Page 10-The Michigan Daily- Friday, February 19,1993 MICHIGAN SPORTS 1*undU Women s gymnastics faces Western foes by Thom Holden Daily Sports Writer The Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten, 8-1 overall) left yesterday for three meets in six days in Oklahoma, Utah and Colorado. Feb.19, the No.12 Wolverines start their western swing in Norman, Okla., against the No. 19 Sooners. From there, they travel to No. 16 Utah State for ameet on the 19th. Feb. 22, they take on host University of Denver. On individual apparatuses, the Wolverines are ranked ninth nationally on the uneven bars, 11th on the vault and 15th on the balance beam. For invididual performers, sophomore All-American Beth Wymer is ranked 12th overall on all-around performance. ERIK ANGERMEEr/Daily Michigan wrestler Brian Harper grapples with Willy Short of Minnesota last Sunday. The Wolverines square off tomorrow against 10th-ranked Wisconsin, a team about which Michigan coach Dale Bahr admits he knows little. 14 kiiklev ITI Men tumblers seek improvement on road by Scott Burton Daily Sports Writer As the Michigan's men's gymnastics team embarks on a two week, three- meet road trip to California and Arizona, it heads into a crucial part of its season. After two months of competition, the No. 13 Wolverines will attempt to develop the scores that they hope will carry them into postseason play. "We really need to set the pace (on this road trip) so we can head into March and get the scores that will qualify forregionals," Michigan coach BobDarden said. The road trip begins with a dual meet with Illinois and UC-Santa Barbara tonight. The Fighting Illini, who are putting up team scores in the mid-270's, are the favorite of the meet. Michigan and the Gauchos should be competitive, each hoping to hit the lower-270's. Tomorrow night, the Wolverines will take on San Jose State and defending national champion Stanford at Palo Alto. The Cardinal, with scores in the 270's, have lost little from last year's level. The Wolverines finish their road trip next Friday at Arizona State. The Sun Devils are capable of scoring in the 270's and will be a tough match-up for the Wolverines. Wrestlers face faceles by Michael Rosenberg Daily Sports Writer The Michigan wrestling team dropped several rungs down the Big Ten ladder last weekend, when it lost to sixth-ranked Ohio State and No. 8 Minnesota. The Wolverines climbed back up a little bit against Michigan State Wednesday, and they can continue their rise tomorrow at Wisconsin. Wisconsin, ranked 10th in the country, features five wrestlers ranked in the top 20. But the Bad- gers could send ten football players out on the mat and the Wolverines probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. "To tell you the truth, I haven't seen Wisconsin and I don't know much about them," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "I know they've struggled a little this year, for one reason or another. Hopefully we can go up there and beat them." "We don't know much about Wisconsin," Michigan senior James Rawls added. "We know that they're tough at 118 (pounds), 142, and 190. Other than that, we don't know much." Unfortunately for Michigan, Wisconsin's strengths are at the same weights as the Wolverines' weaknesses. One of those weights is 190 pounds, where Michigan continues its search for Jehad Hamdan' s re- placement. Hamdan had surgery yesterday to repair torn cartilage in his knee. He is expected to be 100 percent by the start of next season. The Badgers will wrestle Keith Davison, ranked No. 5 in the coun- try, at 190. Bahr said he is consider- ing forfeiting the weight if Michigan has already clinched a victory, some- thing he did against Michigan State. "We expect to win at 190," Wis- consin coach Andy Rein said. s Badgers "Hopefully we can get a pin, or at least a major (decision). But at 126, 177, and heavyweight, I don't think it's possible for us to win. "As a coach, I expect to win whenever we go out there. But Michigan, on paper, is a better team than we are. Hopefully our fans can help us win the meet." One of the most interesting matches is at 142. Wisconsin's Ryan Lord will wrestle Rawls. Rawls beat Lord 4-3 at last year's Cliff Keen National Team Duals. "(Lord) is a good athlete, but he's not that good as far as wrestling is concerned," Rawls said. Wolverine Sean Bormet, ranked