Surf's up!:
Men's swim team season opens
Canales," said Coach Stager.
This year's swim team is lacking one
big swimmer from last year's. Olym-
pian swimmer Gordon Downie, who has
since graduated, will leave a gap in the
long distance freestyle events.
"I'm looking towards Kevin William-
son to fill Downie's vacancy," said
Stager. "Kevin's'a younger swimmer,
but he has a good opportunity to be-
come a champ."
"WE WILL HAVE good depth in our
sprint events and relay. This is where
our freshmen will help out," remarked
Stager. "In general, I think we will
have greater depth than last year. Our ,.
freestyle relay will be very competitive
and I expect them to place high in the
Big Ten's," continued the coach.
In addition to sophomore Paul Grif-
fith, the 400-yard freestyle relay will
team the three sprint freshmen,
Murray, Pederson and Canales. "As for
other events, we are far from stacked,
maybe with the exception of breast-
stroke," said Stager. "We do expect
though a good point performance from
our divers, in particular Matt Chelich."
"He's (Chelich) our one outstanding
diver," said Dick Kimball, diving coach
for both the men's and women's diving
teams.
CHELICH HAS BEEN an All-
American for the last two years. Not
only did he place second in diving in the
Big Ten last year, but he was the NCAA
champ also.
"Besides Chelich, our team is not so
strong. Our young divers have a lot to
learn," said Kimball. "I'm looking for
good performances from Kerry
Menegay and Ken Vigiletti, both
freshmen," he continued.
"This first meet in Toronto will give
us a look at what's to come," said
Stager. "Yet, we want to progress
towards the Big Ten's and NCAA's.
That's where the real test will be, not in
dual meets."
"The dual meets count as pride.
'There's no one key meet that means
win or lose in the conference," com-
mented Stager.
Nevertheless, pride influences per-
formance, and performance is crucial
in any competition.
"WE'RE LOOKING for tough meets
with Indiana (therperennial Big Ten
Conference leader), Wisconsin, and
Michigan State," said the tanker's
coach.
"We have a good attitude at present
and a good future outlook on this team,
and that's important," remarked
Stager.
"The Toronto and OCOE meet won't
give us a clear picture of our ability.
The times won't be comparable to our
regular meets because it's a 25-meter
meet," said Stager, "but we're looking
forward to competing against Indiana
up there."
Ailing grapplers go
to Lehigh's lion den
By BOB WARREN
Tonight the Michigan wrestling team
is wrestling in an infamous pit. The Pit
is the nickname for the Lehigh Univer-
sity Sports Arena, where wrestling is
religion. The Wolverines, a team be-
leaguered with injuries, are performing
in a very unenviable place.
"THE FANS AT Lehigh are the worst
in the country," exclaimed Michigan
coach Bill Johannesen. "The Pit always
has a sellout of over 4,500 fans and
they're all nuts."
Wrestling to Lehigh and many other
eastern schools is like football is to
Michigan. According to Johannesen the
recruiting at Lehigh is different than
that at Michigan and the resources
there provide stronger incentive for a
wrestler to go to a school such as
Lehigh.
"Since Lehigh is an Ivy-League type
school, it is not allowed to give out
athletic scholarships. However,. the
school gets large donations from local
corporations such as Bethlehem Steel,
a cdmpany ,ocated in Lehigh's home-
Jqwn of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania."
ONE WRESTLER Johannesen tried
to recruit is Tom Sloand, now wrestling
at Lehigh. "We asked Tom why he
chose Lehigh over Michigan and he said
the financial scholarship Lehigh of-
fered was far superior to Michigan's
athletic scholarship," Johannesen said.
Lehigh has built its wrestling pro-
gram up to a level that makes it the
most popular sport at the school. Op-
ponents are intimidated by the kind of
support the Lehigh fans give their
team.
"EVERYONE GOES to the wrestling
matches at Lehigh and the crowd can
really get to some of our wrestlers who
have never wrestled in front of more
than 500 people," said Michigan star
Mark Churella.
"I don't like what the fans do at Le-
high," commented Johannesen. "They
throw things at the wrestlers andospit
it's really a sad sight."
Another sad sight could be the per-
formance of the Wolverines. Besides
having injuries at almost every weight,
the team's morale is low due to their
crippled status and losses to Rhode
Island and Michigan State. Johan-
nesen's goal is to get through the Le-
high meet and the Penn State Invita-
tional so he can bring his team back
home to rest up for the Big Ten season
which starts after vacation.
"Wrestling in the Pit could be em-
barrassing for our team, but I'm more
concerned about the team's health. If
we could just be respectable, I'd be sat-
isfied."
Pockin9
12 game stretch!.
... crucial to icers
By ERROL SHIFMAN
I don't want to alarm anyone but the time has come to see just what
Michigan's hockey team is made of.
With one third of the WCHA season in the record books, it is the next
third which will determine the icers' finish in the conference.
On tap for the Wolverines during this stretch are eight games out of
twelve on the road. Included in these crucial games are four meetings with
defending NCAA champion Wisconsin (including a home series with the
Badgers this weekend) and road trips to league leading Denver, Michigan
Tech and Minnesota.
The beginning of this important span, the home series against the
Badgers, could be the most importantseries of the season. The WCHA race
is currently shaping into a three team tussle with Denver on, top (9-1),
followed by Wisconsin (8-2) and Michigan (7-3).
With a sweep, the Wolverines could be on their way to a league title
and the momentumshould carry them through their tough road schedule.
Even a split with the Badgers would keep the Blue icers in the running. A
double loss at the hands of the Badgers, however . . . "If we lose two,"
warned Michigan assistant coach Doug Hinton, "we'll have a tough time
makin& it a three team race."
It is taken for granted that Wisconsin and Denver will be winning at
home while the Wolverines are on the road. Both the Pioneers and the
Badgers are at home for eight of the 12 game term and have the advantage
of only having to face each other twice this season.
Coach Dan Farrell would like his team to be at least 10-4 going into the
Christmas break. That includes a sweep of Wisconsin this weekend. Farrell
also feels that it is necessary to come out of the Wisconsin and Minnesota
road games with a split. At worst, Farrell says, Michigan should be no
farther than four games back going into the last third of the season.
More important than just winning on the road, though, is the team's
attitude and gumption. No matter how it comes out of these twelve games,
,he way the Michigan icers pull together to fight the pressure will give an
indication as to how far this team can really go.
Last year's Michigan squad rebounded from a seven game losing streak
with a rousing 12 game victory string giving them the momentum to fight
into the NCAA finals. But maybe the seven game losing streak was a
preview that the team just didn't have what it takes to be- the NCAA
champion.
This twelve game stretch is a perfect time for the Blue icers to crack,
if they're going to. However, if Michigan can stay in the race through this
next third of the campaign, the schedule is in its favor as the season comes
down to the wire. Michigan plays five of. its last six games and seven of
its last ten at home. Denver must play seven of its last ten in foreign ter-
ritory and Wisconsin has to travel to six of its last ten contests.
The pressure would then switch to Denver and Wisconsin. It would be
nice to send the Badgers home this weekend thinking about that pressure.
I
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DeDE ER'S
Diamond Trading Co.
Announces a,17% world in-
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effective Dec. 5,1977.
CURRENT DIAMOND
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WILL REMAIN
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Air Force ROTC CAPTAIN TERRY LUETTINGER 156 North Hall
764-2403 University of Michigan
Air Force ROTC-Gateway to a Great Way of Life
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