South Mountaineer Volume 39, Issue 16

              PATRIOT LEAGUE HONORS
Sophomore guard Brett Eppehimer was
named the Patriot League's Player of the
Week, averaging 29.5 points, 7.0 rebounds
and 5.5 assists in two games.
SWIMMING & DIVING: Lehigh sweeps Lafayette with ease, 7
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Madden get 1,000th to lead Lehigh, 7
Lehigh athletes stayed involved in community through COACH,   7
South Mountaineer
Volume 10, Issue 16
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
January 29,1997
Leonardis keys LU win
by Corky Blake
The Express-Times
After missing six meets
the Engineers are happy to
have John Leonardis back.
The junior NCAA
qualifier's 15-7 major
decision over Frank Workman clinched Lehigh's
victory over EIWA rival
Navy on Saturday night.
The final score was 24-13
after Bill Closson's 18-9 win
at heavyweight.
Lehigh beat Columbia
36-6 earlier in the day to
improve its record to 5-4.
That definitely was
nice," Leonardis said of his
victory. The bonus point for
the major decision sealed
the triumph before 2,137
enthusiastic fans at Grace
Hall. "With 30 seconds to go
I was aware of it (major
decision) if I could get the
takedown."
Leonardis, ranked No. 1
at 190 by EIWA Newsletter,
was facing the No. 3 ranked
wrestler in Workman (18-5).
"I wrestled him last year
and had my coming out
party against because I
opened up and wrestled a
full seven minutes,"
Leonardis said.
Leonardis, who had been
competitively inactive since
before Christmas, again
battled Workman for seven
minutes, registering the
John Leonardis' major decision sparked
Lehigh's 24-13 win over Navy Saturday.
critical final takedown with
eight seconds to go in the
match.
"Workman's a good
wrestler who you can't take
for granted," Lehigh coach
Greg Strobel said. "When
John needed the takedown
he got it."
Lehigh's two other Blair
Academy products came
through with key wins.
Chris Ayres scored a
takedown with 25 seconds
left and then rode out Mike
Stabile (15-6) for an 8-7
victory at 142 pounds. That
put Lehigh back in front, 7-
6, and got the crowd into
the match.
"Ayres has had tough
luck all year," Strobel said.
"He's lost a lot of close
ones. To finally win one
when it could have gone
the other way is great for
Chris's confidence. Hopefully, he'll be able to turn
the corner."
"I really didn't wrestle
well today," said Ayres, who
lost in overtinfe to
Columbia's Arkee Allen. "I
guess it's a good thing
when you can wrestle bad
and still win."
Marat Vigdorchik was
leading 7-3 over Craig
Schottke at 150 when he
collected six
points on an
injury default.
Schottke
banged his
head on the
mat and could
not continue.
Travis
Doto lost 11-4
at 158 to
Navy's Karl
Haywood.
Greg
Fingeleskie
drew the
Middies even,
at 13-13, with
a major
decision at
167.
Sophomore
John Van
Doren began
Lehigh's
sweep of the
final three
weights with
an impressive
8-1 win over
Coleman Ruiz
at 177.
Joe Ryan
Mike Sferra scored a major decision over Navy's Zane
Stickel before shutting out Columbia's Nate Jacklin 5-0.
Joe Ryan
"John's turned it
around this year and has
our best record (15-4),"
Strobel said. "It's been his
confidence. He didn't have
that last year to beat the
big guys like (Oregon State
Olympian) Les Gutches
and realized they put their
pants on one leg at a
time."
LEHIGH 24, NAVY 13
118: Jr. Mike Sferra (5-10), L,
md. Fr. Zane Stickel (8-12),
19-6.
126: Jr. Donny Williams (14-
5), N, d. So. Dan Tashner (2-
5), 5-3.
134: Sr. Alex Garcia (16-2), N,
d. Fr. Dave Esposito (4-5), 7-4.
142: So. Chris Ayres (12-7), L,
d. St. Mike Stabile (15-6), 8-7.
150: So. Marat Vigdorchik
(11-5), L, won by injury
default over St. Craig
Schlottke (15-5).
