SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1986 THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS Press Photo by ANNA MOORE BUTZNER East Grand Rapids' Ben Rechner high-steps down the track in the 50-meter dash. Lubbers Dominates Press Track By Jackie Holland-Decker A hush fell over the crowd Friday night as Calvin Christian pole vaulter Ryan Lubbers began his approach. The senior was attempting to clear 14-feet, in the Grand Rapids Press High School Track Invitational at Grand Valley State College, and the crowd seemed to hold its breath right along with him as he began his run. He dug the tip of the pole into the pit and flew up into the air, arched his back at just the right moment and went over, leaving the bar untouched on its perch and raising his arms in victory as he hit the mat. For Lubbers, who finished second in the state last year in Class with a personal-best vault of 13-8, the victory and his new personal record capped an outstanding evening.
He also won the long jump with a career-best finished third in the 50-meter high hurdles in 7.3 seconds, and ran on the Squires' 800- meter relay. Doing so well in the meet was a big surprise for Lubbers, who had struggled the past three weeks in practice. "I've been practicing (pole vault) at Wyoming Park with Craig (Koeze) and I haven't been landing on the mat. The highest I had gone Class and squads was the first of the season in practice this year was 12 foot," said the ec- for most of the teams, but a veteran squad from static Lubbers, who lifted weights in the off- Sparta didn't let first meet jitters spoil its victoseason to prepare for his final prep year. "I'm ry bid.
happy. My goal last year was 14-1. This year I The Spartans won easily with 50 points. The want to go 15 feet. Squires were second with 34, followed by in the long jump is my best by land Christian 28, Lowell 24, East Grand Rapids about one foot, nine inches.
This is my favorite 23, Wyoming Park Caledonia Chipmeet to long jump at and my hurdle time is pewa Hills 11, Zeeland 6, Kenowa Hills 6, Hudmy best by a lot, too. sonville 5, Godwin Heights 4, Forest Hills Calvin Christian Coach William Dekkinga Northern 3, and Wyoming Rogers 1. Defending was delighted with Lubbers' performances, too. champion Spring Lake and Muskegon Oakridge "I was hoping he'd go 13 or so. I would have did not score.
been happy with that," said Dekkinga. "We knew this was our year," said Sparta Koeze, who hopes to win the 0-K White title Coach John Thomas. "I predicted the team for the fourth consecutive year this spring, was would score 50 points and that would win it. Lubber's closest competition in the pole vault "This meet was made to order for us. Relays but plagued by a pulled groin muscle, the Vi- basically count double and we won all three.
king vaulter could only make 13 feet. "The main thing is, we have a lot of hard "I'm not upset because. I lost, but I'm upset working seniors who are setting a good examthat I didn't vault better, said last year's Class ple for the rest," he added. state champion, who was vaulting for only the The action continues today at GVSC with the second time this winter because of Class A and large Class competition. Field "I broke my hand during football, so that set events begin at 11:45 p.m.
Running events start me back a little when I should have been jump- at 1 p.m. ing, too." Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for chilThe meet between small Class schools and dren. WXMI Brings State Finals to Michigan By Howie Beardsley The butterflies are fluttering rapidly in the stomachs of 26 WXMI-TV employees who will bring today's Michigan high school state boys' basketball finals not only to Grand Rapids, but the entire state. Channel 17, a independent station in Grand Rapids, is well-versed in prep football and basketball coverage on a weekly tape-delayed basis. Broadcasting state tournaments, however, is a different subject.
"This is not only one of the biggest projects we've attempted, it's also one of the few times a station has produced the state finals and sent it out on a state network feed," said Dick Stawicki, the director of operations at WXMI. "Since we do games on a weekly basis during the season, we feel confident going in. But we've never done four games in one day before." WXMI sports manager Rick Berkey and sports editor Ed Phelps of WJRT-TV in Flint will handle the play-by-play and color commentary of all four state championship games. Coverage begins with the Class final at 11 a.m. The Class A game will be shown at 2:30 p.m.
and will be followed by the Class game at 7 p.m. and the Class final at 8:30 p.m. All games will be at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. WXMI will produce the four contests and send a satellite feed to six other state stations. Despite the praise that is given to Michigan prep basketball, the state is not on a par with Iowa, Indiana and Illinois, where state finals are given state-wide coverage on a yearly basis.
