r: f 1INATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Montreal at PITTSBURGH, inc. Minnesota at TORONTO, inc.I Vancouver at CHICAGO, inc. Ottawa at n PHOENIX, inc. Detroit at LOS ANGELES, inc. PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL Golden State at L.A. CLIPPERS, inc. PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL (Exhibition) Detroit 5, KANSAS CITY 3 BALTIMORE 8, Atlanta 5 CINCINNATI 6, N.Y. Mets 5 FLORIDA 6, Minnesota 5 PHILADELPHIA 5, Boston 4 Chicago White Sax 7, PITTSBURGH 4 Houston 3 ST. LOUIS 1 TEXAS 6, Toronto 1 San Francisco 5, ANAHEIM 2 San Diego 7, Milwaukee 4 Tuesday March 11, 1997 11 3 juniors 6lea B lue w~eters with class By Tracy Sandler jaily Sports Writer The All-American boys. This old-fashioned stereotype brings to mind many images, of which probably none are wrestling. Yet, the Michigan wrestling team's top three wrestlers are All-American boys, in more ways than one. First, they're All-Americans. Second, and more important, they're leaders. On a team loaded with youth, junior -And tri-captain Bill Lacure (150 pounds), Jeff Catrabone (167 pounds) and Airron Richardson (heavyweight) provide a sense of big-match maturity and intensity for the underclassmen. You can see it every day in practice. The tri-captains lead warm-ups, and each is unique in his g ui da n ce. V jAlthough he is serious about p eparati on, trabobd keeps 4eryone foose with' I ti Lacure , advice & tructive criticism to his tee Richardson is more of a, quiet leader, leading by example, working hard and staying completely focused. Injuries have been a major reason for the youth of Michigan's starting lineup. Beginning with All-American Brandon Howe's season-ending shoul- der surgery in August, the team has been bombarded with setbacks. Freshman Damion Logan suffered the same fate as Howe with a Jan. 22 surgery, after hurting his shoulder at the Las Vegas Classic on Dec. 8. Brian \paro (134 pounds) had elbow surgery in September. And over the past month, 118-pound Chris Viola's season-long shoulder problem has been acting up. At last weekend's Big Ten champi- onships in Minneapolis, the Wolverines started four freshmen and three sophomores, in addition to Lacure, Catrabone and Richardson. Five members of the team were partic- Cipating in their first conference cham- pionships. More bad luck struck dur- ing the meet, as 190-pound Frank Lodeserto separated his shoulder. As a result of these injuries, the Wolverines have looked to their All- Americans all season to come through in the clutch - and they have. Against Northwestern, with Michigan trailing going into the meet's final match, the team needed Richardson to pin his opponent. He id1, giving the Wolverines a 19-18 win. Catrabone compiled a 27-3 season record, while Lacure went 25-6. Then, when it counted most, the zjuniors stepped up. At the conference championships, each tri-captain quali- fied for the finals, and each came in second, but that does not diminish what they accomplished. They wrestled well throughout the tournament, winning close matches and dominating opponents. In the finals, Lacure faced Iowa's two-time NCAA champion, Lincoln Mcllravy, while Richardson faced Penn State's national champion, Kerry McCoy. Catrabone, the No. I seed, lost to sec- opd-seeded Kevin Wilmot of Wisconsin. Disappointed as they were with their results, Lacure, Catrabone and kichardson are finding the silver lin- irg in their collective cloud: They have the NCAAs in two weeks - a chance to rectify any mistakes. ( "It gets me more excited (for nationals)' Catrabone said. "It gets 'mc more motivated to work hard. Third time being runner-up at the Big Tens is really starting to piss me off. Something's got to change. I've just -got to go out there, relax and do what 'got to do. "How have I got to do that? I'm not sure. I've just got to work hard in prac- tice and realize that I'm going to have t beat these guys." As soon as his match was over, oving forward NIT already an unsettling thought By John Leroi Daily Sports Editor One day hardly erased the stunned feeling the Michigan basketball team felt Sunday night. While fans may not be surprised at the decision, the Wolverines are still reeling after their exclusion from the NCAA tournament. Most thoughts of the postseason still revolve around the NCAA tournament, not the NIT - the tourney Michigan (19-11) accepted a berth to play in. "Right now we're still in a state of shock," Michigan junior forward Maurice Taylor said yesterday, "because the field of 64 came out, and we were not involved. "I'm not saying that I think we got gypped, that we should be