Conqu'ring Heroes 211 - Sean Bormet Transcript
10/15/2026 5:20:00 AM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Brian Boesch • 00:00
We're previewing Michigan wrestling this week on Conqu'ring Heroes. But first a review of what's happened this week in Michigan athletics. We start on the hockey side. Michigan took care of business at Yost over the weekend, blasting Alaska Anchorage ten to one Friday seven two on Saturday to move to four zero on the young season this weekend, the biggest non conference series of the year for the Wolverines and probably the biggest in college hockey. The Wolverines eye some revenge after falling to Denver in the Frozen Four back in April. That victory ultimately propelled the Pioneers to the national championship, beating Wisconsin in the title game this weekend. Nine o' clock start Eastern on Friday, eight o' clock Eastern on Saturday. I know there's been a ton of discussion around the coverage for this weekend. I'll tell you our guys Al Randall and Fred Pletsch are ready to bring you the action on our radio network anchored by ninety four point seven WCSX in Southeast Michigan.
Brian Boesch • 00:55
Online at mgoblue dot com the Michigan Athletics app, the Varsity Network app and it's all free. Follow along Michigan and Denver this weekend. Field hockey bounced back from a five two defeat against Maryland on Friday, which is a wild one, scoreless until late in the third quarter when the Terps had a four goal flurry as the Terps went on to win by three. But then Michigan knocking off number eighteen Monmouth two to one on Sunday. Juliette Manzur and this Wolverine Esmée de Willigen scored for the Wolverines.
Esmée de Willigen • 01:24
We really focused on connection the entire week and I feel like that went really well with our forwards and our midfield and our backfield. I feel like the defenders really did their job defending hard and keeping Mammoth out of the circle and as well as the forwards connecting with the rest of the field and getting the ball more up the field and getting more chances, especially after a few tough losses. The victory was just very good for our momentum and we're very excited for these upcoming games on the road.
Brian Boesch • 01:54
Indeed, it is a weekend trip out east for the Maize in blue, Friday at three at Rutgers and then Sunday at noon at Penn State. It was a split for volleyball last weekend too, Michigan defeating Iowa three sets to one on Friday, Wolverines hitting. Three hundred seventy six, registering sixty kills in that win. Then one of the Big Ten's top teams, Oregon did best Michigan also in four sets on Saturday. So Michigan eleven, six overall, two and four in Big Ten play with a big road swing on the horizon. Wolverines playing at number twenty one Minnesota at eight o' clock on Friday, then down to Champaign for a two o' clock clash with Illinois on Sunday. Back to back road weekends on the horizon that starts for Michigan this weekend to women's soccer Tale of two matches, both in how they played and in the result. Michigan losing six to five. Plenty of offense at Purdue last Thursday.
Brian Boesch • 02:46
Then a defensive struggle that Michigan earned a victory in one to nil over Wisconsin. Lily Bosley's goal in the thirty first minute, the difference for a Wolverines team now six, four and three overall and at the break even mark of four, four and oh in the Big Ten. Women's soccer another trip. They go out west this weekend. A battle with Oregon Friday night, nine o' clock Eastern time. It's on Big Ten Network. Men's soccer earning a draw on Tuesday night one one at number twelve Michigan State. It was a Michael Ramirez penalty kick in the eighty fifth minute that evened things up. A big boost to this program as well. The return of goalkeeper Isaiah Goldson had missed much of the season. He has started Michigan's last two. I mentioned the Big Ten Network for nine o' clock for women's soccer on Friday. Well, it's a double header seven o' clock from the U M Soccer stadium.
Brian Boesch • 03:38
It's a maze out. Maryland coming to town so you can catch both soccer programs here with the Wolverines on BTN coming up Friday. Cross country Nathan Lopez continued to pace the men's team with the Wolverines best time for a seventh consecutive scored meet as Michigan finishes thirtieth in the Nuttycomb Invitational Swimming and diving Both programs lost to Pittsburgh and then finished fourth at the College Swimming League meet in Knoxville, Tennessee over the weekend. Men's golf down in Miami at the Bryson Invitational. Strong showing a five under over three rounds to finish in second place of the twelve team event, falling only to Charleston yet again. RJ Arone pacing the Wolverines two under in Wednesday's final round three under for the event. Softball wrapped up fall ball with a ten four victory over Bowling Green on Friday. Wolverines now in the midst of some intra squad competition.
Brian Boesch • 04:31
You can watch it live next Thursday and Friday four o' clock starts with free admission at Carroll Hudgens Stadium. Baseball Split a couple of fall games at the Fish, defeating Eastern Michigan Saturday fourteen eight, falling to Ohio University ten to five on Sunday. That's a recap of what's happening and what's to come. The upcoming wrestling seasons coming at us quickly. Year nine of the Sean Bour Met era begins November first at VMI and the first time they'll compete at home. The Only time before the flip of the calendar to twenty twenty seven. Coming up November thirteenth against Columbia. Let's get the preview from the longtime head coach of the Maize in blue. Sean Bormet joins us here on this week's episode of Conqu'ring Heroes.
