sophomore Myles Amine and junior/sophomore Jackson Striggow all won two bouts tonight to clinch their respective series.
Mattin, a three-time Ohio state champion and 2017 Fargo freestyle champion, used a first-period takedown and 4:08 riding-time advantage to edge junior/sophomore Austin Assad, 4-0, to even the series before earning an injury default when Assad appeared to tweak something in his leg late in the first period. Mattin led, 2-0, at the time of the default.
Amine, ranked fourth nationally, twice went to double overtime against senior/junior Garrett Sutton, edging him, 5-4, in the second tiebreaker before using a takedown to secure a 4-2 decision in the third and deciding bout. Sutton, a 2015 NCAA qualifier, won yesterday's bout and struck first with an early takedown in first match tonight, but Amine -- a 2017 NCAA All-American -- rallied and ultimately won with two quick escapes in the tiebreakers.
Striggow rallied from deficits in both of his bouts against sixth-ranked graduate student Kevin Beazley, a 2017 NCAA All-American, earning a fall out of a scramble -- while in deep on a single-leg shot -- at 2:27 in the first match and using a second-period takedown and third-period reversal to win, 7-6, in the rubber match.
The wrestle-offs also marked senior/junior Alec Pantaleo, fifth-year senior Domenic Abounader and graduate student Adam Coon's first appearance in a Michigan singlet in at least a year. All three, in addition to Sutton, redshirted last season and defeated freshmen opponents in the intrasquad.
Pantaleo, ranked sixth nationally, scored on an early takedown and built 1:43 in riding-time advantage to edge freshman Layne Van Anrooy, 4-1, at 157 pounds -- up a weight from his All-American season in 2015-16. Abounader, ranked fifth at 184 pounds, cruised to a 14-4 major decision in an exhibition bout against freshman 197-pounder Andrew Davison. Abounader registered on four takedowns and six back points and rode for 3:29. Coon, a two-time All-American and ranked second nationally at heavyweight, secured a second-period fall against freshman Zachery Nemec at the 3:31 mark. He led, 6-2, at the time after three takedowns in the first.
The Wolverines' other All-Americans, junior/sophomores Stevan Micic and Logan Massa, earned bonus wins at 133 and 165 pounds, respectively. Micic, ranked second nationally, scored six takedowns and four near-fall points to defeat junior/sophomore Mike Volyanyuk, 18-5. Massa, ranked third, defeated freshman Ameen Hamdan, 20-5, on five takedowns, a reversal and eight back points.
Junior/sophomore Sal Profaci and senior/junior Malik Amine rounded out the winners with decisions at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively. Profaci used a late takedown in the final 10 seconds to rally past freshman Ben Freeman, 4-3, in a last-second ending similar to yesterday's match between the two. Amine scored three takedowns -- one in each period -- and rode for 1:09 to beat sophomore/freshman Tyler Meisinger, 8-1.
Michigan will send the bulk of its roster to participate in the Michigan State Open next Sunday (Nov. 5) at Jenison Field House, while Micic and Pantaleo will compete at the NWCA All-Star Classic that afternoon in Princeton, New Jersey. The Wolverines will kick off the dual-meet portion of their 2017-18 schedule on Friday, Nov. 11, taking on Arizona State at 6 p.m. at Detroit Catholic Central in Novi, Michigan.
Players Mentioned
