McDona ld of I.S.U., Simm ons of J. S.U .. and Sext on of O.U. (9.40) tied for first on th e Hi gh Bar. Co lorado showed good depth and looked lik e the}· coul d pu sh Iowa Sta te by the end of th e seaso n. Okl ahoma is much stronger and will cert a inl y be in the upper div ision of th e Big Ei ght. Ka nsas and Nebraska appea red to be a bout the same stren.gl h as last yea r. Ka nsas Stat e showed promi se for the future with Freshm an Ken Snow plac. in g second in Long Horse and se\'e nth in Free Ex ercise. Kan sas Stat e has more de pth than last yea r. Pickin g th e finish in th e Big Ei ght race I would pick Iowa Stat e first, Colorado second Ok lahoma third , Kansas fOUTlh , Nebra s'k a fifth , and Kan sas State sixth. Iowa S lat e and Kansas Stat e participated in the Iowa Open at Iow a City. In dual meet competiti on th e Big E ight tea ms started off excep tionally well with Kansas Stat e and Kan sas defeati ng 'Vestern Illin ois a nd Nebraska defea ted th e Ai r Force. I would appreciat e result s from North and South Dakota for this column.
RegiOn Six
M r. JamileAs11nlore U"iv. o/Texas, Austill, Texas.
Regio". 6 - A rkansas, New Mexico, Texa:'
Uni v. 0/ Ne w Mexico, A lbuquerqlle, N. I\~ . Coach Ru sty Mitchell reports that his team could be a cont end er for the N.C.A .A. title this year. Leadin g the team will be Blaise Blasko, Bob Manna, Dave Carriere, and T om Galioto. Along with th e varsity, Ru sty has a freshman team of 12 top gymnasts, which he feels will be top N.C.A.A. performers when their eli gibilit y roll s around nex t year. Keep your eyes on the Uni versity of New Mexico. Odessa College, Odessa, T exas Coach Will son, who is al so th e chairman of the Dept. of P hysica l Education has started the gym nastic program at Odessa College, and will be hos ting th e Texas Collegiat e Champ ionshi ps on Mar. 15 and 16 . . . The Danish Men 's and Women's T our· in g T~a ll1 wi ll put on an Exhibition at Odessa Coli ege Gym, Jan. 23, 1968 . .. Od essa Co llege is formin g an int er-collegiat e women's team and is lookin g for meets in '68. Those in terested SilOUl d conta ct: Keith Ahone, Women's Gymn asti c Coach, Od essa College, Od essa, Texas 79760. Sam Houston State College Coach Pat Yeage r, will have a full du al meet schedul e this year and will al so initi o at e the First Annu al T exas Nat. Gymnasti c Clinic in Corpus Christi , T exa s, Dec. 26·30. Bell Hurst High School, Hurst, Texas Coach Emil Milan , directs one of th e out · standing hi gh school gy mnastic programs in the Sta te of Texas. Last yea r he ini tio ated the first state high school championshi p and wi ll host thi s year the state meet as well as the Jr. Nat. A.A.U. Mar. 22 and 23. University 0/ Texas, Austin. Texas Coach Ashmore returning to Texas aft er a two year absence reports that th e team will suffer th ro ugh a ra ther di smal year due to a lack of experienced men, howeve r will he lookin g forward to next year with a small impressive group of freshm en led by Mike Caldwell and Ronni e Waldie.
RegiOn Seven Reporter to be amlOunced.
Regio'l 7 - Arizo,la, Colorado, Monta'la, Utall, Wyoming.
RegiOn Eight Mr. Jerry Wright San Francisco S t. CoL, San Fra ncisco, Ca lif
Region 8 - Alaska, Cali[omia, Hawaii, Nevada, Idal, o, Oregon, Waslling ton .
