Michigan dominates with Young injured

Wrestling without senior captain Paul Young, the IU wrestling team dropped Sunday’s match against Michigan 23-9 on Alumni Day at University Gym.

“We’re just spending too much time on bottom and not finishing hard enough,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “We’re going to address it. Whether it gets fixed or not, time will tell.”

Freshman Justin Brooks dropped a 9-1 major decision at 125 pounds to start the meet, but when junior Matt Ortega opened the 133 pound match with a quick single-leg takedown, the Hoosiers looked to be right back in it. However, a pair of controversial takedown calls on the edge of the mat for Michigan’s Zac Stevens swung the match back in the Wolverines’ favor en route to an 8-5 win for Stevens.

With Young out due to injury, IU dropped the 157 pound match and trailed Michigan 14-3, entering the intermission ceremony honoring the 1990 IU wrestling team. The Hoosiers’ only points at that time came from a decision by senior Kurt Kinser at 149 pounds. Three more decisions after the intermission clinched it for Michigan.

At heavyweight, graduate student Ricky Alcala avenged an earlier loss to Michigan’s Ben Apland in which he had not scored by taking down the Wolverine four times using snatch singles.

“Me and Nate Everhart worked on the match, the strategy to beat him, and all week, that’s all I did,” Alcala said. “He would wrestle like Apland and I would wrestle him and work on takedowns and it ended up working. Everything he told me to do worked.”