South Mountaineer Volume 39, Issue 14

              THIS SATURDAY'S HOME EVENTS
11:30    Track-John Covert Classic
1:00     Swimming vs. Army
1:00     Women's Basketball vs. Holy Cross
3:15      Men's Basketball vs. Holy Cross
Wrestling is off this weekend
WRESTLING: Lehigh getting set for return to Grace, 8
MEN'S BASKETBALL: Interview with Sal Mentesana, 7
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: A season of ups and downs, 7
South Mountaineer
Volume 10, Issue 14
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
January 15,1997
Wrestlers End Road Marathon
The Lehigh wrestling
team (3-4) will take the mat
in Grace Hall on January 25,
nearly two months since
their 20-17 win over then
#19 Oregon State.
Since that time, the
grapplers have taken on
the seventh, eighth, and
tenth ranked teams in the
nation, including a trip
which involved wrestling
Oklahoma (#10) in
Norman, OK and Michigan (#8) in Ann Arbor, MI
in the span of three days,
all without a full lineup.
While in Oklahoma,
the Engineers took on the
second ranked team in
Division II, Central Oklahoma, losing 28-15 in an
early afternoon contest.
Lehigh won six bouts,
including Todd Palmisano
and Marat Vigdorchik's wins
over the top ranked wrestlers and defending Division
II national champions.
Lehigh heavyweight Bill
Closson, ranked ninth in the
country, suffered a hand
injury the week of the trip
that forced him out while
190-pounder John Leonardis
was sidelined with academic
problems.
Lehigh then travelled
to Norman for its second
bout of the day and, with
weigh-ins looming after
the match, the team
didn't wrestle up to par
as they suffered a 34-9
loss to tenth ranked
Oklahoma.
The Sooners featured
three wrestlers ranked in
the top seven and Lehigh
managed only one win
and one forfeit win. The
win went to freshman
Dave Esposito as he picked
up his first collegiate victory.
John Van Doren was
awarded a forfeit win at 190
pounds.
Two days later, Van
Doren suffered his first
dual loss of the season when
he dropped a 3-2 decision at
Michigan, but the team
bounced back as a whole and
gave eighth ranked Michigan
a run for its money as the
Wolverines were only able to
win a 23-16 decision.
"The team rebounded
from the Oklahoma
match and really fought
well against a very tough
Michigan team. We were
missing some people, and
in their defense, they
were missing a couple of
key guys also," head
coach Greg Strobel said.
Lehigh's Mark Keller
(126), Dave Esposito (134),
Chris Ayres (142), Travis
Doto (158), and Erik
Drange (177) all won
decisions as the Engineers split the ten bouts
with the Wolverines.
The young Lehigh
team, without a senior on
the roster and two starting juniors still out,
features nine starting
freshmen and sophomores who are improving
with the adversity they
have faced this year.
Another weekend of
experience and learning took
place for the Engineers with
the Virginia Duals last
weekend.
Lehigh faced its third
top ten team of the season as it drew the second
seed in the dual meet
tournament, Cal-State
Bakersfield, ranked seventh
in the country with five
wrestlers in the top ten.
Esposito (134) and Travis
Doto (158) both picked up
decisions, and Van Doren
won his team-leading eleventh bout of the season with
a 19-1 technical fall at 190
for the only Lehigh points as
Cal-State won a 31-12
decision.
Later that afternoon the
Engineers won their first-
Joe Ryan
Freshman Dave Esposito in action against Oregon State.
Freshman Travis Doto is 5-2 in dual meets this year.    JoeRyan
ever dual against Northern
Iowa with a 23-16 win after
blowing a 17-4 lead. "We did
our best to give this one
away, but we fought hard
against a fairly even team
and once again the guys
came back from a tough loss"
Strobel said.
Lehigh won five of the
first seven bouts with
Mike Sferra (118),
Esposito (134), Ayres (142),
Vigdorchik (150), and
Doto (158) all winning to
give Lehigh a big lead.
