Page 8-The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday- February 8, 1993 Wrestlers breeze by Illinois and Indiana Runners dominate in Notre Dame meet by Michael Rosenberg Daily Sports Writer The Big Ten is, unquestionably, the toughest wrestling conference in the country. It boasts three of the top five teams in the nation, and five of the top ten. "It's by far the best conference in the country," heavyweight Steve King said. "I think that you could finish fifth or sixth in the Big Ten and still be in the top ten at the NCAAs," coach Dale Bahr said. But even a superconference has some cupcakes. The Wolverines found that out Saturday when they defeated Illinois, 29-12, and Indiana, 32-12. "(The results) were about what I expected," King said. "Indiana and Illinois are near the bottom of our conference." Wolverine Sean Bormet, currently ranked third in the country at 158 pounds, compared Illinois and Indiana to some of the tough opponents the team has faced in recent weeks, most notably at the Cliff Keen National Team Duals. "The competition was a little easier," Bormet said. Bormet, who won both of his matches handily, said that the bad back which kept him out of Thursday's Purdue match didn't bother him Saturday. "There wasn't any strain," said Bormet, who pinned Illinois' David MACCABIAH Continued from page 7 Holocaust. The twins are also looking for- ward to seeing family. Both their mother and father were born in Is- rael, so Kalli and Lelli have a num- ber of relatives that live in Israel. "We have family in Israel, we'll be able to visit them," Kalli said. "It will be great to have all the support (at the Games)." Kalli, who will most likely play midfield for the Americans, is ex- cited about the international atmo- sphere. "At first we'll be at a training camp, with all of the Americans," she said." "But during the competi- tion we will be split up, and we will Sullivan. "I was favoring it a little bit. I didn't want to go underneath, so I just snapped the guy's head down to the mat." One of the few Michigan wrestlers who was disappointed with his performance was 190-pounder Jehad Hamdan. Although Hamdan pinned Indiana's Gabe Bailey, he lost to the Illini's Jeff Monson, 8-4. "I've wrestled him once before," Hamdan said. "I had a pretty bad match. He got up a few points on me. I was down by one with 20 seconds left, and I just couldn't score from there." "We have been working real hard in practice, and it's really paid off in the third period," King said. In King's only match, he defeated Illinois' Dave Dziedzic by a technical fall. "I expected to win by a technical fall," King said. "Actually, I was hoping to get a pin." Michigan will face some more serious competition this weekend when it battles Ohio State and Minnesota. "I think that after (No. 1) Penn State and (No. 3) Iowa, there are three teams that are real close (in the Big Ten) - us, Ohio State, and Minnesota," King said. "We beat Ohio State at the Cliff Keens. I think that if we win these two matches, we can establish ourselves as the third best team in the Big Ten." be housed with the field hockey players from the other countries." Michigan coach Patti Smith is de- lighted with the experience the Hose twins will receive. "I think it's a great experience any time you can go against interna- tional competition," Smith said. "They will get a boost going into the fall," she added. Lelli is looking forward to the fall. She has seen improvement of the team through her career, and 1993 may be the year when Michi- gan receives its first-ever NCAA tournament berth. "When we came in here as freshmen we were mediocre," Lelli said. "But our coach has done a good job recruiting. We're getting a good class next year." by Dave Darby The Michigan women's track team had a banner day in Notre Dame, Ind. Saturday, winning two events and placing in every event en- tered. On an oversized indoor track conducive to speed, the personal bests just kept coming. Michigan's women posted eleven lifetime highs on the day. In the 55-meter hurdles, Michi- gan's Laura Jerman ran and jumped away from the rest of the field, win- ning easily in a personal best time of 8.12 seconds. The race of the day was the 3000 meters. Michigan's Molly Mc- Climon set a face pace for the first mile. With about 1000 meters to go, McClimon, teammate Courtney Babcock, and a runner for Nike broke ahead of the pack and raced to a blanket finish. Babcock won in 9:19.19, with McClimon finishing third in 9:19.77. Both times are au- tomatic NCAA qualifying times, and both were personal bests. Commenting on the race, Bab- cock said," Molly kept the pace go- ing. I just tried to stay with her, and good things happened." Also scoring personal bests in the 3000 was Michigan's Karyn Harvey in 9:39.24, Chris Szabo in 9:44.80, and Kelly Chard in 9:45.77. Michigan's Mile Relay team of Richelle Webb, Jessica Kluge, Tanya Clay, and Jerman finished third in 3:51. 