Lukes Claims NCAA Crown, U-M Takes 11th
Fifth-year senior Steve Luke capped his perfect season in convincing fashion, using an 8-2 decision over Central Michigan's Mike Miller to capture the 174-pound national title at the NCAA Championships last weekend (March 19-21) in St. Louis, Mo. Luke (below) used three takedowns, including two in the opening period, and 1:14 in riding-time advantage to roll past the Chippewa wrestler and improve his season mark to 32-0. The Wolverine captain becomes the 14th different U-M wrestler to capture an NCAA individual title, upping the Michigan program's total to 20 trophies. Up next for Luke is pharmacy school; he quickly returned to the books on Michigan's return trip back to Ann Arbor on Sunday.
Check out Luke's entertaining press conferences after his championship final and semifinal matches. Flowrestling also has a nice post-match interview, while MGoBlue has video highlights of his championship bout and interviews with Luke and head coach Joe McFarland.
Fifth-year senior Tyrel Todd and sophomore Kellen Russell joined Luke on the award podium with Todd claiming fourth place at 197 pounds for his third straight All-America citation and Russell taking seventh at 141 pounds. The Wolverines have boasted at least three NCAA All-Americans in each of the last 12 seasons.
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Quoting the Wolverines ...
Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland
On fifth-year senior Steve Luke... "Steve did a great job not focusing on the atmosphere or the perfect season. He just concentrated on each individual match as it came and focused on scoring. He did a great job with that. He's worked really hard to relax, because he does tend to put a lot of pressure on himself, which I think great competitors do. He handles it really well; you would never know by looking at him. I think Steve has come a long ways in his maturity as a wrestler. I could see it starting to really click last year; he started opening up a little more last year. Not as much as we would have liked -- we stayed on him about it -- but I saw it a lot more this year. It's about confidence and understanding what that can do for you as far as putting you in control of the match. Obviously, that carried over for him from the Big Tens to the nationals. I thought he wrestled really well out there, and I thought he wrestled really well this weekend."
On the team's performance... "You can't come to this tournament without getting banged up a little bit. Every team got stung this weekend. As a coach, everybody is trying to peak for this weekend; everybody wants to have a great team tournament, and everybody is trying to put as many guys as possible in the finals. So we didn't have the kind of team tournament that we dreamed of having, but I really did think we had a good tournament -- to come back with three All-Americans and a national champion."
U-M Fifth-year Senior Steve Luke
On his championship match... "I just felt really relaxed. When I was warming up with coach [Mike] Kulczycki, I felt great warming up with him. He's a great drill partner, and I feel like whenever I wrestle him, if my timing was a little off before facing him, it regroups when I wrestle him. So I felt great going out there on the mat. I was really tense last year, and I didn't wrestle well because of it. Today I went out and just gave it my all. I had some good re-shots and kept strong defense. A lot of things go through your head when you're out there on the mat. When I got in on a leg, I just thought, 'I am finishing on this, because I don't know how many chances I'll get.' When you get in on the legs during a national championships match, you have to finish. That's what I focused on -- the mental attitude of finishing those shots."
On achieving a lifelong dream... "When you're a little kid, watching the NCAAs on TV, you aspire to achieve that. But, at the same time, you just think, 'There's no way that would be possible for me.' I remember watching Ryan Bertin beat the kid from Iowa during my redshirt year and thinking how I wanted to be up on that stage. I wanted to be up on that stage winning, not losing like I did last year. So it sure feels good to go out like that."
U-M Fifth-year Senior Tyrel Todd
On wrapping up his collegiate career... "It's an ending of age for me somewhat. When you really care about what you're doing, you pour yourself into something, set high goals and you're used to achieving your goals, it’s really hard to come short. It's kind of mind blowing, and that's kind of how I feel. It's a bit of a process to come back from that, and I think it will take a little time for me. Looking back at it, I'd say I was able to do about half of the training that I would have liked to do -- half of what I did last year. Being able to come away with a fourth-place finish from that -- that's okay; I can accept that. I don't have any regrets. Given my circumstances, I truly believe I did the best that I could. That is something that I can be proud of walking away from this season."
