Page Four

TNE'MICNIGAN DAILY

Thursday, September 9, 1971

Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 9, 1971


Gymnasts to bounce

back

«i

By BETSY MAHON
The Michigan gymnasts, per-
ennial Big Ten Champs, are
faced this year with the task of
regaining the prestige which they
lost in the National Collegiate
Athletic Association Champion-
ships. The Wolverine bouncers
won all of their dual and trian-
gular meets during the past sea-
son, along with the Big Ten
Crown only to finish far back
in the pack against' national
competition.
Coach Newt Loken has already
begun a three phased program
aimed at bringing his Wolverines
back to national prominence. His
first task is to replace the seniors
who were lost through gradua-
tion. These include three time
Big Ten all around champion
Rick McCurdy, high bar suecial-

ist Ed Howard and side horse
specialist Mike Gluck.
Loken still has two sturdy all
arounders in the persons of Ted
Marti and Ray Gura and feels
that he will not select his third
all around competitor until the
Mid West Open in November.
Senior Pete Rodgers along with
sophomores Bill Hudgins and
Jean Paul Bouchard are the
front runners for the spot at the
present time.
Floor exercise should be a
strong event for the Wolverines
and Terry Boys are returning.
as top performers Ward Black
Loken also considers Bouchard
a "fine performer" in this event.
although he missed his entire
freshman season with an ankle
injury.
The squad will miss Mike
Gluck on the side horse but can

still expect strong performances
from co-captain Dick Kaziny who
was the only Michigan gymnast
to make the NCAA individual
finals and Mike Fanshel waho ac-,
cording to Loken "looks good".
The Wolverines' three rings
specialists Mike Sale, Monty Falb
and Skip Frowick are experienc-
ed and should all be in top notch
shape. In this event Loken is
hoping that one of his all around-
ers will be able yo take the place
of Rick McCurdy who consist-
ently scored 9 plus during last
season's dual meets.
The high bar team will be suf-
fering from the loss of both
Howard and McCurdy who were
outstanding performers but new-
comers such as Bouchard and
Hudgins should be stepping into
the limelight.

MASSACRES AND AGITATION:
Lacrosse means excitement

By RICH STUCK
Lacrosse is. excitemirent. Any-
bodyacross the globe who plays
it can testify to that statement.
And in a position to give an
even greater testimony are the
players andfans of the Michi-
gan Lacrosse Club.
Not only have they had many
intense moments of excitement
the' past year, but they have
also shown themselves to be of
championship quality in the
oldest sport in North America.
Last season saw Michigan go
8-1 for the season and 6-0 in
league play. After losing their
first game the Lacrossemen
swept through their next eight
opponents like a tornado in Kan-
sas.
Starting February 1 in the
snow and sub-freezing condi-
tions of the Wines Field parking
lot, they practiced hard and
molded themselves into one of
the top three teams in the Mid-
west.
Ironic )as it may seem, la-
crosse, while being one of the
fastest growing sports in Amer-
ica, is really North America's

oldest sport, and is the source
for another fast riser, ice hockey.
Player with long sticks with
netting in the end, the 10 players
on each team use these to catch
and throw the ball, the object be-
ing to score into the opponents'
net. The ball is about the size of
a tennis ball, but its weight is
much greater.
Some of you may remember la-
crosse a little better if we bring
out an example of its play hun-
dreds of years ago. The scene
was Fort Michimilimackmac, or
some such spelling, the present
site of Mackirac City.'
The fort was held by the Brit-
ish, I think, and that particular
day found a group of Indians
playing lacrosse outside of the
large walls. As will occasionally
happen in lacrosse, an errant
pass was thrown, not even In-
dian lacrossemen being infall-
ible, this one ending up inside
the fort.
The British, poor fellows, had
not read Homer recently, and
opened up the gate to let an In-
dian retrieve the ball. In charged
the rest of the Indians, mas-
sacing everyone there.