. Athletic A ssociation of Western Universities UCLA would appear to be the more solid
26
Cal Poly Sta/.e College-Sari Lil is Obispo In sp it e of one of the fi nest trampo lin e tea ms in the co ll ege divi sion, Cal Poly will be hard pressed to wi n meets due to lack of depth in other event s. Clay ton Christlllall co uld well be the best college division trampolin ists in the co untry and he wi ll he a bly assisted by Steve Endiccott and Dave Buettn er. For Westem Conference Sacrament o S tale Without any seasoned tra mpolini sts t he Hornets coultl be in a littl e trouble this yea r in spite of the fa ct tha t they have their st rongest tea m ever in all oth er event s. With Steve Pl ea u one of the leadin g all around co nt enders in the co ll ege division, Dave Niemand, all ·Am eri can las t yea r on the high ba r and great on the para llel ba rs. and Dan Garber lead in g the way it co uld be a fru stra tin g year fo r Sac rament o. Sa" Francisco State Co uld be a fru strati ng year for t he Ga tors with a ll so rt s of possible problems in t he mak ing. Essenti ally a good tea m mid ·semes ter gradu ation co uld destroy any chances for team success. Tram pol inists Sa m Co bb and Dave Bra ndt -Er ic hen are look ing good so fa r as is Pete Gruber in the all- aroun d. Tom Fester, poss ible mid· se mester loss will be missed but Freshm an Bruce Lybrand will be welcomed wh en he becomes eli gibl e a t the sa me time. Gradu ati on losses we re Bob Sa ka i and Don Hughes. Nevada Report is that Nevada has essenti a lly the sam e tea m back and co uld surprise th e rest of the conference. Chico Slate Chi c J ohn son report s th e loss of some good ve terans because of people givin g up the sport. Sure hurts to lose them that way. Buckey .!\'Iackey should prove to be the surpri se of the conference in the a ll aroun d and Lance Astrella will probabl y win the confere nce still rin g even t. Calijomia State College at Haywortl In their second year of compet ition Haywa rd does not expect to serio usly chall enge any of the other conference members. Unive rsity 0/ Calijom ia·Da uis The rea l da rk-horse of the co nference, with many returning gy mn as ts that ha\'e pl enty of potential. If they ha ve any tram po· Iini sts the rest of the confere nce had bett er look out. I NDEPEN DENTS Eastern Washin gton State College E. Washin gton bein g an NA IA team will not foll ow the same patt ern of most other West coast schools but should do vcr)' well at the NAIA with Rand y Ca rruthers lead· in g the tea m. Last year Rand y was NA IA na ti onal champion in va ultin g and 2nd on the parall el bars. Team expects to have good dep th , prov ided by Mace. Brady. J erry Kraft and a good fl oor exerCise team. Sail Jose S tale College Tony Coppo la in the all- around and on the still rin gs could figu re promi nentl y in
choice in thi s conference at thi s time due to a couple of questi on marks on the pa rt of th e three ot her major powers. Led by Kana ti Allen, the Bassist brothers, Don J\rthur. a strong trampo lin e team, and two out standing ri ng men in Chapla n and Sakoda, the Bruin s appear sol id everywhere. Grad uates incl ud e Al Luber.
Ca~~lr~:~
a bi g question mark in th e pe r. so n of Dan j\-l illm an j th e effecti veness of Dan will largely determine the effecti\'e· ness of Ca l. With Dan they will de finit ely be stronge r on the trampolin e thi s year. With Tepp, Fujim oto, Fazak erly and Freud· enste in they have an out standin g sid e horse tea m, and th ey will be strong enough elsc· wh ere. Gradu ates include P aul Benya , J osh Robison, J illl Lindstrom, Pat Bail ey and Herb Sc. lolllon. Th e fres hman team in cl ud es George Gree nf ield from Pasa dena Cit y Col· lege.
Washington Th e bi g i/ here is Yoshi Hayasak i, in th a t i/ he full y recove rs from an ank le in· j ury ( torn achill es tendon) Washi ngton will be mi ght y tough to bea t, th ey will be anyway. The team also includes Bo Bennett, and Sho Fukushima as out sta ndin g sophomores plus J ohn Anth ony and Brent Rul e who are good sop h trampolini sts. Gradu ates in cl ude i'dark Buckin gham, Ei gil Fl aathen, Mik e F1ansaas, Ri ck Fonceca. Gene J ensen, Steve Lovell. and Pat Ruckert. Stan ford Good pros pects here for the bes t year ever a t Stanford. Led by form er CIF hi gh poin t man Crai g Dickson and all around man J illl P eterse n the In dians will still be hard pressed to buck the top four but should have an enj oyable year. Grad uation losses included only J ohn Rind erkn echt.
