Women's Basketball
vs. Illinois
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Crisler Arena
S
'TS
Hockey
vs. Bowling Green
Friday, 7 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
Richardson gaming
respect at heavyweight
By DANIELLE RUMORE
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan-Penn State wrestling
meet Sunday at Cliff Keen Arena
proved to be more than just another
conference victory for the Wolverines.
After all, the Nittany Lions were
the No.4 team in the country, with four
wrestlers ranked in the top 10 of their
respective weight
classes.
Michigan re-
ceived a big con-
tribution from
Sheavyweight
A i r r o n
Richardson. De-
spite losing to No.
1 Kerry McCoy,
Richardson was
able to avoid apin
Richardson to secure the up-
set victory for the
Wolverines.
"Airron will develop into one of the
real goodheavyweightsfor Michigan,"
coach Dale Bahr said. "He's knocking
at the door to get in that top 15 (in the
nation)."
After individual losses to Illinois
and Lehigh, Richardson wrestled im-
pressively against Michigan State and
PennState.
The heavyweight wrestlers are the
last to compete iq dual meets. In four
of six dual meets this season,
Richardson's match has decided the
outcome for the team.
Against Illinois, Michigan trailed
after the 150-pound weight class, 14-
3. The Wolverines won the next four
divisions to take a 16-14 lead.
It was up to Richardson to hold the
lead.
He lost, 2-1 in overtime, and
Michigan dropped its conference
opener, 17-16.
Against Lehigh, the Wolverines
dropped the first five weight classes
and trailed, 15-0. Michigan, however,
won the next fourdivisions to close the
gap to 15-13 going into the heavy-
weight division.
Richardson dropped that decision,
3-2, to No. 10 Bill Clossom. After the
defeat, which eerily mirrored his loss
against Illinois, critics began to point
fingers at Richardson.
"It'sjust too bad that's he's the last
guy (to wrestle); that he's the heavy-
weight and everyone says, 'Oh well,
Airron lost it for us'," Bahr said. "He
didn'tlose itforus. Welost it in thefirst
three or four matches."
Bahrhas stressed all season that the
lower weightclasses are weak and need
to improve. This weakness was evident
in the losses to Illinois and Lehigh.
In both cases, the early deficits were
almost too difficult for the Wolverines
to overcome. The pressure this put on
Richardson, who only a year ago was
playing football at Morehouse State,
was too much to ask.
After the two losses, something
changed at intrastate rival Michigan
State. In front of a crowd of 2,317, the
meet once again came down to the
heavyweight division. If Richardson
were to hold off his opponent, the
Wolverines would win. If not, they
would lose - again.
Richardson not only faced the pres-
sure of clinching the victory, but of
wrestling in frontofthe large crowd and
againstBrianPicklo. Richardson pinned
Picklo 48 seconds into the match, se-
curing the victory and, in the process,
silencing those who doubted him.
The Penn State match proved to
be his crowning moment. With
Michigan leading, 17-12,
Richardson faced McCoy. Despite
the fact that Richardson lost, 8-2, he
was in fact a "winner" because he
avoided the pin the Nittany Lions
needed to win the meet.
With one minute remaining in the
first period of the match, McCoy had
Richardson inches from a pin and it
appeared that Penn State had the vic-
tory.
Richardson fought through the
pin, ensuring the Wolverines' upset
win.
"He wrestled a guy who won his
last 68 matches inarow-(McCoy is)
the defending NCAA champion," Bahr
said. "If we getpinned, we lose. Airron
didn't wrestle last year - he played
football - and so for him to stay as
tight as he did on the guy, I think
showed a lot of character on his part."
"Airron's a good wrestler and he
showed a lot of maturity (in the
match with McCoy)," teammate
Jesse Rawls, Jr. said. "I think in the
next year, he'll be able to go toe to
toe with that guy."
AP PHOTO
ory over
son
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK:
Blue prevents Henson
from achieving 400th*
By RYAN WHITE "I just got three good, open looks at
Daily Basketball writer the basket," Fife said simply.
