South Mountaineer Volume 32, Issue 16

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Volume 32, Number 16
January 24,1990
Bethlehem, Pa.
Engineers end skid
Even in weekend action
By MIKE ALBRIGHT
South Mountaineer Editor
Lehigh wrestling coach Tom Hutchinson came
away from Saturday's 21-17 loss to homestanding
Wilkes with a bad feeling in his gut.
No, he wasn't sick, just disappointed that his team
lost to the Colonels, a team Lehigh had beaten 14 of
the 16 previous times they'd squared off.
Had the Engineers come away with a win, they
would have concluded a three-matches-in-three-days
marathon with two victories and a tie,
which would have been quite a turnaround from the
four-match losing streak Lehigh held coming into the
weekend.
"I'm disappointed that we lost. I thought we
really outwrestled them and to come away with a loss
is tough," Hutchinson said following Saturday's
defeat. Lehigh fell to 2-5-1 while Wilkes jumped to 8-
2.
During action last week, Lehigh snapped its
losing streak with a 21 -16 win over Brown on
Thursday before tying North Carolina State 18-18
Friday. Both matches were held in Grace Hall, which
was filled with more than 2,000 fans for the Wolfpack
meet.
Against Wilkes, Hutchinson went against his own
policy by moving 150-pounder Lane Pendleton
(Huntingdon Valley, Pa.) to 158 and inserting freshman Sam Dollyhigh (Newport News, Va.) at 150 to
face Mike Schroat, ranked 11th in the country..
"On paper, we felt Lane was a sure win at 158
where a Lane/Schroat match was a tossup so rather
than potentially losing two, we swapped one for one,"
Hutchinson explained. Normally, Hutchinson will not
juggle his lineup to win a dual meet, opting to have
each wrestler concentrate on his own performance.
The move appeared to pay off as Pendleton
defeated Wilkes' Anthony Guidi 4-2 while Schroat
scored a technical fall over Dollyhigh, 17-1 in 5:25.
The switch looked even better early on in the 167
match as Rob Patten (Burke, Va.) led Merril Neal 4-1
early in the second period until Neal scored a takedown and quickly converted to a cradle to pin Patten
in 4:46.
The potential victory turned pin, a nine-point
turnaround, put Lehigh behind 16-12 and the Engineers would not lead again.
Charlie Keyes upped the lead to 19-12 with a 10-
3 decision over Jim Benson (Monroeville, Pa.).
Junior Matt Ruppel (Deer Lodge, Mont.), ranked
second in the nation, gave Lehigh a chance with a 6-1
victory over Ray Mendoza. The win upped Ruppel's
record to 21-0-1 and put Lehigh behind by four points
heading into the heavyweight bout.
Lehigh's John Morris (Poquoson, Va.) had
trouble with a quicker, smaller Steve Schannauer and
wound up with a 4-4 draw.
The gave up three points early when Wilkes' Kurt
Tamai defeated Len Combs (Madison, N.Y.) 6-3.
See WRESTLING page 3
Freshman Rob Patten works on N.C. State's Sean Spangler. Patten broke a personal nine-bout losing streak with a
13-2 win over Spangler
Photography by YOUNG HONG
Ruppel to wrestle in East-West Classic
Lehigh Um.ersity's
Matt Ruppel (Deer Lodge,
Mont.) has accepted an
invitation to compete in the
annual NCAA all-star
wrestling classic Monday,
Feb. 5, at Portland, Ore.
Ruppel, a junior
ranked second nationally at
190 pounds by The
Amateur Wrestling News,
is a graduate of Powell
County High School. He boosted his 1989-90 record to
20-0-1 Jan. 18 as Lehigh topped visiting Brown, 21-16,
winning 17-8 over Ted Casto. The Engineers had
two other meets slated this week, hosting North
Carolina State Jan. 19 and going to Wilkes University
Jan. 20.
Ruppel's all-star opponent will be Joe Stafford of
Oklahoma, ranked third nationally, who beat him 11-5
last winter in a dual meet. Chris Short of Minnesota,
No. 1 at the weight, has been declared academically
ineligible.
The meet, hosted by Portland State University,
will begin at 7:30 p.m., Pacific Coast Time, in the
Portland Memorial Coliseum. Matmen scheduled to
compete, with their national rankings:
118 pounds—Zeke Jones (1) of Arizona State vs
Doug Wyland (3) of North Carolina; 126—Kendall .
Cross (1) of Oklahoma State vs Jason Kelber (2) of
Nebraska; 134—Chuck Barbee (1) of Oklahoma
State vs Tom Brands (2) of Iowa; 142—Joe Reynolds
(1) of Oklahoma vs Thorn Oritz (2) of Arizona State;
150—Brian Dolph (1) of Indiana vs Richard Bailey
(2) of Cal State Bakersfield;
158—Scott Schleicher (1) of Navy vs Dan
Russell (4) of Portland State; 167—Dan St. John (1)
of Arizona State vs Baron Blakey (2) of Oklahoma;
177—Chris Barnes (1) Oklahoma State vs Marty
Morgan (2) of Minnesota; 190—Matt Ruppel (2) of
Lehigh vs Joe Stafford (3) of Oklahoma; Heavyweight—Jon Llewellyn (1) of Illinois vs Joe Malecek
(2) of Nebraska.