Weekly Release #2

Upcoming Schedule
Friday, Dec. 7 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 8 -- vs. Central Michigan (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 4 -- vs. Lehigh (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 5 -- at Cleveland State (Cleveland, Ohio), 7:30 p.m.

This Week: Let the Duals Begin
After winning its first Cliff Keen Invitational title last weekend (Nov. 30-Dec. 1), the No. 4-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team will open its dual meet schedule with a pair of matches against intrastate rivals this week. On Friday night (Dec. 7), the Wolverines will travel to Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich., to square off against No. 20-ranked Michigan State in a non-conference meet at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday (Dec. 8), the Wolverines will play host to No. 22-ranked Central Michigan in a meet set to start at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor.

The Series vs. Michigan State
Michigan leads the all-time series by a 55-32-5 margin, dating back to 1926. In the last 10 meetings, Michigan holds an 8-1-1 record. In the last 10 meetings at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Michigan owns a 9-1 record. Michigan head coach Joe McFarland owns a 3-0-1 record against the Spartans since taking the helm of the Wolverine squad.

Last Year vs. Michigan State
Michigan faced off against the Spartans twice last season and earned two hard-fought victories. In Michigan's first dual meet of the season (Dec. 8), the Wolverines defeated Michigan State at Cliff Keen Arena by a margin of 22-12. The Wolverines held the advantage for a majority of the meet, with Michigan State twice tying the score. Michigan held a one-point edge over the Spartans entering the final two matches, and victories in both of those matches clinched the win for the the Wolverines.

Later in the season (Jan. 28), U-M traveled up to East Lansing and defeated the Spartans 20-12. The Wolverines took an early lead with decisions in the first two matches. The Spartans responded, winning four of the next five matches to steal the lead. Michigan won the final three matches, two by major decision, to give the Wolverines the final edge in the meet.

About the Spartans
With three All-Americans returning from last year's squad, this season Michigan State looks to build its 14th-place finish at last year's NCAA Championships. Leading the Spartans are senior co-captains Chris Williams at 125 pounds and Nik Fekete at 197 pounds. Head coach Tom Minkel is in his 10th season at the helm of the Spartan squad, and he owns a career record of 93-81-2 at Michigan State, including a 3-9-1 mark against the Wolverines.

The Series vs. Central Michigan
Michigan leads the all-time series by a 14-1 margin, dating back to 1980. In the last 10 meetings, Michigan owns a 9-1 record. At Cliff Keen Arena, the Wolverines are 4-1. Michigan head coach Joe McFarland owns a 2-0 record against the Chippewas.

Last Meeting vs. Central Michigan
The Wolverines dominated Central Michigan in early action last season (Dec. 9) at Cliff Keen Arena, shutting them out by a 37-0 margin. Starting at the 197-pound weight class, Michigan earned four straight major decisions to jump out to an early lead. The Wolverines recorded five decisions and a fall by 157-pounder Pat Owen (Polson, Mont./Polson HS) to cruise to the victory.

About the Chippewas
Central Michigan returns two Mid-America Conference champions and five national qualifiers from last year's squad. Leading the Chippewas is returning MAC Freshman of the Year, Jason Mester at 141 pounds and sophomore Ty Morgan at 149 pounds. Head coach Tom Borrelli is in his 11th season at Central Michigan and owns a 107-61-5 career record with the Chippewas. Against Michigan, Borrelli is 1-5.

Marquee Matches
#14 A.J. Grant (125 Pounds) vs. #17 Chris Williams (MSU)
A.J. Grant (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston HS) and Chris Williams wrestled each other throughout their prep careers in Michigan, and now at the college level continue to square off. The two have faced each other nine times during the last two seasons. Every match between the two wrestlers has ended in a decision victory, averaging only a three-point margin. Grant holds a slight edge over Williams with a 5-4 record in their bouts. The last time the two faced off on the mat was at last season's NCAA Championships, where Grant won 4-0 en route to a third-place finish.

#6 Ryan Bertin (157 Pounds) vs. #11 Gray Maynard (MSU)
Competing in his first collegiate dual meet, redshirt freshman Ryan Bertin (Broadview Hieghts, Ohio/St. Edward) will match up against ex-high school teammate Gray Maynard. The two wrestlers competed together at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. Maynard is a proven wrestler; a two-year starter, who earned All-America honors last season with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Bertin has proven himself to be a threat at the 157-pound weight class this season with a first-place finish at the Eastern Michigan Open, a second-place finish at the Michigan State Open, and most recently, a third-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational. The two wrestlers have faced off once already this season, at the Michigan State Open, with Bertin earning the decision, 4-3.