-Daily-Terry McCarthy
Graduating co-captain Ed Howard and
coach Newt Loken

I bet you don't think I could
draw a parallel between that
gruesome story and thes Michi-
gan squad, but here goes-and
it's not as bad as you may think:
The present Michigan team
could be accused of doing the
same thing (Chief Krasny, stop
reading). Starting the season
penchantly last year by losing
to Oberlin, once they saw a
crack in the gate they took ad-
vantage of it. In they stormed
and ripped off the throne, crown
and all the jewels.
So firmly entrenched are they
now in the league's throne room,
that not even the great rugged
footballschools, the ones learned
in Homer and the ones ignorant,
could stop them.
Michigan State, Ohio State and
Notre Dame were as helpless as
a band of British nannies. All
fell befort the Wolverine charge.
With a 3-0 record against Big 10
teams, Michigan won the unoffi-
cial Big 10 championship.
That's pretty good, but don't
forget the unofficial, since Mich-
igan lacrosse has only reached
the club sport status. There were
> difficulties in obtaining even that
lowly status, but the real chal-
lenge is to go varsity, with bands,
songs, drunken alumni and easy
women.
At any rate, the club is trying
to get a new electric scoreboard
for Wines Field, which club mem-
bers, led by the late founder
Bob Gillon, had to save from be-
ing paved for an athletic depart-
ment parking lot several years
ago by lying down in the field.
Players figured that since they
have to pay for their own equip-
ment and transportation, the
least they could have is a place
to play where they wouldn't have
to dodge Chevrolets.
According to coach Bob Kaman,
the club may soon go varsity.
Even if it doesn't it welcomes all
students to a six-week practice
session this fall.

They will be joined there by all
arounder Marti and specialist
Jim Scully, both stalwarts in that
event. The parallel bars event
again shapes up as one of the
Wolverines' strongest. Both Mar-
ti and Gura are above average on
the bars as is specialist Murray
Plotkin, who was granted an ex-
tra year of eligibility.
This event is further enhanced
by the presence of Bill Hudgins
who as a freshman last year
came close to making the NCAA
individual finals, and fellow
sophomore Bob Johnson.
Loken feels that his specialists
are "doing reasonably well" in
their workouts and thinks that
only two events, rings and high
bar, are seriously hurt by gratd-
uation.
He hopes to "bolster the ros-
ter by men from within the
ranks" rather than to rely on
the strength of his incoming
freshmen, who nevertheless will
be eligible for varsity competi-
tion.
Unlike many other athlete,
most gymnasts continue stren-
out workouts during the summer
months. Quite a few remained in
Ann Arbor for the spring semes-
ter to work on their weak spots
with Loken when there was no
pressure froni competition, and a
large number work at gymnas-
tics camps or clinics which are
run throughout the Mid West.
Many gymnasts use the sum-
mer not only to improve on the
basics but to perfect tricks they
wish to use in competition.
Hopefully they will provile Lo-
ken and their competition with
some surprises when they return
in the fall.
The second phase of Lokeam's
prograrh is to "win the dual
meets leading up to the Big Ten
finals."
The third phase of Loken's at-
tack is to control the Big Ten
week end. The combined scores
of the compulsories and the pre-
liminary and final optionals on
those days determine which team
is the team conference cham-
pion and will represent the Big
Ten in the Nationals.
Loken does not expect this
honor to come to this squad as
easily this year as it did last
year. "Iowa will be very strong"
he said, "and so will Illinois
which has almost its complete
team returning.
"Indiana should move into the
top three or four and Minnesota
is losing only a few performers."
The winner of the Big Ten will
travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
where it will undoubtedly face
powerhouse host Iowa State as
well as other stiff competition.
Loken insists that he is not think-
ing this far ahead and, as of now,
is only worried about the Big
Ten crown.
However, few Loken-coached
teams have ever been down for
long and since this is his silver
anniversary as Michigan gymnas-
tics mentor, his squad would like
nothing better than to present
him with another national cham-
pionship and at the same tim'
redeem their lost honor.

d
It

L

M' TRADITION
G;olfers filt pattern:
'Fold in Colum blus-
By JIM EPSTEIN
Just as the football, basketball and swimming teams had, the
Michigan golf squad climaxed what was a successful season with a
dismal defeat and just as the gridders and tankers had, the downfll
came at the less than friendly campus of Ohio State.
Regular season performances certainly didn't point toward the
possibility of a conference championship. However, to coach Bill
Newcomb it did indicate a good shot at the third spot behind power-
houses Purdue and Michigan State. Neather the Boilermakers nor
the Spartans disappointed Newcomb with their performances, but
showing of his charges did leave him at a loss.
The Wolverines finished a poor seventh in the four round tour-
ney. Junior Gary Balliet, since elected squad captain for next season,
led Michigan golfers with 77-75-74-68 for a total of 104, 11 strokes
behind tournament medalist, Dave Haberle of Minnesota.