in, I'm just saying that it's kind of hard to believe that Michigan is not in the NCAA tour- nament. "Right now we're dealing with it because we have to." Michigan co-captain Travis Conlan said that although every Wolverine would rather play in the NIT than end the season, Michigan players were all still pretty depressed. "I think were in a little funk right now," Conlan said, "just a little daze because were disappointed, but tomor- row in practice that will all be taken away. "Right now we'rejust finally realizing that we're not in. It's just sinking in now." There was much speculation that the Wolverines, upset that they weren't invit- ed to the 64-team NCAA tournament, would reject an NIT bid. But late Sunday evening, after a brief team meeting, Michigan decided to play in the NIT. Both Taylor and Conlan made it per- fectly clear that the NIT was not the postseason tournament they wanted to be playing in, but added that a tourna- ment, no matter which one, is better than nothing at all. Some thought Michigan would reject an NIT bid because a berth in the 32- team tourney would put the Wolverines in a no-win situation: They'll have to win the whole tournament for their postsea- son run not to be a disappointment. But Conlan said fans who felt that way don't matter much to Michigan players. "If we don't win the NIT, there will be a lot of skepticism and people saying that we shouldn't have made the NCAA tournament," Conlan said. "But we're just going to go out there and prove that to ourselvc. That's the person you have to live with - yourself. "We'll really find out who our true fans and our true friends are now." The Wolverines will host Miami (Fla.) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night. Although there is only one other NIT game that night, the game will not be televised. Michigan coach Steve Fisher admitted he knew next to nothing about the Hurricanes (16-12). Assistant coaches Scott Perry, Brian Dutcher and:Scott Trost were watching film of Miami while Fisher addressed the media yester- day afternoon. Some players used their day of to watch tape of the-Hurricanes as well, and Fisher said he would do the same. "They're a real -athletic team," Taylor said. "They're erratic at times, but those are the teams that scare you the most." BIG TEN NEWS: Ohio State 'made sweeping changes in its men's and women's basketball programs yesterday, firing coaches Randy Ayers and Nancy Darsch. Ayers and Darsch, both having enjoyed great success with their teams in the early 1990s, had two years left on their contracts. The men's team has gone 10-17 the past two seasons, including 5-13 in the Big Ten this season. The women finished 12-16 and were 3-13 in conference play. "These are terribly difficult decisions, but ones that I felt had to be made in the best interest of the university," Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger said after dismissing both coaches in separate meetings. -The Associated Press contributed to this report. MARGRET MYERS/Daily Despite feeling slighted by the NCAA selection committee, Michigan junior Maceo Baston and his teammates now must focus on a new task. The Wolverines will host Miami (Fla.) on Thursday at Crisler Arena in the first round of the NIT. The game will not be telecast. All-Big Ten teams as selected by the media (* signifies tie) First team - Kiwane Garris (Illinois), Bobby Jackson (Minnesota), Evan Eschmeyer (Northwestern), Chad Austin (Purdue), Andre Woolridge (Iowa). Second team - A.J. Guyton (Indiana), Sam Jacobson (Minnesota), Louis Bullock (Michigan), Brad Miller (Purdue), Pete Lisicky (Penn State)*, Sam Okey (Wisconsin)*. Third team - Eric Harris (Minnesota), Maurice Taylor (Michigan), Antonio Smith (Michigan State), John Thomas (Minnesota), Ryan Bowen (Iowa). Player of the Year - Bobby Jackson (Minnesota). Freshman of the Year - A.J. Guyton (Indiana). Coach of the Year-- Clem Haskins (Minnesota). F- x Put the world at your fingertips. Software Engineering Systems Engineering Computer Design Signal Processing Electro-Optics Image Processing With Raytheon Electronic Systems, you'll create the technologies that define the future of tomorrow's world. You'll maximize your Engineering and Computer Science knowledge and make an impact when you join our team. We currently have over 350 opportunities available in the technical areas listed above. ... ...,c~,.a,..,."C. .ai p .. i i*,in campus soon.To find UNFORTUNATELY, TIHS IS WIERE PEOPLE ARE PUTTING TOO MANY RETIREMENT DOLLARS. Every year, a lot of people make a huge mistake on their taxes. 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