[music builds]
Jeff Laurence • 05:18
Welcome to your One Stop podcast for all things Michigan athletics. Updates on every team on campus and interviews with players and coaches are all on the way. This is Conqu'ring Heroes. Here's your host, Brian Boesch.
Brian Boesch • 05:32
Let's talk some Michigan wrestling with head coach.
Brian Boesch • 05:35
Year nine for Sean Bormet. How are you different now than you were when you took over nine years ago now?
Sean Bormet • 05:41
Well, it's been a lot of change since I took over, let's just say that. So I am very adaptable and, you know, just getting creative and find a lot of, a lot of solutions to sort of work through and navigate this ever changing college landscape we're in.
Brian Boesch • 05:56
And interesting, because I caught up with your former coach, your former boss, Joe McFarland. He and Kellen Russell, who we'll talk about, both hall of Honor inductees. I'm sure that was a pretty special weekend for you considering the connectivity.
Sean Bormet • 06:08
Yeah, it was really special because obviously Joe, Joe coached me here. You know, he had a huge impact on my career. And then I was fortunate to come back and coach alongside Joe, and he's always been just a great mentor and even now as I'm in the head coaching role, you know, he's somebody, one of the first people I reach out to if I sort of want to bounce an idea off him or use him as a sounding board, you know. And then obviously Joe recruited Kellen Russell here and, and then my first year back as an assistant, I was, I was on the coaching staff when Kellen Russell won his fourth Big Ten title and his, his second NCAA title. So, you know, our connections run, run pretty deep here at Michigan.
Brian Boesch • 06:47
If there's one lesson or maybe phrase that that Joe taught you or gave you, whether it was a pleasant one or a forceful one, is there something that has stuck with you most of all in, in your time either competing for or coaching under Coach McFarland?
Sean Bormet • 07:01
I think the greatest impact Joe had on me when he got here was he really was able to connect with me and, and sort of teach me what the real standards were to be successful at this level in terms of how you train, the conditioning level you have to have and, and sort of just the overall grit and toughness to win, the biggest moments, you know, and that, that had a huge impact on me. And it continued to be a part of how I coached and what I've done myself as a coach. You know, when I ran my club and since I've been back here in Michigan.
Brian Boesch • 07:35
You mentioned Kellen Russell, a guy who's back on staff, second tenure, of course, an incredible career here. Why was he a target and what
Brian Boesch • 07:43
has he added with the staff, with
Brian Boesch • 07:44
David Bolyard, Josh Churella, Kevin Jackson and the others who assist?
Sean Bormet • 07:49
You know, Kellen's arguably one of our greatest competitors in Michigan wrestling history and, you know, fortunate to coach Kellen, like I said, his last year here at Michigan. I was also able to coach alongside him here before he left and went on to coach for five years at Cornell. But, you know, really, I think Kellen's got some really special ingredients. He had him as a competitor and he also has him as a coach because he really connects with the athletes in different ways. He really understand the technical aspects of our sport, but he also really understands the psychological aspects of our sport. And he's, you know, psychologically, he was one of the soundest guys I've ever coached and unbelievable composure. And that's one of the things that, you know, I think he really is effective and does a great job coaching. And I know the guys have really enjoyed having him here so far this year, and that guy generally loves Michigan, so it's great to have him home.
Brian Boesch • 08:48
It's a good combination. There's a lot of unknown with your rock, with your lineup, which we'll get to, but some established commodities. Beau Mantanona, he's a returning All American, one of three. We'll talk about the other two, but let's start with Beau a guy who's been here for a little while, finished seventh last year at the NCAA Championships. What does another step forward or maybe multiple step forwards look like for Beau?
Sean Bormet • 09:12
Beau's already really taken that step and we've seen it this summer, We've seen it all preseason. I mean, talk about sort of leading with his actions. I mean, he's in here every day. You know, I just see his, his pre practice preparation is at a different level. He's in here, he's very focused, he's in here early. The way he's, you know, drilling, the way he's doing reps, the way he's training in the weight room, the conditioning, he's doing all the things in between whistles that we talk about, I've just seen him really elevate everything in all those different areas. So I would say his training, his preparation, his just his, his Overall commitment to. To really exceed the standards it's going to take to win a national title. I mean, he's very humble. And he's very driven and he's very locked in.
Brian Boesch • 09:58
How about his younger brother Brock? A fifth place finish, also an All-American. Incredible season. I assume those two guys, they probably motivate each other as much as they motivate themselves.