Northern Iowa fought
back with a pair of pins
and trailed only 17-16
with Ail-American Tony
Wieland wrestling Van
Doren at 190. Van Doren
earned the 4-3 win and
freshman heavyweight
Adam Zehner got his first
dual meet win with a 7-0
victory to seal the meet.
"We almost threw this
one away, but Van Doren
had probably the biggest
win of his career, and
Zehner came through
when we needed it,"
Strobel said.
In its final dual of the
weekend, Lehigh had a
rematch with now-25th
ranked Oregon State as
the Beavers redeemed the
20-17 loss earlier with a
30-10 victory.
Oregon State's Jake
Whisenhunt (126), one of a
trio of Beavers ranked in
the top ten, needed sudden
death to defeat Dan Tashner,
6-4, as they led 15-3 after
Lehigh's Chris Ayres'(142)
decision.
Lehigh's next win came
as Erik Drange won a
4-2 decision over Clint
Wilson at 167 pounds.
Drange's win symbolizes the growth of the
Lehigh squad, because
in the Sheridan
Tournament in December, Wilson handed
Drange a 10-1 loss.
Another wrestler
who shows the
improvement and
growth of the
Lehigh team is
sophomore John
Van Doren, who won
a major decision
against Oregon
State. Van Doren
finished his freshman campaign with
a 12-15 mark (4-11 in
dual meets). He
currently leads the
team with a 13-4
mark and is 6-1   in
dual meets, where
he has wrestled 177,
190, and hwt.
With more experience coming with
time and the EIWA
schedule coming up
later this month,
Lehigh fans should
be excited about the
Engineers this
season and quite a
few seasons to come.
Notes: The January
25th tri-meet with
Columbia and Navy.
The Navy match
begins at 7:00 at Grace
Hall and will be
televised by WLVT-TV
the next day(Sunday)
at 12:00.
SPORTSBRIEFS
TALBOTT EARNS ALL-
AMERICA HONORS
Senior punter Ben Talbott was
named to the American Football Coaches Association first-
team Associated Press All-
America squad. Teammate
Brian Bartelle earned third
team honors. Talbott finished
third in the nation with a 43-
yard average. He set a Lehigh
and Patriot League record for
single-season average.  Bartelle,
who served as one of Lehigh's
captains played offensive
tackle and was instrumental in
helping Lehigh lead the Patriot
League in passing all three
years he was a starter.
TUOHEY GOES HOME
Sophomore guard Sean Tuohey
has decided to transfer to
Division III Catholic University. Tuohey, who is from
Washington, DC, was a member
of last year's Patriot League
All-Rookie team.
TAYLOR GYM RENOVATIONS
The holidays were no time to
break for the athletics department as most of the
department's offices were
moved to Lamberton Hall as
the third phase of Taylor Gym
construction begins. Offices which
are still located in Taylor include
swimming, sports medicine, tickets
and wrestling. The fitness center,
Jacobs Pool and the Hall of Fame
are all unaffected by the construction and will continue to maintain
normal hours.
SOUTHSIDE BOOSTER TRIPS
Lehigh's most ardent fans, the
Southside Boosters are planning bus trips to Perm State for
the February 22nd wrestling
match and February 8th to
Navy for a basketball double-
header. For more information
contact the Lehigh ticket office
at 7LU-GAME.
LU-COLGATE ON SATELLITE
The January 25th Lehigh-
Colgate men's basketball game
will be televised live on satellite as part of the ECAC Game
of the Week beginning at 1:00
p.m. The game will be rebroad-
cast locally on WFMZ-TV at 7:30
p.m. Satellite coordinates are:
KU BandSBS 6, transponder 8.
THEY CAN HOLD THEIR TUNE
Trainer Carolyn Kenreich and
senior track member Alex
Weimer sang the national
anthem prior to the Lehigh-
Lafayette basketball game at
Stabler Arena January 8th.
They will be back for an encore!