4

-Daily-Terry McCarthy
Co-captain Dick Kaziny, returning
side horse specialist


t
AU

Mlichigan

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Given the weak performance of his team in the championships,
Newcomb, in all, still considers the season a success. "It had to be a
success. It had a poor ending, but the beginning was very, very good."
One measure of success for-Newcomb was the amount of expo-
sure the young players on the squad received.
Whilel Michigan loses Rocky Pozza, the leading player for the
season, captain John Roska and Jim Robson, three of the four
golfers whom Newcomb saw as the nucleus of last year's teem
return. Balliet, referred to by Newcomb as "definitely the head
and shoulders leader of the team," returns for his senior year.
Balliet, three time public links champion in Michigan, will be
rejoined by two more components of the nucleus, Neil Spitalny and
Chuck Burnham, both now juniors.
Spitalny has been a regular in both of his two years at Michi-
gan while Newcomb compliments Burnham with being "the most im-
proved member of the team" and possessing the "best attitude."
The Wolverines began competition his past season with the
Miami Invitational on March 20. Michigan turned in what perhaps
was its finest performance of the season at the Miami tourney,
snatching third place in a 31 team field.
According to Newcomb, the team left Miami with "high morale
and expecting to be a contender." Their enthusiasm was dimmed a
little by their performance in the next scheduled action, the Kepler,
where the Wolverines finished a mediocre eighth in a field of 19.
The bad omen in the Kepler showing, however, lay in the fact
that five of the seven teams which placed ahead of the linksmen
were Big Ten squads.
The Wolverines entered competition at Illinois, their last prior
to finals, with the idea of allowing three new players, Burnham,
McIntosh and Roska, to get their first competitive experience of the
year in before the final three meets. At Illinois, Michigan placed
sixth of fourteen.
The fourth meet, the Northerns, saw the golfers stagger to a
new low. At the Boyne Mountain tourney, the Wolverines finished
ahumiliating ninth in an 11 team field.
The final warmup to the conference championships was a meet
at Michigan State on May 7-8. The Michigan finish of third in a
largely undistinguished field proved one thing only, that the Wolver-
ines could not expect to top the Spartans in the championships.
In preparation for the tournament at Ohio State, Newcomb was,
faced with the task of choosing his six man entry. Pozza, Spitalny,
Balliet and Burnham were assured positions ,leaving two spots open.
According to Newcomb, the candidates were limited to four of. the re-
maining eight players on the squad: Roska, Robson, McIntosh and
Dale.
Roska, as captain, got the nod from the coach, and Robson, the
only other senior under consideration, was chosen over his younger
teammates.
As matters turned out, it made little difference who was entered
as the entire squad, with the exception of Balliet, fell "apart at he
seams. Spitalny carded a 321, 17 strokes behind Balliet, while Pozza,
who carried the best record over the season, suffered through the
worst play of the year.
Pozza had averaged 75.6 for the prior competition, but could man-
age only a 316 at Ohio State, an average of 79 strokes per round. Rob-
son and Roska shot 315 and 324 respectively.
"We carry 12 boys, with four of them-Pozza, Spitalny, Balliet
and Burnham-the nucleus of the team. That leaves eight pretty
talented boys competing for two spots. Something happened that I
can't put my finger on, but the four didn't produce, they didn't
lead. Everybody evened out. There was no leadership, no pace. That
was the first indication of trouble."
As for the 1972 prospects, Newcomb sees Michigan as "one of the
stronger teams" in the conference. With Purdue, the defending cham-
pion, depleted by graduation (five of six regulars gone) and Michi-
gan State similarly hurt, he predicts Illinois, with a good group of
sophomores and juniors to be a major power to contend with.
One factor in favor of the Wolverines is that the champinships
will not be held in Columbus again.
1VAU IMBEDI IFANS

.You never know what'II pop up

Be prepared-keep ahead of the

news

But that 's not

easy

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