4 Women's Swimming vs. Iowa Friday, 7 p.m. Matt Mann PoolS The Michigan Daily Wednesday, November 20, 1985 BAHR RETURNS FOR EIGHTH SEASON AT HELM Grapplers hope to pm opposition Women's Basketball vs. Holy Cross Monday, 7:30 p.m. Crisler Arena Page 8 By SCOTT SHAFFER While the entire campus is talking about the possibility of a national championship for the Wolverine foot- ball or basketball teams, the wrestling team is quietly beginning its season firmly established among the top ten teams in the nation. Presently ranked sixth, the Wolverine wrestling squad is coming off a 17-2 season that was highlighted by a fifth place finish in the NCAA tournament. The team is coached by Dale Bahr, who is entering his eight season at Michigan with a .595 win- ning percentage. DESPITE the graduation of four- time All-American Joe McFarland, now an assistant coach, the team should remain strong because Bahr has recruited an excellent crop of freshmen to add to his roster. The Amateur Wrestling News ranked Michigan's recruits sixth in the nation, but Bahr feels that they are even better than that. "Each of our freshman have the raw talent to become first class collegiate wrestlers," said Bahr. Besides the new faces, Bahr also has several nationally-ranked wrestlers returning. Three of them, Kirk Trost, Scott Rechsteiner, and John Fisher, are rated in the top five in their weight class. IN MOST conferences, the Wolverines would be given the inside track for the conference title. This is not the case in the Big Ten, however, where Iowa has dominated college wrestling more than any team in history, winning eight straight NCAA championships under Dan Gable. In fact, the last team other than Iowa to win it all was Iowa State in 1977, a team on which Bahr was an assistant coach. Bahr admits that his current team is an underdog to the Hawkeyes, but feels that the Wolverines can win the Big Ten tourney if "we nick Iowa at five or six positions and we get some help from other schools." After last weekend's Eastern Michigan Open (in which no team scores were kept), Bahr's lineup began to take shape. Here is a quick rundown of who will see action at each weight class for the Wolverines: " 118 - William Waters, ranked 11th in the nation, returns for his third year. "He has the abilities to be an All-American," Bahr said. "Look for him to have a big year." Bahr is also high on freshman Doug Wyland. " 126 - The post-McFarland era begins. "It was hard to recruit at this weight when Joe was around. No one wanted to sit behind him," said Bahr. Freshman John Moore will probably compete here. " 134 - John Fisher, voted Best Freshman in the Nation by Amateur Wrestling News, will challenge for the nation's top spot in this weight. Now ranked third, Bahr says of him, "John Fisher was to wrestling what Gary Grant was to basketball last year.'' " 142 - Senior Rickey Moore will be the main man here. Bahr wants more consistency from him. " 150 - Guy Russo moved up from 142 and appears to have the inside track based on his performance in Ypsilanti last week. Should he falter, Anthony Latora, last year's starter will reclaim his job. " 158 - Joe Pantaleo, a freshman, defeated the number two ranked wrestler in the country last weekend. Bahr feels he is a legitimate conten- der for Freshman of the Year. Michael Amine and Steve Richards round out what Bahr calls his most solid unit. " 167 - Senior Kevin Hill "looks outstanding" according to Bahr. Hill is ranked 13th and is a team leader in practice. " 177 - With Scott Rechsteiner moving up to 190, Bahr will go with a freshman, Hank Inderlied. "It's rare when a freshman wins in the Big Ten," said Bahr. " 190 - Rechsteiner, a co-captain and ranked fourth nationally heads up an extremely tough group that also features Jerry Curby and Bob Potokar. " Heavyweight - Kirk Trost is a senior and ranked number one in the country. Enough said. AP Top Twenty Record Pts. 1. Penn State (46) .......10-0-0 2. Nebraska (12) ..........9-1-0 3. Iowa ..................9-1-0 4. Miami, Fla.............8-1-0 5. Oklahoma (2)....... .7-1-0 6. MICHIGAN ...........8-1-1 7. Oklahoma State .......8-1-0 8. UCLA .................6-1-1 9. Florida ................8-1-1 10. Auburn ...............8-2-0 11. Brigham Young ......9-2-0 12. Ohio State ............8-2-0 13. Air Force ...........10-1-0 14. Florida State .........8-2-0 15. Baylor ...............8-2-0 16. Tennessee ............6-1-2 17. LSU ..................6-1-1 18. Arkansas .............8-2-0 19. Texas A&M ...........7-2-0 20. Georgia ...............7-2-1 1,180 1,122 1,020 1,011. 