Two top teams in Rec Hall feature
jGymgal showdown set for Thursday
' Thursday night the nation’s two top-rated women’s gym
nastics teams, Clarion and Penn State, will meet at Rec Hall,
7V 3 °. .
•sThe top-ranked collegian gymnasts in -the country, Penn
State’s Ann Carr and Clarion’s Connie Jo Israel, will be
competing for all-around honors.
Clarion, that little state school in Western Pennsylvania that
no one ever hears about, has long had a monopoly on women’s
gymnastics. The team’s all-time record is 41 wins and seven
losses.- Clarion, coached by two-time Olympian Ernestine
Weaver, won the national championship last year.
That championship team is back in its entirety, along with
some highly-sought freshmen, and Clarion is boasting more
! depth than ever.
“Clarion is very confident that they are going to win
Nationals,” Penn State assistant coach,Marshall Avener said.
.“They have said that they are pot worried about Penn
State,” he continued. “But any time 'a team has to come out
and say they’re not worried, they’re worried.
“They’re favored,' we’re underdogs, ’’ Avener said. “But if
there’s any way in the world to beat them, we’ll do it.”
The competition Penn State will be up against:
Nationally top-ranked all-arounder Ann Carr will be hear
ing the footsteps of Clarion’s Connie Jo Israel Thursday
night at Rec Hall.
Hill sets record in Flyer win
PHILADELPHIA (AP) A 1 Hill scored
two goals on his first shots as a National
Hockey League player and added three
assists for a record five points as the
(Philadelphia' Flyers defeated the St. Louis
Blues 6-4 last night.
Ron Andrews, the NHL publicist, said as
far as he could determine Hill was the first
rookie to score five points in his first league
game.
Hill, 21, joined the Flyers earlier yesterday
rtfrom the club’s Springfield farm team in the
“American Hockey League.
It took the 175-pound winger just 36 seconds
to turn on the red light with a 45-foot bullet
past St,’ Louis goalie Yves Belanger.
After the Blues’ Red Berenson tied it at
10:38, Hill sent the Flydrs ahead 55 seconds
later when he deflected a shot by Rick
MacLeish into the net.
Billingham signs two-year contract
CINCINNATI (AP)
Pitcher Jack Billingham has
signed a two 7 year baseball
contract for an undisclosed
amount, the Cincinnati Reds
Major league standings
Notional Iluski'll>.ill Association
■KASTKKN OONFKHENCK
# Atlantic Division
\\ 1. I’ll.
Philphiu 33 20 .02:1
Boston 20 27 101
NYKnks 24 20 .4:>:l
Buffalo I*> 3.1 .300
NY Nets 17 30 321
Central Division
Munition 30 22 077
Houston 20 23 .0011
Cleve 21! 24 038
S Anton 20 20 .037
N Orlns 24 ■3O .444
Atlanta 22 34 303
\V KST !■: It N CON FK HEN CL
Midtvrsl Phision
34 10 042
32 23 .582
28 28 500
25 30 455 1
23 32 418 !
17 42 .288 1
Pacific Illusion
Los Ann 30 10 .048
Portland 30 21 .025
GoldnSt 30 24 550
Seattle 20 20 527
Phoenix 25 27 481
Saturdays (iaiur
No names scheduled
Siiiular'sHesull
West 125, East 124
Yesterday's (ionics
No games scheduled
Today's Games
Detroit vs Boston at Hartford
Portland at Cleveland
Seattle at San Antonio
, New York Nets at Chicago
Phoenix at Kansas City
New Orleans at Milwaukee
Atlanta at Goldca State
Denver
Del roil
KanCily
Indiana '
Chicago
Milukcc
ByBARBSHELLY
Collegian Sports Writer
announced yesterday.
Billingham was 12-10 last
year with a 4.32 earned run
average.
