Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, August 27, Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, August 27~ Balance key to success for grapplers By PAT ATKINS The outlook: cloudy, clearing by midseason.h Since forecasting is a favorite sport for everyone hot to challenge soothsayer Sonny Elliott, wrest- ling could hardly escape the pre- dilection for prediction. In weathering the swarm of sophomores eager to stop up the gaps left by graduation, the Wol- verine wrestling team may meet uncertain and unseasonable con-E ditions where only certainty swirl- ed a season ago. With a fairly stable lineup headed by national heavyweight champ Dave Porter, coach CliffI Keen's wrestlers mowed down ten' opponents last year, including a 38-2 drubbing of Purdue,; while! losing only to Oklahoma and Mi- chigan State. The team tied for second in the4 Big Ten with three second-place finishers and two men in third spots, then'"wound up'ninth in the NCAA tournament with a first and a fifth. But Fred Stehman, Wayne Han-i son, Bill Waterian and Porter, all regulars on last year's mat squad, were also all -seniors. Quizzically, the weight divisions that lost no matmen will be the areas of greatest contention this year. The lower weights of 123, 130, and 137 pounds are loaded with depth. Assistant coach Rick Bay wise- ly notes, "I wouldn't even spec'u- late on the starters." With ten wrestlers vying for thej three slots, that's understandable. The inside track in the three lower weights naturally belongs to the returning lettermen - Steve Rubin and Bob Noel at 123, Lou Hudson at 130, and Geoff Henson at 137. However, the graduates of the freshman team - Tim Cech, Jer- ry Hoddy, Dave Brook and Mike Denies, hope to dislodge their up- perclass cohorts. Cech, like the other matmen mentioned, can break into the lineup at any of the lower weights, but will probably be stationed in the lead-off class at the outset. A tough state champ from Skokie, Illinois, Cech may be part of the reason why Bay predicts, "Look for big things around 123." . Hoddy, who is closer to 115, ac- cording to Bay, will be a welcome addition in the Michigan arsenal during tournament competition. Last year's 115-pounder transfer- red before the beginning of dual meets and left Michigan without a wrestler for that tournament di- vision. Seniors Rubin, who was third in the Big Ten, and Noel both had starts'at 123 last year, and both got experience at 130 when Hud- son was sidelined with an illness. Rubin finished the dual meet season in , spectacular fashion, winning his last five matches, and will be hoping to ride the crest of his success wave into the starting 123 position. But it won't be al that easy. "It's going to be tooth and nail in the 123-pound division," says Bay. "Challenge matches are go- ing to change the starters each week.- "And any time a fella knows he has to put 'out to stay on the team, it's sure to help keep up his performance." Hudson, .with a fine rookie sea- son of 14-3-1 and a second-place finish in the conference tourney, began the dual-meet season with a string of four decisions and a draw before being taken down by the flu. He came back to win five more bouts, two in tournament compe- tition, although Bay feels that he wasn't back to pre-flu form. Hudson will be strongly chal-, lenged by Mike Rubin, a transfer from Lehigh and brother of Steve Rubin. DICK BAY "Because of the transfer, Mike had to sit out a year," informs Bay, "but in practice he's shown' that he has the ability." Sophomore Brook, from Willa- mette, Illinois, rounds out the list of good wrestlers stationed at 130. "Our big hope is that Lou boun- ces back," summarizes Bay. One of the iron men of the Wol- 'verine mat squad, Geoff Henson wrestled in every dual meet last season, a claim that only three of his .teammates could make, but Henson is the only one that ap- peared every time at the same weight. While the 137-pound senior held an impenetrable -.monopoly last season, Bay expects him to be ser-, iously challenged this year. I Mike Denies, who did an out- standing Job in the freshman tournament according to Bay, lost to the eventual titlist by one point to take third. "He showed depth-real good potential-and should keep Hen-' ,son on his toes," comments Bay.- Another se ior, Jim Kahl, term- ed "a little inxperienced" by Bay,, will also be shooting for the 137 position. The middle weights appear to be just as unsure as the lowers. Both Stehnian, second in the Big Ten, and Hanson were in every dual meet, and both were seniors. The task of replacing Stehman coming campaign, Cornell will at 152 may fall to Jim Sanger, a again start at 177. j .nior. Last season he wrestled ex- Wayne Wentz will also go in clusively at 145, but seems to wres- that position. tle stronger when he doesn't have Heavyweight-the battle that to cut his weight. Michigan fans have gloated over When Sanger was not in the for three years-will fall into the lineup at 145, letterman Tim Mc- hands of Pete Drehmann. Caslin, also a junior, was. And it Drehmann appeared in the Wol- may be McCaslin that Tom Hines verine arena only once last year, from Ypsilanti will be challenging. but left with a fast pin of his Illi- Denies could also be in the nois opponent. A former Pennsyl- race at 145, so the position is ano- vania state prep champ, he should ther question mark on the score- be a capable replacement for the card. departed Dave Porter. Giving Sanger competition at Followers of Michigan's wrest- 152 will be two wrestlers from ling fortunes have for three years Walled Lake-junior John