South Mountaineer Volume 36, Issue 17

              Volume 36, Number 17
LEHIGHLIGHTS
LU GAP FOR KIDS - Once again this
year, the intramuials department will be
conducting a special program for the
children of Lehigh's faculty and stall on
Saturday mornings during the spring
semester. Past programming included
instruction in swimming, golf, exercise
activities (tumbling) and tennis, and this
year, racquetball lor children eight years
and older will also be available. Due to
scheduling difficulties, tennis will be held
as a one-day clinic. L.U. Gap For Kids
(Lehigh University Group Activities For
Kids) will take place on March 12 & 19
and April 9 & 16 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
The program is open to all dependents of
Lehigh University I.D. card holders. All
children must be registered in advance for
this program and the cost is $20 per family.
Specific information and registration forms
will be mailed to all faculty and staff
members this week. Any question can be
answered by calling the IM office al 758-
4316.
SHERIDAN RETIRES— Alter covering
Lehigh wrestling for 25 years on Channel
39. Larry Sheridan is retiring as color
•commentator. The brother of former Lehigh
greal Billy Sheridan called his final match
oil Saturday night when the Engineers
dropped a tight 22-19 decision lo Penn
State.
BYE-BYE
BARANIK        —
Lehigh wide   I
receivers coach Dan
Baranik has accepted
a head coach position
at       Waynesburg   I     ■ £.
College.   Baranik.
whohasspcm.hcpast  ,
three seasons as an
assistant to Hank
Small, becomes the
second membcrof this year's Patriot League
championship-winning staff to land a new
coaching position. Fred Mariani accepted
the offensive coordinator position al
Fordham last month.
INSIDE the Mountaineer
Michelle's mission 2
The 'Jason' Project 2
Wrestlers fall to PSU 3
Castle standing tall 3
Winter sports slate 4
PL hoops standings 4
DID YOU KNOW?
Sophomore freestyler
Jeff Cline is swimming
times comparable to the
best distance competitors
in the nation and stands a
legitimate chance of
qualifying for the NCAA
Championships, which
feature the best domestic
and international
athletes. Ifcfj
Nittany Lions nip Lehigh, 22-19
Wrestling team barely misses upset of No. 3 team in nation
By ROB SCHMIDT
Sports Information Assistant
The Engineers came one bout
away from upsetting the third-
ranked Penn State Nittany Lions on
Saturday night, falling short by only
a 22-19 margin before 2.355 fans at
Grace Hall.
Lehigh had a 19-16 lead heading
into the heavyweight match, but
No. 1 -ranked Kerry McCoy of Penn
State was too much for freshman
Bill Closson to handle, and wound
up pinning the Pittsburgh. Pa. native
5:45 into the bout.
Penn State escaped with its
second nail-biter in as many days,
having defeated fourth-ranked
North Carolina 19-18 on Friday in
similar fash ion. and head coach John
Fritz was grateful McCoy was able
tp pull it out.
"Well it wasn't pretty, but I
know anything jean happen in
wrestling. I'll take the wins anyway
I can get them." Said Fritz. "1 tried
to tell him (McCoy) to go at his pace
and things would work out. but he is
so poised. I'm sure he knew exactly
what was going on."
Jason Kutz started things off
with a bang for Lehigh, decisioning
Mike Brennan 7-2. sparking the
near-capacity crowd.  Penn  State's
Sanshiro Abe. currently ranked second
nationally, turned things around with a
pin of Marc Lombardy at 126 pounds.
Ed Andres took the mat for the 134-
pound bout with Lehigh trailing 6-3. and
, wasted no time returning the favor.
Andres pinned Greg Fendler 1:42 into
the bout and brought the score to 9-6 in
favor of the Engineers.
"I was working hard all week for
Rick
Hepp scored a major decision at 177.
- Photo by Joe Ryan
this meet." said Andres. "No matter who I
faced. I was ready to go 100%.
Penn State's John Hughes got the lead
back for his team with a 15-4 major decision
overChris O'Byrne. State's Matt Postlethwait
followed with a 6-4 decision over Brian
Strunck thanks to a takedown with 10 seconds
remaining to put the Lions up 13-9.
Brian Cipollone brought Lehigh within
one point after decisioning Tony Bobulinski
6-2. but Brian Matusic followed with 14-8
decision over Cory Brechbill and Penn State
limped ahead by four at 16-12.
Rick Hepp had weighed in at
167 pounds to give head coach
Tom Hutchinson the option to
wrestle he or Brechbill there and
move the other up to 177. and
wound up wrestling at the latter.
Giving away ten pounds to his
opponent Troy Minnich didn't
prove to be much of a disadvantage
to Hepp. He scored twelve points
while giying Minnich three escapes
to seal the major decision.
Andy Fitz stepped onto the mat
with the score tied at 16 and
dominated State's Rob Piper. On
the previous night. Piper won by
fall over North Carolina's Tony
Lianusa in 4:16. Fitz prevailed by
an 8-4 count, and put Lehigh up by
three heading into the match's final
bout.
Closson .went at the No. 1 ranked
McCoy right away but couldn't
score a takedown, McCoy scored
the first takedown of the match at
the 2:36 mark, and followed wilh
five more in the first period to lake
a 12-5 lead at the break.
McCoy slowly wore down
Closson. and finally wenl for the
kill al the 1:15 mark of Ihe third
period.
Coach Hutchinson felt that
Lehigh had a shot at the upset going into
the match, and was hoping that the injury
factor would be the equalizer that the
Engineers would need to pull it off.
"I thought we could win seven bouts
considerring that half of their lineup was
sidelined with injuries." said Hutchinson.
"They found out what we have been
finding out all season. With five people
out of the lineup anyone has a shot at
beating you."
Swimmers look strong as championships loom
By MARC GESUALDO
South Mountaineer Editor
The Bronx, N.Y. is the next
destination for the Lehigh swim teams
and. if the regular season is any
indication, you've got to believe the
Engineers will continue to ride the
"Winning Train" when the Patriot
League championships take place next
week.
Both the men and women split their
final dual meets of the season, with the
women downing Drexel on Wednesday
(134-109) and falling to Bucknell (133.5-
109.5) on Saturday. The men were edged
by Drexel (124-117) but came back with
a resounding 134-98 win over the Bison
on Saturday at Jacobs Pool.
"The kids are swimming extremely
well right now and I think their final
records are
indicative of that."
said Lehigh head
coach Chris
Marshall. "The
funny thing is
we've been telling
them all along to
save their best for
the league
championships."
With the men
having finished at
6-3 and the
women at 7-3,
their best finish
since 1988-89.
you get the feel ing
there's still plenty of top-notch swimming
left. The past week did nothing to contradict
Alexis Corr scored a victory in the 200 fly against Drexel.     -Photo by Joe Ryan
that theory.
-Please see SWIMMING page 3