1993_01 The Daily Collegian January 1993

              6 — Dairy Collegian
Collegian Sports
■r-
Wednesday, Jan. 27,1993
.(   •
FSU-vVFestler
chases his
elusive dream
Harold Zinkin is obsessed with his final
shot at becoming an All-American, a
lifetime goal tvhat has barely eluded him.
By Brett Pape
Staffwriter
e's "wrestler
For Fresno State's ■wrestler
Harold.Zinkin, the last five years
as a Bulldog have been somewhat
'bittersweet.
While the senior has a career
record of 93-32-4 and has heen a
part of a team that finished ranked
No.l 1 in the nation at end of the
last season, Zinkin's ultimate goal
has eluded him, recognition as an
All-American.
For the past two seasons Zinkin
has qualified for the NCAA cham¬
pionships, finishing as high as
ninth, as a sophomore. Last season
he was defeated in the first round,
eliminating him from the champi¬
onship bracket The top-eight fin¬
ishers are named All-American.
'There is nothing that I want
more than to be an All-American,"
Zinkin said. "That is at the top of
my list. If I can get that, it would
make the last 15 years of wrestling
As the NCAA's third-ranked
134-pounder. with a 21-2 record
this season, his chances of attain¬
ing his: lifelong goal appear better
«, .    '   7~,    than ever.
It would        The fast start
.    make the     for Zinkin is
last 15 years no^ng new for
c ,.       him.Eachofthe
of wrestling lasttwoseasons
all worth it.' Zinkin     has
—Harold   wresUed stron8
_;   , . early, but has
ZmiaQ       tapered     off
^—"" some when the
most important matches ofthe year
come around.
"You always want it to be your
year." Zinkin said. "I seem to come
on really strong at the beginning
and the middle of the season and
man Mini
r 134-pounder Harold Zinkin, ranked No. 3 In the NCAA, has a team-best 21-2 record.
then at the e nd ofthe year, ifit's not
from cutting weight or the season
just being to long, I lose my inten¬
sity just a bit"
However, this season, Zinkin
wants nothing more than to put an
end to that trend. He has been rjain-
ingovertime so he won't fade when
it counts.
Or so he hopes.
"This year I am just trying"to go
as hard and as long as possible,"
HAROLD ZINKIN
Fresno State Career
Ssaaon
'88-89
'89-90
'90-91
'91-92
'92-93
WjL Record
126 16-15-2
Redshirted
126 •     24-10-1
134 3J-5-1
134  *    Bl-2*
•Still in season
- ■ ihmw   miu   tao sung <ao |AJ&aiuic, '
Zinkin skid. "I am working harder    19-0 start, Zinkin said the pressure
this year-so I won't lose it (the"
intensity). Hopefully that will
help."
Zinkin; whose younger brothers
Dewayne and Nick are also on the
Fresno State team, is also looking
at his two losses for help. After a
 ! I	
of being undefeated was building.
"The losses I think will help me
more than anything," he said. "With
everyone'coming up/d'me and
saying 'Yeah, I heard you 'reunde¬
feated,' and this and that. I kind of
had a mopkey on my back.'.'
With his 93 wins at FSU, ZUkin
is quickly moving up the career-
victory list He currently stands
fifth, needing just nine more wins
to move into the top three. Seven
dual matches remain on the Bull¬
dogs' schedule, in addition to one
tournament, the Western Athletic
Conference Championships and
the NCAA Championships.
"Of course, jt/s great to be in the
top five," Zinkin said." As long as
I achieve the goals that I want to,
I'm happy."
While it might seerrrZinkin is
concerned only with his personal
goals, his success has been instru¬
mental in the rise of the Fresno
See Zlnkln/page 7
Hockey team to revive
FSU's newfound rivalry
Ciwim Bakp
Although not funded by the university, the Fresno State club
hockey teem prides Itself on staying competitive by out-
hitting other teams. Pictured (clockwise from bottom left) are
players Aaron Johnson, Eric Lucas, George Harvey and
Martin Nlelson. The team plays four home games at Fresno's
ice rink, Icelandia, this weekend.
Skaters host USC
^this weekend at
Fresno's Icelandia.
By Chris Cocoles
Staffwriter
 ! .	
The University of Southern Cali¬
fornia will have another chance to
beat Fresno State.
On the ice.
The FSU hockey club team hosts
the Trojans Saturday morning, one
of three opponents for the Bull¬
dogs (4-5-1) this weekend.
Fresno State hosts Cal State
Northridge Friday night at 5:30,
USC Saturday-at 8:45 a.m., and
UCLA at 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs
j>lay the Trojans again on Sunday.
All games will be at Icelandia Ice
Skating Arena. *
Aaron Johnson, a right wing for
the Bulldogs, said the football,
team's recent Freedom Bowl win
over USC will be a factor when the
two teairls meet.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
• FSU HOCKEY
•Fri.. 6 p.m.—Northridge
•Sat, 8:45 a.m.—USC
•Sat, 3 30 p.m.—UCLA
Sua., 7:45 a.m.—USC
"The game should be heavy hit¬
ting because of what happened at
(the Freedom Bowl)," Johnson
said. "There's some excitement
from our standpoint'."
• FSU may face its stiffest test of
the season against Southern Cal.
The Trojans were Division I in
club ice hockey last season hut
moved to Division D, where Fresno
State currently competes.
"USC is one of the better teams
in the stale after moving from Di¬
vision I to D," Johnson said. "That
will bi our toughest game of the
weekend, if not the season. I
haven't heard much about UCLA,
but they're probably strong"
Financially, the Bulldogs are
simply happy to lace up their skates
and even compete. Not being an
NCAA-sanctioned club team pre¬
vents them from receiving aid
from the university.
"We don't get a lot of money,
we' re not sponsored by anyone on
campus. Each of us pay money out
of our pockets to play," Johnson
said. "We were able to sell ads for
our programs which helped. We
also charged a dollar or so admis¬
sion to some of our home games."
"We've tried to get some cover¬
age from The Fresno Bee and
other newspapers but can't be¬
cause we're only a club team."
In addition to purchasing equip¬
ment such as uniforms, pucks and
hockey sticks, the team pays
Icelandia as much as $250 for a
two-hour practice session and $300
for games.
"We practiced about once a week
before we had weeekend home
games; we had about two hours to
scrimmage and work on our lines,"
Johnson said. >
FSU has defeated such teams as
See Hockey/p'ge 7 .