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 N 0 C I C DeDE ER'S Diamond Trading Co. Announces a,17% world in- crease on Diamond prices effective Dec. 5,1977. CURRENT DIAMOND INVENTOR Y PRICES WILL REMAIN THE SAME I :4 :4 I I Air Force ROTC CAPTAIN TERRY LUETTINGER 156 North Hall 764-2403 University of Michigan Air Force ROTC-Gateway to a Great Way of Life AUSTIN DIAMOND 1 1203 S. University 063-7151 CO. .. .. ,... .."!. O !f 1 " Colorado reg. $60 Comfort Ski Jackets NOW $54.95 Moonlight Madness Sale (ONE DAY ONLY TILL 12 MIDNIGHT) Friday, December 2 " $5 off Colorado Comfort Parka w/hood t I (t1 t' ' , ; r , . . 9 ' !11Ix i ~ 1.,c; 7. w " $5 off any ski sweater " % off all Wool Ski Caps " Down' reg. $35 Vests by Sub Zero NOW $24.95 f irst down 30 213 S. 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