Conqu'ring Heroes: Bormet Looking Forward to Legacy, Potential of Wrestling's 100th Season
11/4/2021 9:00:00 AM | Wrestling, Features
With the wrestling season beginning this weekend, Jon Jansen chats with head coach Sean Bormet on the latest edition of the "Conqu'ring Heroes" podcast. Bormet talks about his excitement for the 100th year in program history, some of the program's key returning members -- including a couple of Olympians -- and his expectations for the upcoming season.
By Conor Stemme
The University of Michigan wrestling team is entering its milestone 100th season, and head coach Sean Bormet counts himself fortunate to have been around for his fair share of them.
Bormet has been part of the program for 15 of those years -- four as a student-athlete, and 12 in a coaching role. The program has made a big impact on him and all the alumni who have been a part of the program.
"The decision to attend the university of Michigan and wrestle at Michigan was the best decision I made in my life and definitely had just a tremendous impact on me," Bormet said on this week's edition of the "Conqu'ring Heroes" podcast. "Our alumni have been so supportive of this program, and I remember that (from my time) as an athlete and I've really felt that as a coach especially over this last year and a half."
Thanks to that support stretching back decades, Michigan wrestling has become a historic program with 28 Big Ten team championships and numerous individual Big Ten and national champions. Accordingly, Bormet and the rest of the team are ready to celebrate the past 100 years' alumni and coaches.
Team 100 is looking to honor the program's legacy on the mats while aiming to compete for a national title at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena in March with both old and new faces as part of the team.
The Wolverines are bringing back many members of last year's fifth-place NCAA team, in addition to the returns of Olympians Myles Amine and Stevan Micic. There also are a few new additions, including All-American graduate transfer Patrick Brucki from Princeton and assistant coach Kevin Jackson.
"(Jackson) brings just a ton of experience as a competitor and as a coach in the corner, a ton of experience, both collegiately and internationally," Bormet said. "He's got a champion's mind for the sport and brings just incredible energy and enthusiasm."
Coach Jackson officially joined the staff last week and is getting the team prepared to compete this weekend at the MSU Open with 30-35 other schools competing in a tournament style meet.
"It's really a good opening tournament," Bormet said. "Teams are starting to identify what their starting lineups are going to look like."
The team is working hard during practice and is excited to start competing. They wrestlers are focusing on getting better every day and reaching certain targets throughout these first few months of practices going into the season. The squad is focused on one goal.
"We all know what the goal is. We're here to make a run at a title and we got the team that can do it," Bormet said. "The real focus right now is just how we approach each day, individually and collectively as a team, and the focus is on getting better and making gains every day."
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Fans can join in celebrating the 100th season of Michigan Wrestling by purchasing season tickets or single meet tickets. Season tickets are on sale now for $40, and single meet tickets start at just $6. Additionally, Michigan debuted a new season ticket donation program for the 2021-22 wrestling season, which allows fans to purchase wrestling season tickets and donate them back to the ticket office for distribution to Beat the Streets Detroit and local youth wrestling clubs. The deadline to participate in the donation program is Wednesday, Nov. 10.
