Dec. 20, 2002

ANN ARBOR, MICH. - After falling behind early, the No. 8-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team stormed back to beat No. 23-ranked Cleveland State University 25-6 in front of a crowd of 779 at Cliff Keen Arena.

The Wolverines won the final eight matches of the meet to earn their second dual victory of the season.

Starting the meet at 184 pounds, Cleveland State jumped out into the early lead as Gerald Harris (Tulsa, Okla./East) handed UM redshirt freshman Willie Breyer an 8-4 loss. Heading into the third period with a three-point lead, Harris saw his advantage cut to after he received his second call for stalling. However, the Viking senior scored two takedowns in the final minute of the bout to take the victory.

Cleveland State was able to build on their lead at 197-pound bout, where Stipe Miocic (Willowick, Ohio/Eastlake North) defeated Michigan's senior captain Kyle Smith, ranked eighth by InterMat, 8-5. After Smith took the initial lead in the second period with an escape and a takedown, Miocic stormed back in the third frame, scoring three takedowns and holding Smith to only two escapes to give the Vikings the six-point team lead.

However, freshman heavyweight Greg Wagner put the Wolverines on the board with a 7-0 upset over CSU's Russ Davie (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg), ranked 14th by InterMat. With a narrow two-point advantage entering the closing minutes of the second period, Wagner scored a takedown and a three-point near fall with twenty seconds remaining in the frame to take the commanding lead and earn decision victory.

UM senior captain A.J. Grant, ranked sixth by InterMat, squared up the team score after shutting out 20th-ranked Rocco Mansueto (Middletown, N.Y./Middletown) at 125 pounds. In the bout, Grant jumped early, scoring a takedown midway through the first period and riding out Mansueto for the remainder of frame. Adding a second-period escape, another takedown in the third period and an additional point for riding time advantage, Grant earned the decision victory 6-0.

In the highlight bout of the evening - the 133-pound match, the Vikings' 10th-ranked Phil Mansueto (Middletown, N.Y./Middletown) squared off against UM's Foley Dowd, ranked eight by InterMat. With the score tied at one apiece at the end of the third period, Dowd scored a takedown with two seconds left in the extra frame to secure the sudden death victory 3-1 and give Michigan its first team lead heading into the halftime intermission.

After the break, Clark Forward continued the Wolverines' momentum with a 11-4 decision over Matt Depolo (Bellevue, Ohio/Bellevue) at 141 pounds. Jeremiah Tobias collected his first varsity win with a 7-5 decision over the Vikings' Anthony Coleman (Bellevue, Ohio/Bellevue) in the 149-pound bout. The Vikings' Chris Kallai (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) then lost a close 10-8 decision to UM freshman Rob Sulaver at 157.

At 165 pounds, Pat Owen delivered a balanced attack against Jason Effner (Garfield Heights, Ohio/Garfield) to earn a 10-4 major decision to give the Wolverines a commanding lead. In the final bout of the night, redshirt freshman R.J. Boudro wrapped up the Wolverines' victory by defeating the Vikings' Matt Klinger (Valley View, Ohio/Cuyahoga Heights) 8-4. In the close match Boudro's second-period takedown and 2:33 riding time advantage proved to be the deciding factors.

The Vikings will return to the mat again after a two-week break on Dec. 28-29 for the Midlands Invitational in Evanston, Ill.

#8 Michigan 25, #23 Cleveland State 6 (Individual rankings from InterMat) 184 - Gerald Harris (CSU) dec. Willie Breyer, 6-3 CSU, 3-0 197 - Stipe Miocic (CSU) dec. #8 Kyle Smith, 8-5 CSU, 6-0 Hwt -- Greg Wagner (U-M) dec. Russ Davie, 7-0 CSU, 6-3 125 -- #8 A.J. Grant (U-M) dec. #20 Rocco Mansueto, 6-0 Tie, 6-6 133 -- #7 Foley Dowd (U-M) dec. #10 Phil Mansueto, 3-1 SV U-M, 9-6 141 -- #13 Clark Forward (U-M) dec. Matt Depolo, 11-4 U-M, 12-6 149 -- Jeremiah Tobias (U-M) dec. Anthony Coleman, 7-5 U-M, 15-6 157 - Rob Sulaver (U-M) dec. Chris Kallai, 10-8 U-M, 18-6 165 -- Pat Owen (U-M) major dec. Jason Effner, 10-2 U-M, 22-6 174 -- R.J. Boudro (U-M) dec. Matt Klinger, 8-4 U-M, 25-6