sports Demski, defense by Jack Grow Collegian Staff Writer The Behrend men's basketball team split their last four games, losing to Pitt-Bradford and Fredonia while defeating Bethany and Thiel. Their record now stands a 8-10 overall and 8-4 in E.C.A.C. play. The team has made serious strides in improvement recently and this was evident in the last few games. " We have been playing exec pional defense," commented Coach Zimmerman, " every game our goal is to hold the opposition to under 45 percent shooting from the floor, and at this time, we have held our opponents to under 42 per cent." Zimmerman also stated that Behrend has a plus nine difference in total rebounding. Against Pitt- Bradford, this was the case as the Lions won the battle under the boards 45-35, but eventually lost a hard fought game, 89-87. The game was not 'decided until the final seconds after a furious comeback by the Lions. Gene Gorniak played exceptionally scoring 22 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. Gary Zang contributed his usual complete game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Mike Jenkins came off the bench to score 16 points and grab five rebounds. The backcourt also played a tough game with Bob Minford 'shooting a perfect four for four from the field, Calgary Olympic Prep by Ray Van Dusen Collegian Staff Writer While the falling snow covers the Canadian Rockies, the Olym pians prepare for the Calgary chal lenge. Calgary, a small,quaint cattle town is the host of the 1988 Winter Olympics. Febuary 13 is the day that marks the start of the Winter Olympic tradition that is over a half century old. The winter games at `Calgary should prove to be a spec tacular show with more events scheduled than ever before. - - Looking west of Calgary into the Rockies, one will focus his atten tion on the world's top skiers. They will be racing down a mountain that has been contoured to host five different events. The traditional downhill, slalom and giant slalom events will be joined this Olympiad with the new combined and super G events. The downhill is a precise course that is very technical at the top with tight, demanding curves. These aspects will cater to the needs of Swiss skier, Pirmin Zurbriggen, who is favored to take the gold. Zurbriggen, the winner of 11 World Cup races this past season, will be challenged mainly by his fellow countrymen, Joel Gaspoz and Peter Mueller. The United States, in a year of disaster, will have a hard time placing a racer in any of the three medal positions. Other medal hopeful's include Austria's Leonhard Stock and Anton Steiner along with Canada's Felix Belczyk and Robert Boyde. The women's downhill, like the men's, appears to be dominated by the Swiss. Maria Walliser and Michela Figini are the top two seeds while Canada's Laurie Graham is expected to take the bronze. The top U.S. hopeful, Pam Fletcher, is a long shot but is the only American with a chance at a medal. The slalom course resembles those of both Lake Placid and Sarajevo, staying consistent in pitch while remaining moderately steep. In the men's competition Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen will go hencl-te-lrad with Italy's self acclaimed "New Messiah of Soccer coach Herb Lauffer handed out the an nual individual awards last week. Pictured with Lauffer (center) are, in order-Dave Titley, Hustle Award; Doug McCarthy,MVP; Gary Smelko, Best Freshman; Mark Schreck, Most Improved. photo by Mark Pedley and Wayne Snyder dishing out eight assists. The game was agreat one and, although Pitt-Bradford " could blow us away on paper,"•said Zimmerman, the Lions never gave up until the final buzzer. , The Lions came back the next game with a 76-72 win over Bethany. Freshman Rick Demski led the Lion attack with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Gene Gor niak had an incredible seven blocked shots to go along with 14 rebounds. Wayne Snyder played another solid game six points and six assists and Randy Baughman came of the bench to collect three steals and two assists. Behrend held Bethany to 38 percent from the floor and created 18 turnovers. On Feb. 1, the Lions lost to Fredonia by a score of 79-67. Demski played another great game 4 , with 22 points and 16 rebounds. However, it was Behrend's poor shooting as a team (only 30 out of 77 from the field) that was the deciding factor in the game. Al though they were able to hold Fredonia to only 44 percent from the floor, the Lions' poor shooting bothered Zimmerman. " Usually one or two players will have a bad shooting night," he said," but with us either everybody shoots well or everybody shoots poorly." This lack of shooting has caused some of thr players to feel uncomfortable at the three point line taking the skiing". Alberto Tomba. The other top contenders include Bojan Kriz' aj and Ingemar Stenmark. Kriz' aj, the world cup slalom cham pion, has never won an Olympic medal and Stenmark was only recently reinstated into amateur status. Both have something to prove in Calgary. The leader in the women's slalom could prove to be the United States'own Tamara McKinney. Her competition consists mainly of Syl via. Eder - and - Rigette - Oenii. - The" one long shot in this event IS Mateja Svet who could very easily walk away with a medal. The giant slalom is another event dominated by the Swiss team. Zurbriggen, Julen, or Gaspoz should walk away with the gold. The only non-Swiss challenger is West Germany's Markus Wasmaier but it is doubtful he will obtain a medal. The women's giant slalom is not unlike the men's. Switzerland's Maria Wallises and Vreni Schneider are expected to take the gold and silver. Tamara McKinney is expec ted to finish high and should win the bronze. The new combined event is a combination of a special slalom and a shortened downhill. Switzer land's Pirmin Zurbriggen looks very tough and possibly unbeatable in this event. The other new skiing event being run in the Olympic games this year is the super G. The top seed of this event is Mark Wasaimer of West Germany. Stock, Steiner, Marc Giradelli, who has just recently received citizenship from Luxem bourg, round out the other medal contenders, with Tommy Moe and Troy Watts, the only U.S. hopefully. The women's super G compiti tion is, again, dominated by the Swiss. Maria Walliser will un doubtably win the gold medal while the silver and bronze medals could go to anyone on the French or German teams. The ever dangerous event of ski jumping should be dominated by Finland's Matti Nykaenen. He takes everything