Men's track shows stamina at Eastern The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday -February 19, 1990- Page 7 Gymnasts still lose despite season-best *by Eric Berkman Daily Sports Writer Overcoming a carnival-like at- mosphere at the Eastern Michigan Classic, the Michigan men's track team remained patient enough to put forth a respectable showing at Fri- day's meet. "It was a real zoo," coach Jack Harvey said of the fourteen-hour affair. "Men's and women's events were going on at the same time. It started at 11 a.m. and I didn't get out of there until 1 a.m., when the high jump competition ended." Nonetheless, the Wolverines did well rebounding from a lackluster performance at last week's Central Collegiates in Wisconsin. Clearing the bar at 16 feet, 10 inches, Brad Darr took first place in *he pole vaulting competition. "He didn't jump especially well, but he won, which I guess is im- portant," Harvey said. "He's having some problems with his approach - he's been inconsistent on the run- way. But I'm not worried." Matt Scharl had a strong per- formance in the pole vault as well, leaping an even 16 feet to place fourth. "I think he can place in the Big Ten with 16-6," Harvey said. "And I think he's definitely capable of it." High jumper Brad Holwerda placed third at 6 feet, 10 inches. However, he missed when the bar was raised to 7-feet-3. "He looked good on his jumps," Harvey said. "Especially since it was 1 a.m. and they (the high jump competition) were supposed to be at 6 p.m." Michigan also looked solid in the sprinting events. Jerry Douglas fin- ished second in the 200-meter run, clocking in at 22.09 seconds, which Harvey described as a good time for him. Douglas also finished second in the high hurdles with a time of 7.5 seconds. Also in the sprints, Michael Eccleston finished seventh in the 55 at 6.6 seconds and Neal Newman placed seventh in the 400, but according to Harvey, the 400 "is not his race." "We under-raced him," Harvey said. "He's usually a half-miler." A particularly encouraging perfor- mance came from Mike Hennessy, who finished fourth in the shot put with a toss of 50 feet, 4 inches. "It's a lot better," Harvey said. "He's been in kind of a slump and he's on his way up. In the Big Ten it'll take 53 or 54 feet to place, and I think he's capable." The coach feels positive going into next weekend's Big Ten Cham- pionships in Bloomington, Indiana. "I think there's reason for some hope," Harvey said. "With our best performances, we could be fighting it out for fourth or fifth place." by Dan Zoch Daily Sports Writer Michigan's women gymnastics hit a season high of 182.65 points Saturday night at Varsity Arena and captured three of four events from the visiting Wisconsin Badgers. But the team came up short in the final tally by less than a point. "We beat them on vault, bars, and floor," coach Beverly Fry said. "They won because they hit six-for- six beam routines. You can't say we lost the meet. That's what everybody puts the emphasis on, but you have to go deeper than that." The Wolverines continued their upward swing despite the losses of Christine Furlong and Eva Gordon from their line-up. Sophomore Diane Armento and senior team co-captain Wendy Co- meau were the bright spots in the balance beam with respective scores of 9.5 and 9.35. Wisconsin's 1.35 lead on the event was enough to make up for their inability to capture any other event. "It's disappointing and yet, Michigan women's gymnastics is really making a mark on the Big Ten this year," assistant coach Dave Kuzara said. "Today they hit 19 of 24 routines, which is four more routines than last week. That's a major improvement." First-year gymnast Tina Blair took first place on the uneven bars with a score of 9.3. She was fol- lowed by Wisconsin's Michelle Her- nandez with a 9.05 and Wolverine co-captain Jeni Hescott with a 9.0. Wisconsin's Mahaney finished first on the vault with a 9.3, but was trailed by Michigan's Debbie Geiger and Diane Armento, who both post- ed a 9.0. The real stars for the Wol- verines, though, were the gymnasts who came off the "bench" to fill in for Furlong and Gordon. "It really makes me feel good that I have the depth that if I need to pull somebody out for a bruise or for a sprained ankle that I have some- body just as good that I can put in," Fry said. "I'm just really, really pleased." The meet Saturday night was just a step in Michigan's preparation for the Big Ten Championships, which are being held in Ann Arbor next month. "I'm really excited about Big Ten's, number one because they're here," Kuzara said. "I think by the time Big Ten's roll around, they're going to be very competitive. Scores are relative, but we're hitting more routines." Jeni Hescott, co-captain