Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY - NINE MICHIGAN FINALISTS: Saturday, March 29, 1975 ymnas By MICHAEL WILSON top compulsory floor exercise Combining consistency with score of 9.0. Sakamoto's per- gracefulness, Michigan's gym- formance typified the show put! nastics team exploded into a on by the entire Michigan squad commanding lead in the Big as Wolverines grabbed the top Ten Gymnastics Championships spot in four of the six com- last night at Crisler Arena. At pulsory events. the halfway point of the option- Perhaps the most deserving als, the Wolverines have amas- score was Bob Darden's 9.1 on sed 312.15 points to second-place the high bar. Minnesota's 292.65. His difficult compulsory rou- With three - fourths of the tine included a German-rise tournament completed, Michi- stunt in which the participant gan seems a sure bet to capture must swing backwards with its twelfth Big Ten title in fif- his arms fully extended, be- teen years. hind the body, and lift him- "Things are really going self up high enough to clear great," an enthused Michi- the bar with his legs fully ex- gan coach Newt Loken said. tended.- "The guys are doing a super The average score for this job and I'm extremely proud compulsory routine was only of every one of them." 7.26. By the end of the compulsory The performances of all the portion yesterday afternoon, all-around competitors reflected Michigan had 205.05 points, out- the consistency of the Michi- distancing the Gophers who gan squad. After the compulsor- compiled a score of 188.85. ies were completed, the three The defending champion Iowa Wolverine all - arounders heldk Hawkeyes were a distant third three of the top four spots. Sur- at the end of the, compulsories prisingly, freshman Harley with 182.20 points. Danner led the crew, totaling "If we can just keep our mo- 1 49.35 points in the six events. mentum going throughout the Bill Mason of Iowa settled into optionals ,then we'll be in great: second place with 47.7 points, shape" Loken emphasized. Michigan's Pierre LeClerc and F r o m Randy Sakamoto's co-captain Bruce Keeshin an- graceful performance during the chored third and fourth places compulsory floor exercise to: respectively. LeClerc earned Joe Neuenswander's stunning 47.55 points and Keeshin total- optional performance on the led 46.25 lead tourney Mined the number one spot with 75.30. Mason held second place with 73.55 tallies, LeClerc an- chored third place with 71.95 points and LaFleur totalled 71.65 nintG thlisberger reaffirmed Loken's assessment. "Michig-n is just great," Roethlisberger ad- mitted. "They're the only team that could compete at he nationals," he added. Michigan continued its consis- With the Wolverines in a com- tency into the first round of the manding lead, attention centers optional, scoring 36.6 in the on the races for individual titles floor exercise, 34.45 in the pom- in thersixoeven mel horse, and 36.45 points on six events . the rings. One such event is the rings.' Of particular notice was the Indiana's Lanny Fernandez, a performance by Joe Neuens- superb ring specialist, stunned wander. The strong junior the crowd with a 9.4 perform- brought the Michigan bench to ance in the optionals. His team- its feet and elicited a loud mate, Jack Malmedahl added round of applause from about to the show by twisting and 200 gymnastic faithfuls with swinging his way to a 9.45 rou-i an impressive 9.45 performance, tine, immediately following Fer- "The guys' performances nandez' performance. have been just tremendous," The pommel horse should be Loken raved. "In many places, another close event. Howard they performed above their pre- Beck of Illinois currently holds vious maximum scores, really first place with an average of deserving their fine scores." 9.225. Bob Siemianowski of Minnesota coach Fred Roe- Iowa is in second, followed by! Rupert Hansen and Jerome Poynton of Michigan. Tomorrow, at 10 AM. the sec- ond half of the optionals will take place. Events include vaulting, the parallel bars and the high bar. At 3 PM, the individual finals begin, with the top eight per- formers, based on an average score of compulsory and op- tional routines, battle head to head for the individual honors. Team Standings (After first three optional .events) Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN INDIANA'S LANDY FERNANDEZ performs his routine on the rings. This stunt helped him earn a 9.4, and placed him in a tie for first place with Joe Neuenswander of Michigan, go- ing into the finals, this afternoon at 3 p.m. