Eight Wolverines Pittsburgh-Bound for NCAA Wrestling Championships

» Michigan will send eight wrestlers to the 2019 NCAA Championships, tying its largest qualifying contingent since sending all 10 in 2015.
» Six Wolverines earned top-eight NCAA seeds, most notably No. 2 Stevan Micic (133 pounds), No. 4 Alec Pantaleo (157) and No. 4 Myles Amine (174).
» Michigan has boasted 22 NCAA champions and 192 All-Americans in program history and has had three or more All-Americans in each of the last four seasons, including five last season.

THIS WEEK
Thu-Sat., March 21-23 -- at NCAA Championships (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Live Results | Tournament Site | Brackets (PDF)
WatchESPN: Thursday | Friday | Saturday

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The University of Michigan wrestling team will send eight individual wrestlers to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to compete in the 2019 NCAA Championships, scheduled for Thursday through Saturday (March 21-23) at PPG Paints Arena.

The NCAA Championships will take place in six sessions over three days, beginning at noon on Thursday (March 21) with pigtail matches and the first round. The second session will resume later that day at 7 p.m. and feature continued preliminary matches as well as the first round of wrestlebacks.

On Friday (March 22), wrestling will begin at 11 a.m. with the quarterfinal round and continued wrestlebacks. The fourth session is slated for 8 p.m. and will feature semifinals and wrestlebacks. On Saturday (March 23), the fifth session is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will wrap up the consolation bracket, featuring seventh-, fifth- and third-place matches at all weights. The finals are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday evening.

The Wolverines have finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships on five occasions (1928, '29, '67, '74, 2005) and have posted 45 top-10 finishes in their 74 appearances at the tournament, including a fourth-place finish last season -- their best showing in 13 seasons.

Individually, U-M has produced 22 NCAA champions and 192 All-Americans, and the Wolverines have boasted at least one All-American in 22 of the last 24 seasons, including three or more in each of the last four seasons.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, March 21
Session I: Noon (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Session II: 7 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3)

Friday, March 22
Quarterfinals: 11 a.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Semifinals: 8 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3)

Saturday, March 23
Championship Medal Round: 11 a.m. (TV: ESPNU/ESPN3)
Finals: 7 p.m. (TV: ESPN/ESPN3)

Michigan's NCAA Qualifiers

Wgt.	Name	Year/Elig.	Hometown (High School)
125	Drew Mattin	So./So.	Delta, Ohio (Delta)
133	Stevan Micic	Sr./Jr.	Cedar Lake, Ind. (Hanover Central)
141	Kanen Storr	Jr./So.	Leslie, Mich. (Leslie)
149	Malik Amine	5th/Sr.	Brighton, Mich. (Detroit Catholic Central)
157	Alec Pantaleo	5th/Sr.	Canton, Mich. (Canton)
165	Logan Massa	Sr./Jr.	St. Johns, Mich. (St. Johns)
174	Myles Amine	Sr./Jr.	Brighton, Mich. (Detroit Catholic Central)
Hwt	Mason Parris	Fr./Fr.	Lawrenceburg, Ind. (Lawrenceburg)

NCAA Tournament Notes

• Michigan will send eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships -- matching its contingent from last season and tying its largest since sending all 10 in 2015 -- including four returning NCAA All-Americans in senior/junior Stevan Micic, fifth-year senior Alec Pantaleo, senior/junior Logan Massa and senior/junior Myles Amine.

• For the first time, the NCAA seeded every wrestler -- all 33 -- in every weight class this year. Six Wolverines earned top-eight seeds for the NCAA Championships:

Wt. -- Wrestler, Seed
125 -- Drew Mattin, No. 16
133 -- Stevan Micic, No. 3
141 -- Kanen Storr, No. 8
149 -- Malik Amine, No. 33
157 -- Alec Pantaleo, No. 4
165 -- Logan Massa, No. 6
174 -- Myles Amine, No. 4
Hwt -- Mason Parris, No. 5

• Freshman Mason Parris is the second Michigan true freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championships in as many seasons. Sophomore Drew Mattin qualified at 125 pounds last season, while fellow teammate fifth-year senior Alec Pantaleo did so at 149 pounds in 2015. Pantaleo is the Wolverines' lone four-time NCAA qualifier.

• Junior/sophomore Kanen Storr, like Parris, is set to make his NCAA Championships debut at 141 pounds. Storr, who transferred in from Iowa State over the summer, saw his season cut short prior to the postseason tournaments last season in Ames, Iowa.

• With 192 NCAA All-America certificates in program history, the Wolverines rank sixth among the leading programs in the nation, trailing only Oklahoma State, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Penn State. Michigan has produced at least one All-American in 22 of the last 24 seasons. The Wolverines also rank ninth among the national elite with 22 NCAA individual titles in program history.

• All four members of the Michigan coaching staff garnered NCAA All-America honors during their respective collegiate careers. Head coach Sean Bormet was a two-time NCAA All-American at 158 pounds, after seeing his sophomore season cut short due to injury, and reached the final as a senior (1994). Assistant coach Josh Churella was a three-time All-American at 141 and 149 pounds and reached the final as a junior (2007), while assistant coach Kellen Russell captured two NCAA 141-pound titles (2011, '12) and was a three-time All-American. Volunteer coach David Bolyard claimed All-America honors at 165 pounds (2004) at Central Michigan.

• Mattin is the only Wolverine slated for a first-round rematch at the NCAA Championships, where, after a late shift in seeds, he will open up against Purdue's Devin Schroder in his first bout at 125 pounds. Mattin pinned Schroder in the first period of his Big Ten Championships seventh-place match two weeks ago.

