South Mountaineer Volume 40, Issue 16

              Lehigh Athletics
Junior Brett Eppehimer is No. 3
nationally in scoring (25.7 ppg.)
BASKETBALL: Women vs Navy 5:15, Men vs. Navy 7:30 ©Stabler
TRACK:
John Covert Classic 11:30 @ Rauch Fieldhouse
SWIMMING:    Women vs. Navy 1:00 @ Jacobs Pool
South Mountaineer
Volume 11, Issue 16
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
January 14,1998
Wrestling
Lehigh Hands #4 Michigan
loss in Grace Hall
Team returns from California trip with three wins
by Frank Thompson
Sports Communications Office
Lacking a full squad again, 14th ranked
Lehigh hosted its first duals of the season
with a 21 -19 victory over the fourth-ranked
Michigan Wolverines in the main event at
Grace Hall. Earlier in the day, Lehigh fell to
Hofstra 21-19, which also defeated Michigan,
28-23.
Lehigh (4-3) has gone the dual season
missing a regular 126-pounder with Sheridan
Champion Shawn Mulrooney sidelined with
academic problems. Mulrooney will likely
John Van Doren was invited to the NWCA All-Star
Classic, Lehigh's first wrestler since Matt Ruppel in
1990.
return to action this weekend (Jan. 17-18) at
the National Duals in Iowa.
The Michigan and Hofstra meets
came on the heels of Lehigh's trip to
California that included five meets at
four different sites in three days.
Much of last year was a learning
experience for the team and this year
they're taking that step towards being a
great team night-in and night-out, but it
takes time. The 4-3 mark shows that a
consistently winning team takes its
developing. As the bumps in the lineup
are smoothed, the signs are there.
A great example of this came from
167-pound sophomore Mark
Dufresne. Dufresne has an overall
mark of 12-8 and is 3-4 in duals,
but in an important match-up
against Michigan's third-ranked
Jeff Catrabone, Dufresne battled
the All-American to a 4-3 loss and
safely kept Lehigh's lead at 18-12.
Thai's a sign of a winning team.
All-American John Van Doren
has paced the Brown and White in
the dual season with an
impressive 7-0 mark including two
wins over former junior national
champion Russell Jones of
Hofstra, 4-3, and Michigan's Joe
DeGain, 10-3.Thejuniorisnow
16-1 on the season and was
recently invited to the prestigious
NWCA All-Star Classic to be held in Buffalo this
year. His opponent at this time is unknown.
Amateur Wrestling News came out with its
latest rankings and Van Doren moved up in the
polls to the second spot in the nation at 177
pounds. Chris Ayres also moved up a pair of
spots as he jumped up to the fourth slot at 150
pounds.
Ayres posted an unbeaten weekend,
improving to a team-leading 23-1. One of his wins
came against the Wolverines Gyhandi Hill by a 9-
3 count. Two years ago, Hill pinned Ayres in the
dual with Lehigh. Including all of his
tournaments, Ayres is an impressive 23-1 this
season and 14 wins shy of Lehigh's all-time mark
of 37 held by Matt Ruppel, Rick Hepp and
Solomon Fleckman.
The third Lehigh grappler with wins over
both Hofstra and Michigan was freshman Ryan
Bernholz. Bernholz posted 8-1 and 8-6 wins at 142
pounds while accumulating an 18-4 overall mark.
Heavyweight Bill Closson dropped a 13-3
decision to #2 Airron Richardson. Closson is
ranked fifth in the nation and has a 16-3 record
this year with his losses coming from #4 Jason
Gleasman (whom he also beat in the Sheridan
finals), #1 Stephen Neal of Cal-State Bakersfield
and Richardson.
Sophomore Travis Doto lost a tight 6-5
decision to Hofstra and won a forfeit over
Michigan. Doto is 15-5 this season and is 5-2 in
duals for Lehigh this year at 158 pounds.
NWCA TOP 20
Rankings
January 8,1998
1.
Oklahoma State
2.
Minnesota
3.
Iowa
4.
5.
Michigan
Arizona State
6.
Penn State
7.
Iowa State
8.
Oklahoma
9t.
Illinois
9t.
Nebraska
11.
12.
13.
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Edinboro
14.
15.
Lehigh
Lock Haven
16.
Cornell
17.
18.
Central Michigan
Clarion
19.
20.
Oregon State
Northwestern
italicized = dual opponents
bold = EIWA members
At 134 pounds, Dave
Esposito and Dan Tashner have
split the time and this weekend
they both dropped decisions.
Esposito is 5-3 and Tashner is 10-
3. The duo went undefeated in
California with Tashner winning
three bouts and Esposito winning
both of his.
The Engineers return to
action when they travel to the
National Duals Jan. 17-18 at the
University of Iowa.
Women's Basketball
Lehigh corrals the Bison in Patriot League play
by Don Boslrom
Allontown Morning Call
The Lehigh women's basketball team
that has been walking the tightrope with no
safely net below all season, made it safely to
the other side
Saturday during a
62-59 Patriot
League win over
Bucknell.
This game was
imperative because
the defending
champions had lost
four in a row and
face megapowers
Navy and Holy Cross this week.
Lehigh (5-8, l-l) answered every
challenge from a Bison team that appears to
be its clone.
"These teams are a mirror image
of each other," noted first year
Maureen Trigo
Bucknell coach Kathy Fedorjaka.
The scales were ultimately tipped
Lehigh's way by freshman guard Gina
Zang. She was
the secret
weapon in her
surprise role as a
major player at
crunch time.
Zang hit a
driving layup
that gave the
Mountain
Hawks a 60-57
lead with l :03 to go
Troyan said Zang responded well
to her increased playing time.
"She had a key basket and a key
rebound in a game that could have gone
either way. Those plays were critical,"
Gina Zang
Senior
captain Jen
Hendrix chipped in
nine points and
five boards, and
the Mountain
Hawks got huge
production from
their sophomore
center tandem of
Christina Henry
and Alexis
Bevington.
Henry came
off the bench to Christina Henry scored 11
score 13 points straight points cr:Kcn White
and grab eight rebounds in just 24 minutes.
She also made the play of the game, blocking a
Houck jumper at the top of the key and then racing
to the other end for a bucket
that capped an amazing surge
that saw her score 11
consecutive points to give the
Mountain Hawks a49-42 lead.
"This was a breakout
game for Christina," Troyan
said. "She played solid
defensively. When she got the
ball in the post, she did
something with it."
Troyan said the intensity
of the game would bode well
for the team in the future.
"It was important to be in
a close game and come out on
top," noted Troyan. "This will
help our confidence."