16 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 13, 1994 'M' wrestlers given short break By Tim Smith Daily Sports Writer While most people will be enjoy- ing good food and a relaxing time throughout the holiday break, the Michigan wrestling team will have to cut its festivities a little short in order to get back to business. After a week off for the holidays, the Wolverines will be back in Ann Arbor December 27 to prepare for the annual Holiday Midlands Tournament held at Northwestern December29 and 30. The tournament, which attracts some of the best college teams in the country and some of the best non- collegiate wrestlers as well, will be a change of pace for the Wolverines who are used to an extended holiday break. "It will probably be the toughest tournament we will be in all year," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "It's the premier Christmas tournament in the country." The tournament may also help to keep the wrestlers sharp considering the winter layoff usually makes them come back to the mats a little rusty. "It's hard," junior Jesse Rawls Jr. said of the usual transition back to wrestling after break. "This will be the first time that we've wrestled over Christmas. But when we come back, we're usually flat when we don't wrestle over Christmas. "The Midlands will be a good tour- nament to go to. It's like a precursor for the nationals (in March). So ev- eryone will be real pumped up to wrestle because it's such a big tourna- ment." The Wolverines will bring two extra wrestlers, along with the normal lineup, in hopespof taking the colle- 'This will be the first time that we've wrestled over Christmas. But when we come back, we're usually flat when we don't wrestle over Christmas.' -Jesse Rawls Jr. Michigan wrestler giate title. If they seriously entertain thoughts of winning, however, the Wolverines need an improved per- formance from the lower weights. In Saturday's duel meet loss to Illinois, four of the five lower weights lost, leaving the pressure on the up- per weights to pull out the victory. "I'm disappointed," Bahr said of the lower weight classes. "I need to split with those four (matches). When I look back on that match, we've got to split those four because all the pressure is on (heavyweight Airron Richardson)." Richardson lost 2-1 in sudden- death overtime to let the Illini take the match 17-16 and the momentum the Wolverine upper-weights had gar- nered. "He told me, 'I made the classic mistake that all athletes make,"' Bahr said of Richardson, "'I wrestled not to lose instead of to win." Richardson, and the rest of the Wolverines, however, will have three weeks to recover from the loss and concentrate on trying to win the chal- lenging Midlands. "I don't think we'll be down," Rawls said of the teams attitude after the loss. "I think we'll just work a little harder to get ourselves back to- gether and get things turned around." And to do that, they must stay focused. "I use this (the tournament) as a motivating tool to keep them practic- ing over Christmas," Bahr said. "We'll practice hard this week but we'll break off a little bit on training. But we'll keep working. The main thing is to do well on final (exams) but keep condi- tioning." Four top prep teams to meet in Ann Arbor FROM STAFF REPORTS There will be some Michigan ties at this weekend's Ann Arbor Holiday Basketball Invitational. The showcase, Saturday at Hu- ron High School, will feature four of the state's top high school pro- grams. Game one, at 6 p.m., pits Detroit Cass Tech against Warren DeLaSalle. The second game sends Saginaw Buena Vista against Detroit Pershing around 8 p.m. Buena Vista is the defending Class B State Champion and fea- tures one of the top high school players in the country, Terrance Roberson. Roberson still has Michi- gan on his list of possible schools for next season. Pershing is tied to the Wolver- ines by the fact that freshman Willie Mitchell was on last season's squad that lost to Detroit Murray-Wright in the state championship game. Tickets for the games are $7 and can be purchased at Moe's Sporting Goods in Ann Arbor, Puffer Red record store in Ypsilanti or at the door the night of the games. JOE WET.RIA.TJ/aN The Michigan wrestling team will be spending a portion of their winter break in Northwestern at the Holiday Midlands Tournament. The 6 AMES - Rachel Brett Michael Chad *Maceo BACHMAN ORREST OSENBERG AFRAN TN Michigan vs. Colorado State Penn State vs. Oregon Ohio State vs. Alabama Wisconsin vs. Duke Illinois vs. East Carolina Nebraska vs. Miami Florida vs. Florida State Colorado vs. Notre Dame Arizona vs. Utah Kansas St. vs. Boston College Colorado State Penn State Alabama Wisconsin Illinois Miami Florida Colorado Arizona Boston College 4-5 69-37-3 Colorado State Penn State Alabama Duke Illinois Nebraska Florida Colorado Arizona Boston College 5-5 72-35-3 Michigan Penn State Alabama Wisconsin Illinois Miami Florida Colorado Utah Boston College, 3-7 67-40-3 Michigan Penn State Alabama Duke Illinois Nebraska Florida Colorado Utah Kansas State' 4-6 75-32-3 Michigan Penn State Alabama Wisconsin Illinois Nebraska Florida State Colorado Drop off picks at Daily sports desk on second floor of the Student Publications Building by 5 p.m. Today. Winner receives a $15 gift certificate to O'Sullivan's Eatery & Pub. Five entries per week. 1. Holiday: Michigan vs. Colorado State 2. Rose: Penn State vs. Oregon 3. Citrus: Ohio State vs. Alabama 4. Hall of Fame: Wisconsin vs. Duke 5. Liberty: Illinois vs. East Carolina 6. Orange: Nebraska vs. Miami 7. Sugar: Florida vs. Florida State 8. Fiesta: Colorado vs. Notre Dame 9. Peach: North Carolina State vs. Mississippi State 10. Cotton,: Texas Tech vs. Southern California 11. Freedom: Arizona vs. Utah 12. Independence: Texas Christian vs. Virginia 13. Gator: Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech 14. Sun: Texas vs. North Carolina 15. Copper: Oklahoma vs. Brigham Young 16. Alamo: Baylor vs. Washington State 17. Aloha: Kansas State vs. Boston College 18. Carquest: South Carolina vs. West Virginia 19. Las Vegas: Central Michigan vs. UNLV 20. Heritage: South Carolina State vs. Grambling Tiebreaker -Michigan vs. Colorado State Total Points: Name: Phone: + Last Week Overall *This week's guest selector is Michigan men's basketball player Maceo Baston. The selector three weeks ago was women's cross country coach Mike McGuire who picked six of 10 games correctly. U U ti SOMA S. Sftut Strmmt * d4moor Scutha iof Lbmrty -"SSa-'4Bo ammmm ==== I A I