44. Clay ran for Kristine West- erby, whose sprained ankle kept her out of action. Westerby will be out for four weeks and will miss the rest of the indoor season. Assistant Coach Mike McGuire said of Westerby," She's one of our top middle distance runners. Having her out will hurt us, but she'll bounce back." Shot Putter Ronda Meyers tied her best with a throw of 44' 11 1/2", but had to settle for third in her event. In the 200 meters, both Tearza Johnson and Webb set bests, John- son finishing fifth in 25.41 seconds, and Webb taking second in 25.02. Kluge finished second in the 800, running a personal best 2:10.46. Clay finished sixth in the event at 2:15 flat, also a personal high. McGuire said she was very pleased with Michigan's showing. "I consider it mission accomplished," he said. 'We got our qualifying times and personal bests, and that's what we went (to Notre Dame's oversize track) to do." Instead of going to Notre Dame, three runners from the team traveled to Sandy, Oregon to compete in the U.S. Junior (19 and under) Women's Cross-Country Championships. Michigan's Katy Hollbacher took second in the three, mile outdoor race, while teammate Molly Lori finished seventh. 0r Courtney Babcock, seen here running the mile, played an integral role in Michigan's excellent showing at Notre Dame this pastweekend. Men make up for last week a by Tonya Broad Daily Sports Writer The sun was shining outdoors but you couldn't tell inside the dreary Jenison Field- house where the MSU Relays were being held. Despite the depressing lighting conditions indoors, the Michigan men's track & field team got back on track at Saturday's meet, after com- ing off a sluggish meet against Ohio State the week before. Wolverine head coach Jack Harvey said he felt the meet ended well, but was preparing more for the Central Collegiate meet which will be held at MSU next weekend and will boast higher caliber competition. Ten-to-fifteen teams are slated to attend, among them three Big Ten teams - Purdue, MSU and Michigan. Eastern Michigan is favored to win the meet overall. "We're pointing towards CC (Central Colle- giate) and Big Tens," Harvey said. "Those are the two meets we want to do well in." In spite of the low-key atmosphere Saturday, there were several quality performances put in by members of the men's team. Shawn Clancy won his second pentathlon (3621 pts.) which includes the long jump, high jump, shot put, 55-meter high hurdles and the 1,000-meter run. The distance medley team (10:11.7) and the 3200-meter relay team (7:47.2), also took top honors. Trinity Townsend was slated as having an outstanding performance in the 600-meter run, coming through the tape in a time of 1:19.65, which is ranked second overall in the Big Ten. Other standouts include field events person- nel Toby VanPelt in the pole vault and Jon it MSU relays Royce in the high jump. VanPelt won his event, soaring 16'10-1/2", while Royce displayed equal heroics flying 6'10-1/4". One fact that makes Royce's jump a true display of heroics was that he cleared the jump on a five step approach, after shortening his in- consistent eleven step approach. Royce's one concern is to be consistent throughout the year. "I jumped bad [Saturday], my steps were off," Royce said. "I need to work on my ap- proach next week, if I get a consistent approach I could conceivably jump 7'3". Saturday's meet also saw the introduction of two more Michigan football players to the men's track & field line-up. Amani Toomer placed seventh overall in the 55-meter, and Todd Richards jumped 6'8" in the high jump. 0 U I Mixed bag for Spikers at home Invite.