This weekend, Michigan freshman Mark Moos, a 125-pounder for the
No. 7 Michigan wrestling team, proved that the hype surrounding him
is justified. Moos also made strides to prove that he deserves the
starting spot this year at his weight class.

At the Michigan State Open this past weekend, Moos annihilated
the competition in a field that included preseason No. 7 Tom Clum
of Wisconsin.

The top-seeded Clum dropped an early match to Pittsburgh’s
Drew Headlee before Moos faced Headlee in the finals and bested
him, 11-2, to take his first title against collegiate
wrestlers.

“Moos just dominated his weight class,” Michigan
coach Joe McFarland said. “He went out and wrestled really
well.”

As impressive as Moos’ performance was, it didn’t
win him the Outstanding Wrestler award at the tournament. That
honor went to Michigan 133-pound freshman Josh Churella. Churella,
the younger brother of Michigan preseason No. 5 Ryan Churella,
battled his way to the finals to face former Michigan All-American
A.J. Grant. Grant, who graduated last year, was allowed to wrestle
in the tournament because of its “open” status, which
allows all college-aged wrestlers and older to compete. The
underdog Churella stunned Grant, 3-2, to take the crown.

“The whole coaching staff has been really pleased about
where we are at,” McFarland said. “All of our young
guys showed a lot of promise.”

Senior 165-pounder Pat Owen took second place in a weight class
that included four wrestlers ranked in the top-20. Owen topped No.
17 Tim Foley of Virginia in the semifinals, only to fall to No. 12
David Bolyard of Central Michigan in the championship match.

“Pat wrestled well for us this weekend,” McFarland
said. “ He wrestled in a pretty tough weight class. Both of
those semifinal matches were really exciting to watch.”

Michigan heavyweight Greg Wagner, ranked No. 6 in the country at
his weight, also made his way to the finals. The only problem was
that Wagner met former national champion and top-ranked Tommy
Rowlands of Ohio State in the championship match. Wagner was
outgunned and dropped a 10-3 decision.

“Wagner felt better this week than last week,”
McFarland said. “I thought Greg did a lot of nice things. He
just needs to continue to improve.”