Tuesday night's, 69-59, loss to the You JUST COTA BELIEVE: What's
Michigan basketball team was, simply the bigget reason for Michigan's turn-
put, a bad night all around for Illinois. around at this point in the season?
The loss cost the Fightng Illini sole According to Wolverine coach Steve
possesion of first place in the Big Ten. Fisher, it may just be confidence.
It also prevented Illinois from going 5- "The last two games, I've gotten a
0 in the conference for the first time comfort level with our team," Fisher
ever and ended an Illini 13-game home said. "In addition to winning, you get
winning streak. the feeling that your team is believing
Additionally, Illinois coach Lou in one another and themselves, and
Henson came into the game with 399 what we're trying to do."
victories while at Illinois. He'll have to RECRUITING: Chicago Faragut se-
wait at leastone more game to reach the nior Kevin Garnett attended Tuesday
400 win milestone. night's game against Illinois. Garnett,
On the other side of the ball, it was considered by many to be the top high
a great night for Michigan. The Wol- school player in the country, is being
verines have now won three straight recruited by Michigan.
games for the first time this season, and TheWolverines have already landed
the victory over the Illini extended two top-notch recruits-AlbertWhite
Michigan's winning streak against the from Inkster and LouisBullock,aguard
Illini to seven games. Illinois hasn't from Maryland, said to be the best prep
beaten the Wolverines since Feb. 28, 3-point shooter in the country. Both
1991. signed during the NCAA's early sign-
FiFE ON FRE: Junior guard Dugan ing period in November.
Fife had his best offensive game of the UP NEXT: The Wolverines face
season against the Illini. Fife scored Michigan State Sunday atCrislerArena.
nine points, all within 1:30 in the sec- Shawn Respert, this week's Big Ten
ond half, on three straight three-point- Player of the Week, leads the Spartans.
ers. Going into the game, Fife had hit Respert scored a combined 68 points in
only seven three-pointers all season. the Spartans two previous conference
What prompted his offensive out- games before lastnight's contestagainst
burst? Northwestern.
SWIMMING NOTEBOOK
Women lose by two to Stanford
When the nation's top two women's swimming teams collided in Palo Alto,
Calif., last weekend, there was no doubt that waves would be made. The meet was
decided by the final touch of the "B" relays of the final race. The final score was
set at Stanford 150, Michigan 146. Or so the teams thought.
Hours later, Michigan head coach Jim Richardson found a one-point error
in the score. It seems that there was a miscalculation in the 100-yard breastroke
on the Cardinal's side. Later another mistake was found on the Wolverines' side, .
changing the final score to 149-147.
The cause of the mistake can be attributed to the weather. A cold, steady rain
caused the timing system to fail and forced the officials to do everything
manually. No computers could be used to calculate the score, leading to a human
miscalculation.
"It's inconsequential, it just looks nicer that it was a two-point meet,"
Richardson said. "The most important thing that comes out of that is that on that
day, the difference between No. I and No. 2 in No. I's home pool wasn't very
much."
BUENAS sUERTE: All-American diver Carrie Zarse has opted to forego thee
March NCAA championships in favor of attending the Pan-American Games in
Argentina. Zarse qualified in the one-meter diving competition after a top two
performance in last August's national competition.
"I had to make a decision that was best for me," Zarse said. "If I would have
turned down the Pan-Am games, I would have lived for that for the rest of my life
and it is something that will never come along again."
- Rebecca Moatz
Senior Jimmy King goes after the loose ball in Michigan's 69-59 vict
Illinois, Tuesday. The Wolverine win prevented Illinois coach Lou Hen
from reaching his 400th career victory.
M' gymnasts hope for
improvement vs. Broncos
CA $4
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Council Travel
1220 S. University Dr.
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998.0200
Call r st y for availability, pices
and other Sprin Brealidestinations
By JULIE KEATIN
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, the N
men's gymnastics team v
the home field advantage
competes against Wester
gan.
