12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 10, 1995

Grapplers gear up for Big Ten foes.

By Tim Smith
Daily Sports Writer
For the Michigan wrestling team,
there have been a lot of highs and
lows in the 1994-1995 season.
There was the match in December
when the then No. 11 Wolverines fell
to No. 21 Illinois on a pin in overtime
of the heavyweight match.
Then in January, the No. 17 Wol-
verines (4-2 Big Ten, 6-3 overall)
upset No.6 Michigan State and No. 4
Penn State in a span of four days.
Last weekend, when Michigan
took a depleted lineup to Purdue and
Indiana on the same day, it saw both
ends of the spectrum as it came away
with a 1-1 record.
Although the Wolverines have
been somewhat inconsistent this year,
they will need a tremendous effort
when they host Minnesota tomorrow
and travel to Columbus to take on
Ohio State Sunday.
Tomorrow, the Wolverines host a
Golden Gopher squad that is ranked
sixth in the nation.
"They're the second best team in
the conference - no question,"
Michigan coach Dale Bahr said.
"They're going to be tough."
Tough may indeed be the word to

describe the conference's second best
team. While Iowa is entrenched at
No. 1 in both the conference and in
the country, Minnesota (4-1,14-3) has
proven that the conference has more
than one team to contend with.
This season, most teams have had
a hard time taking one match from the
Hawkeyes, but the Golden Gophers
surprisingly took four matches in a
24-12 loss on Jan. 28.
Minnesota boasts No. 5 heavy-
weight Billy Pierce, No.2 Zak Taylor
at 167 pounds and No. 2 Brett
Colombini at 177 pounds in its im-
pressive lineup.
While the Wolverines' strength is
usually at these heavier weights, they
may have problems tomorrow with-
out 177 pound All-American Jesse
Rawls, Jr. who went down two weeks
ago with an injury. Last weekend,
Bahr moved Jeff Catrabone and Chad
Biggert up in weight to compensate
for Rawls' loss. However, this week-
end he will use inexperienced Eric
Zimmerman at in the 177-pound class.
"I don't want to wrestle them out
of their weight class consistently,"
said Bahr of Catrabone and Biggert.
"(Zimmerman) has to battle
(Colombini) the best he can and keep

the score down.
"If you can't beat the guy, the best
thing to do is to keep it to a three-point
loss or a major decision, but don't get
pinned."
If Michigan has any chance of
upsetting the Golden Gophers, it will
have to get some help from the lower
weight classes. Previously, they have
tended to put the end of the line under
pressure.
"We're going to need a full team
contribution," Biggert said. "Some of
our younger guys are going to have to
come together and pull off some up-
sets. We're going to have to split a
few in the lower weight classes."
Michigan will also have to put up
a respectable effort on Sunday when
the Wolverines travel to Columbus to
take on Ohio State (2-4, 14-8).
While theBuckeyes aren'texpected
to be as tough as Minnesota, they are
definitely not going to be pushovers.
"Ohio State is kind of like us,"
Bahr said. "They have some good
guys, and they have some holes. We
match up well against them."
Some of the "good guys" that the
Wolverines will have to look out for
are No. 7 Eric Smith at 158 pounds
and No. 12 Stan Banks at 177 pounds.

KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily

The Michigan wrestling team has a full weekend, hosting Minnesota tomorrow and visiting Ohio State Sunday. The
GQlden Gophers are in second place in the Big Ten, making Saturday's meet an important one for the Wolverines.
Wolverines prepare for Big Tens

