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September 02, 1970 - Image 30

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1970-09-02

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

ix--Wo1verine Sports THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wed

nesday, September 2, 197Q

second

in

Big

By JIM KEVRA
For the past decade, the Mich-
igan swimming team has proven
conclusively that they have the
second best team in the Big Ten.
For the ten years, the Wolverine
swimmers have taken a second
place in the Big Ten Champion-
ships to the Big Red Hoosiers of
Indiana.
This year should prove to be no
exception.
Although Michigan has a highly
talented and versatile squad re-
turning to action this season, they
are still no match for Indiana, the
NCAA champs for the past three
years. But Head Coach Gus
Stager's tankers should still rank
among the ten best teaps in the
nation. Only a few men were lost
from last year's squad which cap-
tured sixth place in the NCAA
championships and recorded a 10-
1-0 overall record.
Stager's main job will be find-
ing replacements for two of his
top swimmers (last year's captain
Gary Kinkead and Juan Bello)
who graduated. Kinkead was the
most versatile swimmer on the
Maize and Blue and an excellent
competitor. He started in the dis-
tance freestyle e v e n t s (500-and
1000-yards), the 200- or 400-yard
individual medley, and the 200,
yard backstroke events. In the
NCAA's, Kinkead's best finish was
a second in the 400-yard IM be-
hind Gary N1all of Indiana.
Bello, a Peruvian Olympian,
highlighted Michigan's season by
winning the 200-yard freestyle in
the NCAA's after a poor first half
of the year. Bello churned the dis-
tance in a very fast 1:42.70 to
narrowly beat out Frank flecki of
USC and defending champ Mark
Spitz of Indiana.
THE BRIGHTEST spot in the
Wolverine line-up this Year should
be the diving corps. Last year's
top two divers, Dick Rydze and Al
Gagnet, return under the capable
hands of Head Diving Coach Dick
Kimball, a former Wolverine div-
ing champion. Rydze, the 1969
AAU tower diving champion, ac-
counted for a pair of third place
finishes in the NCAA's. Gagnet
also placed in the three-meter
event.
Michigan also returns top per-
formers in the specialty events,
the backstroke, breaststroke, and
butterfly.
Greg Goshorn appears capable
to make up for the loss of Kinkead
in the backstroke. 'Although last
season was only his first in varsity

competition, Goshorn consistently
turned in steady performances and
a year's experience should add to
his skills. Rich Dorney and Steve
McCarthy have also turned in ac-
ceptable times in the 100- and
200-yard backstroke.
The breaststroke is very capably
swum by seniors Bill Mahoney and
Dave Clark. Mahoney, always a,
consistent performer for the Maize
and Blue was expected to be the
key performer in the breaststroke
at last year's Big Ten champion-
ships and he placed seventh in
the!200-yard breaststroke.
But, his performance was com-
pletely overshadowed by Clark's
remarkableshowing as he quali-
fied for the finals and eventually
placed fourth. Clark turned in a
number of s t r o n g performances
during the year including a great
last minute spurt to place second,
to Mahoney in the 200-yard
breaststroke in a meet against
Southern Methodist University.,
This unexpected dividend helped
Michigan to a 57-56 victory which;
snapped SMU's win streak at 77
straight meets.
Don Peterson, now a sophomore,
and Byron MacDonald proved that'
they were capable of handling the
butterfly. They finished fourth
and sixth respectively in the Big
T e n championships. MacDonald
looked very impressive as he also.
took a fifth and a twelfth in the
NCAA's. The butterfly has a great
amount of depth as Tim Norlin'
and' Larry Day showed their skill
by placing sventli and eighth in
the Big Ten's..
The loss of Kinkead and Bello1
becomes most apparent in the In-
dividual medley. They carried the4
event for the past few years and
their loss makes the event a ques-
tion mark. Day and Peterson ap-
pear to be most capable of filling
the gap.
THE FREESTYLE events, are
divided into two segments; the
distance events and the sprints.
In the distance events, the Wol-
verines look very strong. In the
sprints, they look very weak.
Norlin, Rich Dorney and Mike
Casey are all veterans in the dis-
tance events, the 500- and 1000-
yard freestyle. Norlin looks the
most promising of the trio after
his fast victory in the 500-yard
freestyle against SMU. He defeat-
ed Jerry Heidenreich, one of the
better swimmers on the Mustang
squad.
In the sprints, the outlook does
not look so pleasant. Bob and
Greg Zann, Bob Harmony, and
Tim Sullivan are the best sprint-
ers on the team, but their per-
formances still are weak when
compared with other sprinters
around the country. Harmony and
Greg Zann appear to be the best
bets in the 50-yard freestyle while
Bob Zann and Sullivan should take
care of the 100- and 200-yard
events.
Because of Michigan's great
depth on their squad this season,
they should be able to perform
quite well In the medley relay
where four different strokes, the
backstroke, breaststroke, butter-
fly, and freestyle, are swum. But,
with the Wolverines' weakness in
the sprints, the freestyle relay
still ranks as a very questionable
event.
Stager is looking for a stronger
effort on the part of his sopho-