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. MICHIGAN Minnesota Iowa Illinois Indiana Wisconsin Michigan State Ohio State 312.15 292.6S 285.35 274.20 260.55 255.20 245.70 245.55 UCLA and full courtE p 5 I~ailv Sports KetukyNIGHT EDITOR. s . BILL STIEG . best bets today Szuba fifth i~n INCAA; USC leads team race' CLEVELAND (M-The South- I rings, the Maize and Blue con- sistently outperformed and out- classed the other seven Big Ten competitors. Sakamoto displayed superb grace and rhythm, earning thec By RICH LERNER T'HE CHAMPIONSHIP is up for grabs as the NCAA basketball semi-finals begin today in San Diego. Three of the four remaining teams could be called co-favorites. UCLA, Kentucky and Louisville all field excellent teams- sorting out their differences is difficult. Syracuse must be labeled a darkhorse. In the first match-up this afternoon, Kentucky and Syra- cuse do battle. The Wildcats, coming off a big win over Indiana, play run-and-gun basketball. The key to their win over the previously undefeated Hoosiers was Kentucky's ability to control the tempo of the game. Although Indiana coach Bobby Knight has continually claimed that Quinn Buckner is valuable because of his ability to control the game. But in last week's contest, Kentucky's Kevin Grevey and Jimmy Dan Connor kept the game at a harried pace, while "The Mighty Quinn" tried in vain to slow things down. Grevey, a 6-5 senior forward sports a 23.5 point average. If he is in gear, the Wildcats are nearly invincible. Connor, the only starter on the team that hails from the Bluegrass State, is an excellent playmaker, averaging 12.5 points per game. While Grevey, Connor and Mike Flynn carry the brunt of Kentucky's scoring attack, coach Joe. B. Hall relies on husky Bob Guyette and his pair of 6-10 freshman centers-Rick Robey and Mike Phillips-for rebounding. Guyette, a 6-9 forward with a build resembling Dick the Bruiser's, is a terror both on the boards and at the dinner table. Robey and Phillips are strong offensive players and adequate rebounders, but leave something to be desired on defense. Both have a penchant for getting in foul trouble. Syracuse focuses its attack around 6-9 forward Rudy Hackett, who's destined to be a first-round pro draft pick. He averages over 22 points and nearly 13 rebounds per game. Syracuse coach Roy Danforth's team has enough height to match Kentucky on the boards. 6-9 Ernie Seibert and 6-5 jumping- jack Chris Seace join Hackett in the frontcourt. Guards Jimmy Lee and Jimmy Williams run the Orangemen's offense. Lee, the squad's second leading scorer, tosses in over 16 points a game. Williams has lighting speed, and intercepts many an opponent's pass. The teams Syracuse has lost to this season include West Virginia, Canisius and Penn State. None are basketball powers, to say the least. Kentucky will beat Syracuse because its players are better. The Louisville-UCLA battle later this afternoon promises to be a super game between two well-coached and highly talented teams. Don't let John Wooden fool you; he has some good basketball players. But so does Louisville's Denny Crum. Ulysses "Junior" Bridgeman leads Crum's Cardinals. The 6-5 guard tops the team in scoring and is its second leading re- bounder as well. His running mate at guard, Phillip Bond, is one of three starters on the team native to Louisville. Wesley Cox and Allan Murphy fill the forward slots for Crum. Both average in double figures, but Cox has been troubled with leg injuries recently. "I anticipate him to play," Crum said, "but he won't be at full strength." Senior Bill Bunton and freshman Ricky Gallon, both 6-10, alternate at the pivot. Combined, the pair average 15 points and 12.5 caroms per game. UCLA, big and strong, has a potent, powerful offense, but at! times has faltered on defense. "For the most part their defense has been pretty good," Crum said. "They were in a slump for a while, but they played awfully good against Arizona State. Maybe they snapped out of it." The Bruins' frontcourt of 6-9 Richard Washington, 6-8 Dave Meyers and muscular Marques Johnson hits the boards extremely well, and threatens Louisville's hopes of winning. "They're certainly a lot bigger and stronger than us," Crum admitted, "but we're quicker. I don't know if we can do it, but we've got to beat them on the boards if we want to win." If there is one spot where the Cardinals have the advantage,- it is at guard. Andre McCarter and Pete Trgovich are not nearly as good as Curt Gowdy would have you believe. This is the tenth straight year Louisville has been to a post- . season tournament, and the 19th in the past 24 years. The Car- dinals,hold an NCAA record with 31 consecutive winning seasons. This might be the year