The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 5,_1996 - 13k Grapplers head to Vegas By Evan Braunstein Daily Sports Writer The Michigan wrestling team will travel to Las Vegas this weeked, but the wrestlers won't have much time to bet at the craps tables. The Las Vegas Classic is the Wolverines' first team tournament of the season, and they will spend most of the trip on the wrestling mats. The tournament includes almost 40 steams from around the country, and the Wolverines will have a chance to see how they stack up against the top teams in the NCAA. . "A lot of the best teams will be there, like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "But some conference teams, such as Ohio State and Wisconsin will also be there. We'll have an opportunity to wrestle most of the top western schools." Michigan is ranked ninth in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, and Bahr said the team will treat The Classic as an early-season NCAA tournament. "It's a lot like an NCAA tourna- ment because there are so many teams, and they will be running 10 to 12 mats," Bahr said. "(The wrestlers) can get a feel for what the tourna- ments will be like at the end of the season." Since this meet is a team scoring event, the Wolverines can only enter one wrestler per weight class. Bahr is sending a young lineup led by 167- pound junior Jeff Catrabone. Catrabone is ranked third in the nation at his weight class and will use the tournament as a preview of his competition for the NCAA cham- pionship. "Jeff hasn't had a close, competi- tive match yet this season," Bahr said. "I look for him to contend for the national title." Michigan's freshman clsas is ranked No. 4 in the nation, and Bahr has not wasted any time in getting his inexperienced wrestlers out on the mat. Seven underclassmen will wrestle in Vegas, four of them fresh- men. Damion Logan heads the class, wrestling at 126 pounds. Logan has lost only one match all season while capturing two tournament titles. The Classic will be Logan's first test against top western opponents. "I just want to shock somebody," he said. "I want to get my name men- tioned." Other freshmen attending the meet are Luiey Haddad, Otto Olson and Joe DeGain. Olson has also raised some eyebrows by puting together an 8-3 start this season, with one tournament title. "Otto has been impressive in the early tournaments," Bahr said. "The Las Vegas Classic will be a great opportunity for him to evaluate him- self." In addition to Catrabone, juniors Bill Lacure and Airron Richardson will provide some experience to get the Wolverines going. Both wrestlers are nationally ranked and will be vying for the national championship in their weight class at the end of the season. While this tournament does pro- vide the Wolverines with a chance to see some of their future competition, it does not have any major implica- tions. "You want to win," Lacure said. "But it is important not to let this tournament effect the end of your season." KRISTIN SCHAEFER/Daily Bill Lacure and the Michigan wrestling team travel to Nevada this weekend to compete in the Las Vegas Classic, which will be their first team tournament of the season. The ninth-ranked Wolverines have seven freshman wrestling in the classic. TUMBLERS Contfnued from Page 12A Langford and Kate Nellans, bring new vigor to an already young 1quad. Plocki said she is very excit- ed about this bunch. "I feel we have an excellent group r of freshmen that will push our upperclassmen for spots in the rota- tion," Plocki said. "They will improve the depth on our team and contribute heavily to our success." The women's gymnastics squad will compete in an intrasquad meet Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen rena. "Intrasquad opposition allows them to get a taste of what inter-col- legiate competition is like," Plocki said. "There is a lot of opposition after intrasquad, but we have one month to get prepared." Although winning an unprece- dented sixth consecutive Big Ten championship crown would be nice, Plocki doesn't let the pressure of vinning get to her team. "We try to make our meets fun and not too overwhelming," she said. "Staying focused on our goals and not worry about those things that we cannot control is important." Blue tankers look to dominate at Miami Invitational By Josh Kieinbaum Daily Sports Writer They have a 4-0 record. They've beaten three Big Ten foes. But as far as the members of the Michigan women's swim team are concerned, none of that is as important as the three-day Miami Invitation which begins tonight in Oxford, Ohio. The second-ranked Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) have to be the favorites to win this nine-team invitational, the first such meet of the season for them. The meet will also feature host Miami (Ohio), Illinois, Kenyon, Wright State, Toledo, Ball State, Western Kentucky, Drury and Cincinnati. This meet is significant because its format is the same as that of the NCAA Championship meet: qualifying heats are held each norning, and finals are held in the evening. "I want to see how we handle a trials and finals format with multiple teams in a pool away from home," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "This will be the first time we've had to do that, so it's going to be inter- esting to see how the veterans lead and how the young swimmers respond." This meet is also different from a dual meet chance at qualifying at this meet and added that several others might do the same. "We might have in that it is held over a three- day period. "In an invitational, you've got to swim multiple events over the course of two or three days, so you're probably going to need to have a little more rest," Richardson said. "In a dual meet, you've got hard swimming in only two or three events in just two hours." This tournament will be a good opportunity for Michigan's swimmers to focus on qualifying for the NCAA Championship. To qualify, the swimmers have to beat a qualifying time, which varies from event to event. "It's going to be interesting to see how the veterans lead and how the young swimmers respond." - Jim Richardson Michigan swimming coach, on this weekend's meet a couple more who might come out of the wood- work, depending on how much rest they got over Thanksgiving," Richardson said. "It's kind of like a bonus if they can (qualify), but if they don't, it's not one of those last-chance situations. If you can do it, fine, if you can't,, it's not going to be a detri- ment to being able to well in the NCAAs come March." The timing of the meet will also factor into the outcome. It comes right after , so the swimmers have all little more of a rest than we have before any of. our other meets this semester to see what we've' got, and use it as a benchmark to see where we stand," Richardson said. The Wolverines should excel in the freestyle events in the meet. They are led by junior Bendel, who was an All-American in five events last year, and Shakespeare, who repre- sented Canada in the Olympics this past sum- mer. "We're really strong in the 200 (meter) freestyle down to the 50 free," Richardson said. "That's our strength in terms of quality and quantity both. I think we're very good in the individual medleys, the 400 IM and the 200 IM. We have individuals in the breast stroke, back stroke, and butterfly who can swim at NCAA scoring level, but if you look at the number of people who can swim at the NCAA scoring level, the 200 free, the 100 free, and the 50 free are definite power events for us." The mile swim, which is not an event held at the NCAA Championship, is the only event scheduled for tonight. The NCAA-qualifying races will all be held tomorrow and Saturday. Thanksgiving break Richardson said that Shannon Shakespeare, had an opportunity to rest. Jodi Navta and Talor Bendel have a good "It was situated for us where we can take a READ SPORTSMONDAY FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE MICHIGAN-DUKE BASKETBALL GAME. _. _ _ _ We'll give you Power Macintosh' 5260 Now $1,341 (or $25/mo.) 100 MHz/16MB RAM/800MB/CD-ROM 14" built-in display/keyboard I, $150 to get Macintosh'Performa'6400CD Now $2,220 (or $42/mo.) 180 MHz/I6MB RAM1.6B/8X CD-ROM 15" dispay/keyboard your work Power Macintosh' 7600 Now $2,668 (or $501mo.4* 132 MHz/16MB RAM/I.2GB/8X CD-ROM 15" display/keyboard done faster. I -en I