992 923 769 720 700 646 518 509 492 436 316 310 217 186 183 125 Daily Photo by MATT PETRIE Big things are expected from John Fisher (bottom), who as a freshman, helped Michigan in Gary Grant-like fashion to a fifth-place finish nationally. ahI-less S pikers derail By DEBBIE deFRANCES Playing the top two teams in the conference is a tough feat, especially for the volleyball team, which is ranked eighth in the Big Ten. But what made the task even more difficult was that the Wolverines were missing one of their starting six, cap- tain Lisa Vahi, they played both teams on the road, and they had to face one right after another. "THAT WAS definitely the toughest roadtrip we've had all year," said head coach Barb Canning. "The best teams - we weren't able to do much against them." Michigan took on the number one Boilermakers Friday night and lost the battle in three games, 15-12, 15-11, 15-4. Senior Andrea Williams thought that Michigan played a fairly com- petitive match. "The Purdue game was really close," Williams said.e"We were up a few times, we gave them a good fight. They were sweating." SATURDAY, however, it was a completelydifferent story. Canning said her team's 15-3, 15-8, 15-3 loss to the Fighting Illini was the best effort they could pull together. "They were a really strong team," Canning added. "They just really overpowered us. There wasn't much we could do at all." The Wolverines ever-changing star- ting six just could have been the root of the reason why they "couldn't do anything." One change was the ad- dition of Karen Kunzelman, who after being injured for close to three weeks, was back in the starting lineup. That was good. But, the bad part was that the Wolverines were without a key slaver. Vahi. "LISA SPRAINED her ankle," Williams said. "Purdue was so close that it could have made the differen- ce."a Canning seems to disagree somewhat saying that the Wolverines, who are now 15-17, 4-11 in the con- ference, still would have had a great struggle. "I think Lisa would have made some difference in our playing, but it's hard to say," said Canning. "Those teams (Purdue, Illinois) are just very, very strong." And that strength is what keeps the Illini and the Boilermakers at the top of the net and the top of the race for the Big Ten title. GRIDDE PICKS He's back! Keith Byars has been given clearance to play Saturday, ac- cording to Buckeye boss Earle Bruce. And plainclothes Griddes men have uncovered the medical secret of Keith's recuperation. Byars' mom says he has been consuming lots of long-distance-delivery Pizza Express Pizza and healthy quantities of drinks "in anticipation of a big victory." This is Keith's last chance to win. On Friday, the gorgeous green Grid- des ballot box will be retired for the season. "THE WEEK" 1. Our THE GAME Ohio State at MICHIGAN (Pick total points) 2. The oldest THE GAME Lafayette at Lehigh 3. First called THE GAME Cal at Stanford 4. Big Eight's THE GAME Nebraska at Oklahoma 5. Los Angeles's THE GAME UCLA at USC 6. Ivy League's THE GAME Harvard at Yale 7. Illinois's THE GAME Illinois at Northwestern 8. Indiana's THE GAME Purdue at Indiana 9. Pennsylvania's THE GAME Penn State at Pitt 10. Washington's THE GAME Washington State at Washington 11. Arizona's THE GAME Arizona at Arizona State 12. Oregon's THE GAME Oregon State at Oregon 13. South Carolina's THE GAME Clemson at South Carolina 14. North Carolina's THE GAME Duke at North Carolina 15. Mississippi's THE GAME Miss. State vs. Ole Miss at Jackson 16. Utah's THE GAME 1 Utah at BYU 17. Michigan's Minor-League THE GAME Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan 18. Dairy Farming's THE GAME Michigan State at Wisconsin 19. Pig Farmer's THE GAME Minnesota at Iowa 20. Newspapers' THE GAME Ohio State Lanterns at DAILY LIBELS SCORES NBA New York 98, washington 94 Golden State 110, Cleveland 104 NHL Vancouver 7, Detroit 5 Snap Judgements By MIKE REDSTONE Loren zo's yardage . .* *compliment to M' defense I saw something that brought a big smile to my face in one of the Detroit papers last week. It was a diagram called, "The White Paper," charting the weekly performances of Michigan State tailback Lorenzo White. Glancing over that chart, I realized that White is surely the best runner in the Big Ten, and maybe even in the nation. I look down the "total yards" column and saw performances of 226, 244, and 286 yards in one game. In fact, White has rushed for over 100 yards and has scored at least 4 one touchdown in every game he has played - except, of course, for one. You guessed it, White's only sub-100 yard game of the season was on October 12 against Michigan. White did not cross the goal line in that con- test either. You know, that two digit number just looked fabulous sitting there. The chart not only showed what an awesome back White is, but it also illustrated in plain black and white the true quality of the Wolverine defense. That 47 in the "total yards" column looked terribly out of place because all the other numbers had three digits in them. Everyone knows Michigan's defense stats by now: three TD's allowed all season, an average of 5.8 points given up per game, 40 quarterback sacks, and 19 interceptions. Fairly impressive. But still, Michigan coach Bo Schembechler has refused to call this his best defensive unit ever. After his team pounded Purdue 47-0 two weeks ago, Schembechler said that it would be unrealistic to think that Michigan's defense could continue such domination of Big Ten offenses. Well Bo, judging from Saturday's 48-7 rout of Minnesota, I guess we're living in the land of make-believe. In fact, this defense is so solid that it has six starters who are deserving of All-Big Ten honors. Six of the best 11 defensive players in the conferen- ce come from Michigan. Another fairly impressive fact. Let's start this list with a man who hasn't received much press this 4 season - linebacker Andy Moeller. This guy hasn't gotten much atten- tion, but he is quietly leading the team in tackles with 116. Then there's the heart of the defensive line, tackles Mike Hammerstein and Mark Messner. These two 260 pounders have been terrorizing op- posing defenses all season. Hammerstein, a Lombardi Trophy finalist and likely All-American, leads the Big Ten with 21 tackles for losses. Messner leads all Michigan defenders with 10 quarterback sacks for 85 yards. Anchoring the Wolverine defensive backfield are a pair of sparkling performers - Brad Cochran and Garland Rivers. Rivers is fourth on the team in tackles, has recovered a fumble,and returned an interception for a touchdown against Wisconsin. 