The Wolverines have
Broncos only once this se,
weekend at the Windy Cit
tional.
Western Michigan fir
seventh place, losing tor
by six points. The Wolveri
that they can win by a gre
gin at this weekend's mee
"What we want to do
prove our score as best
Michigan coach Bob Dard
One way to boost the s
be to stay on the pomm
the apparatus that gave
'We have to get b
to the frame of m
we had two years
when we won the
Ten Championshil
the pommel hors
-Bob D
Men's gymn
G The Wolverines are expecting to
have no problem with the other five
Michigan events.
will have Due to the fact that Michigan has
when it 14 capable members for only 12
n Michi- spots, the lineup is in question.
The Wolverines hope that fresh-
met the man Justin Semion, who fared well
ason, last in his first meet last weekend, can
ty Invita- repeat his excellent performance on
vault.
nished in Teammate Kris Klinger is also
Michigan expected to turn in a strong showing
ines hope on the high bar and the vault.
ater mar- Michigan should see strong op-
t. position from Western Michigan's
is to im- Brian Franson.
we can," Franson is a key performer for
Jen said. the Broncos, specializing in rings
core will and the vault.
el horse, The Wolverines will definitely
the team have to utilize the depth of the team
to keep Franson from coining out on.
)ack top in the all-around competition.
"Brian Franson is an excellent
ind performer with outstanding scores,"
Darden said, reflecting on Franson's
ago winning performance last weekend
Big at Windy City.
One of Michigan's strong
p on points is technique, something that
e.' it has practiced long and hard.
The team will have to stick its
~arden landings, which are consistently
astiCS ranked highly in difficulty, and keep
to its routines.
CoaCh "The team just needs to go in
with the usual intensity," Klinger
said.
MEN:
Up until a week ago, most people who knew anything about NCAA swim-
ming would have said that Michigan was a shoo-in to win the national champi-
onship in March.
The Wolverines finished No. 3 last year and spanked this year's No. 3 team,
Texas, early in the season, by a score of 169.5-73.5. When Texas then went on
to beat No. 2 Stanford, it looked like Michigan would have little competition
standing in its way.
But surprisingly, the Wolverines showed up to their annual grudge-match with
Stanford looking sluggish, allowing the Cardinal to capture a 134-109 victory.
Besides putting a blemish on Michigan's season, Stanford's victory is likely
to confuse the pollsters even more than usual.
"This dual meet didn't really matter to the outcome of NCAAs," freshman
Jason Lancaster said. "We came off of that learning a lot, knowing that it doesn't
matter, but knowing that we could do better. I think that loss was good for us
because it's not going to be easy."
Wor DOwN woLvEs: While most athletic teams carefully plan out their practices
in an effort to be well rested for competition, Michigan's swimming team maintains a
high level of intensity throughoutmostof the season.Despite whatmany would consider
to be the match-up of the year in the Wolverines' meet with Stanford, head coach Jon
Urbanchek had his team swimming right up to the big event.
"We had a real tough workout tonight," sophomore Tom Dolan said the night
before leaving for California. "We just got back from a good, hard training camp.
Physically, we're not ready." .
"If you have a meet, it's a break from training," senior Marcel Wouda said.
"You give an honest effort, but it's different. It's not training."
- Dan McKenzie
the most trouble at last weekend's
meet.
"We have to get back to the frame
of mind we had two years ago when
we won the Big Ten Championship
on the pommel horse," Darden said.
Michigan can better its score by
almost two points if it competes
successfully on the pommel horse.
Getting the best score will be the
Wolverines' top priority this week-
end, as they hope to improve their
record against a relatively weak
Western Michigan squad.
"Hopefully after this meet, Iowa
and Ohio State will realize that we
are a team in contention," Klinger
said.
II
LUNAR
New Year
Celebration
{
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January 20th
nion Ballroom
The Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives
is now taking applications for
Student Program Hosts
positions for the King/Chavez/Parks
College Day Spring Visitation Program
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