Beckwith: Tumbles into a key gymnastic position By BARB BARKER By 1978 Kathy Beckwith had made her mark in Canadian women's gym- nas~ts. A rookie on the provincial te4av, Beckwith captured second place alk'rounder in nationals, placing first in the vault and third on the beam. In 1979- Beckwith countinued to excel takig seventh in all-around with a third on vault and fourth on the beam. 1 Ire 1980 she quit gymnastics cold urkey-no practice, no competition. BPCKWITH, A SHY, soft-spoken freshman, explained the reasoning behind her decision. "I wanted to get my grades up before I began applying to'colleges," she said. "My mother sent mp to a strict private school that focused solely on academics. I didn't have time to concentrate upon anything other than my studies." in July, after school ended, she began to.practice again. Since she had already *eiatively made the Michigan team, Bekwith had to undergo vigorous training if she wanted to compete in the '81 season. Ii was a lot harder to start training thai I thought it would be," said Beck- witl. "After almost a full year off, I had gained 10 pounds and was completely out of shape. I began running, weight liftinig, strength exercises and working- out on the equipment. For awhile I aNn't sure if I was going to make it." iflE EFFORT PAID off however, and Coach Sheri Hyatt and the Michigan women's gymnastics team look+ to the freshman as their top all- arounder. Beckwith's most recent per- formance, last Saturday in a dual meet against Western Michigan, bore out that fact: she was the meet's top scorer in every event except the beam. Beckwith, though somewhat modest, is confident of her capabilities, having igh aspirations for this year's season. "I think that at this point I am finally up to the level I was at before I took off a year, said Beckwith. "Right now I'm trying to improve my overall score so that I may qualify for nationals. Right now I think I stand a pretty good chan- ce." HEAD COACH SHERI Hyatt seems to agree. "Kathy has had a good season so far this year," said Hyatt. "She is somewhat of a perfectionist. She works hard doing everything and doing it well. If she can get her scores up into the 34 area, she could very easily qualify for nationals." As far as academics go, Beckwith seems to be doing well. "I had no idea Michigan was such a hard school when I came here. Even though taking a year off of gymnastics was a setback, now that I'm here I am glad that I went back to it." Teammate sophomore Diane McLean sums up Beckwith's attitude as that of a devoted perfectionist. "She works and works until she gets something and after that she's con- stant. She's constantly practicing. Her hard work really inspires us all." The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 16, 1981-Page 11 Visiting Scholar MEIR FUND of Brooklyn College 8:00 pm Friday, January 16: "RABBI NAHMAN, THE MESSIAH AND THE JEWISH QUESTION" (Co-sponsored by Judiac Studies and Studies in Religion) 1:30 pm Saturday, January 17: "JEWISH INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS" 7:30 pm Sunday, January 18: "ON LEARNING TO BE HUMAN: EXPLORING THE MECHANISM OF CONSCIOUSNESS" (Sponsored by the Office of Ethics and Religion) All talks at HILLEL. 1429 Hill St. Join The Daily Sports Staff pR i : Daily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM Freshwoman gynmastic sensation Kathy Beckwith exhibits the ability that has characterized her athletic comeback and led to the tumbling team's recent success. GOALIES SAVING GRACE IN SERIES: Icers ace feeble MSU By KENT WALLEY 'The wing skated furiously up the ice. He out-maneuvered two defenseman. There was nothing between him and a score except the goalie. It looked like a sure goal as he broke tothe left and fired a blistering slapshot fron poiat blan; range. The net minder.. was a good one and had been an- ticipating the wing's every move. As the puck approached the crease the goalie stretched out his stick in a split second. Crack went the puck as it was deflected clean of the goal. A boy in the 'crowd summed up everyone's thoughts saying "Boy that was a great save!" That scene took place in Wisconsin last weekend as goalie Paul Fricker made one of his many dazzling saves, and there could be many repeats of it this week, when Michigan takes on Michigan State, at Yost Ice Arena on Friday and in East Lansing on Satur- day. Fricker-last year's rookie of the year-although still looking for his first conference shut-out has been playing exceptionally well, winning the most valuable player award at the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament. But there is another young and up- coming goalie in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this year. His name is Ron Scott. He plays for the Spartans. Scott has already been picked by many to win the WCHA rookie of the year this year. He las led the Spar- tans to a winning streak of six out of their last eight games. Scott also shut- out a strong Minnesota-Duluth team last Friday and Notre Dame earlier in the season. With two such expert net minders there will be added pressure on the of- fenses and especially the power-play to score. Last week it was the opposing power play that killed Michigan; three of Wisconsin's four goals were scored with a Wolverine in the penalty box. On the other side of the stick, much of the Spartans recent success can be at- tributed to penalty killing. Senior right wing Ken Paraskevin and junior center Frank Finn combined to kill a string of 36 penalties, a streak that was broken in their last game. Finn also has tallied nine goals and nine assists. But scoring could be a problem for Michigan State, with last year's top scorer and key starter this year Leo Lynette out for the season. Even coach Ron Mason has little confidence in his team. "We're basically a tenth place hockey team," said the coach. State's top scorers are both sophomore right wings. Mark Hamway has tallied 22 points this season and Bob Martin has 19. But it's Michigan that's coming off a double loss to Wisconsin last weekend, and the Spartans don't have a monopoly on injuries. Left wing Paul Brandrup is questionable for this weekend. Coach John Giordano has more con- fidence in the Spartans than Mason. He is expecting a "tough series." He is also expecting State to be out for revenge, since Michigan has beaten them all three times they met this year, each time by one goal. With revenge on their minds or not, the Spartans, led by Scott's net minding expertise, should give Fricker and company some tough competition this weekend. SCORES College Basketball MICHIGAN 55, Indiana 52, OT Illinois 87, Purdue 65 Ohio State 81, Northwestern 69 Minnesota 86, Michigan State 77 Iowa 76, Wisconsin 66 . 1-1 A -- m - I V Itw / sL/fw i - l - -l- r F W W - -- SPRING BREAK IN DAYTONA BEACH by the W.O.B.N. COUNCIL FEB. 20- MARCH 1, 1981 r > "" > .<: $199 $185 4 PER ROOM (2 Double Beds) 6 PER ROOM (3 Double Beds) N , TRIP INCLUDES " Round trip motor coach transportation on first class charter coaches leaving the campus Friday evening Feb. 20 and traveling straight through with plenty of partying to Daytona Beach, arriving the following day. The return trip departs the following Sat. in the afternoon, and arrives back on campus the next day. " A full seven nights accommodations at the Plaza Hotel of Daytona Beach, Florida. . A great time in Daytona with special parties and activities. " Optional trip to Disney World available. Theatre Studio 0 All taxes and gratuities.