South Mountaineer Volume 40, Issue 17

              Lehigh Athletics
Brett Eppehimer is the second leading
scorer in the nation, averaging 26.3
points per game
BASKETBALL:   Wed. Women vs. Army 5:30, Men vs. Army 7:30 @ Stabler
SWIMMING:
TRACK:
Sat. Men and women vs. Lafayette 11:00/1:00 @ Jacobs Pool
Sat. Men and women at Army Invitational 1:00
South Mountaineer
Volume 11, Issue 17
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
January 21,1998
Women's Swimming
Lehigh defeats Six-Time Patriot League Champions
Mountain Hawks defeat perennial powerhouse Navy at Jacobs Pool
Tanya Barone
by Jason Jenkins
Sports Communications Office
The women's swimming team pulled
off arguably the biggest win in Lehigh's
swimming and diving history with a
185-115
victory over
six-time
Patriot League
Champion
Navy,
Saturday, at
Jacobs Pool.
"It's one of
the biggest
wins in my
coaching
career," Head coach Chris Marshall said.
Marshall said the victory was crucial
to the team's progression as one of the
elite programs in the league.
"We've turned a corner in the
program with the victory," Marshall
said. "We have a legitimate shot at
winning the Patriot League
Championship."
Other swimmers acknowledged the
importance of the victory.
"It's amazing to beat any of the
government schools." Tanya Barone
said.
Lehigh led off the competition with
what Marshall called an "unexpected
victory" in the 200 yard medley.
Jessica Weathers, Dea Weisman, Heather
Hansz and Traci Rickert won the event with
a time of 1:53.67.
Tanya Barone punctuated a tremendous
opening run with a victory in the 200
freestyle in a pool record time of 1:55.82.
"I wasn't expected to swim that fast,"
Barone said. "It's the best time I have ever
swam in my collegiate career and I was real
excited."
Marshall agreed, stating Barone's victory
was a turning point in the meet.
"Tanya set the tone in 200 yard
freestyle," Marshall said. "She set a pool
record and lowered her personal best by
three seconds."
"After the first three events, we were up
42-13," Marshall said. "The momentum
definitely swung in our favor with the
medley relay win."
The women were spurred on by members
of the men's swimming and diving team
who were in attendance.
Marshall said the women's success would
serve as motivation for the men's team.
"The men said they could not wait to get
into the pool for their next meet (against St.
Peters)."
Even though it was a big victory for the
program, Marshall said the team still has to
Women's
Swimming Results
Lehigh
185,
Navy 115
Top Lehigh Finishers
100 Free
Medlev Relav
2. Traci Rickert 55.30
1. Weathers, Weisman, Hansz,
200 Back
Rickert 1:53.67
1. Jessica Weathers 2:11.10
1000 Freestyle
200 Breast
1. Vanessa Buschmann 10:43.09*
1. Dea Weisman 2:28.21
200 Freestyle
500 Free
1. Tanya Barone 1:55.82
1. Vanessa Buschmann 5:08.90
100 Back
700 Flv
1. Jessica Weathers 1:01.18
3. Heather Hansz 1:02.17
700 Breast
Three Meter Dive
1. Dea Weisman 1:09.56
2. Nicole Schock 231.07
200 Fl\>
200 Individual Medlev
2. Heather Hansz 2:14.23
2. Dea Weisman 2:17.04
50 Free
400 vd. Relav
2. Traci Rickert 25:37
1. Matonak, Hughes, Barone,
One Meter Dive
Buschmann 3:41.52
1. Taryn Filo 235.2
* Pool record
focus on what has made them successful
and not worry about what other teams are
doing.
"There's definitely cause to celebrate,"
Marshall said. "We have to work on what
we can control, the way we swim at our
meets."
Other swimmers echoed Marshall's
sentiments.
"We don't want to look too far
ahead," Barone said.   "We'll just take
one step at a time."
Wrestling
Lehigh grapples at National Duals
by Frank Thompson
Sports Communications Office
Walking into Carver-Hawkcyc
Arena on the weekend of the National
Duals Championship, the most prestigious dual tournament in the country, is
both an awesome, and intimidating,
experience for anyone from outside the
boundaries of Iowa City.