Sean Bormet • 10:08
Yeah, they motivate each other. They train with each other. They just, they do about everything together. So they feed off each other really, really well. And, you know, and Brock really, you know, as a redshirt freshman last year, I mean, he really had an outstanding season and a tremendous finish at the NCAA tournament. And, you know, and I know he's got his sights set on becoming a national. And just like Bo, I mean, the standards to do that and how you have to train and how you have to think and, you know, sort of how you have to own the hours outside of the building and outside of practice are equally important. So, you know, once again, all spring summer, I've seen a huge shift in both of them. And I'm continuing to see that in Brock. I mean, the way he's challenged himself in practice and the way he's sort of really focusing on the pace of his wrestling, it's at a different level.
Brian Boesch • 10:54
Last but not least, Cam Catrabone, a seventh place finish at NCAA's. How have you seen him getting better this offseason?
Sean Bormet • 11:03
You know, Cam had an incredible run last year in terms of where he started our season to how he finished in March. And I'd say throughout that season, like, continuous improvement was very evident. You could see sort of in some of his early season losses. And then as he started to compete through the Big Ten season, he was closing, you know, closing the margin in some of those matches. All the way through the NCAA tournament, he had an outstanding NCAA tournament. All that improvement I saw last year, I've seen that much even more improvement this spring summer. Just in his focus, the way he's training, obviously he's moving up a weight class, so he had to really, you know, put a lot of time and energy into the weight room and just continue to build up his body. Also with the way he's approaching training and his live wrestling and what he's doing on his feet and just his overall commitment to really strengthen all these areas in his wrestling and what it's going to take to win a national championship, you know, and I think all three of those guys are really feeding off each other and doing a great job leading the team. More with Sean Bormet momentarily, but his daughter Zoe, of course a key member of the field hockey team here in Ann Arbor. In this field hockey season, Michigan Athletics and Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan are teaming up once again in the fight to end hunger. On Friday, October thirtieth, join Michigan field Hockey as they take on Ohio State.
Brian Boesch • 12:26
Five o' clock start for that one.
Brian Boesch • 12:27
And fans attending the game are encouraged to bring non perishable food items to be donated to local Ann Arbor food banks. Learn more about how Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan is working to end hunger in Michigan by visiting mich fb dot com that's mich M I C H F B dot com.
Brian Boesch • 12:46
With Sean Bormet here on Conqu'ring Heroes. A couple other names that fans know. Hayden Walters, he was in fifteen dual matches last year. Sergio Lemley, coming off a red shirt. For those two guys and everybody else, it seems like it is. I'm sure it's been a fascinating summer around here competition wise. How are you going about filling out everything from the two brothers Mantanona and then Catrabone down for your lineup?
Sean Bormet • 13:12
Yes, we've had several guys change weights, you know, and last year Sergio Lemley, in that redshirt year, he moved up a weight class. So, you know, really we have for the most part a young team. We have some veteran, a couple of veteran leaders, but we have a very young team and we have tremendous influx of freshman talent, you know, coming in. So I think it's going to be very competitive throughout our lineup. And you know, and with the new five for five rule, we're going to have an opportunity for a lot of these freshmen to compete early and have great opportunities to compete, you know, so we'll let that competition play out. And, and you know, we also know that, you know, to, to earn the starting spot here, it is built around how you prepare, how you manage your weight, how you compete, how, how you meet adversity, how you meet the demands of what it takes to compete in the Big Ten Conference.
Sean Bormet • 14:04
So we're super excited to watch this unfold and just so excited about the incredible talent and depth we have, you know, really from, from one hundred and twenty five through heavyweight right now.
Brian Boesch • 14:16
Did the five for five, obviously you're building relationships with now incoming freshmen for years in the recruiting process, but did that shift, adjust your thinking in terms of any sort of roster building philosophies now versus maybe three, four years ago?
Sean Bormet • 14:30
Yeah, even a year ago, I mean even the spring before we knew five for five was going through there, you know, at times when you had a really talented freshmen coming in, sometimes it still made sense to redshirt them, you know, just from physical development experience. And that's where sometimes for us, we had opportunities to, you know, we were very attractive for some of the top kids coming out who wanted to do a fifth year and. And pursue a great graduate degree. And sometimes we would go into the transfer portal and. And bring guys like that in at certain weights. And it also would give us an opportunity to redshirt a freshman and let them train with that wrestler and continue to develop before they started competing. But once we saw the five for five rule was coming through, you know, we pretty much pulled out of a lot of the grad transfers that we were actually talking to at that point, because we knew we had such great freshmen coming in and so much talent coming in.
Sean Bormet • 15:21
And they want to compete, they don't want a red shirt, redshirting is over.
Brian Boesch • 15:24
Sure.
Sean Bormet • 15:25
So, you know, so we pulled out. It totally changed sort of what we were thinking and some of the things that we'd done in the previous, like, three, four years.
