University of Virginia Library

Wendell Records Sole Cav Wins In NCAA's

By FLETCHER THOMPSON

A second-place finisher in
the ACC tournament two
weeks ago, the varsity wrestling
team doubled the victory total
of all other league competitors
in the NCAA Championships in
Seattle last weekend, but still
finished in the lower echelons.

Two wins by 126-pounder
Dave Wendell were all the
Cavaliers, who sent four
representatives to the great
Northwest, could come up
with.

ACC champion Wendell,
who had lost only twice in
more than 20 bouts during the
regular season, drew Navy's
Ken Berger as his first round
opponent and disposed of the
tough Midshipman, 9-6.

In the second round,
Wendell found Iowa State's
third-seeded Ron Glass on the
other side of the mat. Eight
minutes later, Glass came off
with a 16-6 victory and wasn't
stopped until the finals when
he fell to Northwestern's Mark
Massery, 9-8.

Wendell went on to the
consolation round, downing
San Jose's Oscar Trevino, in
what he said was his best
match of the tournament.
Oregon State's Mike Jones-put
an end to his season in the next
round with a 13-4 victory.

If 167-pounder Kevin
Michaels ever makes a list of
the places he would least like
to visit, Seattle might easily be
at the top. The Cavalier captain
closed out his stellar career
with a 9-3 first round loss to
Ball State's George Beene.
Although Michaels dominated
the match in the final period,
Beene's lead was too great to
overcome.

Beene's wild 15-14 defeat
at the hands of Western
Michigan's Doug Wynn, who
took a second, barred Michaels
from consolation activity.

Mike McGonnigal, at 134,
and Tom Derrickson, at 158,
also had their NCAA
appearances limited to one
match. McGonnigal dropped a
bruising 8-6 decision to Ohio
State's Mike Turley, who
defeated him earlier in the
year, while Derrickson was
flattened in the third period by
Portland stud Marlin Gahan.
Gahan's shoulder injury in his
next match eliminated both
him and Derrickson from
competition.

Maryland's George Strauss,
the ACC's 150-pound champ,
was the only Terp to manage a
victory, while Duke
heavyweight Joel Puleo put the
Blue Devil's only points on the
board with a pin. Puleo's
teammate, Greg Penny, who
was voted the league's
Outstanding Wrestler, was
nosed out in a first-round
overtime bout.

Iowa State wound up with
the team crown for the second
straight year, surviving a
determined effort by Oregon
State. The Beavers, obvious
favorites of the west coast
crowd, led by a point after
semifinal action, but could not
withstand the Cyclones' surge
in the finals and consolations,
losing 85½ to 72½.