Wolverines Look to Bounce Back at No. 23 Indiana

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) will close out its Big Ten Conference dual slate against No. 23 Indiana (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 16) at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Ind.

Notes:

• Michigan is 6-4 in duals this season and coming off a tough 25-7 loss on the road at No. 5 Nebraska last Friday (Feb. 9). The Wolverines earned match wins from graduate students Shane Griffith (174 pounds) and Lucas Davison (Hwt) against the Huskers. A week prior, Michigan earned its best win to date, with a 24-11 decision over No. 2 Iowa in its home finale (Feb. 2). It was the Wolverines' first win over Iowa at home since 2004 -- though U-M did defeat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City in 2018.

• Griffith improved to 9-0 in duals with a 1-0 decision over Nebraska's No. 33 Bubba Wilson -- on a second-period escape before spending most of the third period in on a pair of deep single-leg attacks. Griffith owns three straight ranked wins and four total on the season. Among his notable wins, he cruised to a 12-1 major decision against Iowa's No. 8 Patrick Kennedy, used a third-period rideout to beat Ohio State's No. 11 Rocco Welsh, 2-1, and earned a 4-1 overtime decision over South Dakota State's No. 4 Cade DeVos. Griffith is 12-2 at 174 pounds and ranked No. 3 nationally.

• Davison scored a pair of takedowns and rode for 1:53 to beat Nebraska's Nash Hutmacher, 8-0, and improve to 12-3 this season at heavyweight. Davison owns 10 bonus wins with two falls, four technical falls and four major decisions and leads the Wolverines with 36 dual-meet points.

• Davison reached the 100-win milestone earlier this season with his 19-3 technical fall against Michigan State's Josh Terrill (Jan. 14) and has since improved to 103-34 -- and 65-19 over his last three seasons at heavyweight. Graduate student Will Lewan is also nearing the 100-win milestone with a 92-34 career record.

• Lewan earned his highest-ranked win of the season with a 2-2 tiebreaker decision against Iowa's second-ranked Jared Franek two weeks ago. Lewan won with :01 riding time in the tiebreaker. He avenged a 3-2 loss to Franek in their previous meeting -- in the wrestlebacks at the 2023 NCAA Championships. It was Lewan's second dramatic tiebreaker escape of his career; at the 2022 NCAAs, he escaped on a :01 restart to zero out riding time and eventually win, 4-2, in the second sudden-victory frame in the first round against Missouri's Jarrett Jacques.

• Freshman Sergio Lemley has wrestled a ranked opponent in each of his last five bouts, including three in the top 10, and is 7-4 this season against ranked opposition. He dropped a close 13-9 decision to Nebraska's No. 7 Brock Hardy, which included a last-second counter takedown by Hardy to pad the final score, after leading early in the third period. Lemley is ranked No. 10 at 141 pounds and owns a 13-5 overall record in his rookie campaign.

• Lemley swept the Big Ten and NCAA Wrestler of the Week awards last week after knocking off Iowa's top-ranked Real Woods, 14-2, in the home finale at Crisler Center. Lemley, who was ranked 19th at 141 pounds at the time, used a pair of six-point moves -- off a reversal in the second period and against with a late cradle in the third -- to earn the bonus win. Two weeks earlier, Lemley narrowly fell to Penn State's No. 2 -- and now No. 1 -- Beau Bartlett, 7-5, on Jan. 19, rallying in the third before sacrificing a late locked-hands point and reversal.

• Senior/junior Dylan Ragusin suffered his first loss of the season, 3-2, against Nebraska's No. 19 Jacob Van Dee on a locked-hands call. He is 20-1 this season and, prior to the loss, had earned ranked wins in previous four matches at 133 pounds -- and has won five of the last seven since coming out of redshirt prior to U-M's Maryland's dual on Jan. 12. Notably, he scored four takedowns en route to a 15-6 over Ohio State's No. 12 Nic Bouzakis and, a week earlier, was named the NCAA's Wrestler of the Week after earning a pair of top-10 wins against Penn State's No. 4 Aaron Nagao (Fall 7:28, Jan. 19) and Rutgers' No. 8 Dylan Shawver (8-5, Jan. 21). He remains ranked as high as No. 4 nationally.

• Graduate student Austin Gomez also dropped his first match of the season against Nebraska, falling to No. 1 Ridge Lovett, 11-4, after sacrificing an early seven points in the first period. Gomez is 5-1 at 149 pounds since joining the Wolverines in December as a transfer -- and after relocating to Ann Arbor last summer as a member of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club. He has defeated ranked opponents in three of his six bouts, including a dominant 17-6 major decision against Ohio State's No. 9 Dylan D'Emilio. Gomez owns two bonus wins, including a first-period fall (1:58) against Michigan State's Braden Stauffenberg (Jan. 14). He is ranked as high as No. 5 nationally.

• The Hoosiers are 6-3 on the season and 3-3 in Big Ten duals, most recently falling to Ohio State, 32-6, on the road last Sunday (Feb. 11). In its most recent home dual, IU rallied from an 18-point deficit, winning the final six matches to defeat Michigan State 23-18 on Feb. 4. Six Hoosiers are nationally ranked at their respective weight classes, most notably No. 13 Graham Rooks (149). U-M leads the Hoosiers in the all-time series 61-23-2 dating back to the 1924 season and has claimed each of the last 10 meetings, including a 23-18 win last season in Ann Arbor.