Six Seeded at NCAAs; Comcast to Show Friday's Action
3/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team received six top-10 seeds among its seven competitors as the final brackets were decided during the coaches meeting at the NCAA Championships. Defending national champion senior/junior Ryan Bertin (Broadview Heights, Ohio/St. Edward) leads the Wolverines with the No. 3 seed at 157 pounds.
With no wrestlers receiving pigtail matches, the Wolverines will kick off the tournament in the first round, where they will face several opponents for the first time. Only sophomore/freshman Nick Roy (Wall, N.J./Wall HS) will square off against a familiar opponent when he faces Hofstra's Noel Thompson, who earned a close 2-1 victory over the Wolverine at the National Duals (Jan. 17-18).
First-Round Matches
125 pounds -- #9 Mark Moos vs. Jeremy Hartrum (North Carolina State)
133 pounds -- #4 Foley Dowd vs. Joe Cristaldi (Drexel)
149 pounds -- #4 Ryan Churella vs. Christopher Nissen (Air Force)
157 pounds -- #3 Ryan Bertin vs. Andrew Shuler (Wyoming)
165 pounds -- #5 Pat Owen vs. Matthew Veach (Eastern Illinois)
174 pounds -- Nick Roy vs. #10 Noel Thompson (Hofstra)
Heavyweight -- #6 Greg Wagner vs. Jamie Rakevich (Oregon State)
NCAA Wrestling on Television
Comcast Cable in Ann Arbor has picked up ESPN2's live coverage of the semifinal round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday evening (March 19) and will air the tournament from 7-9:30 p.m. on channel 8, the Comcast preview channel. The final round will be aired live on ESPN2 on Saturday (March 20) at 5:30 p.m.
Pre-Tournament Quotes
Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland
Opening statement ... "We're coming into the tournament with seven guys, six of which have a seed. Our highest seed is a No. 3 and our lowest one is a No. 9. Coming off the the Big Ten Championships, I thought we wrestled a little tight. So, obviously we need to wrestle a little better here. I would consider us a long shot for the team championship, but I think if we wrestle to way we're capable of wrestling, we will make some noise here this weekend."
On how the tournament will be won ... "I think this tournament will be won in both the championship and consolation brackets. The winning team is going to have to put some guys in the finals and also have some guys some back strong in the wrestlebacks with some high places."
On Michigan's draws in the tournament ... "I really like where we're sitting. In the first round, we're going to wrestle several guys that we've never seen before. We need to go out strong and stay aggressive. I think the possibility of scoring bonus points is there, which would help us in the team race, but the most important thing is to win and advance. We need to get into the groove of the tournament and take it round by round. Each guy needs to wrestle his own tournament and stay focused on his own performance. If they do that, I think we'll be okay."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
