The Michigan Daily- Friday, March 27, 1992 - Page 11
Big Tens next event
for men tumblers
Women gymnasts look to
avenge past at Big Tens
% Mike Hill
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's gymnastics
team hopes its season will reach its
apex this weekend at the Big Ten
Championships in Champaign.
The Wolverines have shown
steady improvement since a pair of
poor performances at the season's
beginning. A meet marred by falls
ed to an unimpressive performance
and a season opening loss to Min-
nesota. Their campaign reached a
low with a 261.65 composite score
at the Windy City Invitational in
Chicago.
But since then, Michigan has
climbed the ladder. Over spring
break in San Jose, Calif., it bettered
the school record of 278.4 by .25
oints. And just last week, the
olverines shattered that mark by
posting a 281.65. Their average
score stands at 278. 83.
"We've really turned it around,"
Michigan coach Bob Darden said.
"Its been two different seasons for
us, with the second half starting in
San Jose."
The Wolverines hope this week-
end's meet will not be a replay of
ast year's disappointing Big Ten
rformance in East Lansing. Mich-
igan finished dead-last in the seven-
team field.
But Michigan, ranked No. 11 in
the nation, will face an uphill battle
if it wants to place well this week-
end. The other six Big Ten schools
- Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan
State, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois
- are all ranked in the top 10. The
Buckeyes, with their No. 2 ranking
and a 285.22 average score, head the
list. Yet, Darden remains confident.
"After this meet, we'll be in the
top 10 in the nation," he said. "Our
goal is to bump some schools out
and finish somewhere in the middle
of the pack."
Senior Jim Round and rookie
Brian Winkler will lead the Wol-
verines into a meet that features a
number of the nation's finest all-
around competitors. The Nittany
Lions are led by senior Adam Car-
ton, while Minnesota looks to its
coach's son, John Roethlisberger.
"The postseason stuff (next
weekend's NCAA Regionals) will
be fun," Darden said. "But we've
been looking forward to this meet
for a long time. We've been gearing
our whole season for this."
by Andy Stabile
Daily Sports Writer
Big Ten gymnastics knows Beth Wymer.
Michigan's first-year gymnast hit the confer-
ence scene like a load of bricks. In her rookie
season,' she has lost the all-around only twice
all year, while winning it against every Big
Ten team Michigan has faced. The Big Ten
might already have her name on the all-around
championship trophy.
That distinction will be officially awarded
at the individual competition tomorrow night,
but by then, the team title will have been de-
cided. If the No. 15 Michigan women's gym-
nastics team (5-0 Big Ten, 14-3 overall) wins
the Big Ten Championship at Michigan State's
Jennison Field House tonight, Wolverine coach
Bev Fry will have some of her lesser known
gymnasts to thank.
Juniors Ali Winski and Debbie Geiger
along with redshirt frosh Kelly Carfora com-
prise the team's other all-around competitors.
While they have competed in Wymer's shad-
ows all season, their performances will deter-
mine the team's success tonight. Michigan,
along with No. 9 Penn State, are the favorites
this evening.
"Beth has obviously been the standout per-
former," Fry said. "Had Beth not been here this
season, Ali and Kelly and Debbie would have
just been blowing the records away
themselves.
"These are the people who have been mak-
ing this happen. They are the meat of the team
behind Beth Wymer."
All told, that makes for an impressive team
but maybe more importantly, an improving
team. Both Winski and Geiger tallied their sea-
son-high all-around scores last week against
Michigan State. Carfora, who missed last sea-
son with a wrist injury, came up with her sea-
son-high scores on the vault and floor
exercises.
Although NCAA regionals lie ahead for the
Wolverines, this season's Big Ten
Championships mark the pinnacle of the sea-
son. Michigan finished third last year, and al-
though it was the team's best finish since 1982,
the Wolverines left the meet feeling like they
had underachieved. The goal of the 1992 team
was to win the title. But some of this season's
high expectations eroded when.Big Ten all-
around co-champion Wendy Wilkinson sus-
tained a season-ending injury. Then May May
Leung, one of the team's most promising
rookies, suffered the same fate.
Winski, Geiger and Carfora picked up the
slack.
"After all the injuries and everything, they
were the ones to really keep the program glued
together and keep working toward the goal,"
Fry said.
Michigan gymnast Laura Lundbeck and the rest of the
Wolverine squad will compete in the Big Ten
Championships today and tomorrow in East Lansing.
TYSON
Continued from page 1
threejudge appeals panel scheduled
a Friday hearing.
"Every moment Mr. Tyson
spends in confinement is a moment
of injustice," said Dershowitz.
Miss Washington testified during
the two-week trial that Tyson
coaxed her to his hotel room, pinned
her to the bed, stripped her, raped
her and laughed as she cried in pain
and begged him to stop.
Defense attorneys depicted
Tyson as a brutish lout who let
Washington, then 18, know from the
start he wanted sex. Tyson testified
he propositioned her with an
unmistakable sexual vulgarity and
she willingly had sex with him.
Gifford sentenced Tyson to 10
years apiece for one count of rape
and two counts of criminal deviate
conduct. She suspended four years
from each count and ordered the
terms served concurrently. He was
fined $10,000 on each count.
He could have been sentenced to
20 years on each count.
If he behaves in prison, Tyson
could be released in three years.
Gifford also ordered Tyson to serve
four years' probation after prison
and undergo psychotherapy.
