University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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Grapplina ith Success Senior Otto Olson, the Wolverine ' s co-captain with senior Joe DeGain, and the nation ' s best wrestler at 1 74 pounds had been through more than his fair share of adversity. Olson had dealt with a pair of torn knee ligaments, a serious car accident, and being struck by a car while riding his bike - all between December, 1999 and December, 2000. While it would have been easy for Olson to just admit he had been defeated and quit, living with such a mentality never occurred to Olson or to his Wolverine teammates. Two weeks after being hit by a car and having his shoulder separated, Olson was back on the mat, defeating his Michigan State opponent by fall at 4:52 into the match. After the first 13 meets, Olson had recorded only one loss, despite his injured shoulder. The rest of the Wolverine team followed Olson ' s lead. The tough and dedicated team had wrestlers ranked within the top 20 nationally of every weight class. While Olson was heavily favored to bring the Wolverine ' s first individual national title back to Cliff Keen since 1986, sophomore AJ Grant at 125 pounds, sopho- more Mike Kulczycki at 149 pounds, junior Charles Martelli at 1 65 pounds, and junior heavyweight Matt Brink were all expected to compete for national titles. The Wolverines opened their season in impressive fashion, out of their first 1 3 meets, the Maize and Blue only lost two of them and those were to the third and fourth ranked teams respectively. The Wolverines proved to be one of the most dominant teams in the program ' s history. The team set a new school record at the Wendy ' s Classic by shutting out three straight opponents. The team also dominated the preseason tournaments. The Michigan wrestlers opened the season in impressive fashion at the Eastern Michigan University Open by claiming eight individual championships. At the Eagle open, four wrestlers claimed indivdual titles, and Kulczycki and sophomore Dan Seder became co-champions. Sophomore Katsuhiko Sueda also placed in the Open. The Wolverines never left the top ten in the national rankings during the season and had high expectations for the post-season, by Jon Hammer Redshirt freshman Foley Dowd tries desperately to get out of bounds before his opponent scores on him. Dowd was one of just two freshman to see significant playing time, photo by Jon Hammer Th i 12 1-12 2 at Cliff Keen Invitational 10th of 52 1 20 Nebraska-Omaha 37-6 12 8 Michigan State 22-12 1 20 Lehigh 22-16 12 9 Central Michigan 37-0 1 21 Iowa State 16-22 1 5 at Lehigh 22-12 1 21 Oklahoma 19-19 1 7 at Pennsylvania 26-6 1 26 at Minnesota 6-29 1 14 at Wendy ' s Classic 1 28 at Michigan State 20-12 1 14 Binghamton 45-0 2 2 Iowa 18-16 I 1 14 Marquette 50-0 2 3 Wisconsin 37-4 1 14 Cleveland State 48-0 2 9 at Indiana 24-14 1 20-1 21 at Cliff Keen National Duals 5th of 16 2 1 1 Ohio State 20-18 1 20 Virginia Tech 35-6 2 16 Penn State 27-12 1 20 Iowa 18-20 2 18 at Northwestern 36-7 Overall Record: 17-3-1 Big Ten: 7-1 Sports 211

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En route to a 15-9 victory, sophomore Mike Kulzycki takes his Penn State opponent down. Kulzycki led the Wolverines in total victories with 31. photo by Jon Hammer In his final match at Cliff Keen, senior Otto Olson rides his Penn State opponent to a technical fall. Olson finished his senior season with a 20-1 record in dual meets. photo by Jon Hammer As his opponent tries to escape, redshirt freshman Clark Forward throws him back down. Forward was one of nine ranked Maize and Blue wrestlers, photo by Jon Hammer Wrestling

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Acina the awe . . ' Competition Putting everything he has into it, freshman Anthony Jackson sends a thunderous serve up the middle. While the team was loaded with experience, the freshmen made a strong impact, photo courtesy of U-M Photo Services The 1 999-2000 men ' s tennis team entered the season as one of the most experienced teams in the Big Ten. The Wolverines returned seven previous letter winners from a team that went 1 6-5 overall and 9-1 in the Big Ten. The team managed to avoid falling victim to its own great expectations by compiling an impressive 16-7 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the Big Ten. The team entered the season ranked 21st in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and was the 23rd ranked team in the nation when it was eliminated from the postseason at the NCAA Regional Championship. The Wolverines opened the season by rattling off seven consecutive victories before narrowly falling to Tulane. After facing Tulane, the Wolverines opened the Big Ten season with back to back losses to Minnesota and Illinois. The Wolverines bounced back from their small losing streak by winning seven of their final nine regular season matches. The team entered the Big Ten Championship confident that it could capture the program ' s 37th conference title. The Wolverines have three times as many Big Ten titles as any current school in the conference. However, the team came up just short in their bid to claim the University ' s 37th men ' s tennis Big Ten crown. The team lost in heartbreaking fashion to Illinois and ended up claiming third place in the confer- ence championship. The extremely tight semifinal match between the Wolverines and Illinois saw five of the six singles matches go to three sets with three of those decided by tie- breakers (Illinois won two of the tie-breakers). Despite a third place finish at the Big Ten Championships, for the third consecutive year the team was selected to compete in the 64 team field of the NCAA National Champion- ships. After rolling over Georgia State in the first round, the Wolverine ' s season was ended by 1 1th ranked Texas Christian. While the Wolverine ' s season was not truly magical, it was successful. The team earned th e tennis program its 900th dual meet victory and maintained a consistent presence in the top 25. Members of the team also earned individual honors; senior Matt Wright earned his third All-Big Ten Conference Award, and sophomore Henry Beam was recognized as the Big Ten ' s co-Player of the Week in mid April, by Jon Hammer 212 Men ' s Tennis 1 23 Western Michigan 1 29 DePaul 2 11 Tulsa 2 12 at Washington 2 18 Eastern Michigan 3 1 at San Diego State 3 11 at Louisiana-Lafayette 3 12 at Tulane 3 19 at Minnesota 4 1 at Illinois 4 2 at Northwestern 6-1 4 5 Michigan State 5-2 ' 7-0 4 8 Indiana 2-5 6-1 4 9 Purdue 3-4 4-3 4 13 Notre Dame 5-2 7-0 4 15 Iowa 6-1 4-3 4 16 Wisconsin 6-1 5-2 4 22 at Ohio State 4-3 3-4 4 23 at Penn State 6-1 I 0-7 Big Ten Championship 1-6 4 28 Purdue 4-1 4-3 4 29 Illinois 3-4 Overall Record:16-7 Big Ten: 6-4