Season Review: 2017-18 Michigan Wrestling
4/25/2018 11:50:00 AM | Wrestling
• Team Captains: Domenic Abounader, Adam Coon
• Record: 11-3 overall, 7-2 Big Ten Conference (3rd place)
• Big Ten Championships: Third Place
• NCAA Championships: Fourth Place
The University of Michigan wrestling team enjoyed one of its most successful seasons in recent history in 2017-18, posting an 11-3 dual-meet record before claiming third place at the Big Ten Championships and fourth at the NCAA Championships behind five All-Americans and two finalists.
It was head coach Joe McFarland's 19th and final season at the helm of the Michigan program -- and one of his best. The Wolverines finished top three in both the regular-season and tournament Big Ten standings and earned its highest NCAA finish in 13 seasons. McFarland, who has been connected to the U-M program since his own collegiate career started 38 years ago, announced his retirement following the final session of the NCAA tournament in his hometown Cleveland, Ohio.
Team Highlights
• The Wolverines claimed six matches, including each of the last four, to rally past No. 4 Iowa, 19-17, on Jan. 27 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The win was Michigan's first in Iowa City since 2005 and snapped a nine-meet Hawkeye win streak in the series. Kevin Beazley used two second-period takedowns to edge fifth-ranked Cash Wilcke, 6-5, at 197 pounds to pull U-M within a point heading into the final match, in which second-ranked heavyweight Adam Coon edged third-ranked -- and previously undefeated -- Sam Stoll, 3-2, to clinch the dual win.
• Michigan shattered its program attendance record with a crowd of 8,303 for its "The Clash at Crisler" dual against rival Ohio State (Feb. 11). Previously, the Wolverines' largest recorded crowd was 5,200, set at the Michigan/Michigan State dual on Feb. 25, 1967, at Yost Field House. U-M ranked ninth among the nation's attendance leaders -- fifth in the Big Ten -- with a 2,615 average crowd size.
• U-M claimed a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships (March 3-4) -- its best finish since similarly placing third in 2009. Michigan put four in the championship finals, with Stevan Micic and Alec Pantaleo capturing individual titles at 133 and 157 pounds, respectively.
• Michigan earned team trophy at the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place finish -- its best placing since taking second in 2005 -- behind five All-Americans and a pair of finalists. The Wolverines went a perfect 5-for-5 in the quarterfinal round to put five in the NCAA semifinals for just the second time in program history, and first time since 1929 when no weight class included more than 10 wrestlers. Michigan boasted five All-Americans -- Micic, Pantaleo, Myles Amine, Domenic Abounader, Adam Coon -- for the second time in four seasons; it tied the second greatest single-season total in program history.
Individual Highlights
• Junior/sophomore Stevan Micic and senior/junior Alec Pantaleo both shook off sluggish starts to excel when it mattered most. After taking fifth place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Dec. 1-2), Micic claimed bonus points in 17 of his next 19 straight wins en route to the NCAA final at 133 pounds. He avenged both of his CKLV losses, defeating Ohio State's Luke Pletcher the next three times they wrestled and majoring Drexel's Austin DeSanto, 13-1, in the NCAA quarterfinals. Pantaleo, who bumped up a weight class after redshirting last season, opened up with three straight losses before turning it around by capturing the 157-pound CKLV title. Like Micic, he claimed a Big Ten title as well and took fifth place at the NCAA Championships.
• Junior/sophomore Myles Amine extended his seed for the second straight year at the NCAA Championships, claiming third place to improve on his fourth-place finish from his freshman campaign. Just as he did last season, he avenged a loss to a Lehigh wrestler with All-America honors on the line, defeating fourth-seeded Jordan Kutler, 3-2, in the quarterfinals. Amine also took out the second-seed -- for the second straight season -- with a 4-2 overtime win against Missouri's Daniel Lewis in his medal match.
• Fifth-year senior Domenic Abounader broke through to claim his first career All-America citation -- in his fourth appearance at the NCAA Championships and in his hometown Cleveland -- with a wild 11-9 decision in the second tiebreaker over NC State's Pete Renda in the NCAA quarterfinals. Abounader, who was also a 2015 Big Ten champion, finished fifth place and wrap his collegiate career with a 96-30 record.
• Graduate student Adam Coon used a first-period takedown to hand Ohio State's Kyle Snyder his first collegiate loss in more than two years in the Wolverines' Clash at Crisler dual. It was the first loss for Snyder, an Olympic and two-time world champion, since the 2015 NCAA finals. The Buckeye wrestler claimed each of the next two meetings, however, in the Big Ten and NCAA finals. Coon finished his career as a three-time NCAA All-American and two-time finalist. His 116-15 record ranks him sixth in program history with a .885 career winning percentage.
• Head coach Joe McFarland announced his retirement following the final session of the NCAA Championships in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and after 19 seasons at the helm of the Wolverine program. He coached his alma mater to 11 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships and a 214-105-6 dual record and led 31 different student-athletes to five NCAA individual titles, 60 All-America citations and 19 Big Ten individual crowns. About a week after McFarland's announcement, associate head coach Sean Bormet was elevated to become the 10th head coach in program history.
Honors and Awards
Domenic
Abounader
Myles
Amine
Kevin
Beazley
Adam
Coon
Stevan
Micic
Alec
Pantaleo
NCAA Championships
Stevan Micic, second place, 133 pounds
Alec Pantaleo, fifth place, 157 pounds
Myles Amine, third place, 174 pounds
Domenic Abounader, fifth place, 184 pounds
Adam Coon, second place, heavyweight
National Wrestling Coaches Associations
All-Star: Stevan Micic, Alec Pantaleo
All-Academic: Myles Amine, Kevin Beazley, Adam Coon, Stevan Micic
Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
Kevin Beazley (Jan. 30)
Adam Coon (Nov. 14, Feb. 13)
Alec Pantaleo (Dec. 5)
Academic All-Big Ten
Myles Amine, Jr., Business Administration
Adam Coon, Gr., Master's Degree in Space Engineering
Stevan Micic, Jr., Sociology
Sal Profaci, Jr., Communication
Garrett Sutton, Sr., Movement Science
Mike Volyanyuk, Jr., Neuroscience
Players Mentioned
