T"F MICPIG.* ! DA 11,x'
TUESDAY.
TIlE MICIVTOAN DAILY TUESDAY
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restling, Swimming
Teams!
Win Big Ten
i ietl
Swinmers Finish Second
To Trojans in NCAA Meet
CAPACITY CROWD-There wasn't an empty seat or an empty aisleway in the 3,000-seat Varsity
Pool last winter when Michigan met Indiana in the top dual meet of the season.
By HAL APPLEBAUM
Associate Sports Editor
Michigan's tight-fisted grasp on
collegiate s w i m honors slipped
slightly last season as insurgents
Indiana and Southern California
staked their claims for the posi-
tion which the Wolverines had
undisputedly maintained for the
previously three years.
However, Michigan and Olym-
pic Coach Gus Stager is counting
on a squad which he calls "un-
limited in potential" to recoup
any lost glory this coming year.
Scoreboard
The scoreboard for last year
tells the story:
1) Indiana snapped Michigan's
dual meet win streak at 35 with
a smashing 58-47rvictory before
a standing room crowd of 3,000 at
Varsity Pool, Feb. 20.
2) The Wolverines b o u n c e d
back with one of the greatest dis-
plays of team power in collegiate
history to score a smashing 155-
130 victory over the Hoosiers in
t h e B i g T e n Championships,
March 3-5.
Michigan eclipsed the previous
team scoring record of 148 which
it had set a year earlier.
3) Finished a disappointing sec-
ond to Southern California as
its bid for a fourth consecutive
NCAA championship was
thwarted.
Individually it was also a year
of mixed disappointments and
glory.
A Mixed Year
Captain Tony Tashnick's illness
and resultant ineligibility; Dave
Gillanders failure to repeat his
Pan-American Games v i c to r y
over Indiana's Mike Troy; divers
Joe Gerlach and Bob Webster
let down in the NCAA meet after
brilliant victory in the Big Ten
Championships; Bill Darnton, the
best second place finisher in the
country, who never quite got there
first; all were disappointing.
On the bright side was the
sensational record breaking per-
formances of breaststroker Ron
Clark; the resurgent team spirit
which brought the Wolverines to
the heights in the Big Ten meet
following mediocre s h o w i n g s
against Indiana and Ohio State;
the willingness to work among the
lesser lights of the team, without
whom record breaking team totals
would never have been reached.
The tremendous improvement
of Darnton, an underweight, also
ran at the start, a consistent
challenger at the end; the never
to be forgotten victories of Ger-
lach and Webster in the Con-
ference meet and the one, two,
three, five finishes of sprinters
Frank Legacki, Carl Woolley, Jim
Kerr and Denny Floden in 50-
yard freestyle in the same meet.
Tough Road Ahead
The coming year will be one of
the toughest in Michigan history,
The Wolverines lost only Tash-
nick, Woolley, backstroker John
Smith and butterflyer Ed Pon-
gracz by graduation, but Indiana
and USC lost none of their top-
flight performers.
Michigan had an outstanding
freshmanteam, but Indiana's was
sensational and USC's lust as
good. Ohio State and Michigan
State also had frosh teams which
figure to put them near the top
again.
In the East Yale and Harvard
are coming on strong again and
in the West Stanford is moving
forward by leaps and bounds,
Team Depth Evident
The Wolverines will again be
deep at all spots.
In the sprints Captain Legacki,
Floden and Kerr remain and will
be Joined by freshmen Brooke
Plummer of Philadelphia,
In the middle and long distance
freestyle events the quartet of
D a r n t o n, Andy Morrow, Win
Pendleton and John Urbanscok
will be augmented by two of the
nation's most promising young
s w i m m e r s; Warren Uhler of
Evanston, Ill. and national prep
record holder Owen Kleinschmidt
of Ann Arbor.
National AAU 100-yard breast-
stroker champion and American
record holder Dick N e I so n of
South Grand Rapids will combine
with Clark to give Michigan the
top one-two punch in collegiate
ranks.
Backstroker Steve Thrasher of
Ann Arbor will replace the gr4
duated Smith in a trio with
Wolf and Alex Gaxiola.
Thrasher will also join Wolf
in the individual medley.
Pete Cox will join Webster, Ron
Jaco, 'T' Francis and Ernie Meiss-
ner on the diving squad, but his
presence will not overcome the
loss of two-time AAU champion
Gerlach who signed a professional
contract during the summer.
:. Y
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FIRST PLACE-Michigan's Bob Webster accepts the champion-
ship award in the Big Ten three-meter diving event. On his left
is Tom Gompf of Ohio State, who finished second, and cheering
the award is Michigan teammate Joe Gerlach, third place finisher.
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MOCCASINS
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BUTTERFLY STAR-Dave Gillanders churns through the Varsity.
Pool in his favorite event, the butterfly. A winner in the Pan
American games last summer, the Royal Oak swimmer was
thwarted in his bid for first places In the Big Ten and NCAA
meets last winter by Indiana's fabulous Mike Troy.
Welcome to Michigan
and to Ernie Kuohn's
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