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Show Heavy Schedule face SUSC Matm en strides in their program to rebuild wrestling," Lopour explains. "They have particularly strong wrestlers at 118 (Auggie Tarin), 126 (Rudy Felix), 158 (Gilbert Lucero), 167 (John Romero, unbeaten as of this week), and heavyweight (Dan Barrone)." Two SUSC wrestlers who have been out with injuries will return to the lineup. Nikki Pino (3-4) will be back at 126 pounds, and Dale Petersen (1-3) at 177 pounds. "We know about what to expect from Northern Arizona, but recent reports make Highlands look considerably con-siderably stronger than what we were expecting," Lopour says. The Cowboys have a 5-3 dual record including four consecutive victories over Western State (30-26), Texas Tech (45-12), North Texas State (51-3), and Texas El Paso (45-6). "Saturday in the University of New Mexico Invitational, we just hope we aren't too worn down to compete. We do have some individuals who may be able to do quite well," Lopour explains. The SUSC strength appears ap-pears to be centered in the heavier weights. "We've had a lot of trouble with injuries and other problems, "The greater a man's understanding, the further does he remove himself from quarrels." Hasidic Saying A A A. A A. A A A A A A A -- -- A week of rest may be a necessity for the Southern Utah State College wrestling team after rugged action scheduled Thursday, Friday and Saturday in New Mexico. The Thunderbirds will finish off a demanding week of wrestling Thursday in a three-way meet at Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a multi-team invitational Friday and Saturday, at Albuquerque. Host New Mexico Highlands and Northern Arizona will be involved Thursday. The Friday-Saturday Friday-Saturday meet will involve the likes of Central Oklahoma State (defending national NAIA camp), Adams State, Northern Arizona, Bflgham Young University, University of Utah, Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. Luckily for the Thunderbirds, Thun-derbirds, they will get a week of rest following this week's matches before they have to be ready for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament February 23 at Grand Junction, Colorado. "To say the least, this week will be challenging," Joe Lopour, SUSC coach, said just prior to his team's departure. "Before we even get to the Thursday-Friday-Saturday matches, we have rugged dual meets at Western State (Tuesday) and Adams State (Wednesday)." (Wed-nesday)." The T-Birds have not met New Mexico Highlands this season, but Northern Arizona has pinned a 31-21 loss on SUSC in a dual meet earlier this season in Cedar City. "We understand that Highlands is making big especially in the lighter weights. We hope that the return of Fino and Petersen will improve our squad strength," Lopour says. PhilHowa (190) and Keith Seals (Hwt) have the team's best records. Howa is 8-2 with five pins; Seals has a 9-3 9-3 mark which includes four pins. Frank Prater has four pins included in his 5-5 mark; he has been wrestling at 177, but will move down to 167 this week. |