War in the Persian Gulf will not cancel any of the wrestling team's matches this weekend, not even against Navy.

Last night the Associated Press reported that the Navy athletic director was considering canceling all athletic contests during the war. Sports information assistant Jim Caltagirone called Navy this morning and was told that all athletic contests will continue as planned.

Only in the event that athletics would provide a risk to the Naval Academy would Navy postpone or cancel competition, the athletic department told Caltigerone.

The Lions will face Navy tomorrow night in Annapolis. They will wrestle both Maryland and North Carolina State on Sunday afternoon.

Injuries to 167-pounder Dave Hart, 177-pounder Matt White and 190-pounder Frank Buchman will force the Lions to start inexperienced wrestlers at the end of the lineup.

N.C. State is especially strong in the upper weights, where Penn State is substituting this week. At heavyweight is No. 3 Sylvester Terkay.

"I think North Carolina State has the best chance of an upset against us," Coach Rich Lorenzo said.

Sophomore Dan Ombalski, normally a 158-pounder, will wrestle at 167, freshman Mike Kraft, who has wrestled varsity at 190, will wrestle at 177, and sophomore Fred Koberlein will wrestle his second varsity match of the season at 190.

"There's nothing I can really tell them to help," tri-captain Jason Suter said. "If they wrestle JV at Penn State they'd better be working harder than the varsity guys."

No. 10 Hart suffered a first-degree shoulder separation in the final seconds of his Iowa bout and will miss three to four weeks. White sprained the posterior ligament in his knee against Oklahoma State and will also miss three to four weeks. The knee is responding to treatment and the swelling is decreasing, Lorenzo said.

The Lions are guarding against overconfidence after winning the national dual meet title last weekend but expect to win all three matches.

"I'm sure there will be some loss of intensity coming off the win that we had," Suter said. "We've got to keep it up as high as we can."

"We're just planning on annihilating everyone," 126-pounder Bob Truby said.

The return of Jeff Prescott has improved the team's overall intensity, the wrestlers say. Prescott wrestles aggressively, frequently allowing his opponent to escape so he can take him down yet again. His enthusiasm rubs off on the rest of the team.

"My teammates see me go out there and beat someone up, and they're like, that's our boy, that's Prescott, he's on our team. We can do the same," Prescott explained.

The junior varsity will also wrestle Navy tomorrow; the Lions will weigh in 18 wrestlers for the entire weekend, allowing for lineup changes in case of injury.