'Ten
mores and juniors, both of whom
received their first year of varsity
competition last year, to make up
for the loss of Kinkead and Bello.
After last, season's sixth place }';"}. ..;:h:;,;
finish in the NCAA's, Stager com-
mented, "We had a good chance
to finish fifth'but we needed some
help from the freshmen. Part of
the reason for their poor showing,'"f;
was their inexperience, especially
at that high an altitude.
"I'm disappointed, but not dis-
couraged," he continued. "We
could have used a little more sup-
port from our backstrokers and
breaststrokers, but I think that
maybe I was expecting too much
from the freshmen. They weren't
quite ready physically. Still, the
meet should give them good ex-
perience for next season."
AS FOR THE rest of the. Big
Ten, Indiana is obviously the team
to beat. The Hoosiers return al-
most all of their performers in-
clu'ding Jim Henry who took the
one- and three-meter events at
the NCAA's for the second year in
a row; Larry Barbiere; the only
triple winnter at the Big Ten
championships, and, of course, the
two -greatest 'swimmers in the
world, Mark Spitz and Gary Hall.
Ohio State finished strong in
the NCAA's to place tenth, mostly
on the depth of their fine sprint
freestyle team. The Green Mean-
ies of Michigan State are also one
of the better teams in the country
as they combine individual stars
with great team depth.
As for the rest of the Big Ten,
most teams have a few Individual
stars but lack the depth necessary
to place high in the Big Ten
championships or p rovisd e good
competition in dual meets.
KSEEN RETIRES AFTER 45 YEA]

-Daily-Rod Roberts

Gun goes off for backstroke start

I.

Bay takes over at wrestling helm

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The Student'se Bookstore

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Long Sleeve and Sleeveless Body Sweaters.

By PAT ATKINS/
Executive Sports Editor
Michigan hasn't had a wres-
tling season like this since 1924.
It was in that next year, 1925,
that the Wolverine athletic de-
partment hired a young coach
from Oklahoma named Cliff
Keen to head the expanded
wrestling program.
Keen's tenure ended only this
past season with retirement
after 45 years as wrestling head
coach at Michigan, and as-
sistant coach Rick Bay was ap-
pointed to the top position.
Besides leaving a philosophy
of wrestling, Keen has given to
Coach Bay a young, experienced
team. A third place in the Big
Tens, a ninth in the nation, and
a season .record of 8-5-1 reflect
the immature nature of last
year's squad. Four 'of those
meets were decided by two
points or less.
The team as a whole lost only
three grapplers through grad-
uation. And the wrestling _team
again has the services of cap-
tain Lou Hudson, who was given
another year of eligibility as a
result of injury which sidelined ,
him last year.
IT WAS AN erratic season for
Michigan wrestling a year ago.