U-M Sophomore Kellen Russell
On his NCAA tournament performance... "I think it was really important to break the ice and get on the podium. It's tough to get to the third day here, so it was good to do that this year -- that's different than last year. I think I wrestled back hard. I had to win three straight matches against some tough kids to All-American, so that was great. That was something I hadn't ever had to do before. It's way tougher, mentally, to come back from an early loss and place than it is to just win. When you drop down into the consolation bracket after you just lost and have to wrestle right away, it's really tough to do that and get up for that next match. It was good for me to have that night to regroup; it was certainly better than last year when I lost in the morning and had to wrestle again that night. That kid was coming off a win in the round before, so he was in a different state of mind than I was."
Visit MGoBlue for additional -- and extensive -- quotes from coach McFarland and Michigan's three All-Americans.
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Future Wolverine Updates
The Wolverines' four incoming recruits all capped their high school careers with individual titles. Brandon Zeerip and Pete Rendina each captured their second Michigan state crown at the state championships two weeks ago (March 12-14). Zeerip dominated the 152-pound competition, posting a 4-0 mark with two pins and two technical falls, including a 24-8 win in the chamionship match. Redina won at 135 pounds, claiming the Division 3 title with a 6-1 decision in the championship match.
Sean Boyle captured his second straight Prep Nationals crown, winning the 119-pound title, while Eric Grajales completed his perfect 218-0 prep career with his fourth straight Florida state crown. Grajales followed suit at the prestigious Dapper Dan Classic (March 15), earning a second-period pin to claim against a three-time Pennsylvania state champ at 140 pounds to earn the USA team's most outstanding wrestler award.
Zeerip, Rendina and Boyle are slated to wrestle at the Senior High School Nationals on April 3-5, while Grajales is preparing to compete in the Greco-Roman division of the U.S. Senior Nationals, April 10-11, in Las Vegas.
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Wolverine News & Notes
NCAA champion Steve Luke will be a featured guest on Ann Arbor's WTKA (1050 AM) at 8 a.m. on Thursday (March 26) as well as Canton's (OH) WHBC (1480 AM) on Saturday (March 28) at 10:40 a.m. Please tune in!
Luke has also been invited to take part in an honorary celebration before an upcoming Detroit Tigers baseball game. Details are still being ironed out; we will pass them along once they are finalized.
The Wolverines are already back in the practice room, preparing for a full slate of summer freestyle competition. U-M plans to send five individuals -- Hunter Collins, Bret Marsh, Ben Apland, Mark Boyer and Zac Stevens -- to the FILA Junior Championships, scheduled for April 8-11, in Las Vegas. Six additional Wolverines -- Erich Smith, Dave Johnson, Mike Sears, Eddie Phillips, Mark Beaudry and Chad Bleske -- are slated to compete in the U.S. Senior Nationals that same weekend in Las Vegas.
And don't forget about about Michigan's outstanding stable of postgraduate wrestlers! 2008 Olympian Andy Hrovat, Ryan Churella and Josh Churella hit the road immediately after their return from St. Louis and will include stops in Colorado Springs and Naperville, Ill. -- at former Wolverine Sean Bormet's Overtime Training Center -- as part of their two-week training swing. The trio will also be competing at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas before heading to Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the 2009 World Team Trials on May 30-31. Stay tuned for their progress and results at these tournaments!
Former Wolverine Eric Tannenbaum (2005-08) is currently wrapping up his first year at the prestigious University of Michigan Medical School. He was recently featured in the school's publication, Medicine at Michigan.
The 2009 Wolverine wrestling banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17, at the Junge Champions Center. All Michigan parents, alumni and fans are invited to attend. The cost per person will be $25. Reservation and payments will need to be received by April 13. Click here for the reservation form and more information.
With the 2008-09 season complete, the Wolverine coaching staff are in full preparation mode for the 2009 Michigan Wrestling Camps. Spots are still available! Please visit our camp website for dates, camp descriptions and detailed information.
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