The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 24, 1997 - 13
0Tough practice prepares
olverines for Wildcats
By Tracy Sandler
Daily Sports Writer
Confidence.
It's a fragile thing. It can be the difference
between winning and losing. Take this Saturday's
wrestling match at Cliff Keen Arena between
4chigan and Northwestern. The Wolverines are
oming off two weekends of disappointing losses
and are looking for the confidence to bounce
back.
"Hopefully we can dominate the whole dual
meet, Michigan junior
Jeff Catrabone said. "We .....
have the capability of win- nd
ning every weight class, Who:
and hopefully, we can do ortwetern
that." vs. Michigan
Practice this week has Where: Cliff
een geared toward get- Keen Arena
tng the wrestlers ready When: Saturday,
for the pressure of tough 7:30p.m.
matches.
During Wednesday's practice, the Wolverines
were put in situations where they were stressed
out, Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. The team
was put in a grey area in which they were tired
and had to think. The point of these types of prac-
tices is to show each wrestler that his body will
not fall apart and that he can think clearly in
hese situations.
"We had a meeting with the captains
(Catrabone, junior Bill Lacure and senior Airron
Richardson) Wednesday night," Bahr said. "We
talked about working and pushing harder in prac-
tice, and they did that last night. You can't have
those types of practices every night, but we'll try
to have one at least once a week."
The captains realize that they need to set an
example for the team during practices, as well as
during meets.
"Everyone looks up to us," Catrabone said.
Usually when we're dominating, everyone else
gets confidence and seems to want to dominate,
too."
As tough as practice was, the wrestlers felt
good about what took place on Wednesday night.
"The guys seemed to be in a good mood,"
Lacure said. "They were working extra hard. It
was one of the toughest practices I've had since
I've been here. No one was letting up. Everybody
was pushing themselves to the breaking point.'
The practice not only made the team mentally
stronger, but it also gave the Wolverines a
stronger sense of unity.
"We always talk about hitting the wall, getting
into a grey area where you're so tired that you
want to pass out," Richardson said. "We were
pushing each other, which strengthens the team
bond. It helps our mental toughness. A practice
like that makes a seven-minute match seem very
short."
After losses to No. 4 Penn State, No. 3 Iowa
State and Oklahoma, the Wolverines have seen
their national ranking drop from eighth to 12th.
But Northwestern is struggling with a 3-5 overall
record, 0-3 in the Big Ten.
"We need to get a good win under our belts,
and this is a good opportunity to do that," Bahr
said. "We matchup well against them, and if we
wrestle the way we're capable of wrestling, we
should be able to get back on track."
One of the team's biggest problems over the
last couple of weeks has been losing close match-
es.
"There are always going to be one point or
overtime matches, and we need to make sure we
win those," Richardson said. "Every Big Ten
team has studs or guys that are ranked high. The
difference is going to be the younger and newer
guys."
No matter how much the coaches or the cap-
tains try to set an example or motivate the
wrestler, everyone needs to make an individual
commitment to making improvements.
"Each guy has to look within himself, see what
he's doing wrong and make changes quickly,"
Richardson said. "There is only so much the
coaches and captains can say to a person.
Everybody has to look deep within themselves to
finally get sick of losing or barely losing.
KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
The Michigan wrestling team has struggled in recent weeks. Losses to Penn State, Iowa and Oklahoma have sent the Wolverines from the eighth
position In the national rankings to No.12. But, Michigan will get a chance to boost its morale tomorrow when 3-5 Northwestern rolls Into town.
I
'M' tumblers ready for Illii
By Eugene Bowen
Daily Sports Writer
They're coming home.
After finishing last week's Windy City
Invitational eighth out of 12 teams, the
Michigan men's gymnastics team is prepar-
ing to hold its first intercollegiate home
meet of the season.
The dual contest between Michigan and
Illinois will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. at
Cliff Keen Arena.
Senior co-captain Jason MacDonald is
looking forward to Sunday's matchup, not-
ing that Illinois - which landed second
place in the Windy City Invitational - will
offer some much needed, intense competi-
tion.
"Now is the time for us to hone in on
what we need to do," he said. "We need to
compete against good teams now to help us
better prepare for the more intense meets
down the road."
And if the Fighting Illini perform like
they did in Chicago last week, the
Wolverines will have their work cut out for
them.
Michigan student coach Chris Onuska,
who competed for the Wolverines for four
years before becoming a coach, said that
Illinois' all-arounders Greg McGlaun and
Yuval Ayalon will provide particularly stiff
competition.
But MacDonald is no stranger to
McGlaun's ability or technique. These two
were club gymnastics teammates for six
years prior to their collegiate careers. In
total, they've known each other for 12 years.
