European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 12,1989 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Nofre Dame preps for prep invasion the arrival this week of College football s National letter of intent Day brought with it a list of 161 High school All americans compiled by super prep Magazine and the colleges to which they have committed. A number of top programs predictably did Well. Ohio state lured eight of the Blue chippers. Florida state Texas Michigan and Urcla signed seven each. Southern California picked up six and Miami five. Notre Dame got 17. Seventeen. This is a National championship team that will lose just five starters two on offence three on defense from last year s 12-0 squad. Replacing them will be a recruiting class bulging with 17 High school All americans. Talk about the Rich Getti Gricher. Notre Dame just about picked the recruiting Groves clean getting commitments from among others the nation s top rated prep quarterback Rick Mirer 9f Goshen ind., and the top rated tight end Irv Smith from Pemberton . The Irish also made successful forays into the lairs of other High powered programs snatching running Back Dorsey Levens who grew up in the Shadow of Syracuse University s sleek Carrier dome and grab Bing offensive lineman Bret Hankins out from und Rbarry Switzer s nose in Norman okla. The Man most responsible for this Windfall of Talent is recruiting coordinator Vinnie Cerrato. He is listed As an assistant coach on notre Dame s organizational Chart one of nine the Mcaa allows each program. His coaching duties however Are limited to occasionally clocking the hang time of practice punts. Cerrato s real Job is to keep a steady Stream of Talent turning South at Chicago heading straight Forsooth Bend. We go from november to february and again in May Cerrato said. It seems like you re on a differ ent plane every Day. It can get pretty  Cerrato has to be a smooth talker. Consider that he has recruited the top rated tight end in the coun try three straight years. Irv Smith comes in behind incumbents Frank Jacobs and Derek Brown. We confronted the Issue right away Cerrato said. We made Derek Brown his Host for his visit. The kid liked everything about the place right away. He Felt notre Dame was the school that could help him Down the line. Great players attract other  even in the worst of times High profile notre Dame almost always does Well recruiting. There Are built in assets for the Irish like the classic Golden dome that dominates the Campus Skyline and steals your breath the first time you see it. There is the tradition of Rockne and Gipp Leahy and Parseghian. You can almost hear the stirring fight song echoing All around you. Tack on a National championship and a charismatic coach like Lou Holtz and that s a lot of ammunition to Lay on some 17-Ycar-old kid. Notre Dame has such a great reputation that you always get your foot in the door Cerrato said. Then you sell the Opportunity. Once you graduate from notre Dame you can get a Job anywhere in the country. We re on television every week. Any award a player is after there s no place hell get More  this flashy freshman class offers no guarantees. No class can. But its resume makes great Reading. Mirer led his team to the state championship passing for 3,973 Yards and 30 touchdowns and run Ning for 480 Yards and 22 ads. He also played safety intercepting eight passes and was his team s kicker. Smith a pro sized tight end at 6-4, 230 pounds caught 18 passes in a Wishbone attack that emphasized running not throwing. He was an All state defensive Back. Levens rushed for 1,300 Yard Sand 22 ads seven in one game. Mirer was super prep s offensive player of the year in the Midwest. Levens won the same Honor in the Northeast and linebacker Todd Norman of Ocean View Calif., another of Cerrato s catches was the Magazine s defensive player of the year in the far West. That s prime Talent culled from sea to shining sea. A lot of schools would take their chances with this Rookie crop. A lot of assistant coaches would like to have Cerrato s frequent flyer mileage. Tho associated press Schneider wins giant slalom for first Gold Bojoh Mossman Vail Colo. A Swiss superstar Vreni Schnei Der captured a Long awaited Gold medal saturday win Ning the women s giant slalom by More than a second at the world Alpine ski championships. Schneider who held a half second Lead Over France s Carole Merle after the first run left nothing to Chance pacing the afternoon run As Well. Schneider who came into the championships sex world ski Cha m p i o n s h i p s peeling to win As Many As three Gold medals but who had to Settle for two silvers until saturday had an aggregate time of 2 minutes 29.37 seconds. France won its first two medals of the championships As Merle finished second in 2 30.50 1.13 seconds behind Schneider and teammate Christell Guignard was third in 2 31.80. Yugoslavia s Mateja Svet Gold medallist in the Sla Lom on tuesday finished fourth in 2 31.92, and Switz Erland s Maria Walliser the downhill Gold medallist was fifth in 2 32.05. Schneider was the heavy favorite in the event. She has won All five giant slalom races on the world cup circuit this season along with All five a Lajos. She has recorded a record tying 11 victories this season including an unprecedented eight in a Row. An icy first run felled four skiers in the top seed. Among the casualties was Tamara Mckinney of olympic Valley Calif. Seeking her third medal of the championships Mckinney lost an Edge and fell just seconds into her run. Schneider s morning run of 1 12.84 was 51-Hun a Reths of a second faster than Merle s. In the afternoon run Schneider again set the Pace at 1 16.53, 24-hundredths of a second faster than Guignard who rocketed All the Way from ninth place after the first run to claim the Bronze medal. Merle had a steady second run time of 1 17.15 third fastest in the afternoon. Karin dealer of West Germany and Cathy Chedal of France who had bib numbers 21 and 33, respectively cracked the top 10 in the morning and finished sixth an seventh Overall in 2 32.33 and 2 32.97, respectively. Spain s Blanca Fernandez Ochoa was eighth in2 33.22, and Austria s Ulrike Maier the super a win Ner on wednesday was ninth in 2 33.45. Diann Roffe of Williamson n.y., Gold medallist in Switzerland s Vreni Schneider edges past a Gate in route to her world giant slalom Triumph saturday at Vail Colo. Giant slalom at the 1985 world championships finished 10th in 2 33.62. Schneider 24, the defending world Champion in giant slalom and the 1988 olympic Gold medallist in both giant slalom and slalom had no noticeable prob lems on either of her runs using her powerful but precise style to dust off the Competition in what was the last women s race of the championships. The meet concludes sunday with the men s slalom. She s the Best there is in giant slalom Wallise said of Schneider. Guignard 2.19 seconds off the Pace in the first run said she had to push hard. I knew when i fell behind after the first run that i would have to be very fast to make up any  Schneider complained of one slip near the end other second run. I made a mistake on the final face of the second run she said. I got sideways about seven Gates from the finish. For a moment i was afraid i had lost the race. I m very Happy with this medal. This was the most important medal i sought to win Here since i had won the same event at the last world championships and at  Merle called Schneider definitely the Best in this event. Today i had hoped to beat her but she is too  Merle said the Silver medal was very satisfying after my failures in the downhill and