Week #5: Michigan to Resume Competition at Annual Southern Scuffle
12/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 29, 2015
» Austin Assad and Logan Massa, who will compete unattached at 125 and 165 pounds, are still undefeated in their collegiate careers.
» Four Wolverines will make their varsity debuts -- Malik Amine, Zac Hall, Cameron Kennedy and Zehlin Storr will all compete at 141 pounds.
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., Jan. 1-2 -- at Southern Scuffle (Chattanooga, Tenn.), 9 a.m.
Live Stats | Live Video (fee)
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter
Game Day Information: Cliff Keen Arena Information | Ticket Information
The No. 13-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team (4-1) will resume action this weekend, kicking off 2016 at the annual Southern Scuffle on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 1-2) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hosted by the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, competition is slated to begin at 9 a.m. both days at McKenzie Arena.
The Wolverines will send a young 10-man lineup to the event, including three true freshmen who will compete unattached. Only those competing attached -- and one per weight -- can score team points. Michigan's starters will remain in Ann Arbor to train and prepare for its upcoming second-semester dual schedule.
This year's field at the Southern Scuffle will feature 30 teams, including 11 teams ranked in the most-recent NWCA poll. In addition to the 13th-ranked Maize and Blue, headlining the participating teams are No. 1 Penn State, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Lehigh, No. 14 Cornell, No. 15 North Carolina, No. 16 Central Michigan, No. 17 Virginia, No. 20 Pittsburgh, No. 23 Minnesota and No. 25 West Virginia.
Michigan's Projected Lineup
| Wgt. | Name | Year/Elig. | Hometown (High School) |
| 125 | Austin Assad * | Fr./Fr. | Northfield, Ohio (Brecksville) |
| 125 | Cory Lester | Sr./Jr. | St. Louis, Mo. (John Burroughs) |
| 133 | Ben Lamantia * | Fr./Fr. | Commack, N.Y. (St. Anthony's) |
| 141 | Malik Amine | So./Fr. | Brighton, Mich. (Detroit Catholic Central) |
| 141 | Zac Hall | So./Fr. | St. Johns, Mich. (St. Johns) |
| 141 | Cameron Kennedy | Jr./So. | Richmond, Ill. (Burton) |
| 141 | Zehlin Storr | So./Fr. | Mason, Mich. (Leslie) |
| 157 | Jordan Amine | Jr./So. | Brighton, Mich. (Brighton) |
| 165 | Logan Massa * | Fr./Fr. | St. Johns, Mich. (St. Johns) |
| 184 | Ben Ralston | 5th/Sr. | Oxford, Mich. (Oxford) |
* indicates unattached wrestlers
WOLVERINE BITES
• Four Wolverines are slated to make their varsity debut this weekend at the Southern Scuffle and formally represent Michigan for the first time. Junior/sophomore Cameron Kennedy and sophomore/freshmen Malik Amine, Zac Hall and Zehlin Storr will all compete at 141 pounds.
• Junior/sophomores Jordan Amine and Payne Hayden have also made their varsity debut this season at 157 pounds and heavyweight, respectively. Both Wolverines earned their first varsity wins at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 4-5). Amine used a six-point move to defeat Arizona State's Oliver Pierce, 7-1, in the second sudden-victory period, while Hayden pinned Gateway Bible Institute's Damien Davis in just 0:23.
• Zac Hall will also make his 2015-16 debut after missing all of the first semester while rehabbing an elbow injury suffered over the summer. He went 16-3 in open-tournament competition during his redshirt season last year, capturing titles at the Alma Open and Edinboro Open.
• Freshmen Austin Assad and Logan Massa, who will compete unattached at the Southern Scuffle, are both undefeated in their collegiate careers and set to face tougher opposition this weekend. Assad is 10-0 and captured 125-pound titles at the MSU Open and Cleveland State Open, while Massa is 9-0 with eight bonus wins and captured 165-pound titles at the EMU and MSU events.
• Junior heavyweight Adam Coon remains the Wolverines' last undefeated starter wrestler with a perfect 5-0 record on the season -- all in dual competition. He sat out the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational while training Greco-Roman for U.S. Senior Nationals. Coon owns two pins and a technical fall.
• Sophomore Alec Pantaleo and junior Domenic Abounader moved into InterMat's top-10 rankings at 149 and 184 pounds, respectively. Pantaleo is 11-2 on the season with seven bonus wins. His only two losses came against Oklahoma's Davion Jeffries. Abounader is 9-1 with three bonus wins -- all pins. His only loss came to Cornell's top-ranked Gabe Dean in the CKLV championship match. He ranks as high as No. 4 in the Amateur Wrestling News. Junior Brian Murphy, graduate student Max Huntley and junior Adam Coon are also all ranked among the top 10 at 157, 197 and heavyweight.
• Graduate student Max Huntley and juniors Domenic Abounader and Adam Coon were named the Wolverines' 2015-16 team captains just prior to the Michigan State dual meet earlier this month. Huntley and Coon repeat the distinction; Huntley is the first three-time captain in program history. [ Full Release ]
• Sophomore/freshman Stevan Micic, a transfer from Northwestern, is officially a member of the Michigan wrestling team after being accepted to the university earlier this month. Micic, who claimed 55kg bronze at the Junior World Championships last summer, is taking an Olympic redshirt this season and, after earning a transfer waiver from the Big Ten Conference, will have all four years of eligibility remaining next season.
• Junior Adam Coon captured the 130kg/286-pound Greco-Roman gold medal at the U.S. Senior Nationals (Dec. 18-19), while freshman Logan Massa and volunteer coach Kellen Russell earned top-five freestyle finishes at 74kg/163 pounds and 65kg/143 pounds, respectively, to qualify for the Olympic Team Trials, scheduled for April 9-10, in Iowa City, Iowa. Sophomore/freshman Stevan Micic just missed qualifying at 57kg/125.5 pounds and will have additional opportunities in 2016.
U-M Individual Rankings
| Wt. | Wrestler | InterMat | Flo | W.I.N. | AWN |
| 125 | Conor Youtsey | 20 | 16 | NR | 18 |
| 133 | Rossi Bruno | 15 | 14 | 13 | 19 |
| 149 | Alec Pantaleo | 9 | 12 | 13 | 10 |
| 157 | Brian Murphy | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 165 | Garrett Sutton | NR | NR | 16 | NR |
| 174 | Davonte Mahomes | 18 | NR | 19 | 18 |
| 184 | Domenic Abounader | 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| 197 | Max Huntley | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 |
| Hwt | Adam Coon | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines rolled to a 39-6 win over in-state rival Michigan State in their Big Ten opener two weeks ago (Dec. 10) at Keen Arena. Michigan earned bonus points in seven of its eight individual wins, including a pin from Domenic Abounader and two straight technical falls from Max Huntley and Adam Coon to close the dual meet. Rossi Bruno and Alec Pantaleo also earned tech falls at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively. MSU claimed its wins at 125 and 141 pounds. [ Full Recap ]
UP NEXT
Thursday, Jan. 7 -- vs. Oregon State (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 9 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 5 p.m.
Communications Contact: Leah Howard
Players Mentioned