Michigan high school state finals have been shown before on TV, but few have gone across the state. "The state finals were shown throughout the state back in the 1960s and '70s," said Phelps, a 19- year television veteran who began his career at WWMT-TV (then WKZO) in Kalamazoo. "In fact, the originating station of the state finals in those days was channel 13 (WZZM) in Grand Rapids. Channel 13 did them for a number of years, then dropped them. PBS (Public Broadcasting System) picked them up for awhile, then they also dropped the coverage.
"I did one other state final for television back around 1980. It's great fun, and I think the boys' state basketball finals makes up MSU from C1 five minutes of the second half to trail by only 52-49. Kansas went up by 57-49 before Johnson, Fordham, Carr and Skiles scored. Carr's bucket with 10:02 left gave MSU its first lead (62-61) since early in the game. Michigan State held brief advantages for the remainder of the game, or until the last 19 seconds when Brown missed the critical free throw.
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Exhibits Added! GRAND SPORT SHOW RV March 20 thru 23. The Grand Center, Grand Rapids Calander of Events for Saturday Sunday All Day Every Day: Michigan Taxidermy Competition, Free Bow Tuning, Trout Pond, Wood Carving. SATURDAY. Meet Miller Lite All Star Grits Gresham 9 am- Sport Show Spring Classic 5 Mile Footrace 12 noon- Kids Fishing Seminar 1:00 pm- "Pier Surf Fishing" Seminar with Michigan Steelheaders 2:00 pm- "'The Basics of Lake Trolling' Seminar 2:00 pm- "Kids Archery Seminar" Seminar With Vic Berkompus 3:00 pm- "Great Lakes Sport Seminar with Capt. Skip Stafford 4:00 pm- STAGE SHOW featuring Lumberjack Show of Champions 5:00 pm- "Bass Fishing" Seminar with Bill Dawson 6:00 pm- "Spinner Fishing The Rivers" Seminar with Jim Bedford 7:00 pm- "Advanced Big Lake Clinic" 8:00 pm- "FIsh Cleaning and Smoking of Fish" 8:30 pm- STAGE SHOW featuring Miss Michigan Sunday 12 noon "Walleye Tactics" Seminar with Tom Veneklase 1:00 pm DNR Film and Seminar with Dale Swartz 2:00 pm "Pier and Surf Fishing" Seminar with Mich.
Steelheaders 2:00 pm Garry Hull's Archery Demonstration and Shooting Clinic 3:00 pm "Walleye Tactics" Seminar with Tom Veneklase 4:00 pm STAGE SHOW Featuring Sampson the Wrestling Bear Open SATURDAY 11:00 am to 10:00 pm Open am to 6:00 pm AMOCO Discount Coupons at Participating Amoco Service Station 1 sports on the tube one of the greatest days of sports in Michigan each year." Besides airing its first state basketball finals, WXMI will also debut a few new wrinkles. Among them are slow-motion instant replays and a character generator that allows graphics and statistics to be shown. "It's a thrill to be able to cover the state finals for not only Grand Rapids, but the entire state," Berkey said. "The station has been planning this for almost threequarters of a year, so it's not something that was just decided upon." CHANNEL CHATTER: WXMI will announce this year's Old Kent Bank boys high school basketball Player of the Year during Sunday's 8 p.m. showing of "17 Sports Report." Public station WGVC-TV (channel 35) will begin a four-part interview with college coaching legend John Wooden Friday, March 28 at 11 p.m.
on "Sportsweek." The final three parts of the interview will be conducted April 4 and 11 and May 2, and will also air at 11 p.m. Rebroadcasts of each of the four parts will be carried at noon on April 5 and 12 and May 3. "Sportsweek" host Dick Nelson conducted the interview when the former UCLA head coach was in Jenison for a recent speaking engagement. The Tigers' initial network appearance in this area will become a no-show today because of the NCAA Tournament on WWMT (channel 3). "We wanted to show the Tigers, but we also think that people are more interested right now in the basketball tournament than in spring training baseball," said WWMT program director Linda Dosh, "so we didn't even clear (today's) game." Detroit is hosting the Dodgers today in Lakeland.