He won the second game of
National Hotkey l.cngiie
CAM I’HKI.I. CONKKUKNOF
Patrick Division
\V I. T I’ls OK OA
Pllila 33 11 12 78 225 151
NVIsl 33 15 8 7-1 19G 1311
Allan 24 22 ,11 51) 187 18C
NY ling 21 24 13 55 208 207
T
II
13'_-
IB
Sin \ (lie Division
SI Lou 24 26 6 54 167 193
Chgo 21 27 10 52 183 200
Colo 17 31 9 '43 170 211
Minn 13 30 13 '39 165 227
Vnnevr 16 '35 6 38 15G 221
W \I.KS CONKKHENCK
Nnins [>i\ision
Mont 42 7 9 93 281 134
Pllts ■ 25 23 9 59 178 180
L.A. 19 26 11 49 180 183
Wash 16 32 10 42 154 230
Dlrl 15 33 7 37 142 202
Adams Division
Bstn 33 19 6 72 219 186
Huff 32 17 6 70 200 155
Tnlo 27 22 7 61 214 184
Cleve 18 29 9 45 166 198
Sunday's Results
Montreal 5. Detroit 3
Buffalo 6, Minnesota 2
Boston 4. Cleveland 2
New York Rangers 8. Toronto 3
Chicago 4. Atlanta 2
/M Scores
COEI) VOI.I.KYBAI.I.
SEMIFINALS
Us def. Yo Whal Is It, 151. 10-8: Hot
Dogs def. Spikers 2,13-4,9-4.
Israel, last year’s, all-around national champion, is
currently ranked second nationally behind Carr. Clarion’s
senior won nationals last year after a spectacular recovery
from serious knee surgery in 1975.
Competing with Israel will be freshman Carrie Englert, who
placed fifth all-around in the 1976 Olympic trials. Englert was
high scorer in the floor exercise among the U.S. women in
Montreal.
Three Sisters, Deana, Debbie and Donna Johnson, bring
more talent to Clarion. Twins Deana and Debbie are three
time all-Americans, and Donna, a freshman, just missed the
cutoff for last summer’s Olympics.
It was not known whether Hill’s fete of two
shots and twb goals in his first game was a
record, since the NHL doesn’t keep such
statistics.
Hill helped the Flyers make it 3-1 at 17
minutes of the opening period, when Reggie
Leach converted the rookie’s pass from
behind the net into Leach’s 23rd goal of the
season.
The Flyers boosted it to 4-1 at 6:28 of the
second period on a 55-footer by Bob Dailey,
and Mel Bridgman upped it to 5-1 at 14:19
with the help of assists by Bobby Clarke and
the irrepressible Hill.
Bruce Afflect’s third goal of the season
reduced the Flyers’ lead to 5-2 at the end of
two periods. In the final stanza, Clarke made
it 6-2, before Berenson’s second goal and a
score by Bob Hess for St. Louis completed the
scoring.
the World Series and con
tinued his near perfect per
formance in the fall classic.
In a seven-game span,
Billingham has given up just
onq earned run in 26 innings.
Billingham has been one of
the top winners on the Reds’
staff, and has 77 victories.
Daum stays dressed;
Susan Daum (11th
nutrition) could have entered
her first weight lifting meet at
Villanova University this
weekend if she had agreed to
do one thing before the meet
began weigh herself in
front of three male officials in
the nude. Daum didn’t go to
the meet.
“Even with street clothes
on I still would have weighed
under 114 pounds, the
category I was in,” she said.
“But they said it would be
discrimination ,if I was
allowed to weigh in in street
clothes.”
Daum would have entered
the meet with the Penn State
Barbell Club’s powerlifting
team.
Penn State would have won
the meet if Daum had com-
Photo by Randy J. Woi
Grapp/ers draw season
to close, eye nationals
By GEORGE WEIGEL
- Collegian Sports Writer
The wrestling season is drawing to a close
but two more goals remain for the young Lion
grapplers to conquer.
They’ve already won eight of nine meets—
including Battle No. 61 of the war with Lehigh
and they are still in first place in the East
ern Wrestling League.
Although two regular season meets
remain, tournament time is just around the
corner.
The State wrestlers will meet Pittsburgh
Saturday and then entertain Montclair State
Feb. 26 while most other students are home
relaxing or soaking up the sun in Florida.
Then comes the EWL tournament March 5-
6 at Lock Haven. But the highlight of the year
follows a week and a half at the NCAA
championships in Oklahoma, where several
Lion wrestlers have a good chance at win
ning. '
Captain Jerry White, who is 11-0-1 with four
falls, probably is Penn State’s biggest hope
for a national champion.
