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Show Birch looks tough in wrestling opener becoming bored in practice. Ocey Leavitt at 1 38 pounds is picked by Schuub as the other Miner to watch this season. Ijeavitt only wrestled one match Thursday, that against Alan Hackford of South Rich, winning it on points. 8-2. But Schaub said Leavitt didn't l(Mk that sharp. "He got fatigued, and kinda pooped out." Schaub explained. Only three other njatches wrestled for points last Thursday. At 112 Rob Bassett of Park City" beat Keddy Virdus of Manila 3-2 in a tough match. Then at 155 pounds Steve Jacobson beat Bart Comia of South Rich 11-6, after building up an early lead. Finally, Matt Burnett of Park City lost at 126 pounds to Scott Weyland of Manila, as Weyland pinned him one minute into the third period Burnett also wrestled one of the three exhibition matches i matches where kids of unequal weights wrestle, but the scores doi.'t coui.l. i Burnett faced Ron Haviland of South Rich, who was almost 20 pounds heavier, in a seesaw match which ended in a 9-9 draw. Miner Greg Reid went down a weight class to face Keddy Virdus at 1 12 pounds. But the Manila wrestler pinned Reid early in the second period after controlling the early stages of the match. Probably the most ei.tertaii.ii'g match of the night was wrestled by Park City's 172-pound Eric Hales. Hales went up against Dennis Paukon of Manila in an exhibition match. Paulson weighed 220 pounds, but Hales crushed him with a pin in the second round. Schaub said his team had a problem with not getting the takedowns in the opening match. He said he has the kids working on getting better penetration, and on attacking the opponenfs legs. Another problem is that t he wrestlers are not planning out their matches, he said. They need to think earlier w hat they w ill do after getting a takedown, rather than waiting until the fact. The Miners wrestle again today at South Summit in a dual match with the Wildcats and South Rich. The action starts at 6 p.m. by Randy llanskat As has been his style in the past. Park City wrestler Mike Birch led the Miners in both spirit and results in last Thursday's season-opening dual match in Miner Gym. Birch pinned both of his opponents in fine pretzel form. Those of you who follow wrestling know that it is one of the most individual of sports. Team scores are kept, but are biased against small programs due to forfeits in empty weight brackets. W hat counts are the matches that are wrestled. However, the point totals do much to illustrate the strength, or weakness of a team. Park City has a small team this year, but its opponents last Thursday, Manila and South Rich, have even smaller programs. South Rich had four wrestlers, Manila had five. That showed up in the team scores, as Park City beat South Rich 48-6, and beat Manila 45-12. Birch was tough at 132 pounds. In his first match against Mike Hopkin of South Rich he got the opening takedown, plus two two-point near-falls near-falls in the first two-minute period. Then in the second he started out on the bottom, but got the reversal, and the quick pin at 3 :42 in the match. His second match was with Burt Weyland of Manila. But it wasn't much of a match, as Birch got the takedown and the pin, all within one minute. - Miner Wrestling Coach Jesse Schaub said Birch has a good attitude this year. "He's really turning into a leader on the team," Schaub said. But there's one thing about Birch which has Schaub a bit worried: lack of competition. Since Birch is so good, he is rarely challenged in practice. With that in mind, Schaub said he and Assistant Coach Doug Jones make a point of wrestling Birch in practice. Since both Schaub and Jones are heavier than Birch, the work should pay off for him later in the season, plus keep him from . f" - v Park City's Steve Jacobson (top) puts the hurt on South Rich's Hart Cornia. Jacobson Went Oil tO Win 1 1-t'i. photo by Randy Hanskat |