Quadrangle meet last
By Eugene Bowen
Ddily Sports Writer
The sands of time are slowly
trickling away for the Michigan
women's track team and for many
other Big Ten 'schools.
Michigan will host the Indoor
Track and Field Big Ten Champi-
onships three weeks from tomor-
row, but Wolverine coach James
Henry's efforts are targeted for this
weekend's meet.
The quadrangle meet held at
Michigan State will, in the words of
'Henry, "be our final major meet
before the Big Tens."
The Spartans, Notre Dame and
Penn State will be the only other
teams competing against the Wol-
verines.
Michigan has already faced the
Spartans at the Michigan Intercol-
legiate and the Meyo Invitational.
The Wolverines also faced the Irish
at the Meyo Invitational.
This weekend will mark the first
competitive meet between the Wol-
verines and the Nittany Lions.
"(Competing with Penn State)
will give us a chance to see someone
new," Henry said. "We're looking
forward to matching up with their
middle-distance runners and their
jumpers."M
Some Michigan runners will use

test of the regular season for women's track

~This is a young
team, and we're
still trying to find
ourselves and find
who our consistent
runners will be".
- James Henry
Women's track coach
the quad meet to nurse some track-
and-field blues. Foremost should be
sophomore Lamika Harper.
"I'm very unhappy," she said.
"My first-meet jitters are now be-
coming my first-season jitters. I go
out, and I call myself giving 110
percent, but I'm not getting the re-
sults I want.
"It's all mental. I'm physically
fit, but I'm not mentally fit."
Henry notes that Harper's dis-
tress is not unique.
The greatest difference between
this season's team and last season's
Big Ten championship team is the
loss of so many high-scoring se-
niors and the addition of many fresh-
men.
"The majority of the team is not

pleased with their performances,"
Henry said."That concerns us, but
at the same time it reassures me that
they realize that they have their work
cut out for them.
"This is a young team, and we're
still trying to find ourselves and
find who our consistent runners will
be."
Another potentially damaging
situation involves the team's star
freshman, Tania Longe. She suffers
from a minor injury to the outside of
her right knee.
"We're being overly cautious so
that we won't push her too much too
soon," Henry said.
Junior Denise James will run the
600 meters this weekend in her first
meet away from home this competi-
tive season.
"I'm looking forward to running
on a new track," she said. "Hope-
fully, a change in scenery will do
me some good."
High jumper Monika Black has
big plans for the upcoming meet.
Black jumped six feet for her first
time at the Wolverines' inaugural
meet of the season.
She has been unable to repeat
that feat throughout the season, but
plans on achieving it this weekend.
"That's my goal," she said. "I'm
going to get six feet again."

i

t

-- ----- --- . :...
- TONYABROAD /Daily
Monika Black looks to repeat her personal best of six feet in the high jump in the quadrangle meet. AA
Spikers find motiVation for tourney

I

By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Writer
Losses to great teams are often
viewed in hindsight as a key towards a
championship drive.
The Michigan men's volleyball team
learned this lesson last weekend, before
losing in the semifinals to eventual
champion, Cal-State Sacramento, in the
Collegiate Classic Tournament.
The Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 7-3
overall), nevertheless, will try to use
their solid effort in the tournament to

motivate themselves going into the
North-South Tournament tomorrow in
Lexington, Ky.
The two losses to Sacramento, one
on Friday, and the other in the Classic,
weren't regarded in the same way as
other losses this season. It was evident
how superior Sacramento was not only
to Michigan, but to the other teams in
the field.
"We proved to ourselves that we are
capable of playing with the best," Michi-
gan coach Jennifer Slosar said. "The

scores didn't reflect how well we
played."
Tomorrow's tournament in Lexing-
ton will give Michigan national expo-
sure and a chance to see a group of
opponents vastly different from those
of last weekend, which were primarily
Midwestern schools.
"The North-South is a good tour-
nament because we get to see a lot
of teams from the South, like Florida
and Tennessee, and a lot of teams
that we don't usually see except for
the nationals," captain Stan Lee said.,
"It's good for our placement in the
nationals, also."
Outside hitter Ernesto Rodriguez
is questionable for this weekend
after re-aggravating a shoulder in-
jury in the Classic. Due to his injury
Rodriguez was moved to setter in
the Classic.
"Being able to move Ernesto to
the setting position really adds di-
mension to our unit," Slosar said.

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