FACES IN THE CROWD

Melissa Leib, a ninth-grader from Glen Head, N.Y., riding her mother's hunter jumper, Valiant Hawk, finished first in classes for green working hunters, green conformation hunters and advanced horsemanship at the Mid-Winter Horse Show in Pinehurst, N.C.

Bruce Canfield, 18, a senior at Roxbury (N.J.) High School and holder of the 106-pound state wrestling title, won that class at the Dover holiday tournament, giving him three straight midseason championships. He is 55-7 in four years of varsity wrestling.

Jim Simons, 16, the Pennsylvania state high school golf champion from Butler who is a scratch player, shot a tournament record 69-72-141, one under par, to win the Orange Bowl International Junior Golf match at the Biltmore golf course in Coral Gables, Fla.

Jim McDaniels, a 7-foot senior who is considered the best big man playing scholastic basketball in Kentucky, led his Allen County High School team to 14 straight victories by averaging 42.3 points per game. His high game scores were 52 and 50 points.

Ernie Gahan, 40, a mechanic from Dover, N.H. who won the 1963 Naughton Award, was named national champion in NASCAR's Modified Division with 6,560 points after a season-long duel with Ray Hendrick of Richmond, who dropped to third after the final race.

Allen Morrison, 34, a Marine lieutenant at Quantico, broke 100 straight targets and 75 more in a row in a shootoff to win the Pinehurst (N.C.) Gun Club's 12-Gauge Skeet Championship. He then took the 28-gauge (in a shootoff) and two-man team titles.

SIX PHOTOS