10- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 9, 1997
'M' grapplers face
stiff competition
Men tankers stop.
in Cal after tour
By Jordan Field
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team has
a big weekend ahead of itself. And
everyone is ready for battle.
The 10th-ranked Wolverines (2-0)
host Central Michigan on Saturday
and No. 4 Penn State on Sunday.
"This is a situation where we will
be facing extremely tough competi-
tion all weekend," Michigan coach
Dale Bahr said.
"Central has a very good young
team, and Penn State is loaded again
this year. I'm expecting hard fought
matches both days."'
This week-
end's matches
are important This
not only from
a team per- chance. .
spective, but
from an indi- be a clam.
vidual stand-
point for some
of the
Wolverines as
well.
Junior co-captain Jeff Catrabone
(167 pounds) will face Penn State's
unbeaten Glenn Pritzlaff, the only
wrestler ever to beat Catrabone in
dual meet competition. On Sunday,
Catrabone will look for a chance to
redeem himself.
"This is my chance," Catrabone
said. "I've worked so hard this week
thinking about that loss, and I'm
expecting a great fight with him. It
should be a classic."
Catrabone credited assistant coach
Joe McFarland for pushing him this
week to get ready for the weekend's
matches. But Catrabone isn't the only
,
r,
Wolverine practicing hard this week.
"We all have really picked up the
intensity this week," Bahr said.
"After the break, everyone was a lit-
tle out of shape, but now I'd say
we've reached mid-season form.
We've practiced every morning this
week and have had good afternoon
practices, too."
Last season, the Wolverines lost to
the Nittany Lions, 22-14.
For the first time this year, the
Wolverines will have the services of
redshirt freshman Teya Hill (142),
who had been sidelined with knee
problems.
"Hill is a fierce competitor and is
immensely
talented,"
Bahr said.
"He hasn't
it should been on the
mat for a
ricms year, at
least com-
- Jeff Catrabone petitively,
Michigan wrestler but he
should be
able to help
us at 142."
Sophomore Corey Grant (134),
who also suffered a knee injury, will
return to the lineup as well.
With Grant and Hill healthy, Bahr
was forced to shuffle the lineup for
this weekend. They will start at 134
and 142 pounds, respectively.
Freshman Mat Warner will start at
126 pounds, filling in for freshman
Damion Logan who is out for the
season with a shoulder =-iury.
Logan, who is 15-4, hurt his left
shoulder in a match at the Las Vegas
Open in December.
"I guess I hurt it pretty bad. It
By B.J. Luria-
Daily Sports Writer
While most Michigan students were
relaxing during the winter break, the
No. 4 Michigan men's swimming and
diving team was hardly on vacation,
despite its sunny Australian destina-
tion.
The Wolverines spent 2 1/2 weeks
training in Perth and also visited the
site of the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney.
On its way home from the other side
of the world, the Wolverines will stop
in California, where they will face No.
2 Stanford tomorrow and No. 7 Cal-
Berkeley on Saturday.
Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek is
excited for the meets.
"Stanford is the No. 2 team in the
country," Urbanchek said. "So we
went against the No. 1 team (Texas),
and now we have a lot of confidence
going into No. 2 on the way back from
the Christmas trip."
The Wolverines (2-0) last saw action
Nov. 23 when they beat Texas, 129-
114.
In defeating the defending national
champions, Michigan was aided by
notable performances from senior cap-
tain John Piersma, junior Owen von
Richter and freshman Mike McWha.
The Wolverines will need strong
performances out of all their swim-
mers if they hope to knock off their
two highly-ranked opponents.
Michigan will miss Jason Lancaster, a
strong short-distance swimmer, who
will miss, the entire season with a
shoulder injury.
"We'll miss Jason Lancaster, unfor-
tunately," Urbanchek said. "He's got
two years left though, so I'm glad that
he's (coming) back and hopefully that
he recovers."
Stanford has a slight edge in t1
series, 5-4, and is the only active team
with a winning record against
Michigan. The two squads last met in
1995, with the Cardinal prevailing,
150-146. It was the Wolverines' only
loss before they went on to win the
national championship. The
Wolverines have lost four in a row to
Stanford, their last win coming in
1991.
The Wolverines have faired slightj
better in their series against Cal, h
ing won all five meetings betweer2the
two teams, in a series dating back to
1989. Michigan triumphed last year,
131-110.
After a successful first semester,
Michigan will try to gain momentum
in the two crucial meets over the week-
end. The season is short, leaving the
Wolverines little time to prepare for
the Big Ten championships at the e
of February.
The Wolverines will try to regain the
Big Ten crown they lost in 1996 for the
first time in 10 years.
The Wolverines may have had
something else on their minds at the
time - the Olympics.
This year, there are no excuses.
The team should arrive in California
ready to go after the grueling train-
ing camp.
The Wolverines had a chance to s*
the location of the next Olympics. '
In this weekend's meets at Stanford
and Cal, they will be able to see if
they've got what it takes to make it.
back in 2000.
KRISTEN SCHAEFFER/Daily
Bill Lacure and the Michigan wrestling team will face tough competition coming
up this weekend. On Saturday, the Wolverines will wrestle at Central Michigan and
No. 4 Penn State at home Sunday. Freshman Teya Hill (142) and sophomore Corey
Grant (134) will be rejoining the team after suffering injuries.
won't stay in," Logan said.