SATURDAY'S BEST BETS High school and college basketball tournament action will squareoff today for Grand Rapids area guard, kept the MSU matchup zone honest by drilling four jumpers over it in the first half. MSU also had difficulty stopping passes to center Greg Dreiling and Manning on the inside. Kansas' 7- foot-1 center was fouled six times in the first half. He made four of seven free throws. Thompson scored 12 points, Manning had 10 to lead Kansas which sank 17 of 30 field-goal tries for 56.7 percent.
The Spartans, meanwhile, hit only 13 of 27 (48.1). MSU outrebounded Kansas 17-16 in the first half, but lost the ball eight times to turnovers. The Jay- viewers. On the prep level, WXMI (channel 17) will show the Class boys state final at 11 a.m., the Class A title game at 2:30 p.m., the Class finale at 7 p.m. and the Class championship at 8:30 p.m.
The NCAA Tournament will televise two regional championship games on WWMT (channel 3) beginning at 1:30 p.m. And then there's the women's NCAA Tournament on ESPN (cable channel M-26). ESPN will show the East Regional final at noon, the Mideast championship at 6 p.m., the Midwest final at 8 and the West final at 10 In golf competition, the Professional Seniors Tour's Vintage Invitational (3 p.m., ESPN, cable M-26) and the Professional Golfers Tour's Classic (5 p.m., WOTV, channel 8) will be aired. On the tennis courts, the Paine Webber Classic for men (3:30 p.m., WOTV, channel 8) and the women's Virginia Slims Championships (noon, USA, cable channel A-14) are scheduled The Professional Bowlers Tour's Lite Beer Open (3 p.m., WUHQ, channel 41 and WZZM, channel 13), the Western State Endurance Run on "Wide World of Sports" (4:30 p.m., WUHQ, channel 41 and WZZM, channel 13), the Braves-Mets spring training game (1:35 p.m., WTBS, cable channel D-17), the Jim Beam Spiral Stake horse race (5 p.m., ESPN, cable channel M-26), and coverage of the 12 Hours of Sebring on WTBS (cable channel D- 17) are also among the day's highlights. The start of Sebring will be shown live from 10:35 a.m.
to 11:35 a.m. Five-minute updates will be given throughout the day before the final hour of the race is aired live beginning at 10:35 p.m. SUNDAY'S BEST BETS The final two spots of the NCAA Final Four field will be filled during WWMT's coverage of the East and Midwest Regionals beginning at 1:30 p.m. Additional basketball competition includes tape coverage of the men's NCAA Division II final (12:30 a.m., ESPN, cable channel M-26) and the women's NCAA Division II final (3 a.m., ESPN, cable channel M-26). Besides final-day coverage of the Paine Webber Classic (1:30 p.m., WOTV, channel 8), the Virginia Slims (1 p.m., USA, cable channel A-14), the Classic (4 p.m., WOTV, channel 8), and the Vintage Classic (6 p.m., ESPN, cable chan- hawks converted five of those mistakes into baskets.
Skiles led the Spartans with eight first alf points but was able to get off only five shots, hitting three. It was the 53rd consecutive game that Skiles has hit for double figures. Fordham's previous career high was eight points. Those individual accomplishments were of little consolation to Michigan State which appeared headed for a regional championship game on Sunday, only to see it blown away Kansas night here Friday. nel M-26), the weekend lineup will also conclude with the Braves-Astros game (1:35 p.m., WTBS, cable channel D-17), the Formula I Grand Prix from Brazil (10:50 a.m., ESPN, cable channel M-26) and National Hockey League play between the Blackhawks and the New York Rangers (8:30 p.m., ESPN, cable channel M-26) 1984 Olympic gold medalist Tyrell Biggs and Jeff Sims will meet in a 10- round heavyweight match (3:30 p.m., WUHQ, channel 41) that will be followed by "Wide World of Sports" (4:30 p.m., WUHQ, channel 41).
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