4 Cochran, a pre-season All-American, may not gain that status because opposing teams have not thrown in his direction this season. But the Big Ten coaches who show their respect for the fifth-year senior by not throwing his way are the same ones who vote for all-conference perfor- mers. In other words, Cochran has a lock on the All-Big Ten race. Michigan's other All-American candidate, linebacker Mike Mallory, is living up to his pre-season billing as the core of the Wolverines' rock-hard defense. Despite missing two games with various injuries, the DeKalb, Ill. native is second on the team with 85 tackles. Those six players should make the All-Big Ten team but I haven't men- tioned several other key performers. Middle guard Billy Harris, linebacker Jeff Akers, and safeties Tony Gant and Ivan Hicks have each played exceptionally well this year. Now I don't know if this is the best defense Schembechler has ever coached at Michigan. When Bo came to Ann Arbor in 1969 I was only five years old, so I didn't really follow some of those great teams of the 70's too closely. But this is without a doubt the most explosive defense I have ever seen at Michigan. If Michigan can hold Ohio State's top runner (whether it is Keith Byars or John Woolridge) to double digits in the rushing column and the OSU team to a single digit in the scoring column, I think we will hear Bo finally say that this is the best defense he has ever assembled. I would love to hear it. Maybe during this time next week the Detroit papers will be running 4 "Michigan Department of Defense Briefs." Bruce clarifies explanation about suspended players COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio State foot- ball coach Earle Bruce has publicly apologized for unclear answers he gave at a news conference about suspended players Rory Graves and Terry White. The apology came in the form of a letter to Columus Dispatch sports editor George Strode, who asked Bruce on Monday why the coach did not completely answer questions about the two players after the Buckeye's 12-7 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. Graves, a senior offensive tackle from Decatur, Ga., and White, a sophmore defensive tackle from Cambridge, Ohio, did not play in th4 game. Reporters asked Bruce after the game what was wrong with White. According to a tape recording of the session published by The Dispatch, Bruce responded: "Well, we had a few injuries such as (Eric) Kumerow. We had the flu and the virus--Thomas Johnson and a few of them." He also said Graves "had the same problem. He was under the weather." About 24 hours after the game, Bruce issued a statement that Graves and White had been suspended for breaking team regulations. He did not say what rule they broke. The University Activities Center's Impact Jazz Dance Company offers free dance workshops, open to all interested, every Wednesday in the Michigan Union Ballroom from 7-8:30 p.m. For more information, call 763-1107 Williams "a good fight" Big Ten Statistics Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3 TOTAL OFFENSE say.. DISCOUNT UFLERS AMERICAN AND FOREIGN CAR SPECIALIST FROM AS * FITS MANY Installed by LOW AS... SMALL CARS Tnsta d b AT A 1' s What's H appening Iowa .............. Purdue.......... MICHIGAN ....... Ohio State........ Illinois .......... Minnesota ....... Mich. State ........ Indiana......... Wisconsin ......... Northwestern ..... G 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 Plys Yds TDs 505 3141 27 472 2864 19 475 2775 23 475 2771 26 S59 2771 19 493 2761 19 482 2602 23 504 2366 14 471 2054 13 482 1779 7 Yds-G 44, 409 396 395 395 394 372 338 293 254 Yds-G 248 330 337 OhioState......... 7 509 Wisconsin ......... 7 486 Mich. State ........ 7 513 Illinois.............7 479 Purdue............ 7 536 Northwestern.. 7 462 Indiana........... 7U 524 RUSHING 2488 256 2612 2705 2965 2071 2072 15 19 18 24 27 28 26 355 367 373 386 423 438W 439 TOTAL DEFENSE White, MsU............. Harmon, Iowa ............. Howard, Ind............... Emery, Wis ............. MORRIS. MICH........ Woolridge, OSU.......... Rooks, Ill.................. Baylor, Minn.............. Cooper,OSU............... Davenport, NU......... G Att Yds Avg TD 7 246 1247 5 13 7 146 783 5 4 7 135 712 5 4 7 148 700 5 3 7 110 555 5 2 7 84 458 6 5 7 84 431 5 3 7 71 414 6 3 7 80 412 5 1 7 98 375 4 2 Recreational Sports CROSS-COUNTRY SKI EQUIPMENT MICHIGAN,...... Iowa .............. Minnesota ......... G 7 7 7 Plys 443 485 481 Yds 1735 2308 2361 TDs 3 12 18 f I .. al