that a jump gives him and more. Other top conten- long range game out of their of On Feb. 3, came home for a 103- 87 blowout over Thiel. Zimmer man's pressure defense totally dominated Thiel giving him a chance to use his bench early in the game. Moise Pringle and Dave Gurska played well as the bench really got a chance to " show its' stuff " in front of a wild home crowd. Zimmerman was very pleased at his bench production and hoped to get more out of his bench in later games. There has been a lot of talk about the Lions' dominant front court but little has been said about the play of the guards. With injuries to Jim Webb and Joe Weed, the backcourt was supposed to have a few problems. Luckily for the Lions, the backcourt play has improved greatly in the past few games. Zimmerman commented that the guards are handling the ball much better now and are applying excel lent full court pressure on defense. Snyder, Minford, Baughman, and Gurska all deserve far more credit than they recieve. Their consistent play has helped Behrend overcome the loss of Weed and Webb and has had a steady calming effect off the court as well. Behrend has been involved in a few close games against teams that are supposedly " out of their league." This tough play proves ders to watch in this event are: Andi Felder and Earnest Vettori of Australia; Pekka Soursa and Azi- Pekka Nikkola of Finland; and Hroan Soursa, St. Jernen and Ven gard Oroas of Norway. In the men's cross-country races, the Swedish team should be the dominant force. The women's medals will be divided up among the Russian and Norwegian teams. The new nordic combined event will be rim over a two day period. - Kerry Lynch of the U.S.; Allar Levandi of Russia, and Fredy Glanzman of Switzerland are the top contenders in the event. The biathalon competition has an American, Josh Thompson, as it's top contender for the gold. The East German and Russian teams should take the silver and bronze. The men's bobsled competition is a wide open event with the U.S. having a chance pending injury recovery. The women's event has the East German team expected to take all three medals. Hockey action should put more thrill into this Olympic games with a new format that fields six teams into medal compitition instead of four. The teams to beat seem to be Canada, U.S.A., and The Soviet Union. The speed skating events have a new format which will bring them indoors for the first time in Olym pic history. This should open the door for some new Olympic records. The Japanese, Soviet, Canadian, and U.S.A. teams should take most of the medals with Nor way and the Netherlands battling for the long distance gold. The men's figure skating com petition favors Boliana from the United States to take the gold with Oser of Canada and Fadeev of the Soviet Union finishing out the medal contention. The women's figure skating competition has East Germany's Katarian Witt battling with Americans Debby Thomas and Caryn Kadavey for the top honors. Kadavey, an Erie native, is the ob vious local favorite. The Russian, Canadian, and U.S.A. teams will most likely take the medals in the dance and pairs events. help that quality basketball can be played by small schools. The Lions are all dissapointed by these losses but have no reason to hang their heads. By playing every game as it was their last,• the Lions have proved themselves to be a team to be reckoned with. Editor's Note Gene Gomiak, the Lion's 6' 7" forward, was recently named to the E.C.A.C. Division 111 Honor Roll. During the week of Jan. 23-30, Gene scored 55 points, corraled 55 rebounds, dished out 10 assists, and jammed 15 blocks. He is currently averaging 12.3 points and 13.3 . rebounds per game. As the paper went to press, Behrend had won their last two games; defeating Elmira BS-74 on Feb.B and Brockport St. 104-86 on Feb.lo. Against Elmira, the Lions made 24 of 34 from the foul line, including clutch buckets by Bob Minford and Wayne Snyder. Rick Demski led the Lions in scoring with 20 points and in rebounds with nine. Wayne Snyder scored 17 points against Brockport St. and added eight assists while Greg Green and Gary Zang led with seven rebounds. The win boosts Be hrend to a 10-10 record, 10-4 in the E.C.A.C., and possibly playoff bound. Lions by DarreliFreund Collegian Staff Writer The end of Febuary means the beginning of major league baseball's spring training, it also means the beginning of Penn-State behrend's baseall season. Similar to major league baseball, the Lions will be travelling to Florida so they can practice out side."We need some good weather, Erie is too unpredictable,"said Coach Michael Bari. The Lions will head claim to Florida on Febuary 26 and will return to Be hrend on March 5. The trip to Florida is an attempt - by Coach Bari to put last season's 6-33 record behind the team. "Several of last year's players had the wrong impression of what I was trying to accomplish. We were not out to party, we were out to work," boost Lions Y 5 •. Greg Green (above) goes for the dunk against Thiel while Wayne Snyder (below) sets up the offense against Elmira. Travel South said Coach Bari The Lions will follow a daily routine in Florida, beginning with a morning practice at 6 and another practice shortly after lunch. "The players will be given the evenings off, that is, when intra-squad games are not being played," added Coach Bari. The team will play six games, starting with a game against Warner Southern College on March 1. They will then play Southeastern College on March 3, followed by two double-headers, one against Warner Southern on March 5 and the other against Grand Valley State on March 9. Three of the four teams Behrend plays are from Florida, so they did not have to worry about funding a trip, unlike Behrend. "We played a 100-inning game in the fall and Collegian Page 9 Photos by Rick Brooks 52200 was raised," explained Coach Bari,"this helped, but it was not enough so each player had to pay about 5400." In all, 27 people are travelling to Florida including 23 players two coaches and two trainers. They will be going by bus, and the trip will probably take 20 hours. Coach Bari insists on implement ing the proper attitude upon his players,"This trip is no Disneyland, I am going to try to get everybody some playing time," said Coach Bari,"the pitching staff is a con cern, there are nine guys on the staff, but five will see the most ac tion." The Lions are 'heading for Florida with the hope that sunny weather will bring a brighter future for this year's team.