USC
lakoto Sak amoto, Mikio Sakamoto, and Gary Wullschcl ager should ca rry the Tro· jans prett y far but unless the tram polini sts come through thi s fin e team will end it s seasons, as a team, at th e co ~fere n.ce championships. Is George Porter still ell g· ibl e? If so he could do well individuall y on th e trampolin e.
Washington S tate Unive rsity Coach Rex Da vis report s that the team mi ght suffer through a rat her di smal year t his yea r hav in g lost J on Warren, Steve Blair, Jay Shaw and i\:Iik e Hanavan through gradu ation. Leadin g the team will be Tohy Elli ott , Larry Am os, Bob S l~ ck , and G I ~ nn Clint on. WS U, howeve r, Will be looklll g forward to nex t year with Mar\' Hildebra nd leadin g an impressive group of fres hmen thi s yea r. University oj' Oregon Could be a rough yea r for Oregon in spit e of the large squad report ed w hi ~ h totals a bout 25 personn el. P robabl y WIll battl e with WSU for last place in th e con· ference. The AA WU co nference championships will quali fy 3 men in each event and 3 men in the all ·around and one team for the NCAA fina ls.
WRIGHT'S PREDICTIONS
1968 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM
Cali/o filia State College at Los A Tl geles To show the strength of thi s conference L.A. State should be in the top 5 in th e co untry in the coll ege division thi s year. . With no losses from last ye ar givin g Gordy Maddux a team consistin g of Gary Hos· kin s, Bruce Coulter, Sy l Lu cio, Dan Nlaci as, J ulio Monroy, J ohn Sevold , ~'I i l es Stanton, :Mike Walter, Don Warren, and . Tom Wi l· son thi s team will be tough for an yone to beat.
Sail Diego Stale College . Gene Spindl er and Larry Buss figure to get th eir share of the sid e horse awards fl oa tin g around , es pecially in the college di vision and will do much to hold th e tea m cduse for San Diego. Losses includ ed all arounder Denn is J oh nston, Robin l'lalley and sid e horse man Ken Schindl er but the team still has good depth and will pre~ent a strong team.
Jerry Fontana , IS U 105.40 Jim Culhane, Un 105.05 Jack Kenan, Ari z 104.40 Gary Diamond, Cal 104.1 0 Mike Jacki, ISU 104.1 0 Rich Impson, Ari z St. 103.90 Bob Hall, Seattle Y 103.75 Bob Cargill, Sp ring 103.30 Don Tonry, NYAC 103.30 A. Grossfe Id, S. Conn 102.90 Paul Mayer, SIU 102.10 Steve Pleau, Sac. st. 102.00 Bill Silhan , III 1Ol.00 Barry Weiner, Tem 100.95 Jim Howard, Lacrosse 100.95 John Magginetti, CFV 100.90 Dan Garcia, Un 100.30 Geo. Greenfield, Cal 100.00 Bob Diamond, Un 99.90 Rich Swetman, Penn St. 99.90 Joe Fedorchek, MSU 99.80 Joe litow, Penn St 99 .10 R. Carruthers, EW .st 98.05 Joe Bridges, NYAC 97.65 AI Luber, Un 96.70 Art Armend3riz, Ari z 95.40 Tony Coppola, San Jose 94.20 Mike Kimball, Utah 92 .95 Jim Betters, Un 89.50 Dennis Sullivan, N La 88 .70 Ron Clemmer, Army 86.70 Yoshi Hayasaki, Wash # Greg Weiss # Rich Scorza, Iowa # Juan Sanchez, Un Top 25 are ra ted accord ing to ability: second 25 are rated accordi ng to score. * Those that have performed '68 olympic compulsories in com· petition ? Currently questi on mark due to injury, Not U.S. Citizen . # No sco res ava ilable .
*
NCAA PRE·SEASON PREDICTIONS
gltlaecrol!ll~~ ~il;'!~ioSal~ay:~;:1 h~~a'D~:I~ns:~IW~~ who is quit e good in fl oor exercise a nd Gene Sin cich who has some potenti al on the side horse. Eastern MOTl la.1la College Thi s mi ght strike yOU as a bit st ran ge but Coach Ph il Levi's schoo l falls int o t he western reg ion for college d ivision sport s and J am , th erefore, includ ing his schoo l in thi s report. I do th is al so in spit e of th e fact th at hi s too is an NAJA school. Led by Henry Work wh o placed 7th in last year's NAI A national championships the tea m fi gures to be stronger than ever be· fore with more depth and ex perience.