Hellner depended on the big win at heavy- and sophomore Denis Fitzgerald. weight, and its alignment as the In his only dual meet appearance, last match of every dual-meet Hellner wrestled superbly to an card was a natural climax for the 11-4 decision. meet. "He does better in his matches Even when the clash of Michi- than in practice so it is hard' to igan and Oklahoma turned into a evaluate his progress," explains way for the visiting Sooners Bay. "And Denis has also proven (the score was 21-3 going into the to be a good fighter." final bout) Wolverine fans stayed The replacement for the gradu- to see their favorite son regain ated'Hansen at 160 "will be pick- some Michigan pride. ed from two or three," says Bay. When Sooner coach Tommy Ev- "The leading candidate is Tom ans elected to forfeit the last Quinn, our only champion in the match rather than risk the pin, freshman tourney. He's a former he was roundly booed. state champ from Flint Central. Porter ended his illustrious ca- "He still has a lot to learn, but reer as a Wolverine wrestler by MICHIGAN'S WAYNE HANSE physically he's as strong as any- grabbing the top spot in the NC- loss to Oklahoma, one of two de one I've ever coached. And he has AA championship meet, a crown this match and Michigan dropp exceptional balance." he had also worn as a sophomore. graduation, and replacing then Two others will also be gunning "We lost only four or five wrest- for the 160 slot - junior Lane lers from a total of almost 40,'" have to wait for the Midlands, Headrick and senior Rick Deitrick. notes Bay, "and that's les sthan which puts us at a disadvantage." In his only start last season, we normally lose. But we lost The Midlands tournament, held Headrick pinned his opponent in some awfully good talent. It's not annually between Christmas and two minutes. "He's a slow starter," going to be\ easy to replace them, New Year's Day, will be preceded notes Bay. "but he has great phy- and they'll be missed-especially this fall by the Wolverines' meet sical strength and he'll be right in the early part of the season." with Pittsburgh on November 20. in there." The season will start earlier In the Big Ten, Michigan State The battle at 167 starts the up- this year than last, with a meet will again be the team to watch, per weights. Junior Charles Reilly scheduled with Pittsburgh before according to Bay. "They had a and sophomore Bob Cassel seem the Midlands Tournament. good freshman team," he recalls. to hold the favorites' roles, but "Most teams don't want a meet "Iowa and Northwestern have' Bay notes quickly that both Head- in November," explains Bay. "We 1 :en coming on strong, and Ohio, rick and Quinn could very well ~ -- ~ join in the thick of the fray. - Pete Cornell, the fourth member; of the quartet that wrestled in every meet last season, started competition he was moved tos 167, where he took a third in the Big By PHIL BROWN mer, Martin will be aided by a Ten and a fifth in the NCAA tour- There is something slightly dis- pair of former Wolverines, shot-, ney. gusting about finishing second. putter Jack Harvey and sprinter Captain of the team for the The pure frustration of being so Ken Burnley. N makes his move against his 160-pound opponent in last year's feats suffered by the Wolverine matmen. Hansen eventually lost this ed a humbling 21-8 decision. He was one of four seniors lost through n will be the biggest headache for coach Rick Bay this year. 4 State and Indiana should also be tough." "We have a lot of depth in the lower weights," summarizes Bay, "but less. and less as you go up., We'll start with a good team. "The problem is that we're not as strong as last year-at least not to begin with. But you can never tell how a bunch of guys will progress; it's too difficult to even speculate how they'll be' at the end of the year." Wolverine 'grapplers have re- corded a 255-89-11 dual meet rec- ord since Keen took over in the 1924-25 season, and have won nine conference crowns since of- ficial championships were begun in 1934. The weather does not look as seasonable for the wrestling team as it has at times in the past. But you know how often the weatherman is right. lads count losses tip . -- -.-, 0 A 14K Gold-Filled Watches SC~ fleweler 1113 South University' Ann Arbor, Michigan I', 1 w - - "- - close to the top without winning has driven good men to far worse than drink. But there is no group that has born the excruciating pain of second-place finishes more ad- mirably than the 1968 Michigan track team. The Wolverines were champing at the bit at the season's outset, only to be shaded in both the indoor and outdoor conference championships by shadow-thin margins. Wisconsin was the antagonist at the indoor meet in Columbus, where Michigan lost by two and one-half points in the final event. And it .was like pouring brine in the wounds when therWolver- ines took second outdoors, a single point back of Minnesota's sur- prising Gophers. But the squad took it all in stride, showing real style in the two defeats. No team displayed greater depth than Michigan's, and now the Wolverines mu'st re- group and prepare for another season. Michigan takes to the cinders in 1969 under a new coaching staff, led by former assistant Dave !Martin. Appointed over the sum- The new coaching alignment will allow the staff to give more individual help to team members. Harvey will work mainly with field events, and Burnley with sprinters and hurdlers, while Martin continues to help distance men. In addition. Harvey will be re- sponsible for helping with the organization of local track meets, and