Notes & Quotes: Big Ten Championships - Day 2
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 8, 2015
• Sophomore Domenic Abounader is the 125th Big Ten champion in Michigan program history. He is the first to win at 184 pounds.
• Abounder's win over Minnesota's Brett Pfarr was his second of the season. He previously defeated the Gopher wrestler, 8-7, in the dual meet on Jan. 9.
• Abounader was the Wolverines' top Big Ten finisher for the second straight season. He took third place last year at 184 pounds, defeating Minnesota's Kevin Steinhaus, 6-4, in the placing match. He owns a 7-1 mark at the Big Ten tournament over the last two seasons.
• With its fourth-place team finish, U-M earned its best Big Ten placement since taking third in 2009.
• Eight Wolverine wrestlers matched or surpassed their seeds.
• Michigan flipped six matches against wrestlers to whom they had previously lost over the course of the tournament.
• The Wolverines earned bonus points in seven wins -- four falls, two major decision and one injury default.
• With nine Wolverines already qualified for the NCAA Championships, it is the largest group of qualifiers for the Maize & Blue since similarly qualifying nine in 2005.
• Freshmen Alec Pantaleo and Garrett Sutton both qualified for their first NCAA Championships.
Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland
On the team's effort this weekend ... "I think the guys wrestled hard. We didn't win all the matches that we wanted to, but we won an awful lot. We wrestled really tough and stayed intense. I'm really proud of these guys. It's a young group -- eight underclassmen. We got nine qualifiers too and have a pretty good chance to get all 10 guys. That's impressive and a great thing to build on."
On Domenic Abounader's performance ... "Dom has got his offense going. In that finals match, he was getting his single-leg attacks and just stayed on it, even when the match was tight. He continued to get to his offense. He's widening the gap on some of these guys. He's doing a great job, and he's wrestling as well as he has all year. He's hardened. He's wrestled all the best guys in the country. He's really competed well this weekend. The biggest difference is he's staying aggressive. His confidence level is high right now."
On Adam Coon's tournament ... "He really had a great tournament. Even in the match that he lost, he controlled most of that match. He just lost a couple quick scrambles in that semifinal. It was fun to see him come back and finish the way he did. I think that's going to set him up for a great national tournament."
On Garrett Sutton qualifying for NCAAs ... "He's really coming into his own. It's great to see. You can see him getting better match to match. This is great experience for him and a big confidence builder. He's an extremely hard worker. He qualified at a tough weight and beat some great wrestlers. We're excited for him."
On the team's intensity ... "Our guys have been getting to their offense, staying aggressive and wrestling for seven minutes. They're doing a good job with that and not protecting leads. That was a big thing for all our guys this weekend. The intensity level was high all weekend. We had a couple lapses and got burned by it. But I think they really understand the difference that makes. That's been working for us. We flipped a lot of matches this weekend; that's a great sign of maturity and growth."
U-M Sophomore Domenic Abounader
On his finals match ... "I think I got in on three deep shots in the first period, so I was definitely confident that I could get back to it. His takedown at the end of the first period hurt and made the match a lot closer, but I was able to prevail."
On overcoming a slow start to the season ... "I was hurt at the beginning of the season, and that kind of set my back from all the work I did over the summer. But the coaches got me back on the right plan, and I continued to work at it. I'll continue to work over the next couple weeks for NCAAs. I feel really confident. Hopefully, I'll get a good seed and take this momentum and wrestle the way I've been wrestling."
On building on tough matches all season ... "It definitely prepared me. A lot of the kids I wrestled -- three out of four -- I wrestled in the past. It was a good tournament. Everyone in my weight class is young too, so I'll continue to see them in the future, so it'll be a lot of fun. That schedule we had this year definitely prepared me."
Players Mentioned
