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." 99 SPIRAL/VE LO BINDING Under 1" Width, Over 1" @ $1.99 Dollar Bill Copying 611 Church Phone: 665-9200 Fax:930-2800 Dedline fTOr 1992 Student Recognition Awards The deadline for receipt of nominations for 1992 Student Recognition Awards is """AlF FF"