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." r I COPIES $1.25 R.pout Binding U 4 rIam .- iiU i eUUUU I 1 m