Last year he advanced to the quarter-finals
before losing to national champ Chris
Campbell of lovya 3-1. Campbell is back again
this year and he will probably be the main
obstacle for White.
.Another tough opponent will be Michigan’s
Mark Johnson, who came back to tie the Lion
senior earlier this season in a dual meet 7-7.
But White has been wrestling well this year
and he plans to be in top form for Nationals.
He said he’s going to stiffen his workouts
around now to get ready.
This year White has won the Wilkes and
East Stroudsburg opens and the Penn State
Runners snag four firsts
at Delaware Invitational
By DON HOPEY
Collegian Sports Writer
Penn State’s trackmen couldn’t be sure if
they were at a marathon or a track meet, but
when the Delaware Invitational finally
ground to a halt some nine and a half hours
after it had begun they had copped four
events and placed in a few more.
The meet lasted from noon on Sunday until
9:30 at night and caused more than a few late
dinners, but the Lions managed to win the
two-mile relay, the distance medley relay,
the 880 yard run and the 1000 yard run.
In the" two mile relay, the Lions turned in a
time of 7:38.8 for first place. Their splits
were: George Malley, 1:56.8; Bill Shesky,
1:55.4; Patßexroat, 1:54.2; and Mike Wyatt,
1:52.4.
John Nicholson (1:54.8 in the first half
mile), Wyatt (:51.2 in the quarter-mile),
Malley (3:03.2 in the three-quarter mile), and
Bruce Baden (4:18.6 for the mile), combined
to win the distance medley in 10:08.0.
The Lions were doubling in quite a few
events and Rexroat came back to win the
Penn State dominated 880 yard run. Rexroat
won it in 1:55.0, ahead of teammates Shesky,
who finished second in 1:57.3, Ron Smith,
third in 1:58.1, and Steve Black, fifth in
1:58.3. In the 1000 yard run, Malley got an
individual first place ribbon to go with his
piece of the medley and two-mile relay prizes
by turning in a 1:15.2.
In the 60 yard high hurdles, Dennis Rock
finished third in :07.5 and Paul Pollock,,
fourth, in :07.6. In the mile run Walt Majak
came in fourth in 4:18.2 in a race he had
peted, Bill Jones, the
powerlifting team captain,
said. Penn state lost to
Villanova by one point.
However, Daum would have
been given three points just
for entering the meet, Jones
said, since only one other
team had a lifter in the 114-
pound category.
He said that the Amateur
Athletic Union, the national
amateur athletic association,
mandates the nude weigh-in
regulation.
Daum had planned to at
tend the meet and protest the
regulation. However, she said
that team members per
suaded her not to protest
since a protest might in
fluence the weight lifting
judges decisions about Penn
State’s team.
Junior Karen Brezack, National collegiate vaulting
champion last year, is back also.
“What they have over us is depth,” Avener said.
“Ann (Carr) can match their top and Karen (Shuckman)
can hang in there with the best of them,” he said. “The meet
will be won on the third and fourth counting score. We have a
very small margin of error. ’ ’
Clarion’s highest score so far this season has been 146.2.
Penn State scored 145.4 against Temple but regulars Claudia
Coldren and Joan Gackenback did not compete in the meet.
“They’ve got more depth than we do and they’re more
proven than we dre, ” Penn State coach Judi Avener said. ‘ ‘But
if we can put it all together we have a shot at winning.”
Both coaches were concerned about a letdown after the
Clarion meet. “We have our two toughest meets of the season
within 48 hours, ’ ’ Marshall Avener said.
“Regardless of what happens we’re going to have to
rebound immediately and face a very tough Indiana State.”
Indiana State comes to Penn State Saturday night and is
currently ranked ninth in the nation. Only Penn State and
Clarion have higher scores. “If we’re not careful, they’ll
knock us off,” Avener said.
“It’s going tp be a nip-and-tuck all weekend. Nip-and-tuck
and pike and layout,” Avener added.
Invitational. With a good day March 19, he
could add the NCAAs to that list.
