- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 20, 1999 - 13 i NCAA rule change spells trouble for Blue wrestling By Michael Shafrir Daily Sports Writer People say change is good, but if you ask members of the Michigan wrestling team, they would have pre- ferred to leave things alone. This season, the NCAA decided that instead of the standard procedure of beginning the match at 125 pounds and finishing with the heavy- weights, they would draw a weight class out of a hat before the meet. Whatever was drawn would be the starting point and they would cycle through from there. The idea, Michigan coach Dale Bahr said, was to take the emphasis off the heavyweights - usually the last match of the meet - and give any wrestler, on any given night, the opportunity to wrestle in the last spot. Michigan's strength, however, lies in the first three weight classes. Senior Chris Viola is ranked seventh in the country at 125, junior Joe Warren is sixth at 133 and sopho- more Damien Logan is sixth at 141. "I want those first three guys to go after a pin;" Bahr said. "I don't want them to just get a decision, because we need more points than those give us." The way Michigan has been wrestling of late, they would be best off having all their meets start at 125. Last Sunday at Lehigh, when the draw had the meet beginning with the lower weight class, the Wolverines won their first three matches, giving the team confidence - and a 17-0 lead. Michigan then lost the next three matches but still led 17-11 going into the heavier weight classes. "It gives us a big psychological advantage to jump out to an early lead," Bahr said. "Our middle guys need to correct some mistakes before we could be comfortable starting the match there. It really helps having (Viola, Warren and Logan) wrestling first." Bahr said he would be comfort- able starting Viola, Warren and Logan against any three wrestlers in the country. "Not many teams can come out at the start like that and dominate," Bahr said. "They are some of the best lightweights in the country." Lehigh coach Greg Strobel admitted that he would have liked to start the match - a 24-18 Wolverine victory - somewhere else. "If we had started in the middle, we would have had some momen- tum," Strobel said. "But that's just the luck of the draw, I guess." Warren believes that the Wolverines can start anywhere in the lineup. "As a team, we know that we have to outwork the other team, so we'll do that no matter where we start," he said. He made it clear, though that he does not like the new procedure, advantages and disadvantages aside. "I don't like it," Warren said. "It gives the meet a different atmosphere. I think it should be started at 125." Given the way that Viola, Warren and Logan have been wrestling, most Michigan fans would agree. LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan wrestling team will be forced to grapple with a new NCAA rule this season. Men's track coach to call it quits in2000 By Joe Michelotti For the Daily Jan. 1, 2000, may or may not mark the end of the world, but this date will mark the end of an era for the ichigan men's track team. After leading the Wolverines for 23 largely successful seasons, coach Jack Harvey has announced that he will retire at the turn of the millennium. "It seemed a good point in time to make this decision and it seemed to work out in the stream of things," Harvey said. "It's been a long ride. I have only been away from (the University) for six months, when I was at grad school in Reno, Nevada, in 1968. I have never had another job." Michigan's head coach since the 1975 season, Harvey has led the Wolverines to four indoor Big Ten track titles Ond six outdoor titles, with the team finishing as high as fourth in its best NCAA Championships showing, in 1995. In two-plus decades at Michigan, Harvey has coached 45 All-America athletes, but despite all the suc- cess, Harvey would rather be'remembered for building a clean, reputable program. "I wanted to do things as they should be done, putting the emphasis on academics and not necessarily winning," Harvey said. A final decision has not yet been made in determin- ing a successor to Harvey, but Harvey has made a rec- *mmendation for assistant Ron Warhurst to be elevated to his vacated position. Harvey hired Warhurst, who is the Michigan men's cross country coach, a quarter-cen- tury ago as his first assistant. "We wouldn't have lasted this long if it had not been good," Harvey said. "(Warhurst) does a great job with the (long distance runners) and I think he can handle the program without a problem." - The Ann Arbor News contributed to this report. FORMER RUNNER HONORED: Former NCAA champi- Northwestern recruit bolts; could Michigan be his next destination? By Jim Rose Daily Sports Editor John Navarre, a high school senior quarterback from Cudahy, Wis., has gone back on an oral commitment to play football at Northwestern, The Daily Northwestern reported yester- day. The article said Navarre would go to Michigan instead. Neither Navarre nor Michigan offi- cials could be reached late last night to confirm or deny the report, but Navarre's high school coach, Carey Venne, was quoted in The Daily Northwestern. "That's what happens when you don't take care of your recruits," Venne said. "It's a tragedy, just a crappy thing. We don't know what to believe anymore. You have to be a little more straightforward. "It's like having a girlfriend you can't trust in the bar. You don't want to be looking over your shoulder for four years." Neither Navarre, a 6-foot-6, 220- pound high school senior who is almost certainly under 21, nor his father were quoted in the story. The report said both Navarre and his father became frustrated after repeated attempts to contact Northwestern coach Gary Barnett were unsuccessful. Barnett's name has recently been mentioned in connection with the head coaching position at Colorado, which was vacated last week by Rick Neuheisel. Barnett issued a statement last week, however, that said he had not been contacted by Colorado, and that he intended to honor his existing contract at Northwestern, which runs for another decade. It's common knowledge to most col- lege football fans that Barnett's name is tossed around every time a major college is looking for a new head coach. The recent furor has been fueled by Barnett's ties to the Colorado program, where he was an assistant earlier in his career. Navarre's father, the report says, became miffed after he ran into sever- al roadblocks in his attempts to reach Barnett. Venne was even angrier. "Everything seemed to be signed, sealed and delivered," Venne said. "I don't care what kind of ties (Barnett) has (in Colorado) - that security was lifted. John was violated." Incidentally, Navarre was not listed as one of espn.com's top 15 quarter- back recruits in the nation. JOIN THE ARMY. ME TO THE MASS 7 P.M. IF YOU WANT TO BE ALL YOU CAN BE, IF YOU WANT TO WRITE, INSTEAD, CO MEETING ON THURSDAY AT FILE PHOTO The Michigan track teams will host the Red Simmons Invitational at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Michigan Track Building. on and Michigan alumnus Kevin Sullivan was honored as one of the eight top scholar athletes in the country at the most recent NCAA convention. The award, deemed the "Top Eight Award," is given to student athletes who demonstrate leadership, character and athletic achievement. In addition to the honor of win- ning the award, Sullivan will receive a scholarship for graduate studies if he wishes to advance beyond the bachelor degree in mechanical engineering he received from the University. p I Cuttin' a rug(by) The Michigan Rugby Football Club is holding open practices to prepare for its spring season. Practices are from 9:30-11:30 p.m. at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse on Tuesdays, and 9:30-10:30p.m. at the Coliseum on Wednesdays. Questions? Feel free to call 994-5317 for further information. IOC scandal claims first official ." ;. 3i°' =pit. "yi:w ": ^: s-' , ' i r 't 9-F r r' }q xrt ,ia$. .s3>431.' R _ I , 'x ".= M . ' y ?1 r '& "'s:F s. gar K- . ''i . : _ "; " a . .: p' ; .;'IkE h _fi.r'r, Sa;sl ;,i'r .dy rxa "y.-7" .'".°,SR 5, ". ..q.;,; ' . r riky "$,"i E 7' rX >ry ;"~; a ;=x':i3 i : ' 0.0 %U 4 ^ R .' @' is c ,; k '" , .. , .^ K:, r. § '° eSS-3f ,,,s . .F.. x? , ": tdz " {" } " ~a.7'r ~ ,"y f :;k" ; 3 ". Y 4 . 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