Season Review: 2016-17 Michigan Wrestling
4/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
• Team Captains: Domenic Abounader, Adam Coon, Brian Murphy
• Record: 8-7, (4-5 in Big Ten)
• Big Ten Championships: 7th (83 points)
• NCAA Championships: 10th (47.5 points)
Injuries played a disruptive role throughout the Wolverines' 2016-17 season, largely causing the redshirt of returning All-Americans Alec Pantaleo and Adam Coon, Big Ten champion Domenic Abounader and sidelining starters Austin Assad and Brian Murphy -- also an All-American -- during the season or, in the case of Murphy, just a week before the NCAA Championships.
As a result, Michigan's lineup featured up to nine first-year starters and seven freshmen through large parts of the season. The talented freshman class led the way, however, as four newcomers qualified for the NCAA Championships and Stevan Micic, Logan Massa and Myles Amine turned in top-four performances to guide U-M to a 10th-place NCAA finish. It was a triumphant and satisfying ending to an up-and-down season and one that will likely be remembered as laying the foundation for future and greater Maize and Blue successes.
Team Highlights
• Michigan posted its second straight top-10 NCAA finish, using a strong medal round performance on Saturday morning to surge three spots into 10th place (47.5 points) in the final team standings. Three freshmen -- Stevan Micic (133 pounds), Logan Massa (165) and Myles Amine (174) -- scored every point for the Wolverines en route to All-America finishes. It is just the second time in program history that Michigan placed multiple freshmen at the NCAA Championships and the first since Josh Churella and Eric Tannenbaum did so in 2005.
• The Wolverines opened the dual-meet season with three straight wins, including a pair of road victories over ranked team in No. 17 Oklahoma and No. 24 Oregon State. Michigan won each of the first seven matches against the Sooners, earning four bonus wins and three decisions over ranked opponents, to win 27-15. After airline delays and lost luggage highlighted their travel day, the Wolverines were even more dominant against the Beavers, claiming bonus points in seven of eight wins, to claim a 38-7 team victory.
• Michigan wrapped its home slate at Cliff Keen Arena with perhaps its best dual weekend of the year with upset wins against No. 11 Rutgers, 19-13, and No. 10 Lehigh, 24-13. Michigan won six bouts in each dual, with Micic, senior Brian Murphy (157), Massa and sophomore/freshman Jackson Striggow (197) all collecting two wins apiece. Upsets and bonus wins set the tone in Sunday's dual against the Mountain Hawks, highlighted by back-to-back decisions from sophomore/freshman Sal Profaci (141) and junior/sophomore Malik Amine (149) over nationally ranked opponents.
Individual Highlights
• Sophomore/freshman Stevan Micic claimed fourth place at 133 pounds in his long-awaited NCAA championships debut and finished the season with a 29-7 record, including 21 bonus wins. Among his losses on the season, two came against Iowa NCAA champion Cory Clark and three were to former NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State -- all by three points or less. He avenged another season loss, defeating Illinois' Zane Richards three times after his dual-meet defeat, including an overtime pin in the third-place match at the Big Ten Championships.
• Sophomore/freshman Logan Massa led the Wolverines with a 32-3 record in his rookie campaign and was U-M's top finisher in every major tournament this season, including a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He earned bonus points in 22 of his matches, ranking among the nation's leaders with 12 technical falls, and earned nine wins over ranked opponents, including four against Wisconsin's Isaac Jordan. He defeated Jordan, 8-7, in Cliff Keen Las Vegas 165-pound final and ended the season with an 11-2 major decision against the four-time Badger All-American in the third-place match at NCAAs.
• Sophomore/freshman Myles Amine shared the team lead for wins on the season with a 32-7 record en route to a fourth-place NCAA finish at 174 pounds. Amine, who earned 17 bonus wins, avenged an earlier-season loss with a 9-4 decision against Lehigh's Ryan Preisch in the NCAA round of 12 and followed it with a second-period pin against Cornell's second-seeded Brian Realbuto in the consolation semis. Amine also avenged a dual loss in his 19-4 technical fall against Illinois' Zach Brunson in the third-place match at the Big Ten Championships. In all, Amine earned 11 wins against ranked opponents in his freshman season.
• Fifth-year senior Conor Youtsey, a two-time NCAA All-American at 125 pounds, rejoined the Wolverine squad in mid-January after knee injuries to sophomore/freshmen Austin Assad and Mike Volyanyuk, left Michigan without a certified, healthy 125-pounder. Youtsey, who was finishing school while working full time, pinned Northwestern's Anthony Rubinetti in his season debut and used a pair of dramatic, overtime comebacks against Illinois' Travis Piotrowski (10-8) and Minnesota's No. 7 Ethan Lizak (5-3) to take fifth place at the Big Ten meet and earn his fourth straight NCAA Championships bid.
Honors and Awards
Myles
Amine
Logan
Massa
Stevan
Micic
Brian
Murphy
Sal
Profaci
NCAA Championships
Stevan Micic, fourth place, 133 pounds
Logan Massa, third place, 165 pounds
Myles Amine, fourth place, 174 pounds
National Wrestling Coaches Associations
All-Star: Brian Murphy
All-Academic: Myles Amine, Stevan Micic
Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
Logan Massa (Dec. 6)
Stevan Micic (Jan. 7)
Academic All-Big Ten
Myles Amine, So., Ross School of Business, business administration
Kostya Golobokov, So., College of Engineering
Stevan Micic, So., LSA undeclared
Sal Profaci, So., LSA undeclared
Communications Contact: Leah Howard
Players Mentioned