Four other Lion wrestlers have outside
chances at winning, but pretty good shots at
placing.
Mike DeAugustino, 10-0 in his freshman
year at 118 lbs., is already one of the tops in
the nation but he’ll have to deal with Mike
McArthur of Minnesota and Jim Haines of
Wisconsin.
DeAugustino was rated fourth by National
Mat News in its mid-season picks.
Bill Vollrath, 11-1, could place also if he has
a good tournament. The junior from Hatboro
will have to avenge his loss to Michigan’s
Mark Churella and beat some other tough 150
pounders like Joe Zuspann of lowa State and
Roye Olivet of Arizona State to win, however.
At 158, Dave Becker is a contender but he’ll
have to beat Superman to win. Superman,
alias Lee Kemp of Wisconsin, was 39-0 last
year and has beaten Olympic hero Dan
Gable, among many others, in the past.
There are some other outstanding
wrestlers in this weight class, including lowa
State’s Kelly Ward and Paul Martin of
Oklahoma State.
Becker, a junior, is 11-1 on the year but
he’ll have to wrestle h>s best to place this
year.
Sophomore Bill Bertrand faces the same
situation as Becker as there are a lot of ex
cellent 190 pounders across the nation. Again,
with a good tournament and some upset wins,
he could be a placewinner.
As a team, the Lions are now 8-1 and should
move up in the national rankings after
beating fourth-rated Lehigh. Penn State was
ninth last week, according to the Amateur
Wrestling News.
never run before. In the 440 yard run, Keith
Falco was fifth in :49.5. Wyatt, there’s that
name again, was fifth in the 600 yard run in
1:13.2.
The Lion’s mile relayers finished fifth in an
event won by Howard University in the time
of 3:13.9. State’s time was 3:20.0, with splits
of : 51.0 for Don Tracey, :49.6 for Bill Austin,
: 49.9 for Pollock and: 49.6 for Falco.
In the long jump, John Sallade finished
fourth with a jump of 22 feet, two and a half
inches. Bill Carroll was fifth in the pole vault
with a vault of 14 feet even.
Up the coast in New Haven, Conn., A 1
“Little-dab-will-do-ya” Jackson and Gary
Greaser threw the 35-pound weight in the
Vitalis Olympic Invitational. Jackson
finished second to Wayne Durrigan of
Southern Connecticut with a throw of 59 feet,
six and a quarter inches, good enough to
qualify for the NCAA indoors.
In other track action over the weekend, the
fifth annual Nittany Valley Track Club
Marathon was won by Dave Felece who beat
40 contestants with a time of 2:27.47.
University student Paul Stemmer won the
three-mile run at a development meet in
Bethlehem, Pa., in the fast time of 13:26 flat.
That time ranks him in the top five or six
nationally at that distance, according to Lion
Coach Harry Groves.
In action over term break, the Lions will
compete in the Central Collegiate Cham
pionships in Ann Arbor and the National
AAU’s in Madison Square Garden in New
York on February 25.
Team member Bruce Clark
(2nd-education) said he and
other team members would
have been willing to protest
the regulation.
“The guys were all for
her,” he said. “We needed
that weight.”
Daum said she lifted
weights all last year on her
own and for a physical
education class.
Villanova defeated Penn
State 31-30 in the Collegiate
Powerlifting Championships
this past weekend.
Bill Jones took the Out
standing Lifter Award in the
165 lbs. class with a total lift of
1365 lbs. He set three Penn
State Collegiate records: 480
lbs. in the squat, 350 lbs.
Lifters lose
benchpress and a total of 1365
lbs.
Jones also set four new
undergraduate records with a
dead lift of 535 lbs. along with
his totals in the squat, bench
press andoverall total. His
total in the benchpress was a
new Penn State Open record.
In the 198 lbs. class, Rory
McCoy took second and set
three new Undergraduate
records: 440 lbs. squat, 365
lbs. benchpress and a total of
1305 lbs.
Steve Jones took second in
the 148 lbs. class with a total
of 1000 lbs. and a new Penn
State Collegiate Record of 380
lbs. in the squat.
In superheavyweights,
Bruce Clark was first with a
total lift of 1265 lbs.