they finally take the title. If Louisville does win, Bridgeman would become the third player from his high school team to play for an NCAA champion- ship team. He prepped with Trgovich and Tim Stoddard of North Carolina State in East Chicago, Indiana. With the games being played in San Diego, UCLA has a slight home court advantage. This edge, enough to tilt the scales for the Bruins, will spell doom for Louisville. The Bruins will defeat Kentucky in the finals for the same reason. .EEA PT.e ot After last night's first round ern Cal Trojans became certain of the optionals, Jeff LeFleur repeat winners of the annual, of Minnesota had edged into NCAA Division I swimming and I fourth place, .05 points ahead of diving chamiponships at the1 Keeshin. At the halfway portion close of the second day of com- of the optionals, Danner still re- petition yesterday. USC led with 253 points afterJ 11 events had been completed; at Cleveland State University, well ahead of second-place In- 1 iana with 195. Tennessee wasr third with 123 points, and UCLA' fourth with 110. Michigan's Tom Szuba placed Y fifth in the 400 individual med- ley title. T h e championship m e e t ends today with seven events. Six American records were set in the first 11 events, two zof them during yesterday's competition. In the 200-yard freestyle, UCLA junior George McDonnell bettered the American record in both the qualifying round, with, a time of 1:37.75, and the finals, clocking 1:38.04. McDonnell un- seated defending champ Jim Montgomery of Indiana, who placed third. The old American and NCAA record of 1:38.35 was set by Jerry Heidenreich of Southern Methodist in 1972. Stanford junior John Hencken wonkthe 100 breaststroke and broke his own NCAA record with a time of 55.59. Hencken, who also holds the American record of 55.50, set the old NCAA rec- ord last year with a 56.23 mark T h e 400 - yard individual medley, the event in which AA aph above, released by the y, shows that Chuck Wepner's g Ali tried to step backwards his heavyweight title victory y Perez ruled that Ali was right to the body, and as "It was a plain knockdown," $2.50 e on his own foot after the down after the punch." Ali FRI.-SAT. Szuba placed fifth, was won by Lee Engstrand of Tennes- see with a time of 3:57.80. Utah's Jeff Rolan capturedI the 100 butterfly with a timej of 48.95. Southern Cal sophomore John Naber, who also won the 500-, yard freestyle Thursday, suc-t cessfully defended his 100-yard backstroke title with a time of 49.49 seconds. That betters Na- 1 ber's 1974 record of 50.41, but falls short of the 49.85 time he turned in Thursday, when he set an American record in the 100 backstroke leg of the 400-yard medley relay. Indiana held onto its 800 free- style relay title and broke its own American record with a time of 6:36.29. John Murphy, Jim Montgomery, R i c h a r d Thomas, and Fred Tyler com- prised the team that bested the 1973 Hoosier record of 6:36.39. Co-Sponsors:the GOLAI "LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN IN STRUGGLE" -with SUNI PAZ, Argentine Artist MONDAY, MAR. 31 Stockwell Dormitory Lounge 7:00 P.M. and Housinq Special Programs r i , ----- Candidates Needed for SOC 15 At-Large Seals PRES I DENT IAL/ VICE-PRESIDENTIAL SLATE SIGN-UP Monday-Thursday 3909 Michigan Union 6 Al tripped by Wepuer, newspaper photo shows SCORES I NSA Boston 97, Chicago 92 Buffalo 115, Philadelphia 104 New Orleans 111, New York 102 Houston 112, Cleveland 105 Milwaukee 128, Portland 105 Seattle 96, Golden State 92 NHIL Atlanta 3. Buffalo 2 MAY GRADUATE? If you plan to attend the May 3 commence- ment, you must order a cap & gown by Fri- day, April 4, 1975. University Cellar 769-7940 CLEVELAND (A)-The photogr Cleveland Plain Dealer yesterda3 foot was on Muhammad Ali's as and fell in the ninth round of I last Monday night. Referee Ton knocked down. Wepner threw a Ali moved away he went down. said Perez. "He tripped a little punch. In my opinion he went said after the fight that he f Bayonne Bleeder") was standing motion," Ali said. "His foot wa photographer Marvin Greene's f No n CHI, PHI 150 years of brotherhood and good times. Get in on fell because Wepner ("The on his toes. "Play it in slow s on my toe." Plain Dealer picture proves him right. Rounder Record's H ighwoods Stringbond double fiddles, guitar, banjo, bass "explosive energy" -N.Y. Times 141 Ne l STRET 1614SI I at going thing. CHI PHI FRATERNITY 1530 Washlenaw 161-5020 NMI a TEST CENTER challenges The Competition TUITION: $150 TERMS: Money Back MATERIALS: Yours to kee in MCAT Preparation THEM US $260.00 4~__ Guarantee vp No Refunds Recycled-$35 if marked READ and USE