Make it 0-3 for MSU athletic teams against Michigan in the past four days.
The 8th-ranked Spartan wrestling team was the latest casualty Sunday, losing to the 7th- ranked Wolverines 20-12 before a raucous crowd at Jenison Field House.
The crowd had a good reason to be boisterous during the meet because four matches had to be decided in a one-minute overtime period where the first wrestler to score a point wins.
The Spartans won three of those four matches, with junior Chris Williams winning at 125 pounds, senior Pat McNamara at 133 pounds, and senior Mike Castillo at 141 pounds.
Senior Matt Lamb was the only Spartan who went to overtime and lost, falling to No. 2 ranked Matt Brink of U-M in the heavyweight division.
In the end, however, U-M had too much experience at several weight classes that MSU couldn’t overcome.
MSU Head Coach Tom Minkel was expectedly disappointed with the outcome, but was pleased with his team’s effort.
“I think our kids held up well and fought hard and hopefully they’ll learn from it,” he said. “We won some of the tight ones but we lost a couple of the others. I was proud of our kids and I also think Michigan did a heck of a job.”
Williams said he was also happy with his team’s performance and didn’t appear convinced that U-M was the better team.
“I think our team is wrestling well right now,” he said. “We’re going to place higher than (U-M) in the Big Tens and the NCAAs. Every guy, I thought, went out there and fought and gave it their all.”
U-M Head Coach Joe McFarland said he was happy the way his team wrestled in unfamiliar territory.
“Michigan State has a tough team and we have a lot of respect for their program,” he said. “They’re coming off a big win and I was a little concerned because we came off a tough loss against Minnesota. I wasn’t sure how we were going to respond.”
The weekend wasn’t a total loss for the Spartans, as they defeated 5th-ranked Illinois 16-15 on Friday night.
“Anytime you wrestle two teams in the top eight you’re doing a lot of work,” Minkel said. “I was thrilled to knock off Illinois - that’s a very good team. We would’ve liked to have had a sweep this weekend, but I guess we’ll settle for one and try to keep it going.”