Michigan began the season
ranked seventh in the nation
by the Amateur Wrestling News,
a listing termed "a little gen-
erous" by Bay, then assistant
coach. The termonoligy did seem
generous, when the Wolverines
could only manage a tie in their
opening meet with Maryland
and lost the next day against
Pittsburgh, 22-15.
But in the toughest of Wres-
tling tournaments, the Midwest
Open, the Wolverines surprised
just about everyone. They fin-
ished second to Michigan, State,
beating out even defending
champion Iowa State.
THE SHADOW of that tri-
umph was to haunt Michigan
the rest of the season. It was
not expected that a team which
placed second in the Midwest
Open would lose to Northwest-
ern or especially Purdue. But
that's what happened.
Then halfway through the
season, Michigan, with a 2-3-1
record, ran through, three op-
ponents and stood at- a more
tolerable 5-3-1 level.
However, the team's next op-
ponent was Iowa, second in the
Big Jen tournament the year
before. After, the Hawkeyes, they
faced powerhouse Mi h ig a n
State, one of the three best
teams in the country.
In a close, hard-fought meet,
Michigan narrowly lost to Iowa,
18-16. It was a hard loss, and
another was in store for them
next week. Michigan was de-
feated by Michigan State, 25-8,
at East Lansing.
The Wolverines tuned up for
the Big Ten tournament, being
held in Ann Arbor to honor re-
tiring coach Cliff Keen, by
trouncing Minnesota, 23-8, and
Mankato, 27-6.
EARLY IN the Big Ten tour-
nament Michigand advanced sev-
er of ten wrestlers into the
quarterfinals. Only two, 118-
pound Jerry Hoddy and 126-
pound Tim Cech, came out vic-
tors.eHaddy finished second
and Cech first, with both wres-
tlers returning as seniors this
year.
Both juniors this year, Ty
Belknap at 134 and Therlon
Harris at 177 finished fourth.
The lower weights are again
one of Michigan's strengths.
Besides Hoddy, Cech, and Bel-
knap, the Wolverine's captain
Hudson will be back in action.
Hudson captured the Big Ten
title two years ago, before i a

it

r ~II~

-
I

-Daily-Thomas R. Copi
Jim Sanger breaks down OSU's Dave Saf le

1/tie/comeIac

to the Finest

chest injury forced him out of
the NCAA tournament. At the
start of last season, he injured
a knee and was out for. the re-
mainder of the year. But an
operation over the 'summer has
put him back into competition.
Two others will be returning
from the lower weights, Jim Ha-
gan and Tom Littleton. In re-
cruiting, Michigan acquired
three more light weights. Bill
Davis from Hazel Park, Rick
Stewart from Garden City, and
Roger Bubel from Spencertport,
N.Y., will be pushing for open-
ing positions.
At 134, Michigan also got its
first Granby High School wres-
tler. Rick Neff was a Virginia
state champ.
Michigan lost wrestlers in the
middle weights through grad-
uation. Lane Headrick at 150,
Jim Sanger at 158, and Jesse
Rawls at 167 or 177, were all
seniors last season.
Consequently, Michigan re-
cruited strongly at these weights.
One of the three outstanding

in

Diamond
engagement
Rings
REASONABLY
PRICED

G
t
.
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;.
, .w !
1

wrestlers in Illinois according to
Bay, Jerry Hubbard will be zom-
ing to Michigan. So will Jeff*
Bousley of Trenton, Peter Black
from New Jersey,' And Chappy
LeBlond from Lehigh prep
school.
Michigan has its own corps of
middleweights returning also.
Juniors Mark King and Paul
Paquin will be at 142, Martyq
Chouinard/ will wrestle at 150,
and Mitch .Mendrigal at 158.,
At the first* upperweight,' 167,
three Wolverines will return.
Senior Tomm Quinn has the
edge over Marvin Pushman and
Roger Ritzman. The top two
weights are solid, especially'
since Michigan recruited Walt
Sexton.
Freshman Sexton,, a Lehigh
prep champion at 188 was an
outstanding wrestler from New
York Military Academy. He will
fill the 190 pound position.
Another rookie, Gary Ernst,
will be at, heavyweight. Ernst,
a class B state high school
champion from Saline will help
sophomore Rick Bolhouse out.
"He's a big raw-boned, well-
built guy. Reminds you of Dave
Porter," says Bay. Porter wres-4
tied for Michigan three years
ago, and was a national champ.
The eleventh freshman recruit
is Bob Streiter from Ann Ar-
bor, third in the state at 175.
"This year is not going to be
a rebuilding year." Coach Bay*
says, "not if we come along like
we're supposed to."
Looking at his line-up. von

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