Page 1o0-The Michigan Daily -Thursday, February 22, 1990
Gymnasts look to raise
tourney hopes vs. Navy
Indoor track squads
travel to Big Ten
'S
by Scott Erskine
Daily Sports Writer
Most gymnastics teams would be
satisfied ranked 14th in a region cov-
ering half of the nation. However,
the Michigan men's gymnastics
team is not most teams.
Michigan coach Bob Darden
explained that his team (2-4-1),
which has shown sporadic signs of
excellence, needs to start generating
the types of scores that will give
them a regional tournament berth.
Only the top ten teams from the
region are able to compete in this
tournament.
"We have to (start scoring
higher). We've been ready to. Now
we just have to show what we can
do," Darden said.
The Wolverines will have the
opportunity to show what they can
do Friday when they travel to Ann-
apolis, Maryland to compete against
the Naval Academy. The Mid-
shipmen are currently ranked seventh
in the Eastern Region.
Navy's best three-meet average
(of which two scores must be from
away meets), is near 267. This
averaging system is the one used by
the regional committee when
ranking the schools. The Wol-
verines' average is nearly six points
lower than Navy's.
Traditionally, however, Michigan
tends to score better at away meets.
Judges at Michigan have tended to
'have sharper pencils" than judges
away from home taking away some
of the home-meet advantage for the
Wolverines, Darden explained.
This fact could help boost the
Wolverines into a top ten regional
by Rod Loewenthal
Daily Sports Contributor
The Indoor Track teams are
looking for big finishes this week-
end as both the men's and women's
squads will be rounding out their
season by competing in the Big Ten
Championships. The women travel
to Wisconsin while the men will
compete at Indiana.
Men's coach Jack Harvey is being
realistic about his team's chances
this weekend. "I think we're looking
at finishing somewhere in the middle
of the pack. Indiana and Purdue will
be fighting it out for first. If we run
extremely well we can get fourth. I
think it will be pretty close in terms
of point totals between fourth, fifth
and sixth place."
In order to finish fourth Harvey
needs to have strong performances
from pole vaulter Brad Darr, high
jumper Brad Holwerda and runner
Neal Newman, who will compete in
the 800 meter.
Newman is confident, but doesn't
want to tempt fate by predicting his
finish. "Basically I just want to rur
strong and run aggressive. If I'rr
confident and run in front ther
things will fall into place for me.
but I don't want to jinx myself by
saying where I'll finish."
The weekend is just as important
to the women who are coming off a
strong showing at the Eastern Mich-
igan Classic last Friday and coach
James Henry hopes that this will
carry over into the Big Ten's this
weekend, in which he expects the
squad to place second or third.
Signs from practice this week
portend well for the meet. "All the
sprinters have been ornery this week,
that means they should do well this
weekend." Henry said.
After coming off a spectacular
performance at Eastern last weekend
where Mindy Rowand won the mile
in a season's best 4 minutes, 46.9
seconds the senior long-distance
runner is excited about the team's
chances in the Big Ten's. "Every-
one's been real fired-up. This team is
a real tight group and everyone is
constantly improving."
Martin
ranking quickly since their next five
meets are away from home.
Darden added that the increased
leadership roles of co-captains
Shawn Martin and Jim Round may
help the gymnasts pull together
against Navy and help throughout
the rest of the season.
Should the Wolverines reach
their potential in any two of the next
five meets, it is likely they could
represent the Eastern region in the
national competition this spring.
First Mc Donald's, now Griddes? A
As flight time neared Soviet'Cosmonauts were spotted discussing last
minute preparations for takeoff: "Hey Comrade, did you remember to
submit our Griddes picks to the Daily this week?" Drop off your picks at
420 Maynard by Friday, 5 p.m. If you're good, and a little lucky, you'll win
breakfast or lunch for two at O'Sullivans Eatery and Pub.
Northwestern vs. Michigan
Ohio State vs. Purdue
Minnesota vs. Iowa
Indiana vs. Michigan State
St. Bonaventure vs. Duquensne
St. Bonaventure vs. Rutgers
Creighton vs. Montana St.
Valparaiso vs. Eastern Illinois
Columbia vs. Penn
Loyola-Marymount vs. Portland
UCLA vs. Washington
SMU vs. Texas Tech
Rutgers vs. Temple
Dayton vs. Butler
Marquette vs. Xavier,
Duke vs. Washington
Boston College vs. Villanova
LaSalle vs. Florida State
Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech
DePaul vs. Bradley
Illinois State next up
for women gymnasts
by Sarah Osburn
Daily Sports Writer
This Sunday the women's
gymnastics team will step out of the
Big Ten as they take on Illinois
i
Announcing an offer
designed to save money
for people wMho are,
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wxhen it comes to,
you know talking on
the phone,and who,
quite understandably
don't want to have
to wait till after 11 pm
to get a dealon
long distance pnces.
State. Coach Beverly Fry hopes that
this meet will act as a confidence
builder for her team, which has lost
two very close competitions in their
last two outings.
"I think Illinois State is a good
team, but I think that we should be
able to beat them," she said. "I think
that it is time to take a step back.
Last year we lost to seven out of
seven Big Ten teams. This season
we've already defeated one, and the
losses we have had have been so
close that the fact that we have lost
these meets is not a bad sign.
"It is positive because if we
continue to improve we will be able
to beat them in. the Big Ten cham-
pionship meet."
Fry finds her team's consistency
to be of concern. It seems to be the
one thing that holds the team back.
"we need to be able to go six for six
on the balance beam. That is what
lost the meet to Wisconsin, we beat
them on two of four events but they
hit six for six beam routines."
Despite the disruptions in the
lineup due to injury Fry has specific
goals for the meet against Illinois. 4
"I'd like to score 183.0 or better"
Even with the differences in
judging sometimes found outside the
Big Ten this goal should be well
with in reach. "Last weekend I lost
Chris Furlong, and Eva Gordon out
of the lineup, and I lost Tina Blair
on two events, and we still bettered
our team total."
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