third in the nation at 158, will return to action after sitting out the Michi- gan State match because of his chronic bad back. "Sean's back is a lot better," Bahr said. "(Not wrestling) really helped him." MEN'S LACROSSI U Men laxers to play two in Louisiana by J.L. Rostam-Abadi The Michigan men's lacrosse team caravanned down to Baton Rouge, La., yesterday for spring break activities, including practice, two games and a taste of Mardi Gras. The Wolverines' games are scheduled to be played Feb. 27, against Louisiana State and Red River Lacrosse Club. The games will be preceded by a week's worth of practice, and a side trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Michigan's troupe consists of 32 members, most of whom will be making the trip down south. The team size is relatively small compared to other college teams. Nonetheless, team-president Ranjiv Advani said he is really excited for the rest of the season, noting that the Wolverines are starting to come together as a team. The Wolverines' season began last Saturday with a 22-0 victory over Illinois. With three consecutive Big Ten Club Championships under its belt, Michigan will attempt to achieve its fourth this season. Women netters look to continue early success Big Ten Swimming at Canham Natatorium After the first day Skiers swoosh to NCAA regionals by Brent McIntosh The Michigan ski teams have been headed downhill fast this sea- son - and because that's not a negative in skiing, they hope the trend continues this weekend. Both the men's and women's teams head to Giant's Ridge, Minn., for the NCAA regional meet tomorrow and Sunday, where they will face teams from all over the Midwest. This will be the Wolveri- nes' first meet against mainly varsity teams; at Michigan, skiing is a club sport. Even with the heightened compe- tition, the team members said they expect to be competitive. "Earlier this year we beat Wis- consin, and they're varsity," senior co-captain Mike Johnson said. "For a varsity team to lose to us, a club with no coach and little funding, it's embarrassing to them and a big plus for us." Past triumphs aside, the Wolver- ines are looking to place high, espe- cially the women's squad. They've dominated several meets this year, with Michigan skiers often sweeping the top three spots. "It's rare, but we've done it a lot this year," skier Jennifer Shorter said. Both teams need to place among the top three squads this weekend to advance to the national champi- onships at Squaw Valley, Colorado. Last year, the women placed eighth at nationals, grabbing the distinction of being the nation's top club team. "We have so much depth that even when someone skis poorly, we can usually pull it out. Anything can happen, but if we all stand up, we have a good chance to win," Amy Portenga said. The men's team also expressed optimism. "Even though our performance at divisionals wasn't too strong, we managed to place second," senior co-captain Steve Portenga said. "We've never qualified for nation- als, but teams like this are special- they rarely come along." Both teams faltered on Feb. 5, the first day of divisionals, but strong skiing on the next day brought them back into the competi- tion. The women finished in first place. Following the 200 IM, North- western got a chance to gain ground where Michigan is weakest. The Wildcats took advantage by qualify- ing three swimmers in the final heat of the 50 freestyle, while Michigan had none. But the Wildcats were un- able to make up as much ground as they wished, finishing in the last three slots. The Wolverine diving team also did its best to help the cause. Red- shirt freshman Carrie Zarse made up a ten point deficit at the midway "I had two goals coming into the meet (winning the 500 and making NCAA cuts) and I got both.' - Kirsten Silvester point to beat a former Big Ten champion - Kristen Kane of Indiana - and win the one-meter spring board title. "Carrie did a great job," diving coach Dick Kimball said. "especially considering she's a freshman." Richardson said he saw the day as a successful one, but warned that the Michigan could still stall. "I figured that (the meet) would be even, or we might be a little be- hind," Richardson said, "So I am re- ally pleased to have a 35 point lead. "But the meet is far from over, we still have to swim two more days." by Tim Spolar Daily