CC HERE FOR SECOND PLACE DUEL: Michigan resumes WCIIA battle By GARY LEVY Their non-league schedule completed, the Mich- tgan icers get down to WCHA business tonight when they face Colorado College in a crucial weekend series at Yost Ice Arena. The icers made mincemeat of their non-league schedule opponents, posting a 9-1 record, but life has been a bit tougher in conference play where the Wolverines have skated to a 6-4 mark, good for third place in the WCHA standings. THIS WEEKEND'S games pit Michigan against the second place Tigers (12-8; 10-6 WCHA) in a battle or the number two position, a notch behind first ace North Dakota. And both coaches realize the significance of the series. "It's definitely the most important series of the season for us," said Michigan coach Dan Farrell. "If we can win, we go into second place." - "This weekend is an important series for us," said CC coach Jeff Sauer, whose Tigers are coming off two straight defeats. "We'll have to regroup and get ready for Michigan. We know they're greatly im- proved and will be tough for us on the road." THE LATTER COMMENT might be considered an understatement since the Michigan icers have yet to lose at friendly Yost this season, being victorious in 11 consecutive contests. "It's always more difficult for the visiting team," said Farrell. "It's tough no matter what the home team's record." But Farrell is wary of the second place Tigers. "They've been playing well lately, so they'll be coming in with a lot of confidence," he said. "They've gotten pretty good balanced scoring between their lines all season long. We didn't have much balance before Christmas, but now we do." AN ADDED PLUS for Michigan, according to Farrell, is that his icers are free of injuries. "Right now, we're the healthiest we've been since training camp." The Wolverines enter the series with two straight wins over Boston College (7-2) and Princeton (4-1) and eight wins in their last 10 games. BLUE LINES: The Hampson brothers will invade Yost Arena for tke series between Michigan and CC. 1 ~ Junior left winger Gordie Hampson will ' be hosting his brothers Greg and Scott, both regulars in the Tigers' lineup. ...CentersMurray Eaves still leads the nation in scoring with 59 points in 20 Zahour if games (28-21-59). The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 11, 1980-Page 11 Stargell named AP Athlete of the Year NEW YORK (AP)-Willie Stargell, the patriarch in the Pittsburgh Pirates' "Family," was named Male Athlete of the Year for 1979 by The Associated Press yesterday. Stargell, named most valuable player in the Pirates' seven-game World Series victory over Baltimore, received 481/2 votes in nationwide balloting by sports writers and broadcasters. He easily outdistanced Sugar Ray Leonard, who won the World Boxing Council welterweight championship at the end of the year, and Sebastian Coe, the Englishmen who set three distance world track records in 42 days last summer. Leonard received 28 votes and Coe 24. Earlier, tennis star Tracy Austin was named Female Athlete of the Year. Stargell, 38 and in the autumn of a fabulous career, reached back for one more springtime in 1979 and carried the Pirates to the world championship. Through the pounding stretch drive of Septemer, when the Pirates were locked in a day-to-day battle for survival with Montreal in the National League East Division, Stargell steadied the team. He batted .281 for the season, hitting a club-high 32 home runs and driving in 82 runs, most of them crucial. As important as his tangible contributions were on the field, Stargell was perhaps more valuable in the clubhouse. He is captain of the Pirates and the team looks to him for leadership. He supplied it in large doses during the summer of 1979. v; : x :::: ::.....: ":?:.:".. .........L"Lv:$:},:J.:":.... . X{.}h "i ::"::: .: .+v:..} ;, C"'". v pne. % TUMBLERS FACE TOUGH WESTERN RIVALS Blue in gymnastics Rose Bow By LEE KATTERMAN What can you do in 12/z seconds? Sign * check - do your chemistry nomework - trip on a crack in the sidewalk? Senjor Jim Varilek, men's gyrm team captain, can use it to leap backwards itto the air, twist one and a half times while doing a one and three quarters somersault, land on his upper back and roll forward to a standing position. AND LIVE. That might be a little hard to visualize, so try to look at it this way. Using a pair of back handsprings to gain momentum, Varilek does more twisting and turning in less than two seconds than most of us manage during a whole night of bad dreams,. This floor exercise trick, known as a 1/z twisting back one-and-three (for the one and three quarter somersault), will be one of the big guns the Wolverine ,.ymnasts will unleash against its West ast competition this weekend. FOR THE first time in his thirty three years in Ann Arbor, Michigan mentor Newt Loken is taking his squad to California for a pair of meets with some of the best competition the West has to offer. "It's been years in the making," ex- plains Loken, adding that the trip finally became a reality when ichigan's West Coast hosts agreed to provide some needed/ financial assistance. "I feel tremendously ex- cited and privileged to make this trip." Tonight, the Wolverines will be in Berkeley, California, to face California, Oklahoma and LtSC. Saturday the ac- tion moves to Palo Alto for a meet with Stanford and UCLA. OKLAHOMA WAS NCAA runner-up last year and has recorded the second best team score in the nation (274.20) up to this point in the season (compared with Michigan's best score of 251.50 in the Windy City Invitational). Olympian Bart Conner, presumably rested after earning a gold medal on the parallel bars in last month's World Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, will lead the Sooners against Michigan. The other gymnastics superpower the Wolverines will face is UCLA. The most recent gymnastics coaches statistical report lists three Bruins with all-around totals greater than 55 points, or something over 9.1 on each of the six events. Loken noted that UCLA has a fourth all-arounder, a freshman, who is also likely to score above 55 points. While Loken admits his team will have its collective hands full against some of their competition this weekend, he thinks the Wolverines ought to have a few surprises of their ow. Besides Varilek's new move (already thrown successfully in the December 13 meet with Eastern Michigan), the pommel horse and high bar scores should show some improvement. SENIOR DORIAN Deaver, regaining eligibility this semester after picking up some needed credits, will strengthen the pommel horse total. A former Michigan prep pommel horse cham- pion, Deaver is a good bet to score near 9.0, based on past exhibition perfor- mances. On the high bar, the emergence of freshman Kevin McKee gives Loken the flexibility to rest Doug Zahour hasn't fully recovered from an ankle sprain. McKee, better known for his superlative tumbling, has respon- ded to Loken's urging by putting together a well-executed high bar routine for the Eastern Michigan meet, scoring an 8.7 to tie Zahour for first. Beyond these bright spots, the rest of the team appears excited about the West Coast trip andsLoken has ex- pressed his pleasure with its preparations over the semester break. As Deaver pointed out: "This is our gymnastics Rose Bowl." TUMBLING TALES: While twelve Wolverines take their West Coast "swings", assistant coach Nigel Roth- well is taking the second string to the Big Ten Invitational in East Lansing this weekend. WCHA STANDINGS North Dakota Colorado College MICHIGAN Michigan Tech Minnesota Wisconsin Notre Dame Minnesota-Duluth Michigan State Denver W 8 10 6 6 8 7 6 6 5 3 L 4 6 4 5 8 7 6 10 9 6 T 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 becond C/hncQdW IQB rnnouncc l A9ppeamnc of With Special Guest Sunday. January 20 - 8:00 p.m. also Monday, 21 Advance tickets Avatoble At: Schoolkids. Discount Records (South U. & State St.) Wherehouse Records (Ypsilanti & Ann Ar. bor). Recordland Briorwood & Second Chance 51Ci c~kl-bcr 1/-f11 4zr bor $10.00 _N A6 --M Join The Daily Sports Staff! Special TOIF Looking for an Alternative To Rock or Disco? WE HAVE IT! For a fun-filled evening of music, singing, and good time JoinThe HAPPY PEOPLEat BIMBO'S Ever FRIDAY and SATURDAY featuring "THE GASLIGHTERS" . . 5-7 P.M. Drinks 1/2 Price LIVE ENTERTAINMENT by: DICK L SIEGEL DOWNTOWN EZMEO s Dixie land and sing-a-long group 114 East Washington 611 Church One Block South of South U. r I K ? --77q Lr -~L7 -d. i -'ji U' L' m mmm 'I I Mo Hailer LSA Major Undergraduate Congratu/ates Our 2nd Semester Textbook Give-Away Winners! * You Can be a Winner Too! Enter the Textbook Give-Away Contest For Next Summer or Fall Semester- Winners Choice. tom Erickson Library Science Graduate Contest Starts Dec. 17-Winners receive their next semester's books free. 9 Text books DISCOUNTED 5% OFF Publisher's List Price. 0 Used Books DISCOUNTED 25% to 35% OFF Publisher's List Price. :I I Kathy taylor LSA Major Undergraduate " Special Book Rush Hours Wednesday 1/9-Friday 1/11 Sataurday 1/12 8:30 am to 8:30 pm 9:00 am to 5:00pm 1 7'nn n,+n4,8;-nnA nm :!I J I. ..)LJELJ 1 I/ 1.3 I & aIV EN E .. vv IJEU