Lehigh was a part of a tournament
field that feat tired eight of the top ten
teams in the nation and 41 individuals
ranked in the top eight of their respective weight classes.
Lehigh was the third smallest
institution (the Div. Ill and NAIA
representatives were smaller) and Lehigh
was only one of two private schools
there.
Over the past two seasons, I've
written about the growth of the wrestling
team and I'll do it once again. The team
not only grew as a team, they displayed
their previous growth by their performance against both Arizona State and
Oklahoma.
The team came out and took on the
sixth-ranked Sun Devils and the fifth-
ranked Sooners without an ounce of
intimidation losing by a 22-15 count to
Arizona State and a 20-18 score to Oklahoma.
Lehigh would have easily won the
Oklahoma Dual if it hadn't been forced to
forfeit at 177 pounds. All-American John
Van Doren suffered a groin injury in the
closing seconds of his first match and
consequently was taken to the hospital. He
will likely miss at least a week of action,
depending on further examination.
Against Arizona State in the first round,
seven of the bouts were decided by four
points or less and three were decided by a
single point.
One of best performances of the day
came from Dave Esposito, who registered a
4:55 pin of #9 Quinn Foster of ASU and a 4-
0 win against #13 Mike Lightner.
Against the Sun Devils, Lehigh (4-5)
dropped the next five bouts after Esposito
by a total of 12 points, including Chris
Ayres' 7-6 loss to fifth-ranked Steve
Blackford that was decided by Blackford's
riding time.
In the feature match-up of the meet,
Arizona State's Aaron Simpson, ranked #2
by W.I.N., defeated fourth-ranked John Van
Doren by a 7-4 decision with a pair of
takedowns in the final period.
Also registering wins for Lehigh was
heavyweight Bill Closson with a forfeit
against Arizona State and a 5-3 win over
John Henry-Ward of Oklahoma.
Mark Dufresne wrestled well once
again against his second consecutive top-
eight wrestler at 167 pounds and once
again Dufresne almost pulled out the
victory. He dropped a 6-5 decision to
All-American Casey Strand, ranked
eighth in the nation. Dufresne had lost
a 3-2 decision to #3 Jeff Catrabone of
Michigan last week. Dufresne later
picked up a win against Oklahoma.
Ryan Bernholz (142) and Erik
Drange (190) each split theif bouts
during the weekend.
Oklahoma 20, Lehigh 18
118: #8 Shane Valdez (OU) If. Mike Sferra, 17-2; 6:03
126: #14 Dane Valdez (OU) dec. Shawn Mulrooney. 14-11
134: # 18 Dave Esposito (LU) dee. # 13 Mike Lightner, 4-0
142: Ryan Bernholz (LU) dec. Bo Eubanks, 3-1
150: #7 Chris Ayres (LU) won by inj. #8 Rod Jones, 4:08
158: #3 Byron Tucker (OU) dec. Travis Doto, 10-5
167: Mark Dufresne (LU) dec. Mike Roller, 7-4
177: Jason Street won by forfeit
190: Orville Palmer (OU) dec. Erik Drange, 5-2
hwt: #4 Bill Closson (LU) dec. #17 John Henry-Ward, 5-3
Arizona State 22, Lehigh 15
118: #11 Michael Kawamura (AS) dec. Mike Sferra, 10-7
126: Shawn Ford (AS) md. Shawn Mulrooney, 12-4
134: #18 Dave Esposito (LU) wbf. #9 Quinn Foster, 4:55
142:#16Tracy Brown (AS)dec. Ryan Bernholz, 12-9
150: #5 Steve Blackford (AS) dec. #7 Chris Ayres, 7-6
158: #7 Matt Suter (AS) dec. Travis Doto, 7-3
167: #8 Casey Strand (AS) dec. Mark Dufresne, 6-5
177: #2 Aaron Simpson (AS) dec. #4 John Van Doren, 7-4
190: Erik Drange (LU) dec. Jake Harman, 6-5
hwt: Bill Closson (LU) won by forfeit
* Rankings W.l.N./lntermat