of Michigan's womens gymnastics team, poses before doing her floor routine during Saturdays meet against Wisconsin. Wisconsin protest causes tie for Blue gymnasts Women 's track runs 'well in 'low-key' meet by Eric Berkman Daily Sports Writer Women's track coach James Henry only wanted to emerge from Friday's Eastern Michigan Classic with his team intact, and he got what he wanted - with some good performances to boot. "It was really low-key as we Osaid," Henry explained, "and we did what we wanted. We came out unscathed and unhurt." The best performance of the day, Henry said, came from Mindy Row- and, who won the mile in a season's best 4 minutes, 46.9 seconds. Michigan took four of the top six places in the mile, with Jennifer McPeck placing second at 5:00.17, Vim Haluscsak coming in third at 5:05.16, and Amy Bucholz finishing sixth at 5:08.68. "The first three placers weren't milers," Henry said. "It was a short place for them to run. They ran together until Mindy decided to pull ahead toward the end to see how fast she could go. It opens a real Pandora's Box for us, showing she, can run anything from the mile to *the 500. She's our bread and butter." The biggest surprise of the day was quarter-miler Gillian Osborne's fifth-place showing in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 3-1/2 inches. Osborne, a senior, hadn't competed inthat event since her first year. "She had knee problems, so we discontinued it," Henry said. How- exer, through a regimen of box- Computer Sc Over the past 15 years, Mead jumping and plyometrics she has strengthened her knees considerably and is even considering Big Ten competition. Other strong performances came from the 2-mile relay team of Chris Tyler, Megan Nortz, Carrie Yates, and Molly McClimon, which placed first in 9:05, and from Suzie Thwe- att, who ran a collegiate-best 8.15 seconds in the 55-meter high jump. Although Henry is looking for a second or third place performance at next week's Big Ten meet, he is content to "let the chips fall as they may. "I'm completely pleased with how they've performed from A to Z in every event," Henry said. by Albert Lin Daily Sports Writer A night that started with a break for the Wolverines ended with a break against them when Saturday evening's men's gymnastics meet ended in a tie at 267.85. Michigan thought it had won its first competition of the season, but a protest by Wisconsin coach Mark Pflughoeft led to a scoring change resulting in the tie. "I saw on the sheet that (Wis- consin's second-to-last parallel bar performer) was short difficulty, and I knew he wasn't and (the judges) found out he wasn't, so the score went up," Pflughoeft explained. While Blue coach Bob Darden agreed that maybe the score should have been changed, he did not agree with how Pflughoeft went about it. Apparently, Pflughoeft talked to the judge, which is not allowed, found out there was a discrepancy in difficulty, and then went about writing a formal protest. "While we should find for a better score for the athlete, it was done improperly...the head judge has the opportunity to be fined for unsport- manlike conduct," Darden said. While the judges ruled against Michigan at the end of the meet, the Wolverines were given a reprieve at the beginning. Michigan's first performer, Mark Ambroe on the pommel horse, had a tough time with his routine. But Darden asked that his gymnast be given another shot, since the horse area had not been cleared before Ambroe had began, and the request was granted. The actual meet featured strong performances on all events, but once again the Wolverines fell apart on the horizontal bar. Fifth-year senior Tony Angelotti summed it up the best: "The meet was excellent up until high bar where we boffed again." "It shouldn't have been as close as it was," said co-captain Shawn Martin. "It shouldn't even have been a tie." Said co-captain Jim Round, "We were more consistent all the way through...We didn't have some of the more outstanding scores of the last meet, but all in all it remained pretty constant." Michigan led, 225.30-221.60, after five events, but the high bar featured only one nine, and included Matt Harrison hurting himself by ending up sitting on the bar following a botched release move. The reason why the high bar is such a problem could not be pin- pointed. No one felt it was from lack of preparation or nervousness. "I think we're cursed," co-captain Shawn Martin joked. Gucci Eyewear Show The factory representative will be in our office displaying the full line of Gucci eyewear and sunglasses. PLACE: Ann Arbor Contact Lens Clinic 545 Church Street " 769-1222 DATE: Monday, February 19 TIME: 12:00 noon-5:00 p.m. TRY US FOR LUNCH! 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