Brian Boesch • 15:33
When someone comes into the program for the first time, what are the things that you instill immediately right upon arrival, and are there things that they have
Brian Boesch • 15:42
to maybe go through a season, go
Brian Boesch • 15:44
through competition, go through the entire calendar year before they fully understand what it's like to not just compete in college, but to compete in college at the University of Michigan?
Sean Bormet • 15:55
You know, the one thing we always know, there's going to be a learning curve, and it's a matter of how fast they can learn and how fast they can adapt to wrestling in this Big Ten conference. And, you know, our expectations never change at Michigan. You know, for our wrestling program, we're. We're hunting Big Ten championships, we're hunting NCAA championships individually and as a team. And those goals are always going to be sort of our standard. You know, when we get these guys in, they're young. You know, we talk a lot about the standards and what it takes to compete at that level. And I'd say for the freshmen, you know, that's a little bit of an adjustment. And. And it's also where a lot of the excitement, the growth is, you know, now, how fast they can do that. You know, that's always something that we learn case by case. Even with this team right now, we're learning a lot about ourselves in terms of the hard training that we've been doing in this preseason.
Sean Bormet • 16:50
I love what I've been seeing. I'd say from top to bottom, when you look at our total roster right now, this team has incredible buying and commitment and that has been so exciting to see. You know, whether it's our hard conditioning workouts in the big house or you know, hard mat session with a lot of live combat, you know, and the other thing that, you know, the other thing that we're really looking for is we're going to learn a lot about ourselves when we start competing. You know, competing teaches you the most and how you deal with adversity, how you deal with the demands and you know, ultimately, you know, just like last season, we'll be focused on just continuous improvement in every aspect of our wrestling. You know, tactically, technically, psychologically, how we're moving through between now and March and you know, and really getting these guys and building so that they are capable of putting their best wrestling on the mat and win the biggest moments in March.
Brian Boesch • 17:50
So lastly along those lines, I mean, you guys get going quickly at VMI on November first, the Michigan State Open six days later. Only home meet coming up at Cliff Keen on November thirteenth. Hope you can join us for that. Then trips to Rider, Northern Colorado, a
Brian Boesch • 18:06
trip to Las Vegas. How will all of that help you
Brian Boesch • 18:09
prepare for the turn of the calendar for Big Ten competition and all the way into March?
Sean Bormet • 18:13
Yeah, our first semester competition schedule is always, it's always fun because we do get to see a lot of opponents outside the Big Ten. It's mostly our non conference focused. We hope we can get a great crowd at the Columbia Duel. It's our only home duel in that first semester. You know, on Friday night, november thirteenth, we are going to have an exciting team. We have a bunch of guys that are super talented, they like to score points, you know, they want to dictate action. That's the way we're coaching them. Guys that are Pinners and, and we got some incredibly talented freshmen that I wouldn't be surprised if you see them in some of these early competitions. So you know, I think from a fan base standpoint you're going to want to get to know this team and you're going to want to watch them and follow them throughout this season. We sort of finish up this first semester and sort of do a little peeking face simulation with the Las Vegas tournament.
Sean Bormet • 19:09
There's usually, you know, thirty five to forty teams at that competition. You know, some Big Ten teams, but a lot of non conference teams. So that tournament really gives us a good idea sort of where we're at. It's a, it's a two day competition, two wins. So it allows us to really watch weight control, weight management day to day, you know, see how these guys compete from round to round, you know, what the recovery process looks like between matches and at night. And it's really our only big simulation before we hit the Big Ten tournament in March and you know, and then we actually have the luxury, we come back and we get in the finals. But we also have a nice training block. So it gives us another window to really hone in on training, hard training and do what we have to do in terms of everything we saw in that first semester to really fully prepare for the really fun and always, always competitive Big Ten season.
Brian Boesch • 19:57
Always a challenge. M go blue dot com for schedule, ticket information all of that, check out Sean Bormet's crew coming up this season including November thirteenth.
Brian Boesch • 20:06
Coach, appreciate it. Good luck and we'll be talking to you throughout the course of the season.
Sean Bormet • 20:09
Thanks so much. Go Blue.
[music builds]
Brian Boesch • 20:18
Always enjoy the visits with Sean Bormet. He's built a great staff and certainly an exciting roster as the Wolverines get ready for competition. Coming up the first of November on the road at VMI challenging busy non conference slate before Big Ten play arrives shortly after the flip to twenty twenty seven. Thanks to Leah Howard for her assistance with this week's episode along with Jordan Manning. I'm Brian Boesch. We'll be back again next week as we continue our fall sports here on Conqu'ring Heroes. Go Blue.
[music builds]
Jeff Laurence • 20:49
Thanks for listening to Conqu'ring Hero, part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast network, M GO Blue Podcasts. The preceding has been a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