Sports Writer As the Michigan women's tennis team tries to put some heat on its opponents each of the next two weekends, its can only expect mother nature to pitch in once. The Wolverines stay home this weekend, opening Big Ten dual- match play against Purdue. After narrowly defeating Miami (Ohio) last weekend, 5-4, the squad is look- ing to build some early-season mo- mentum against one of the weaker opponents on the Big Ten schedule. "The (Miami) win was really im- portant for us," freshman Angie Popek said. "You've got to start off right and build up the confidence level. The win was great, because they were ranked higher than us in the region, so that's a great confi- dence builder. "We're expecting (Purdue) to be a strong team. We just have to make sure that we don't let ourselves get overconfident." "We did beat them 9-0 last year, so we didn't have too much trouble then," team co-captain Jaimie Field- ing added. "They have added some new players, however, so we expect some of the individual matches to be closer." When Michigan leaves the cozy confines of the Indoor Track and Tennis Building the following weekend, they hope to enjoy the same environment of many of their U-M peers: the Florida weather. When the Wolverines hit the Sunshine State, however, their weekend will be no day at the beach. Their itinerary includes head-to- head duels with the University of Southern Florida Friday and Florida State the following morning, both on USF's turf. "Both teams beat us last year," Fielding said. "Our first goal next week will be focusing on the ad- justments we'll need to make for playing outside. And obviously, since both teams beat us, we're go- ing to have to play hard to get the wins." Michigan will try to work from its all-around performance against the Redskins. While sophomore Liz Cyganiak was the only Wolverine to win both her singles and doubles match last week, each of the athletes chipped in, pulling out just enough matches to earn the victory. "Each person kind of helped out in their own way," junior Allison Schlonsky said after the meet. "We prepared all week and we were just mentally and physically ready for them." Michigan hopes to be just as fo- cused in Florida. With the advantage of the week off from classes and the related distractions, the squad will attempt to ready all facets of its game for the trip south. Team 1. Michigan 2. Northwestern 3. Ohio State 4. Penn State 5. Minnesota 6. Purdue 7. Iowa 8. Indiana 9. Wisconsin 10. Illinois 11. Michigan State Points' 206.0 171.0 148.0 128.0 117.0 98.0 86.0 78.0 67.0 45.0 36.0 KEYSTONE PROPERTIES, INC. Look for it in the (they really work!) TANKERS Continued from Page 1 closing in the last 25 yards, and I put my head down and said to myself 'Don't breathe."' Her time of 4:53.60 not only gave Silvester her second straight Big Ten title in the event, but also qualified her for the NCAA Championships. "I had two goals coming into the meet (winning the 500 and making NCAA cuts) and I got both," Sil- vester said. "I was incredibly happy." Michigan increased its lead even more with a spectacular effort in the 200 individual medley. Mindy Gehrs and Alecia Humphrey took the top two spots, and both posted times be- low the NCAA qualifying time of 2:01.19. Humphrey was one of three Michigan swimmers that did not shave and rest for this meet. She said she surprised herself by swimming a personal best time. .ult h e k f O oud yu:-answer questions and provide referral information about the U? .gather data from U offices and organizations? -write summaries of the U's services, offices, and facilities? -be organized and friendly, through finals?? then you have what it takes to be an Information Assistant at the Campus Information Centers. applications available at the CIC desk. I1st floor. Michigan Union and the NCIC desk. Main Lobby, North Campus Commons. ework 10-15 hours during Fall/Winter and/or 20 hours during Spring/Summer SPEND SPRING BREAK WITH BRITAIN'S TOP DANCE BANDS AT INDUSTRY BRONSKI BEAT TSF 23Featuring JIMMY SOMERVILLE Tickets $5 at door Doors 7:30,18 & Over O P U "A1 line Day" FRIDAY FEB 26T6es $550 adv. Doors 8pm,18 & over The ORB THURS MAR 1I Tickets $6.50 adv. Doors 8pm,18 & over Join us Saturday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. *TUJEDAYS SATEJDAYS *IWJEWAYS ..w.... w.w.i r.r. rnr. Tr r..r "SATUEiM" I I I