Burnlsy takes on the duties of freshman counselor. "It's something we haven't done before," explains Martin. "We think that kids just coming in can use some help sometimes, and Ken will be available to give' them a hand when they need it. "The problem is that freshmen Parents can Share the Action See 'M' Football Parents, you have a grand opportunity to join university life here in Ann Arbor by watching Michigan's promising Wol- verines in action on six Saturday afternoons. Schedule your fall entertainment with your sons and daughters now by reserving a seat for all the intersectional and Big Ten football excite- ment in Michigan Stadium. You can have one of those 101,000 seats by sending in a coupon at the bottom of this page. Prompt action will insure good ticket location. If you order individual game tickets, you'll miss the Michi- gan State game here, but you can see the Wolverines and Spar- tans clash merely by purchasing a season ticket. Michigan's offense figures to be one of the most explosive in the Big Ten this season with All-American halfback candi- date Ron Johnsor! shooting for more records. Capt. Johnson -- Family Style broke Tom Harmon's 'season rushing mark last year by l e- coming the first' Michigan player in history to rush for more than 1,000 yards. And Dennis Brown, the scrambling quarter- back, is back to improve on a pair of total offense marks he established last year. Throwing and running, Brown is just about the' busiest quarterback in college football. And that defense also carries a punch with Tom Curtis equalling the all-time conference high in pass interceptions. He stole seven of them. as a sophomore. Tom Stincic, an All- Big Ten linebacker, makes the Wolverine defense even more formidable. This all adds up to one of the most attractive football packages offered here in years. Make Michigan football your weekend highlight by ordering tickets now.r DAVE MARTIN RON KUTSCHINSKI IJSFASHION GUIDE FOR-MEN sometimes don't tell anybody when they do need help-they let little injuries or grade problems go by because they might not know exactly what to do. Now we'll be able to do something to prevent a lot of these problems." The staff will have a solid corps of returning lettermen to use as a nucleus for the '69 squad, al- though graduation losses will not go unnoticed. Among those departing were former Big Ten discusgchamp Bob Thofnas, distance ace Jim Dolan, long and triple-jumper Carl Flowers, and high jumper Rick Hunt (another former con- ference titlist). "Guys like that are nice to have around," notes Martin. "But we'll move people around and things will balance out pretty well. "We'll have more strength in the shot this year (it was the team's weakest event last sea- son)." Returning lettermen will include Ron Kutschinski, an Olympic :hopeful in the half miletwo- time Big Ten high jump champ Gary',Knickerbocker, and defend- ing long jump titlist Ira Rus- sell. Kutschinski astounded track followers in June when he ran the world's fastest half mile of the season (1:47.1) in Houston. A leg' injury prevented him from placing in the NCAA champion- ship, but he was one of 16 ath- letes allowed to attend the final trials at Lake Tahoe without qualifying. Missing from the squad will be last year's captain, Alex McDon-' ald, who won the 600-yard run in the Big Ten indoor meet. McDon- ald was the star for two seasons of Michigan's record - breaking two-mile relay quartet. The other members of the four- some, Kutschinski, Paul Arm- strong and Tom Kearney, will all be back for another go at the record books. Another returnee will be hur- dler Larry Midlam, holder of the schpol record for the highs and a ilacer in the national indoor championships in Detroit. Martin singled out sprinter Leon Grundstein as the biggest surprise of the 1968 season. Grundstein, a sophomore, took third indoors in the Big Ten 300 and second outdoors in the 220 and found time tocanchor the mile relay team on occasion. other sophomore standoutsre- turning will be Sol Espie, one of the Big Ten's top dash men, half- miler Armstrong, pole vaulter Ron Shortt, and Russell in the long jump. New to the varsity squad will be a number of potential champions 'from last year's freshman team. Bruce Curtis, Norm Conwell, and Joli Thornton will all be tried at the half mile; Lorenzo Montgomery (a former state champ) and Ron Clark are 440 specialists;Guilio Catallo may be the answer to the Wolverine shot shortage. Incoming freshmen who have considered going out for track should contact Martin, eitherby writing or calling theAthletic Here's the 1968 Wolverine, Pro gram. Sept. 21 - The opener with a capable California team and one of the biggest musical spec- tacles anywhere with 150 high school bands joining Michi- gan's famed Marching Band. Oct. 5 Ambitious Navy brings in a veteran squad, in- cluding its top three ball car- riers. Oct. 12 - Michigan State in a classic intrastate rivalry. Oct. 26 - Minnesota, the Little Brown Jug and home- coming-a truly colorful week- end. The Gophers are title con- tenders again. Nov. 9 - Illinois; optimistic and with a stable of fleet run- ning backs moves in. Nov. 16 - Wisconsin has experience, size and some in- teresting sophomores. It's the home season roundup. DENNIS BROWN Set Offense Mark J . NEHRUS,:$ THE WORLD'St.! LARGEST ~ SELECTION! .t i The new look is at Todd's! The selection is tremendous! Silk Sharkskins and Mohairs in a full range of sizes. A sea of colors including Seaweed' Green, Ebbtide Black, Atlantic Blue, Lobster Red. 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