Defense lawyer Vincent Fuller
opened the 90-minute hearing with a
plea for a suspended sentence and
probation.
He said Tyson was raised in
poverty and ill-used by the late
trainer Cus D' Amato, who saw
Tyson only as a potential champion.
Tyson told the judge he would
have apologized to Washington if
she had been in court, but he denied
assaulting her.
"I didn't rape anyone. I didn't at-
tempt to rape anyone. I'm sorry. I
agree I've done something, but I
didn't mean to."
'M' baseball opens
conference season
by Tim Rardin
Daily Baseball Writer
Though the Michigan baseball
team has already played 15 games,
its season begins, for all intents and
purposes, with the start of the Big
Ten schedule this weekend against
Purdue.
After nine straight losses dropped
the team's record to 1-10 early in the
season, the Wolverines find
themselves on a bit of an upswing of
late, after recording two more
victories against Wright State and
Dayton last weekend to improve
their record to 3-12.
"Hopefully, we have learned
some things about ourselves so far
and can dwell on the future and not
on the past," Michigan coach Bill
Freehan said. "We need to learn
from the past."
With the pre-Big Ten season
complete after this week's two
games with Eastern Michigan and
Saginaw Valley were canceled,
Freehan has seen the early part of
the schedule as an opportunity to
find a consistent starting lineup.
"We needed to do some experi-
mentation with some young people
to see who could and couldn't con-
tribute," Freehan said. "We had
hoped that the experimentation
would be over by now but we still
have some questions unanswered.
Hopefully, we'll see some more
positive answers on the field."
With spring practice underway
for the football team, the Wol-
verines' starting lineup has been
altered. The absence of the three
football players from the squad, par-
ticularly Nate Holdren, who would
likely have started in left field this
weekend, has limited some of
Freehan's options.
"With spring football going on,
obviously not having Nate available
will put us at a disadvantage this
weekend," Freehan said.
Purdue, after posting a 35-21
record and a sixth-place finish in the
Big Ten last year, is off to an 11-6
start this season under first-year
head coach Steve Green.
"They lost some key guys but
they have some players back that are
outstanding," said Freehan, who has
'We had hoped that the
experimentation would
be over by now but we
still have some
questions unanswered.
- Bill Freehan
Michigan baseball coach
a 5-3 record against Purdue in his
three seasons with the Wolverines.
"They're going to be a good baseball
team."
The Boilermakers will likely start
righthander Sherard Clinkscales,
who is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA, against
Michigan tomorrow. Freehan will
look to counter with junior right-
hander Eric Heintschel, who earned
his first victory of the season last
weekend, pitching eight scoreless
innings against Wright State.
"I would expect to see Clink-
scales on Saturday," Freehan said.
"He's an outstanding pitcher who
can throw the ball hard, so we'll just
have to see where we go from
there."
i
1IMIIGl
1
Boxer Mike Tyson was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison for his conviction on rape and deviate conduct
charges. Tyson can be released in no less than three years, when he comes up for parole.
South Alabama devours injured netters, 7-2
by Adam Miller
Daily Sports Writer
There's simply no denying it the
Michigan men's tennis team hit the
low point in its season yesterday in a
lethargic 7-2 loss to South Alabama
at the Indoor Track and Tennis
*Building.
"This was extremely disappoint-
ing," Michigan coach Brian Eisner
said. "Not only did we get beat, but
we got out-competed. That should
never happen. 'We looked like the
team that was traveling and on the
road, and that was very, very disap-
pointing."
The Wolverines (3-1 Big Ten, 3-
8 overall) started the match at a dis-
advantage, because No. 1 singles
David Kass* (tendinitis) and No. 6
singles Adam Wager (right quadra-
cep) missed the match. Furthermore,
No. 4 John Lingon (knee) was
forced to play his singles match,
even though he was limping and in
obvious pain. The hampered Lingon
lost the most lopsided match of the
day, 6-2, 6-0, to the Jaguars' Omar
Trevino.
Dan Brakus' substitute perfor-
mance at No. 1 singles typified the
Wolverines' afternoon. His serve
was erratic as he double faulted
multiple times, and his inconsistent
serving game threw off the rest of
his game. He went down in straight
sets, 6-4, 6-2, to Peter Kuhn.
Chief among Michigan's com-
plaints after the match was the play-
ing surface at the Indoor Track and
Tennis Building, an uneven, some-
times smooth and sometimes grav-
elly carpet that caused balls to
bounce low and players to lose their
footing.
However, USA's players didn't
seem to have too much difficulty.
They wrapped up the match by the
end of singles play, having won five
of six, with Mitch Rubenstein's 7-5,
6-4 victory over Clive Ullyett the
lone exception.
With the match long since de-
cided, doubles play quickly disinte-
grated. The No. 2 match between
Wolverines Eric Grand and Scooter
Place and Jaguars Hassan El
Aroussy and Omar Trevino broke
off amidst a scoring dispute, but
since the Jaguars led, 3-6, 6-1, 6-6,
South Alabama was credited with
the victory.
However, two matches were
completed. The No. 1 contest be-
tween Michigan's Brakus and Terry
London and USA's Kuhn and
Ullyett went to USA, 7-5, 6-2.
Rubenstein came up Michigan's
big winner on the day, teaming with
Greg Artz at No. 3 to down Bob
Rosene and Kesey Dooley, 6-3, 6-4.
"Every time I go out there it's to
win," Rubenstein said. "I never want
to lose, so it's nice to get the win."
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