Page 10-Friday, March 2, 1979-The Michigan Daily DISMAL SEASON COMES TO CLOSE Blue icers looking to check State BY BRIAN MILLER The last weekend of regularly scheduled games in the WCHA has arrived, and although last place Michigan (6-23-1) isn't going anywhere, it does have some unfinished business to attend to = like keeping ninth place Michigan State (10-20), the Wolverines' weekend opponent, out of the playoffs. Two years ago, the Wolverines swept the Spartans in the final series of the year allowing the Colorado College Tigers to back into the conference tour- nament ahead of State, but last year, State returned the favor. Even though Michigan won and tied against State in its last two games of the season, the tie kept the Blue out of the playoffs - by one point. So now Michigan hopes it can go one up on the Spartans again. Such a task won't be easy, as State has been playing well lately. Last weekend, it traveled to Grand Forks where it split with the league-leading North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Two weeks ago it split with third place Duluth and the weekend before that, the Spartans swept sixth place Michigan Tech. In fact, State has played .500 hockey (7-7) after getting off to a less than auspicious 5-13 start. One major reason for the turnabout can be attributed to the Spartans' in- creased goal production since the return of centerman Leo Lynett. Lynett, one of their players declared academically ineligible last term, has 11 goals and 12 assists in the last 14 games, the only games he's played this season. Currently MSU has 20 points in the conference, two less than eighth place Colorado College and the Tigers will be facing a tough battle from Denver this weekend. The seventh place Pioneers have 28 points, one behind sixth place Michigan Tech. CC needs at least a split in this home and home series to ensure a playoff position, while Denver seeks to sweep the Tigers and move up in the standings.. Things are as unsettled at the top of the standings as they are at the bottom. First place North Dakota (42 pts.) meets second place Minnesota (39 pts.) at Minneapolis and the Sioux need at least one point in this series' to claim WCHA s North Dakota ......................... Minnesota ..................... .... Duluth ......................... Wisconsin ........................... Notre Dame ......................... Michigan 'Tech....... ........... Denver .............................. Colorado College .................... Michigan State ...... ............... MICHIGAN ......................... their first league title since 1967-68. The Gophers, on the other hand, need a sweep to take home the title. The Duluth Bulldogs, tied with Wisconsin for third place with 36 pts., will host sixth place Tech this weekend, while the Badgers travel to fifth, place Notre Dame. ..i.:'..::: :::::::.::O$:::}Y "y ."a e. Contending gymnasts host Big Ten foes By PETE BARBOUR Spring break is undoubtedly a welcome relief from studying, papers and midterms. However, those people who aren't thinking about coming back to Ann Arbor until Sunday, March 11, should reconsider. Next Friday through Sunday (March 9-11), the University of Michigan men's gymnastics team will host the Big Ten championships at Crisler Arena. "I hope that many students will come back a little early to see the championship," said Michigan Coach Newt Loken. "We're going to need fan support since it's going to be a tight meet," he said. Loken mentioned four teams which, along with Michigan, would fight for the championship. "There's defending champion Minnesota which scored 217.55 points last weekend. Ohio State, having beaten Min- nesota, beat us in compulsories. Michigan State is coming on strong and Illinois is always a perennial contender," said Loken. With the season nearing a close, Loken said he is pleased with the progress the Wolverines have made. "It's very encouraging tosee im- provement from our meager beginning. It has lkeen an uphill climb from the 194 compulsories in Chicago to the 213.95 at Indiana State," he said. "All twelve men have volunteered the information that they'll have to improve their individual scores to give us the chance to win. It's going to be a cliffhanger down to the end," he said. itandings Conference WL TPt . 21 9 0 42 . 19 10 1 39 . 16 10 4 36 . 17 11 2 36 . 17 12 1 35 .13 14 3 29 . 13 15 2 28 ' . 10 18 2 22 . 10 20 0 20 . 6 23 1 13 Overall w I t pt 25 10 0 50 24 10 1 49 19 11 4 42 21 12 2 44 18 15 1 37 17 14 3 37 18 18 3 39 11 21 2 24 13 21 0 24 8 25 1 17 INDIANA TOP MEN'S FOE Blue thinclads set for Big Ten's By JOHN LIBBE On the eve of the 69th annual Big Ten Track Championships this weekend, Michigan track coach Jack Harvey reflected on the chances of his team repeating as champions. He was noticeably worried about the strength of the Indiana squad favored to dethrone the Wolverines. "Just figuring the thing out on paper, they'll win," commented Harvey. "We need everybody doing their best on two days." Harvey has good reason to be worried. The Hoosiers are bringing three defending individual champions to Champaign, Illinois in their quest for the title, plus a field events contingent so impressive that Illinois coach Gary Wieneke said, "Their field events are Why would you want to bowl anywhere else; Mchigan Union lpnes open til 1 am tonight the strongest they have been in the Midwest in a long time." In the view of several coaches, In- diana looks to be in the driver's seat. "Indiana has to be favored for the title on the basis of its strong field events," said Wieneke. The Hoosiers' Sam Bell, a little more tempered in his opinion, says "I think it'll be between Indiana and Michigan, with Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and perhaps Purdue battling it out in the next group.'' Indiana's field events are what con- cerns Harvey the most. "They could come out of the field events with over fifty points if they're hot, which could be half of the winning total," commen- ted Harvey. Compounding the Wolverines' problems are injuries to several key performers. Distance ace Steve Elliott has had a virus, and hurdler Don Wheeler and sprinter Andrew Bruce both have sore groins. "We pulled Bruce out of the final in the CCC meet, and didn't run any of the three last week," said Harvey. All three are ex- pected to run this weekend. Women aim high The women's indoor track team heads down to Columbus this weekend for the Big Ten Championships, looking to improve on last year's eighth-place finish. Blue coach Ken Simmons is cautiously optimistic about the squad's chances for moving up in the standing: "We're better this year, but tli quality of competition is better," said Simmons recently. "We ought to move up one or two places. My guess would be sixth or seventh, depending on hof lucky we are." Simmons foresees sp-rinterv Catherine Sharpe, Pam Moore and sprinter-hurdler Renee Turner to score the bulk of the Wolverines' points, along with Marianne Dickerson in the distarn ce events. "I look for Dickerson to placo somewhere in the 1500 and 3000," comf mented Simmons. Wisconsin, the defending Big Tell titlist, appears to have the inside track on the top spot again, according to Simmons. "I've got to say Wisconsin is the strongest team," he commented. : Mamie Rallins, coach of the host Ohib State squad, even went so far as to say, "I'm just afraid Wisconsin's going tp walk away with the title again." The Buckeyes were expected to challenge the Badgers for the title, bu a rash of injuries have severely hur their chances. "We're not good enough to win anything, but we'll knock out a few fourth, fifth, and sixth places," saiA Simmons, summing up thesituation.