• Micic earned the No. 2 seed for the second time in as many seasons. Last year, he carried it to a spot in the NCAA final at 133 pounds. Micic owns a 6-0 record against the NCAA field at his weight, including a 2-0 mark against other top-five-seeded wrestlers. Logan Massa held the No. 2 seed at 165 pounds in 2017; he is the No. 6 seed this year. Massa's No. 2 ranking was the highest Wolverine seed at NCAAs since Kellen Russell earned the No. 1 spot at 141 pounds in 2012 en route to his second straight NCAA crown.

• Myles Amine has outplaced his seed in both of his two NCAA Championships appearances at 174 pounds. He took fourth place as a freshman in 2017 as the No. 9 seed with wins over the No. 8, No. 6 and No. 2 seeds. Last season, he took third place as the No. 5 seed and earned wins over the No. 4 and No. 2 seeds.

Wolverine Bites

• Senior/junior Stevan Micic owns a perfect 14-0 record on the season and has earned bonus points in 10 bouts, including eight of his 11 second-semester outings. He has defeated ranked opponents in six of his last 10 matches, including a 3-2 decision against Rutgers' fourth-ranked Nick Suriano (Feb. 17) and a dominant 14-1 major decision over Ohio State's No. 6 Luke Pletcher (Jan. 25). Last year, Micic posted bonus points in 81 percent of his wins (21/26). Micic, who has suffered from an injury over the last few weeks, won his first bout at the Big Ten Championships, defeating Illinois' Dylan Duncan, 6-3, before defaulting out to sixth place.

• Senior/junior Logan Massa knocked off two higher-ranked opponents, avenging losses to both, en route a third-place Big Ten finish at 165 pounds. He used two third-period takedowns to edge Nebraska's sixth-ranked Isaiah White, 8-6, in the quarterfinals -- after falling to White, 6-2, at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December. In the third-place bout, Massa earned a stall point at the buzzer to beat Wisconsin's third-ranked Evan Wick, 2-1. Wick defeated Massa three times last season, including in the CKLV bout in which he suffered a knee injury that would hamper him all year.

• Fifth-year senior Alec Pantaleo also avenged an earlier-season loss at the Big Ten Championships, rolling to a dominant 10-4 decision over Northwestern's Ryan Deakin in the consolation semifinals behind four takedowns to none. Pantaleo had built a big lead on Deakin in the dual meet before Deakin rallied in the third for an 11-9 decision. Pantaleo also earned two wins over Iowa's seventh-ranked Kaleb Young.

• Pantaleo surged back into the nation's top five at 157 pounds -- he is a now consensus No. 4 -- after defeating Ohio State's then-No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes, 3-2, on Jan. 25. Pantaleo, who has also seen limited action after missing most of the first semester with mononucleosis, has faced ranked opponents in 11 of his 15 second-semester bouts -- with wins in all but four of them. Pantaleo competed at 149 pounds at the Midlands Championships (Dec. 29-30) after losing weight due to the mono -- and took sixth place -- but returned to 157 pounds, where he took fifth place at last season's NCAA Championships. Pantaleo also claimed sixth place at 149 pounds at the 2016 NCAA tournament.

• Freshman heavyweight Mason Parris owns a 7-7 record against the NCAA field -- with three of his losses coming against Northwestern's Conan Jennings, who he could meet in the second round. Parris boasts four wins over top-10 opponents this season and three against 2018 NCAA All-Americans in Maryland's Youssif Hemida, 6-2 and 8-5, and Oregon State's Amar Dhesi, 11-4. Dhesi and Hemida placed third and eighth, respectively, as last season's NCAA Championships.

• Parris has already avenged one of his losses on the season, clinching the Wolverines' 19-17 dual win at Ohio State in the final bout with a 6-3 decision over then-No. 19 Chase Singletary, 6-3, behind two takedowns and 1:13 in riding-time advantage. Parris had dropped a 15-9 decision to Singletary in the Ohio Intercollegiate Open semifinals (Nov. 11).

• Michigan posted a stellar 13-1 dual-meet record under first-year head coach Sean Bormet, matching its greatest single-season win total since posting a 16-8 record in 2007-08. U-M went 13-3 in 2015-16. The one dual loss is the program's fewest since its back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1972-73 and 1973-74.

• Michigan wrapped up its Big Ten Conference dual slate with an 8-1 conference record and finished third in the standings behind co-champions Iowa and Penn State with indentical 9-0 marks. The Wolverines have posted a 15-3 record in Big Ten duals over the last two seasons. U-M similarly finished third in the regular-season standings last year.

U-M Individual Rankings

Wt.	Wrestler	InterMat	Flo	TW	TOM	AWN	WIN
125	Drew Mattin	16	16	15	16	13	18
133	Stevan Micic	3	1	1	2	1	4
141	Kanen Storr	6	6	7	6	5	6
157	Alec Pantaleo	4	4	4	4	4	4
165	Logan Massa	5	3	5	3	6	6
174	Myles Amine	4	4	4	4	4	4
Hwt	Mason Parris	11	9	10	11	10	12

Last Time Out

The Wolverines took sixth place at the 2019 Big Ten Championships (March 9-10) behind eight total placewinners, including three top-four finishers at their respective weights. Michigan bounced back with a better round on Sunday, with wins in five of its eight medal matches, after a tough evening session Saturday night. Senior/junior Myles Amine was U-M's top finisher as the 174-pound runner-up, falling to Penn State's top-ranked Mark Hall, 3-2, while fifth-year senior Alec Pantaleo and senior/junior Logan Massa both knocked off higher-ranked opponents en route to third-place finishes at 157 and 165 pounds, respectively. [ Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 ]