Kyle Smith (197 Pounds) vs. #9 Nik Fekete (MSU)
Coming off of a strong fifth-place finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational, Kyle Smith (Butte, Mont./Butte HS) looks to carry his success into the first dual meet of his junior season. Both wrestlers started their collegiate wrestling careers at 184 pounds before moving up to 197. Smith has previously competed in two dual meets at Michigan, compiling a 0-2 record, while Fekete compiled a 12-4 dual meet record last season en route to All-America honors. Earlier this season, Smith defeated Fekete by an 11-5 decision in a semifinal match at the Michigan State Open en route to his first-place finish.

#11 Clark Forward (141 Pounds) vs. #9 Jason Mester (CMU)
In the two previous matches between Michigan's Clark Forward (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold HS) and Jason Mester of Central Michigan, Forward earned decision victories in both. In their first match at last season's Eastern Michigan Open, Forward defeated 4-3 on his way to a first-place finish. In the dual meet at Cliff Keen Arena, Foward won by a margin of 9-5. Having another strong start to his season, Forward earned the repeat 141-pound title at the Eastern Michigan Open and recorded two falls at the Cliff Keen Invitational last weekend. In Mester's only appearance this season, the sophomore earned a major decision against Michigan State's Eric Keith in the Chippewas' first dual match of the season.

#8 Mike Kulczycki (149 Pounds) vs. #20 Ty Morgan (CMU)
Junior Mike Kulczycki (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) has faced off against Central Michigan's Ty Morgan on three occasions over the past couple seasons, with Kulczycki coming away as the victor each time. Last year, Kulczycki earned decisions over Morgan at the Michigan State Open (7-4) and at the home dual match (12-6). Earlier this season, Kulczycki earned a 7-3 decision over Morgan at the Michigan State Open. The Michigan wrestler is coming off a strong performance last weekend at the Cliff Keen Invitational, in which he compiled a 5-2 record and a fourth-place finish. Morgan, too, is coming off a successful weekend collected a first-place finish at The Citadel Invitational.

#11 Charles Martelli (165 Pounds) vs. #19 Kevin Carr (CMU)
This weekend will mark the first match between Michigan's Charles Martelli (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North HS) and Central Michigan's Kevin Carr. Last season, Martelli experienced tremendous success at 165 pounds, compiling a 36-14 record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Carr moves down to the 165-pound weight class this year after notching a 23-13 record at 174 pounds last season. In his season debut last weekend, Martelli compiled a record of 4-2 at the Cliff Keen Invitational. Competing at The Citadel Invitational, Carr earned the individual title at 165 pounds.

Michigan Takes the Title at Cliff Keen Invitational
The Wolverines captured their first Cliff Keen Invitational team title last week (Nov. 30-Dec. 1) in Las Vegas, Nev., in Michigan's 19th appearance at the annual event. U-M finished on top of the pack with 163 team points, head and shoulders above West Virginia, which finished in second place with 127 points. Individually, Michigan had two champions, Otto Olson (Everett, Wash./Everett HS) at 174 and Andy Hrovat (Gates Mills, Ohio/St. Edward) and 184, a second-place finisher in Foley Dowd (Iron Mountain, Mich./The Peddie School) at 133, a third-place finish by Ryan Bertin at 157 pounds, a fourth-place finish by Mike Kulczycki at 149, and two fifth-place finishes by A.J. Grant at 125 and Kyle Smith at 197 pounds. Prior to this season, the Wolverines' highest finish at the Cliff Keen Invitational was fourth place, which was attained on seven occasions, most recently in 1998.

Double Threat
With both Otto Olson and captain Andy Hrovat winning individual titles for the Wolverines at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively, this season marked the fifth time that Michigan had two wrestlers finish at the top in their weight classes at the Cliff Keen Invitational. The last time Michigan had two individual champions was in 1999, when Joe Warren (133) and Olson (174) accomplished the feat.

Twice the Success
At the Cliff Keen Invitational, sixth-year senior Otto Olson became only the second Michigan wrestler to twice win an individual title at the annual event. Olson won his first individual crown in 1998, while last season he was forced to sit out due to injury. Jeff Catrabone won consecuitve 167-pound titles in 1996 and 1997.

Starting with a Bang
In 80 years of Michigan wrestling, the Wolverines have compiled a 50-25-2 record in their first dual meet of the season. In their first home dual meet, Michigan is 62-14-3, and since moving into Cliff Keen Arena in 1989, the Wolverines are 10-2 in their first home dual meet.

Oh Captain, My Captain
Andy Hrovat has been selected as the 2001-02 team captain. Hrovat, a two-time NCAA All-America, will be the 87th captain in the program's history.

Climbing up the Charts
Compiling a perfect 5-0 record at the Cliff Keen Invitational brought Otto Olson's career win total to 147 total victories. Olson is currently in fourth place on Michigan's career wins list, 13 wins away from tying Jeff Catrabone (160, 1995-98) for the third spot. Olson finished last season in fifth place in career wins with 134 and passed Wolverine assistant coach Kirk Trost (139, 1981-86) for the fourth spot at the Michigan State Open (Nov. 17-18).

