City Prepsters Turn To Winter Sports

The winter sports season really gets off to a bang this week in the three city high schools with eight separate athletic events being contested by the prepsters. Of course, basketball occupies a big chunk of the schedule with Ann Arbor High, University High and St. Thomas starting their cage wars in earnest. But the other sports- hockey, wrestling and swimming - will also get their share of the spotlight. The Pioneer cagers, who were the runnersup in the State Class A finals last year, will attempt to shake off the effects of Saturday night's 71-42 drubbing at the hands of Flint Central. The Pioneers go against Dearborn Edsel Ford in a road game Friday and then travel across the state to face always tough Benton Harbor Saturday evening. . Meanwhile the basketballers from University High and St. Thomas will also be active. The Cubs open their season against Grosse Pointe University School in a 3:45 p.m., Wednesday clash at University High and then take on Linden in another home game at 6:45 p.m., Saturday. The Irish, who captured their opening game from Ecorse St. Francis by a 62-55 count, tine 5-2 in the season opener, but face a tough test in a 4 p.m., Friday clash with Fraser at Gordie Ho we Hockeyland. The Pioneer icers were a little shaky in their first game, but must be in top form for this contest. After a quadrangular meet, John Nordlinger's Ann Arbor High wrestling outfit gets his debut before home town fans as head coach. Nordlinger, who served as assistant coach last season, is preparing the wrestlers for a dual meet with East Lansing at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Then the mat team takes to the road for an Invitational Meet at Berkley on Saturday. In the quadrangular meet with Walled Lake, Garden City East and Trenton, the Pioneers won several weight classes, but Nordlinger said there was much work yet to be done by the mat squad. The Ann Arbor High swimmers, under the guidance of Jerry Misner, start another s e a s o n with a home meet against Grosse Pointe at 7:30 p.m., Friday and taking off to the Kimball Relays in Royal Oak Saturday. The splashers only previos competition this season has been in the Purple and White intrasquad meet. The Pioneers turned in some good times but Misner is looking forward to better performances this weekend.