"Everything I worked so hard for this
year is down the tubes. But I'll be
back next year, better than ever."
Even with Logan, ranked 12th by
Amateur Wrestling News, out of the
lineup, the Wolverines are confident
heading into the weekend.
"We are in better physical and
mental shape than we were last
weekend," Bahr said.
"I think at this point we're ready
to go against anyone on our sched-
ule."
'M' women's gymnasts brush away cobwebs,
By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's gymnastics
team has not competed for more than
a month, but that doesn't faze coach
Bev Plocki.
"No team is at their very best right
now, but we usually come out very
strong after break," Plocki said.
Plocki will reveal her starting six
on each apparatus Saturday, when the
Wolverines travel to Morgantown, W.
Va., for their first meet of the regular
season.
This weekend, the Wolverines will
face West Virginia and Towson State.
"They are very respectable teams,"
Plocki said. "I don't know who they've
brought in this year, but they have vied
for spots at nationals in the past."
The Wolverines, No. 5 in the pre-
season polls, haven't had any trouble
with the Mountaineers in recent
years, but Plocki isn't downplaying
the challenge.
"It's early enough in the season that
anything can happen," she said.
But the Wolverines should be over-
loaded with talent all year if the
intrasquad meet Dec. 7 was an accurate
preview of the regular season.
Freshman sensation Sarah Cain and
sophomore Lisa Simes recorded
teamhigh scores in the all-around
and the balance beam, which the
Wolverines struggle in particularly as
a whole.
"(Cain and Simes) were no flukes,"
Plocki said. "They showed what kind
of input they're going to have as spec-
tacular athletes."
The underclassmen have all but solid-
ified spots in the starting six, on every
apparatus, along with sophomores Beth
Amelkovich and Nikki Peters.
Peters excelled in'the uneven bars
before the break but has yet to equal last
year's scores on the other apparatuses.
"The bars is only one of Nikki's
high points," Plocki said.
Amelkovich has recovered from an
injury that limited her to one event in
the intrasquad.
"Beth is going at full tilt," Plocki
said. "She hasn't complained about
her feet at all."
Still, last year's injury bug contin-
ues to hurt Michigan.
Captain Andrea MacDonald's stress
fracture appears to have healed, but
Plocki will keep her out of the lineup
the first couple of weeks.
Junior Heather Kabnick strained
her hamstring on Monday, which
might hinder Michigan's performance
this weekend.
"It's probably not that serious,"
Plocki said. "But her spot in the line-
up this weekend is questionable."
Kabnick is Michigan's most suc-
cessful returner from last year. She
excelled on the vault and the floor
exercise at the intrasquad meet.
"We have depth, and every person
is equally important," Plocki said.
"No one or two will make this team
successful or unsuccessful.'
Michigan won't open the season at
Cliff Keen Arena like last year, and
that may present a challenge to the
squad's four freshmen.
But Plocki is happy with the
tougher schedule.
"It's a good thing for us to start 00
on the road because, unlike last year,
we'll appreciate that it's a lot harder
away from home," she said.
Athletes sue NCAA over SATs
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Hundreds
of young black athletes have suffered
because the NCAA uses SAT scores to
decide who can play in college sports, a
legal group said yesterday as it sued to
block the practice.
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a
Washington, D.C.-based organization,
asked the U.S. District Court to issue an
injunction against the NCAA and to
rule it in violation of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act.
The NCAA defended the standards
as a means to protect athletes. It also
released a report showing that the num-
ber of black athletes enrolling in
Division I schools was increasing.
NCAA chief operating officer Dan
Boggan said the lawsuit "is advocating
a return to the bad old days when stu-
dent-athletes could spend four years ...
in athletics and (leave) not only with no
diploma but without any real education
at all.'
The standards, once known
Proposition 48 but restructured aW
now known as Proposition 16, set a
sliding scale of SAT and grade point
standards for college freshmen athletes
on scholarships.
For years, black coaches and edu-
cators, along with many whites, have
maintained that standardized test
scores are racially and culturally dis-
criminatory and do not accuratel
predict a person's ability to do c4'
lege work.
Two 1996 graduates of Philadelphia's
Simon Gratz High School are the offi-
cial plaintiffs: Tai Kwan Cureton, a
freshman at Wheaton College, and
Leatrice Shaw, now at the Miami (Fla.).
Cureton was 27th in his class of 305,
Shaw was fifth.-Both were recruited
for track teams at numerous NCAA
Division I schools, but the, overtures
stopped after they received low SAT
scores, according to Arthur Bryantb
spokesman for TLPJ.
"The NCAA emphasis is wrong,
and it is hurting hundreds of athletes
like myself," Cureton said. "I decided
to sue the NCAA because I don't want
others to go through what I've been
through."
At Wheaton, an NCAA Division III
school that doesn't give athletic schol-
arships, Cureton is competing.
sprints and the long jump.
But he said the rule robbed him of
the opportunity to compete against
the country's best college track ath-
letes.
Shaw is sitting out her freshman
year at Miami and should be able to