"It's cool to compete against people who
you know so well," MacDonald said.
MacDonald will compete .on the parallel
and high bars.
Freshman Jose Haro, the only Wolverine
to compete in the all-around at the Chicago
meet, admits he's not absolutely sure what
will come of Sunday's meet.
"I don't know how (the dual meet) will
turn out," he said. "The last meet was good
for me. I felt good. I was confident. I
scored above nine on everything except the
pommel horse. So I guess I'll work hardest
on improving that.
"As a team, we need to be a little more
confident. Last time we were a bit shaky on
the pommel horse and rings."
Michigan will not soon forget the beating
it took on the horse at the Windy City
Invitational. Haro's 8.8 horse score - the
lowest score of his six events - was also
i challenge
the highest Michigan score. Freshman
Ethan Johnson scored 7.35, and sophomore
Randy D'Amura ran a 6.9. Senior co-cap;
tain Flavio Martins, ailing from a bout with
the flu, scored 7.1. (Syracuse's Manuel
Galanza was the only person at the entire
meet to score lower with a 6.8).
In comparison, Illinois' lowest horse
score was Chris McGlone's 7.65. In fact,
Illinois surpassed Michigan in total scores
for every event. Thus, the Wolverines ark
looking forward to giving the Fighting Illini
a little payback.
While the Wolverines will have nothing
to look forward to but rest prior to Sunday's
two-team bout, Illinois will be competing
against Michigan State on Saturday night.
Illinois fatigue could be a potential ally to
the Michigan camp.
Still, Haro isn't betting his money that
Illinois will be too tired to make it a con-
test. But he thinks he knows how the
University community can best aid the
Michigan tumblers.
"Just be there," he said. "I would like to
see a lot of people there supporting us.-1
think if no one's there it wouldn't be a
good for us as a team. The point is just to be
there."
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
The Michigan gymnastics team hopes it can muster more confidence on the pommel horse and rings
against illinois on Sunday than it had last weekend when it finished eighth out of 12 teams.
Kansas swimmer dies at practice
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Seth
Dunscomb, a senior at Kansas and a
member of the swim team, died while
practicing the sport that brought him a
state championship and a college schol-
arship.
Dunscomb, 21, of Sullivan, Ill., col-
lapsed during swim practice Wednesday
and died a short time later. The cause of
is death was unknown. The Douglas
ounty coroner made a brief examina-
1 tion Wednesday night and planned a
complete autopsy for yesterday.
"We thought he was having an asthma
attack when he got out of the pool," said
Kostaki Chiligiris, Dunscomb's team-
mate at Kansas. "When he got out he just
lay on his back. And then he died, right
there at the pool'
Kansas coaches and emergency med-
ical personnel tried to revive Dunscomb,
a 1993 graduate of Sullivan High
School. But he was pronounced dead at
5 p.m. at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Chiligiris said Dunscomb had blacked
out in the pool once before during swim
practice this season, before Winter
break. But he had been cleared by doc-
tors to continue swimming, Chiligiris
said.
"He was in such great shape and he
was so strong. He was a Division I ath-
lete, he had to be in great shape,"
Chiligiris said. "He had a month left to
swim, and he would have been fine. He
would never have had to exercise like
that again."
Dunscomb was majoring in mechani-
cal engineering at Kansas.
At Sullivan, Dunscomb excelled in
both track and field and swimming. But
it was in swimming that he had his great-
est success, winning a state title in the
200-yard individual medley in 1993 in
an Illinois record time of 1 minute, 51.81
seconds.
Kansas canceled its scheduled swim
meet at Iowa on Friday.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
IMS NATIONAL CHAMPMONS
MEN'S HOCKEY
MICHIGAN
vs.-
MIAMI
TONIGHT
7:OOpm
LIVE..88. 3.
SPARTANS
Continued from Page 1.
glaring hole in the middle. Smith is
the only Spartan with any meat on his
bones, and he's just 235 pounds.
Northwestern's Evan Eschmeyer tore
apart Michigan State's interior
defense two games ago.
" That's where Fisher will look to go
early and often.
Michigan's frontcourt of Maurice
Taylor, Robert Traylor and Maceo
Baston are all beefier than every
Spartan except the mascot.
fisher's biggest worry will be foul
Wolverines can't exactly afford that
luxury.
Michigan has been plagued by
early fouls lately. Traylor picked up
two in two minutes at Indiana
Tuesday and sat down with his fifth
when the Wolverines needed him
most.
"Traylor has been our energizer
and emotional leader," Fisher said.
"We need him on the floor for longer
periods if we're going to be any good
defensively."
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