Cali/ Ofilia Collegiate Athletic Association San Fernando Valley State College With Ri chard Gr igsby, Steve Radomski , and J ohn i\[agg inetti fillin g in most of the spots SFV will have plent y of de pth every· where except poss ibly on th e tram po lin e where th ey will still be able to hold their own against any other college di vision team in the country. Mike Allmangin ge r, J erry Clodfelt er, Scott McGraw, Bill Nash, Willie Tamura, Galen Uptgraft , and Chuck Wald en will make this one of the top 3 coll ege di\'ision teams in the count.f)! .
Califomi a S tate College at Long Beach '''' ith the loss of Fred Siebum , Jim Foun · taine, J ohn Kulluk , Dave \Val!, and J e ff Wa rin g the 49'ers will be in a little tro.ubl e this yea r team wise. With Don J ennlll gs, however , Long Beach will be we ll represent ed on the victory stand in most meets . as he will give anyone plent y of competi tion on the hi gh bar a~d in the all ·a round.
19. *?20. 21. 22. 23. 24. * 25. 26. * 27. * 28. * 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. * 35. * 36. * 37. 38. 39. 40. 4l. 42. 43. * 44. 45. * 46. 47. 48. 49. **50.
Report # 2
* * * * * *
1. M. Sakamoto , USC 2. Richard Loyd , NW La 3. F. Roethlisberger, Un 4. Marc Cohn, Un 5. Kanati Allen, UCLA 6. S. Freudenstein, C;1 1 7. Bob Emery, Penn St 8. Dave Thor, MSU 9. Bob Lynn , LA Turners 10. Rick Tucker, SIU 11. Arno Lascari, Un 12. Steve Hug, Un 13. Jim Amerine, S. Co nn. 14. Bob Dickson, Iowa 15. Fred Dennis , SIU 16. Richard Grigsby, SFV 17. Mikio Sakamoto, USC 18. Neil Schmitt, Iowa
11 3.50 108 'i 'i 11 0.75 106.90 11 2.00 111.60 106.40 109.60 105.70 106.85 11 0.70 105 .1 5 106.75 1 0 7 . 2~
106.05 103.30 105.80 105.60
ALL AROUND : l. Makoto Sakamoto USC; 2. Yoshi Hayasaki, Was h.; 3. ' Ri chard Loyd, NW La; 4. Kanati All en, UCLA; 5. Dave Th or, MSU; 6. Bob Emery, PS; 7. Bob Dickson, Iowa; 8. Jim Amerine, S. Conn. ; 9. Ri ck Tu cker, SIU; 10. Mike Jac ki , ISU. flOOR EXERCISE: 1. Toby Towson, MSU; 2. Sid Fre udenstein , Cal. ; 3. Dave Jacobs, Mich.; 4. Kanati All en, UCLA; 5. Makoto Sakamoto, USC; 6. Bob Emery, PS; 7. Paul Maye r, SI U; 8. Juli o Monroe, CSLA; 9. Ron Aure, MSU. SIDE HORSE: 1. Gary Hoskins, CSLA; 2. Keith McCanl ess, Iowa; 3. Jack Rya n, Col ; 4. Joel Tepp, Cal ; 5. Rich ard Loyd, NW La ; 6. Dave Thor, MSU; 7. Jim Russo, Wi sc; 8. Yos hi Hayasaki , Wash.; 9. James Yearwood, S. Conn ; 10. Bill Fujimoto, Cal. STIlL RINGS: l. Fred Denn is, SIU; 2. Makoto Sakamoto, USC; 3. Mike Jacki , IS U; 4. Don Hatch, Iowa; 5. Pat Arn old, Ariz.; 6. Del Strange, Col. S. U.; 7. Yos hi Hayasaki , Wash; 8. Bob Dickson, Iowa; 9. Jim Am eri ne, S. Conn; 10. Tony Coppola, San Jose. TRAMPOLINE: 1. Dave Jacobs, Mich.; 2. Wayne Mill er, Mi ch.; 3. Dale Hardt, SI U; 4. Dan Millman , Cal; 5. Jim Younge, SWLA; 6. Julian Stova l, Ariz; 7. Hutch Dvorak, SIU; 8. Bob Ewing,. Col. SU; 9. Cliff