158: Karl Haywood (15-7), N,
d. Fr. Travis Doto (8-7), 11-4.
167: So. Greg Gingeleskie (24-
3), N, md. Fr. Erik Drange (9-
9), 14-5.
177: So. John Van Doren (15-
4), L, d. Jr. Coleman Ruiz (10-
7), 8-1.
190: Jr. John Leonardis (11-
2), L, md. Sr. Frank Workman
(18-5) 15-7.
275: Jr. Bill Closson (10-3), L,
md. Sr. Eric Beckmann (9-9)
18-9.
Referee: Bill Steckline.
LEHIGH 36, COLUMBIA 6
118: Jr. Mike Sferra, L, d. Fr.
Nate Jacklin, 5-0.
126: So. Dan Tashner, L, p. So.
Bill Bocra in 6:05.
134: So. Brad Clement, C, d.
Fr. Dave Esposito, 12-8.
142: Jr. Arkee Allen, C, d. So.
Chris Ayres 9-7.
150: So. Marat Vigdorchik, L,
d. Sr. Brian Maguire, 16-7.
158: Fr. Travis Doto, L, d. Sr.
Tom O'Neill, 3-0.
167: Fr. Erik Drange, L, d. So.
Aaron Greco, 9-5.
177: So. John Van Doren, L, d.
Sr. Tyler McMaster 9-4.
190: Jr. John Leonardis, L, p.
Sr. Chip Watson in 3:49.
275: Jr. Bill Closson, L, p. Jr.
Mike Cook in 4:52.
—- UPCOMING EVENTS —
Friday, 1/31/97
Lehigh's Junior Varsity vs.
Blair Academy - 5:00 p.m.
Kids Clinic - 6:45 p.m.
Lehigh vs. #23 Clarion 7:30
p.m. Clarion will be led by
defending NCAA Champion
Sheldon Thomas at 118 and
2-timeAll-American at 190
Brian Stout.
Saturday, 2/1/97
Lehigh vs. Drexel - 3 p.m.
Lehigh vs. #7 Edinboro -
7:00 p.m. Edinboro is
coached by Bruce
Baumgartner, a 4-time
Olympic medalist and
World Champion.
r NAVY 37, COLUMBIA 3 -]
AT GRACE HALL
118: Phil MacNaughton, N, d. Nate
Jacklin, 6-0.
126: Donny Williams, N, forfeit.
134: Alex Garcia, N, md. Brad
Clement, 12-0.
142: Arkee Allen, C, d. Ben
Orbertson, 7-6.
150: Craig Schlottke, N, d. Brian
Maguire, 3-2.
158: Chris Dollard, N, d. Tom
O'Neil, 9-2.
167: Greg Gingeleskie, N, d. Aaron
Greco, 6-3.
177: Coleman Ruiz, N, d. Tyler
McMaster, 6-2.
190: Frank Workman, N, p. Chip
Watson, 2:29.
275: Colin Crickard, N, md. Mike
Cook, 10-0.
QUOTEBOARD
"Ayres has had tough luck all
year. He's lost a lot of close ones.
To finally win one when it could
have gone the other way is great
for Chris's confidence. Hopefully,
he'll be able to turn the corner."
Greg Strobel
Lehigh coach
"I really didn't wrestle well
today. I guess it's a good thing
when you can wrestle bad and
still win."
Chris Ayres
Lehigh Wrestler at 142 pounds
"John's (Van Doren) turned it
around this year and has our
best record (15-4). It's been his
confidence. He didn 't have that
last year to beat the big guys.
But he wrestled guys like (Oregon State Champion) Les
Gutches and realized they put
their pants on one leg at a time."
Greg Strobel
Lehigh coach
"That definitely was nice. With
30 seconds to go I was aware of
it (a major decision) if I could get
the takedown."
John Leonardis
Lehigh Wrestler at 190 pounds
^Workman's a good wrestler,
who you can't take for granted.
When John needed the take
down he got it.''
Greg Strobel
Lehigh coach