The Daily Collegian Tuesday, February 15,1977
Erichsen holds
key for cagers
Where the Penn State basketball team goes, Chris
Erichsen usually goes. And where Chris Erichsen goes,
the Penn State basketball team goes.
-So if the Lion cagers hope to win even one game in the
Eastern Collegian Basketball Conference playoffs
(March 2-5), the 6-6 senior forward from Harpers Ferry,
W.Va., will have to do it for them. It’s as plain and
simple as that.
It’s true that Erichsen isn’t Superman, he won’t make
Penn State the NCAA champions (although it is
theoretically possible), and he does have teammates.
But the Lions are a different unit on the basketball floor
with their co-captain in the line-up even when he’s out
of shape, as evidenced during State’s 77-64 triumph over
Navy Saturday night.
“Erichsen has already shown what he can do for us,”
said Lion coach John Bach after the Navy win. “He’ll be
in better shape. He had to be taken out because he was
tiring badly.”
Erichsen wasn’t in shape because of an 11-game layoff
after a foot injury. He saw some action against Temple
Wednesday, but got his first start Saturday night and
responded with 23 points on 9 of 15 from the field and 5
of 6 from the line and nine rebounds.
“Another week or two'of practice and I’ll be okay,”
Erichsen said after his 29-minute stint. “I’m surprised
I’m doing this well after sitting around five or six weeks.
The Lord must have put me in shape.” ,
The individual contributions Erichsen makes are
obvious. He has by far the highest points-per-game
average on the squad, and leads the Lions or is near the
lead in most other offensive categories. His most im
pressive game came just before he was injured, as he led
the. team in points scored, field goal percentage, free
throw percentage, rebounds, blocked shots and steals,
and was one shy of the lead in assists. For one player to
do all that is, indeed, very rare.
But what he adds to the team as a whole is even more
vital. All one needs to do is compare the Erichsen-less
and the Erichsen teams on the floor.
.Center Carvin Jefferson said, “He really helps the
team when he’s out there. When he’s effective, he helps
the team spirit ”
If Erichsen can lead the team through the season’s
final three league games, then the Lions could roar a
little in the league playoffs. But winning the last three
games is.no easy task.
All of the remaining contest are league encounters,
and all three teams have faced Penn State earlier.
First comes West Virginia. The Lions were whipped,
81-62, in Morgantown, but the Mountaineers have since
stumbled drastically (from 8-2 to 14-8), and Erichsen
was missing then. An upset win over West Virginia at
Rec Hall Wednesday would give the cagers about a 50-50
chance of get this —sharing the Western Division title
of the ECBL.
Next Saturday the Lions travel to Pittsburgh to meet
the Panthers, who lost to Penn State, 74-60, two
weekends ago at Rec Hall but have since knocked off
nationally-ranked Cincinnati.
Then comes a Feb. 23 Rec Hall clash with Duquesne,
which disposed of State 88-74 in January. Again, Penn 4
State was without Erichsen in a game that saw the Lions
within five points of the Dukes with less than two-and-a
half minutes to play.
Penn State could conceivably win any or all of the
games. If they do win all three, the Lions would finish in
a first-place tie with West Virginia at 5-5, ahead of both
Duquesne and Pitt. Either the Dukes or the Panthers
would be State’s first-round opponent if the Lions did not
end at 5-5.
Which team they will play is indeterminable, as is a
possible second-round opponent. ECBL officials have yet
to decide the format for either.
But with a little luck Penn State could draw George
Washington, Massachusetts, or West Virginia. The Lions
can be competitive with any of the three.
Dreaming a little further, the cagers probably would
face either Villanova or Rutgers in the finals if they
made it, no matter what format is used. A Penn State
win is highly unlikely, although a victory would put the
Lions who at best will be a 14-14 team in the NCAA
playoffs.
Fantasizing? Perhaps. But without Chris Erichsen,
the cagers may as well stay home.
‘ M
1 rf r
/.
/ „
. ;;
Chris Erichsen goes up for a shot in Penn State’s 77-
61 win over Navy Saturday night. Erichsen reaffirmed his
value to the team with 23 points and nine rebounds in the
Pete
Dougherty
Photo by Lynn Dudln*iky