Century Club
Andy Hrovat earned his 100th career victory with a 7-6 decision over Michigan State's John Wechter at the Michigan State Open (Nov. 17-18). Hrovat is just the 19th wrestler in U-M history to accomplish the feat. After going undefeated at the Cliff Keen Invitational, Hrovat has 107 career victories.

Matt on Brink of 100 Wins
Senior heavyweight Matt Brink (Muskegon, Mich./Fruitport HS) is just two wins away from earning 100 career wins at U-M. Brink earned nine wins in two open tournaments so far this season and recorded two victories at the Cliff Keen Invitational, bringing his career total to 98. Brink will be the 20th wrestler in Michigan history to hit the 100-victory mark.

The Fall Guy
Jeremiah Tobias (Grass Lake, Mich.), who finished last season with 15 falls, which ties for the second most falls in one season by a Michigan wrestler, picked up where he left off by setting an Eastern Michigan Open (Nov. 4) record for falls with five and following up his performance with four more at the Michigan State Open (Nov. 17-18). Tobias has nine falls on the season and is seven away from setting the U-M single-season fall record (16) held by Rob Reichsteiner (1983-84). The redshirt freshman has already compiled 24 career falls at Michigan and needs just one more to tie Mike Rodriguez and Airron Richardson for 10th place on the career falls list with 25.

IronMan
Senior captain Andy Hrovat has not missed a dual meet match at 184 pounds in his three years at the University of Michigan. In that time, Hrovat competed in 52 conescutive dual meets, compiling a career dual meet record of 41-11. Last season, Hrovat recorded 17 dual meet wins, which put him in a tie for ninth place for most dual meet wins in a season.

New Kids on the Block
The Cliff Keen Invitational marked the collegiate debut of redshirt freshman Ryan Bertin at the 157-pound weight class. Bertin, who compiled a 25-2 record in open events last season, wrestled his way to a third-place finish with a 6-1 record at the annual event. Junior Kyle Smith also showed tremendous potential last weekend, posting a 5-2 record, en route to a fifth-place finish. Last season, Smith competed at the Cliff Keen Invitational at 184 pounds and compiled a 2-3 record. With the graduation of NCAA qualifier Joe DeGain, Smith looks to fill his shoes at 197 pounds this season.

The Veterans
This season the Michigan wrestling team returns five All-Americans -- A.J. Grant, Mike Kulczycki, Otto Olson, Andy Hrovat and Matt Brink -- to the starting lineup, which stands as the highest number of returning All-Americans a Michigan team has seen. In 1964, 1974 and 1997, the Wolverines returned four All-Americans.

Stiff Competition
Michigan faces a tough field of competitors this season, with 10 of the Wolverines' 13 dual meet opponents ranked among the top 25 teams in InterMat's preseason poll. No. 1 Minnesota leads the pack of ranked opponents, which also includes No. 5 Iowa, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 8 Lehigh, No. 9 Illinois, No. 17 Penn State, No. 18 Central Michigan, No. 19 Michigan State, No. 22 Wisconsin and No. 23 Oregon.

Michigan Dominates in Preseason Tournaments
The Michigan grapplers opened up the season at the Eastern Michigan Open (Nov. 3) in Ypsilanti, Mich., by claiming seven individual championships -- A.J. Grant at 125, Clark Forward at 141, Mike Kulczycki at 149, Ryan Bertin at 157, Otto Olson at 174, Andy Hrovat at 184 and Matt Brink at heavyweight. The Wolverines followed up with another impressive showing at the Michigan State Open (Nov. 17-18) in East Lansing, Mich., with five individuals claiming titles -- Dowd at 133, Kulczycki at 149, Olson at 174, Kyle Smith at 197, and Brink at heavyweight.

InterMat NCAA Division I Team Rankings (12/4/01)

 1. Minnesota 2. Oklahoma State 3. Oklahoma 4. MICHIGAN 5. Iowa 6. Iowa State 7. Ohio State 8. West Virginia 9. Pennsylvania 10. Northern Iowa 11. Lock Haven 12. Lehigh 13. Arizona State 14. Edinboro 15. Nebraska 16. Missouri 17. Illinois 18. Wisconsin 19. Pittsburgh 20. Michigan State 21. Fresno State 22. Central Michigan 23. Penn State 24. Oregon State 25. Boise State

Individual Rankings by Intermat and Amateur Wrestling News (12/4/01)

Wgt.	Wrestler	Intermat	AWN
125	A.J. Grant	14th	3rd
133	Foley Dowd	9th	9th
141	Clark Forward	11th	11th
149	Mike Kulcyzcki	8th	5th
157	Ryan Bertin	6th	6th
165	Charles Martelli	11th	6th
174	Otto Olson	2nd	2nd
184	Andy Hrovat	4th	3rd
197	Kyle Smith	---	11th
Hwt	Matt Brink	4th	6th