+ Grand " I vlilii v by Erin Himstedt Daily Sports Writer Just when it looked like all hope was gone, the Michigan men's vol- leyball team regrouped with a rem- edy for revival. After finishing 2-2 against Ohio Wesleyan and Morehead State in the first matches of round-robin play of the 1993 Wolverine Invitational Saturday, the Wolverines came back to capture the first-place berth within their pool by defeating Northwestern and the University of Windsor, 4-0. The spikers' overall inexperience was evident in the inconsistency and lack of focus that formed the key ele- ments in their stagnant early play. Due to numerous personnel changes, the team has struggled to develop its group chemistry on the court. "At first it was real shaky - they were getting used to playing to- gether," Michigan coach Pam Griffin said. "They're all very talented play- ers, but they haven't played together very much, with injuries and ab- sences and sickness. We can see the potential just by watching them here today, but we've just got to work out the kinks." Although Michigan was later eliminated in the quarterfinal round against Illinois State, its impressive performance against such a formidable opponent as Windsor en- couraged the young team. This rivet- ing match was the day's - if not the season to date's - high point. "That game was where we really came together and played as strong as we've played all year," first-year student Andy Spitser said. "The win against Windsor really helped us in learning. We know now that we can beat them, and they're one of the top teams in Canada." Intense spiking from sub Justin MacLaurin and powerful blocking from middles Chad Stielstra and Soren Juul were the catalysts that set off the Wolverines' victory reaction. "Our blocking was the key. We had so many roofs - we just shut them down," Spitser said. "Once we got our blocking going so success- fully, it kind of keyed the rest of our game." Juul agreed. "We put on a formidable block- ing display in a couple of our games. That boosted our team's morale, got the fans involved, and also got team thinking about win- ning. It was the right combination of energy peaking, not being too ar- rogant, and being able to focus, and we came through with a big win." Michigan was unable to extend this winning streak into playoff competition, as inexperience once again raised its ugly head. Illinois -State took the first two games in the best-of-three match. 'Sooks Below" 4 Gymnasts break Broncos for first win Books priced so LOW, you have to see it to believe it! Most B OOKSpriced BELOW five bucks! by Scott Burton Daily Sports Writer It took over one month and five meets to do it, but finally the Michigan's men's gymnastics team recorded its first victory on the sea- son with its 267.5 - 261.1 defeat of Western Michigan Saturday at Kalamazoo. However, it was hardly a stand- out day for the Wolverines. Al- though producing excellent scores in several events, the team saw its team score decrease from the previous week's for the first team all season. "It was a tough meet," Wolverine coach Bob Darden said. "Western Michigan was not as nice of a facil- ity as the guys have been used to and we had a bit of trailing off at the end - that's the reason we had that step backward in the team score." Freshman Bob Young provided the highlight of the meet. Young finished first in the all-around com- petition with a 54.50. His day in- cluded a second-place finish in the parallel bars (9.20) and pommel horse (9.1) and a third-place finish in rings (8.90). "He has really been coming along great the last two months," Darden said. "We had to get him over a cou- ple of injuries, but now that he has moved into the all-around, I know that he feels comfortable." As has been common place the whole season, the floor exercise was Michigan's strongest event on the day. The team score of 46.75 far outpaced Western Michigan's 43.9, and Wolverines accounted for four of the top five scores. "If you look at our floor exercise, __t1_A 'llT-t _ _ lost a little bit of our mental flow." Michigan's 43.50 score in rings particularly concerned Darden. Some of the younger gymnasts have had trouble this year adapting to the new scoring standards that require a greater use of strength and difficulty in this event. "A lot of the major difficulty comes from the combinations of strength moves (that are required)," Darden said. "And we not only have a young team, but a number of our very strong performers have been sidelined with injuries." Despite Saturday's difficulties, the team still showed improvement from the beginning of the season. "Not in this meet in particular, but in tracking the team over the last month, the team has improved dra- matically," Darden said. The improvement may be further 11Ia.trn~A " a"^z% a-a ^I i ssa 0