Tage Seven
Thursday, September 6, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wrestling:
Penthouse
By JIM ECKER
Russia has its five-year plans.
China toys with seven-year op-
erations. But for the Michigan
wrestlers, a brief two-year time-
table projects the Wolverines in-
to the NCAA grappling title pic-
ture. And according to the sched-
ule, this is the second year of
their championship march.
Last season, Michigan capped
a brilliant undefeated dual meet
campaign with their tenth Big'
Grapplers
Last Year's Record: 12-0
Last Year's Finish: First (Big
Ten), Third (NCAA)
New Recruits: Dan Brink, 167;
Mark Johnson, 177
Outlook: Definite National con-
tender
Ten crown and an impressive
third - place showing in the
NCAA meet. Now, in the com-
ing months, the, experienced
Imatmen, bolstered by- a couple
of highly promising recruits, will
make their run at the top.
HEAD COACH Rick Bay and
.Assistant Bill Johanneson man-
age the crew which steamroll-
ed unmercifully over a dozen
powerless foes en route to na-
tional prominence. "You know,
at the beginning of the yeaK no-
body gave us a prayer for na-
tional honors, related Bay last
April. "But now we're estab-
lished as, a national wrestling
force.".
Michigan returns men' who ac-
counted for all but four points
from their 591/2 total garnered at
last year's NCAA meet in Ceat-
tIe, more returning points than
titlist Iowa State and compara-
ble to runnerup Oregon State's
figure. The Wolverines lost a
couple of good men in Captain
Mitch Mendrygal (158) and the in-
jury-riddled Roger Ritzman (167),
both Big Ten runners-up in 1973.
But the remaining eight regulars
return, led by ISO-lb. NCAA
champion Jerry Hubbard and
conference crown-wearers Gary
Ernst (heavyweight) and Jeff
Guyton (134).
"Our goal is to win the nation-
al championship," emphasized
Bay. "With the guys we have
coming back and with the new
kids, we have a real shot at it,
the best shot since I've been
here."
WITH THE Big Ten title all
but asure thing, the Wolverines
have their sights set on the
NCAA championship and Michi-
gan' s mat machine has the men
for the job.
Hubbard, this year's senior
captain, sets a new Michigan
record with every successive
dual meet victory. The two-time
Big Ten winner smashed former
All - American heavyweight Dave
Porter's mark halfway through
his junior campaign. Hubbard, a
man noted for his cat-like quick-
ness. darting maneuvers, and
glib tongue, is a Crisler Arena
favor.ite who really
crowd.
plays to the
Senior heavyweightErnst blos-
somed from-the throes of a me-
diocre fourth - place conference
showing his sophomore season in-
to a position of dominance among
the Big Ten's big men. But Ernst
takes little satisfaction in his
league success..
"It's not very satisfying to
beat a bunch of blobs," confid-'
ed Ernst during last year's con-
ference championships: "There's
not much of a challenge in it."
ERNST, FOURTH in last
year's NCAA's, rates a solid shot
at the national heavyweight
crown. Olympic bronze medalist
and perennial NCAA champ Chris
Taylor of Iowa St. has graduat-
ed into the ranks of "profession-
al" wrestling, leaving the top
spot up for grabs.
Guyton literally came out of
nowhere his rookie season and
grappled to, the head of the
134-pound heap. Taking advan-
tage of illness and injury, Guy-
ton steppedinto the lineup mid-
way through the campaign and
wrestled himself to the crown,
winning three matches by a
combined total of three points
at the Big Ten finals in Minnea-
polis. Guyton copped a fifth in
the natibnals.
JUNIOR JIM BROWN (118)
stands as the pre-season favor-
ite for conference laurels in his,
the lightest, class. "Brownie,"
the Big Ten's 118-lb runnerup the
last two years, has a clear path
to the top now that titlist Dan
Sherman of Iowa has graduated.
Brown finished'third in the na-
tionals last year.
Bill Davids enters his senior
year at Michigan with confer-
ence and national laurels behind
him. The Hazel Park scrapper
placed second in the Big Ten and
fourth in theNCAA s in compe-
tition last year. Along with bat-
Fhe
Suite
tling h i s opponents. Davids
fights a weight problem that
might elevate him into a con-
tending spot in the 134-pound
bracket.
Bill Schuck and Dave Curby
hold down the 142 and 190 pound
posts respectively. Schuck and
Curby were highly regarded in
their classifications" entering the
conference 'finals, but both fin-
ished out of the top four, miss-
ing the requisite finish for NC-
AA championship action.
John King holds the early line
on the 158-pound job. King
worked at 167 last year during
Roger Ritzman's injury but ac-
tually belongs at the lighter di-
vision. Also strong here are Tad
DeLuca and Tom Evashevski.
THE PICTURE at 167 and 177
is as yet unsettled, but a couple
of newcomers should change that.
Dan Brink, transfering from
Muskegon Junior College, and
Mark Johnson, a freshman from
Rock Island, Ill., are two blue-
chip grapplers coming in on
scholarships. Although 177-pound
incumbent John Ryan returns,
=t is likely the loser of the
Brink - Johnson 167-pound show-
down will wrestle at Ryan's old
slot.
Working patiently in the wings,
waiting and hoping for an op-
portunity to wrestle, are a host
of talented grapplers. Some of
these people are Rich' Valley
and Jay Hubner (126), Fred Lo-
zon (134), Rick Neff (142), Rick
Jekel (177), and Steve Shuster
and Steve Bissell (190). These
dedicated matmen provide the
depth so basic to any champion-
ship calibre team.
With a winning combination of
proven frontliners, solid veter-
ans, depth, experience and new
blood, the Michigan wrestling
team could well take that sec-
ond step in their plan, the step
that gives them the NCAA
wrestling title.
By MIKE LISULL
If you were brought up in the
great American sports of base-
ball, football and basketball, you
would feel that a game in which
30 men run around in a seem-
ingly unorganized fashion was a
non-road version of a Chinese
fire drill.
Not surprising, because to an
uneducated viewer rugby is noth-
ing more than a Chinese fire
drill.
Composed of two sides of 15
players, eight forwards and seven
backs, rugby is a game of con-
tinuous action; players run and
pass and are tackled much like
football. But u n 1 i k e football,
rugby takes out no time for a
huddle. The ball is hiked im-
mediately and hence the lateral
pass is much more prevalent in
the lesser-known sport.,
SCORING CAN be accomplish-
ed in four ways. A touchdown
(Yes, it is what you think it is)
is worth four points; a conver-
sion taken from where the ball
is to,, hed down is good for two;
a dro'nkick after a penalty is
worth three.
OVER THE PAST year, Mich-
igan captured five trophies: first
place at Barrie Tournament in
Canada, first place in Chatham
Tournament in Canada, the Web-
ster Steeby Trophy, third place
at Windsoi' Tournament, and first
place consolation at the Thanks-
giving Day Washington, D.C.,
Tournament.
Getting off to a quick start last
fall, the ruggers finished with a
9-6 won-lost record after suffer-
ing three consecutive defeats at
the end of the season. Injuries
were a major contributing factor.
After losing to the Chi-
cago Lions 10-9t(Lions were tops
in the Midwest with an unde-
feated fall season) and 19-9 to
Pittsburgh (undefeated Eastern
Rugby Union champs), the Blue
beat the Detroit Cobras 13-7 and
Chicago Amaco 32-0.
Rugby: pounding
out at Palmer
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Grapplers set
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