The Daily Journal from Vineland, New Jersey • 17

SECTION Ken Hitchner, Sports Editor Call 691 -5000, ext. 300, after 8 p.m. EH ademption SATURDAY February 26, 1994 Apparently, cold war not over yet HAMAR, Norway The judges from the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Japan went for Nancy Kerrigan. The judges from the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, China and Germany who used to be an East German skater wentforUkraine'sOksanaBaiul. When they hold an Olympics and the vote doesn't break down that way, you'll know the cold Bolts win Cape-American Division (If i I 1 1 uiarkro.

lost just one game since the losing streak. While some people questioned the Thunderbolts, leading scorer Jen Denby said they never questioned themselves. "We were too good a team," said the senior, who scored a game-high 15 points. Millville controlled its own destiny Friday, needing only a victory to advance to today's championship game. The Thunderbolts started out quickly, going on a 14-2 run to start the game.

But in the next 11 minutes, Millville watched its lead disappear. Poor shooting by Millville allowed the Vikings to get back in the game. The Thunderbolts See MILLVILLE on C5 By DAN LOVING Staff Writer MILLVILLE About six weeks ago, the Millville High girls basketball team lost a game to Atlantic City High that, as Thunderbolt coach Larry Perry said, sent the team spiralling. The Thunderbolts proved Friday they are all the way back. Millville beat Atlantic City, 5242, and clinched the Cape-Atlantic League American Division championship on the final day of the league season.

The Thunderbolts will play National Division champion Middle Township High at 5 p.m. today at Holy Spirit High THE MAIN EVENT for the CAL title. The Thunderbolts were one of the top-ranked teams in South Jersey before they played the Vikings the first time. Millville started the season with a six-game win streak, but a one-point loss sent Millville on a four-game losing streak. "People asked me if my team was finished," Perry said.

"We were far from it." Millville improved to 18-5 with the victory and claimed their first division title in Perry's four years at the school. The Thunderbolts have won their last eight games and have ally over. But not before. And so Nancy Kerrigan's Olympic saga ends as it's been since that day seven MIKE LOPRESTI Gannett News Service PhotoManuel Noguera Millville High's Stephanie Slough (55) drives down the lane for a layup during the Thunderbolts' 52-42 victory over Atlantic City High Friday. 32 mid Baiul takes first by a 1 0th of point; Harding finishes 8th after solid effort i i.

i weeks ago in Detroit. In controversy. A story so compelling we cannot take our eyes from it. A tale so fascinating it will live forever. Bauil won the gold Friday night.

Kerrigan won the silver. A lot of the skating world thinks it should have been the other way around. Was she jobbed? Geopolitically cheated Mugged of a gold medal more efficiently than any hitman ever could do? Judges, after all, do not need metal batons. They have scorecards. Let's be honest here.

Who real ly knows for sure? They were so close. The margin between them thinner than the blade of a skate. One-tenth of one point on one scorecard. The German had it tied, and the tiebreaker is who has the highest artistic score Baiul, 5.9-5.8. It was natural to pull for Kerrigan.

This was the end of the fairy tale. She was supposed to live happily ever after, with the gold medal. And she skated so well. One bobble at the beginning, and then a resolute march to the finish line. She left the ice feeling she had delivered a gold medal performance.

"In my mind, in my heart, I did," she said. "And for my peace of mind." But figure skating is never predictable. It is not won on a scoreboard, but in the closets of the human heart and mind. "We just had to leave it up to fate," said Mary Scotvold, one of Kerrigan's coaches. Fate brought Baiul to the ice next.

The young girl who was hurt in a practice collision only the day before, requiring three stitiches and three tons of determination to come back. Some reports Thursday night had her out of the competition. But there she was Friday, fire on ice. Only 4:10 later, she had Nancy Kerrigan's gold medal. Forever.

Resentment smoldered among a good many Americans. "The judges want to be ingratiated," CBS analyst Paul Wylie seethed. "They want you to smile at them and vamp them. That's now passing for artistic expertise." The political breakdown of the vote was noted. Bandied about in the press room.

Was it a factor? "You'd have to ask the judges," Kerrigan coach Evy Scotvold said. slammed into another skater at practice Thursday and needed three stitches to close-a bloody wound on her shin. The judging broke down along geopolitical lines. Kerrigan, of Stoneham, was ranked No. 1 by judges from Great Britain, Japan, Canada and the United States.

Baiul, the defending world champion, was the choice of judges from Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, China and Germany. Kerrigan appeared less than thrilled on the medals platform, but she refused to complain about not getting gold. Tonya Harding, the controversial skater from Portland, whose ex-husband has pleaded guilty to his part in a Jan. 6 attack on Kerrigan, didn't go quietly. She broke a shoelace while warming up, almost was disqualified by failing to reach the ice in time, quit and burst into tears a few seconds into her program and ultimately was given a chance to skate again later in the program.

Harding turned in a creditable performance and climbed from 10th to eighth. Olympic coverage, C3. LILLEHAMMER, Norway (GNS) In her relentless drive to an Olympic gold medal, Nancy Kerrigan overcame all but the tiniest obstacle. Her name is Oksana Baiul. Kerrigan's long program was nearly flawless in the women's figure-skating competition Friday, but nearly flawless wasn't good enough.

Baiul, the 16-year-old, 95-pound orphan from Ukraine, skating after two injections of painkillers to deaden the ache in her sore back and injured right leg, eked out the narrowest of victories to take the gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Kerrigan and Baiul each received No. 1 scores from four judges. The ninth judge, a former East German skater, had them in a tie. That deadlock was broken by the higher score in artistic impression on the German's card, and Baiul won that and the gold by a score of 5.9 to 5.8.

