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Show Cougars Favored To Win Conference Mat Honors By MIKE JACOBSEN Chronicle Sports Editor . Brigham Young University, with dual meet victories over all the WAC schools, is expected to capture ' it's third straight conference wrestling wrest-ling title this weekend in Provo. Utah and Arizona State should provide pro-vide the most opposition to the Cou- I gars. There are nine weights to be contested, con-tested, and eight of the divisions return re-turn conference champions: Chuck Henry at 123, Howard Hall at 152, and Joe Lyman at 177, all from BYU; Arizona State's Gene Par-rish Par-rish at 130 and Curley Culp at heavyweight ; Arizona's Gary Rushing Rush-ing at 145; and Wyoming's Leon Mickelson at 160 and Don Miller at 167. Two Undefeated Miller and Culp are undefeated this season, and Culp is going for his fourth straight WAC championship champion-ship at heavyweight. At 123 pounds, Henry returns to defend his title, but he will be hard pressed by Bob Shines of Arizona State. Ray Sanchez of Wyoming is also tough as is Balvino Irizarry of Utah. Just about any wrestler could win. There is no returning champion at 130 pounds. Mike McAdams of BYU, who placed third last year, will be the favorite. Glen Kawa of Utah, who has been injured this season, could beat McAdams as could Doyle Davies of Wyoming. Defending Champ Injured Parrish is the defending champion cham-pion at 137, but he has been injured and may not wrestle. This leaves a toss-up between Jeff Batchelor of BYU, Pete Medley of Arizona State, and Bob Kawa of Utah, just off the injured list. Gary Rushing of Arizona is the defending champion at 145, but Russ McAdams of BYU, who was fourth in the nation last year, will be the favorite. Ron Lemmon of Utah and Art Holland of Arizona State will be in the running. Hall of BYU is the defending champion at 152, and he will again be favored. Felix Salinas of Arizona Ari-zona State, Mark Nelson of Utah, and Dale Kujath of Wyoming are in contention, but it will be an upset if one of them beats Hall. Osborn Favored Mickelson is the defending champion, cham-pion, but he probably won't wrestle because of an injury. Bill Osborn of BYU and senior co-captain Gary Jensen of Utah should battle it out for the title. They have each won one in two previous meetings. Joe Lyman of BYU conference champion at 177, has dropped to 167, and will be the favorite. His biggest competition will come from the Utah entry, Jim Frost. Frost has been out most of the season, but he is recovered enough to be a strong contender. Miller of Wyoming, the defending defend-ing champion at 167, has moved up to 177, and should easily win it. The battle for second should be among Steve Roshek of Utah, Dick Thompson of Arizona State, and Floyd Shade of New Mexico. Nobody Beats Culp No one is given a prayer against Curley Culp in the heavyweight division. Last year's NCAA heavyweight heavy-weight champion has not even had a close match this season. Second place should go to Frank Holtry of Utah or Roger Brown of New Mexico. BYU will have the advantage because be-cause the meet is in Provo, but if no Utes sustain injuries, they could pull it out. Si. r i r S ' RON LEMMON . . . Wrestling Co-Captain f i GARY JENSEN . . . Top 160-pounder |