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Nine Grapplers Head For Regionals

By Tom Bell
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Nine Cavalier wrestlers will
participate in the NCAA District
Thco Regional Tournament this
weekend in Williamsburg, in
competition with wrestling teams
throughout the South.

Only 118 pounder Jack
Johndrow, who is out wit a
shoulder injury which he got in last
weekend's ACC Tournament, will
be missing from the Cavalier lineup
that wrestled its way to second
place behind Maryland in the
conference meet.

John Pegues and Kevin Michaels,
Virginia's two ACC individual ACC
champions should be seeded first or
second in the tourney, according to
Cavalier coach George Edwards.

Mr. Edwards also rates John
Pitas, an ACC runner-up at 126
pounds, and Shelley Zablow, ACC
150-pound consolation winner, as
having good chances to qualify for
the Nationals.

Ted Moore and Lou Pavia, who
also made the finals of the ACC
Tournament last weekend, are rated
as outside chances to qualify for
the Cavaliers.

Heavyweight Bill Farrell and
ACC tourney third place finishers
Denis Bittenbender and Jay
Douglas complete the list of
Cavalier entries in the first annual
weekend affair which should
feature numerous exciting bouts
and overall good wrestling.
Bittenbender, a first yearman, won
the consolation finals at 158
pounds last weekend while Douglas
triumphed with a 9-0 decision to
take third in the 167 pound class.

In previous years, the road to
the National Collegiate Athletic
Association wrestling tournament
led directly from the ACC's to the
Nationals, in which anyone with
realistic hopes could enter. This
season for the first time, the nation
has been divided into various
regions with a tourney in each to
decide who should attend the
Nationals.

Maryland, William and Mary,
Louisiana State, Auburn, and East
Carolina should provide the
toughest competition for the
Cavaliers. About 20 schools are
expected to be represented.

The top two finishers in each
class will qualify for the NCAA
Championship Tournament in
Auburn, Ala., on March 25-27.

Preliminary rounds will be on
Friday afternoon and night, with
semi-finals at 2 p.m. on Saturday
and the finals at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday. The consolation finals
will precede the finals, starting at
7:30 p.m.