A 10th of a point. "The hard life I've lived up 'til now gives me the strength to compete," said Baiul, who never knew her father and whose mother died two years ago. Her status in the event was doubtful almost up the point she stepped on the ice; she ,1 i AP Laserphoto American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan silver medal for ladies figure skating waves to the crowd after accepting her Friday. Ukraine's Oksana Beiul won. Mike Lopresti covers sports for Gannett News Service.

ETtf I llf'TOT'l'll W- No upsets in first round of District 31 National Basketball Association C4 Heat 11 5, 76ers 84 Bulls 116, Bullets 94 WRESTLING Magic 114, Nets 102 Hawks 1 1 1, Bucks 100 Cavs 107, Warriors 97 Pacers 110, Pistons 90 and Dave Murray (189). Millville advanced seven wrestlers: Deric Cheeseman (103), Ron Johnson (119), Ti Cosby (140), Mark Saul (145), Scott Goodwin (152), Carlos Nieves (171) and heavyweight Mike Cook. Vineland advanced Mike Gatto (125), Devon Mattie (135), Rahim Caldwell (189) and Schalick moved Karl Haywood (152), Pat Miller (160) and Ken Garner (171) into the semifinals. District preview, C5. A look at top seeds, C5.

evarria (189) advanced into the semifinals. Despite Buena's success, Pen-nsville advanced 11 wrestlers and is in first place with 42 team points. Millville is in second with 33 points, Buena has 30V and Delsea Regional has 2VA. But the big team points will be awarded today. i Delsea moved eight wrestlers into today's semifinals: Todd Trampe (103), Dave Frank (112), Dan Barber (119), Mike Bilinski (140), Keith DeSimone (145), Kevin DeSimone (152), Rich Dunnet (171) By JOSEPH MORITA Staff Writer BUENA Everything went as expected in the opening rounds of the District 31 wrestling tournament Friday at Buena Regional High School.

That means the host Chiefs are in good shape. Buena High advanced nine wrestlers to the semifinals, which will begin 11 a.m. today in the Buena gymnasium. The consolations and finals will begin at 5 p.m. "The guys who were supposed to win, won," Buena coach Doug Castellari said.

"So we're in a good spot right now." The Chiefs haven't won the district title since 1980, when Castellari was a senior wrestler for the team. Buena has seven first seeds. For the Chiefs, Mike Miller (103 pounds), Matt Cifaloglio (112), Bob Hanson (119), Octavio Liriano (125), Brian McKelvey (130), Paul Caste-llini (135), Lionel Rodriguez (145), Bruce Hall (160) and Edison Ech- Season finale -V -s. 4 Knicks-Nuggets (N) Suns-Jazz (N) Celtics-Sonics (N) Kings-Clippers (N) Spurs-Lakers (N) National Hockey League C4 Islanders 2, Flyers 0 Blackhawks 3, Sabres 1 Bruins 7, Jets 6 Kings-Oilers (N) lMr.JBrlL -v HUMID! 1 urn TODAY Tennis 6 a.m. Collegiate Open SC Boxing 8:30 Toughman title SC Basketball noon 48 Basketball noon Evansville-Xavier ESPN Basketball noon Hartford-N'theastern SC Olympics 1p.m.

Winter Games 10 Basketball 1 p.m. Seton Hall-'Nova 57 Racing 1 p.m. Goodwrench 200 TNN Basketball 4:30 Duquesne-St. Joe's 48 i Basketball 5 p.m. Penn SC Olympics 7 p.m.

Winter Games 10 Basketball 7:30 Hawks-76ers PRISM Boxing 8 p.m. Middleweighls BET SUNDAY 1 Olympics 9 a.m. Winter Games 10 Basketball noon Syracuse-St. John's 10 Racing noon Goodwrench 500 TNN Basl(etbal1 12:30 Hornets-Magic 3 Basketball 2 p.m. Indiana-Minnesota 10 Basketball 3:45 Duke-Temple 6 Olympics 4 p.m.

Winter Games 6 Basketball 5:30 Suns-Knicks 3 Olympics 8 p.m. Winter Games 10 Olympics 11:35 Winter Games 10 Vineland boys swim team eliminated tops on his team, in 2 minutes, 9.9 seconds. Ganio also had a season-best time of 5:56.24 in the 500-meter freestyle. That was the best for Vineland, yet fourth-best overall. Vineland's Matt McMahon also had a season-best in the 50-meter freestyle in 25.41 seconds.

That was good enough for first place. Ben Masucci of Vineland won the 100-meter backstroke in 1:06.24. NEXT: Vineland (11-1) will play host to Holy Spirit High 1 p.m: Sunday in the Cape-Atlantic League championship meet. Vineland beat Holy Spirit, 117-69, in the regular season. cause of a smaller enrollment, they had dropped to Division this year.

Then Tuesday morning, Vineland was told by the state that St. Joseph's had resubmitted its enrollment figures and had been switched to Division A. "I told my kids that all through the season, this is what it feels like for some teams to swim at Vineland," said Vine-land coach Charley Gaudio. "You have to shoot for something different." For Vineland, it was faster times. Mike Ganio swam a season-best time in the 200-meter freestyle.

He still finished fourth, ByTOMGANTERT Staff Writer VINELAND These were the other guys. The St. Joseph's High School with a swim team. The school from Metuchen, not Ham-monton. And the No.

1 seed in the SouthCentral Jersey Division A state tournament. They beat the Vineland High boys, 108-62, in a meet that at first wasn't even scheduled to take place. This may have been the strangest prelude to a state meet Vineland ever had. St. Joseph's was not in the Division A of the tournament.

Be PhotoManuel Noguera Vineland High's Mike Ganio finishes fourth in the 500-meter freestyle with a personal-best time. Vineland lost to St. Joseph's (Metuchen), 108-62..