In the first match of the night, No. 1 graduate student Nick Suriano pinned his opponent early. In the last match, No. 3 senior Mason Parris did the same.
Those bookend wins defined the dual meet, as the No. 3 Michigan wrestling team (10-1 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) dominated Indiana (3-7, 1-7), taking all matches but one to win its fourth straight dual, 37-3.
“It’s always awesome to go in and dominate another team.” Parris said. “It’s always a lot of fun. We’ve got to work on a lot of stuff, but we had a chance to get better tonight.”
The Wolverines took advantage of that chance from the onset and never looked back. After Suriano’s pin, No. 7 redshirt freshman Dylan Ragusin defeated the Hoosiers’ No. 10 Brock Hudkins, 5-3. The match was tied to start the third despite Ragusin’s aggressive wrestling early, but he was able to pull away with a strong takedown in the final minutes.
“I’m always happy to get those types of wins.” Ragusin said. “Getting that last period takedown, it was important to me to stay on my offense and not squeak out a 3-2 victory. When you go to these other schools you always want to take out their best guys. He’s one of the top-ranked guys on their team and I wanted to take him out.”
Michigan’s only loss came at 149 pounds — No. 22 graduate student Kanen Storr was upset by Graham Rooks, 4-1. In his first dual appearance since Nov. 21, Storr struggled to compete physically late in the match.
“He’s coming off of a long break from that injury.” Michigan Coach Sean Bormet said. “He didn’t compete to his highest level tonight and he knows it. He’s just got to flip the switch.”
The Wolverines won out after that, but Indiana fought much harder than the final line indicated.
Three of the last six matches came down to the wire. No. 9 redshirt sophomore Will Lewan and No. 14 redshirt sophomore Cameron Amine each won 3-2 matches and No. 11 graduate student Pat Brucki won 3-1 in sudden victory. Brucki’s was the closest match of the night, with the Wolverine nearly ceding near-fall points late and scrambling to a dramatic two-point win over Indiana’s Nick Willham.
No. 5 graduate student Logan Massa and No. 2 graduate student Myles Amine each earned technical fall victories to help Michigan pull away. The two wrestlers continued their hot streaks with characteristically-smooth and physical wrestling.
And as the meet neared its end, Mason Parris’s pin stamped an exclamation mark for the Wolverines. He immediately earned a strong takedown and out-muscled Hoosier Jacob Bullock, wrapping up a strong showing by his team with a first-period win.
“Our mentality is to dominate those full seven minutes,” Parris said. “We’re going to be in the guy’s face. We’re going to make him tired. We keep pushing the pace, and I think that’s a philosophy that our coaches really instill in us: to keep dominating and putting up points for the team.”
That mentality showed itself against Indiana, and Bormet echoed its importance to the team’s success after the meet:
“It’s part of a winning wrestling style.”
It certainly was on Friday.