Men's Basketball Men's Swimming
vs. George Washington at NCAA Championships
Friday, 8:10 p.m. (CBS) Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Seattle Indianapolis
The Michigan Daily TuesdayMrh2,193Pg
BALANCING ACTS:
Soaring women tumblers
may have dynasty in making
Sluggers prosper in
sweet road Alabama
by Mike Rancilio
Daily Sports Writer
As the Michigan women's gymnastics team
assembled atop the victory stand after its suc-
cessful defense of the Big Ten title, it seemed
very comfortable.
It's a good thing, because it should return to
the top spot on the platform many more times
in the near future.
Even though the Wolverines still have the
Regional and National Championships left this
season, they can't help but be excited about the
next few years.
Coach Bev Plocki has taken the team from
the doldrums of the Big Ten to the top 10 na-
tionally over the last four years. The squad
emerged into one of the most consistentand
stellar programs in the country, and things are
expected to get better.
"Everyone says Michigan is on the rise,"
freshman Wendy Marshall said. "We are really
excited (about the future)."
Just looking at the statistical run-down
from the meet, it's easy to see how expecta-
tions could be so high. Only one score from an
upperclassman, Ali Winski's 9.775 floor per-
formance, was used in the team composite
score. In fact, nine of the 10 gymnasts who
competed Saturday night have freshman or
sophomore eligibility.
These younger competitors have progressed
quicker than expected. Rookies Tina Miranda
and Dianna Ranelli have surpassed the role of
freshman spot contributor to become solid per-
formers. Miranda has an automatic 9.8 bars
routine, while Ranelli continues to excel re-
gardless of her place in the line-up.
The outlook on Miranda is even more im-
pressive, considering she has been hobbled by
nagging knees all season. Her performance has
been regulated to bars and beam this year. She
expects to return healthy for next season to
solidify an already deadly Michigan line-up.
"We have a lot of people at the same level
(performance-wise)," Miranda noted. "We're
really excited about next year."
Another reason for excitement is Marshall,
February's Gymnast of the Month. She has
emerged as one of the top vaulters in the Big
Ten and has steadily improved in the other
events. She finished sixth all-around Saturday
in only her second full-load meet of the year.
Marshall's total was more remarkable be-
cause it included an 8.8 beam routine with
several breaks. Obviously, she will record
much higher beam scores with more experi-
'Everyone says Michigan is
on the rise. We are really
excited (about the future).'
- Wendy Marshall
Michigan gymnast
ence, and that should catapult her into the top
echelon of Big Ten all-around performers.
Speaking of top all-around performers,
there's this All-American on Michigan's squad
who had a pretty fair meet. Beth Wymer fin-
ished first all-around, beam and bars, and sec-
ond on vault overall, and, oh yeah, she's only a
sophomore.
A perfect example of underclassmen lead-
ing the team was at the end of the third event.
Wymer nailed a 9.975 on the bars to complete
the rotation and ignite the squad as it headed
toward the most difficult apparatus on which
to score high: the beam.
"Beth's bar performance gave us a big lift
heading into the beam," Plocki said.
Then, another upstart sophomore, Li Li Le-
ung, maintained the momentum with her usual
spark plug-like routine on the beam which set
the table for the final event, culminating with
Wymer's clutch 9.925 beam performance.
The only problem with all of the expected
great performances to come is the NCAA may
have to develop a new system of judging for
Wymer. Maybe move to a 12-point scale. If it
doesn't try that, it may get sick and tired of
seeing Wymer and her teammates up on the
victory stand.
by Antoine Pits
Daily Baseball Writer
If the Michigan baseball team has
had any luck at all this season, it has
definitely been tough luck. Going
into this weekend's series in
Tuscaloosa, Ala., the Wolverines, 1-
5 in one-run contests, had lost
several close games, many of them
in the late innings.
That luck seemed to change a lit-
tle for Michigan (5-13 overall) as the
Wolverines took two of three games
from Alabama (6-8), sandwiching 4-
2 and 8-5 victories with a 7-6 loss.
In the two victories, Michigan came
from behind to overtake the Crim-
son Tide.
In yesterday's series finale, the
Wolverines spotted Alabama three
runs before going to work for them-
selves in the top of the fourth. Scott
Winterlee followed Scott Weaver's
two-run home run with a round-trip-
per of his own to knot the score at
three. Alabama retook the lead on a
leadoff home run in the bottom half
of the inning.
A three-run sixth gave Michigan
the lead for good.
"It was nice to finish up our pre-
Big Ten schedule on a positive
note," Michigan coach Bill Freehan
said. "We saw some nice weather
and were able to take two of three."
The Wolverines were led at the
plate by freshman outfielder
Weaver, who had two of Michigan's
five hits and knocked in three runs.
The hits extended Weaver's hitting
streak to eight games.
"I'm just trying to remain consis-
tent at the plate," Weaver said. "I'm
trying to make every at-bat count
and not take anything for granted."
On the mound, Ron Hollis went 6
1/3 innings and tied a career high
with seven strikeouts. He earned his
first victory of the year against three
defeats. Todd Marion, pitching for
the third straight day, recorded his
third save.
In Friday's opener, the Wolver-
ines also let the Crimson Tide get
out to an early lead. This time, Al-
abama used a walk and a homer to
take a quick 2-0 lead in the first in-
ning. However, the Crimson Tide
could get no more runs and only two
more hits for the rest of the game.
Michigan got its runs beginning
in the fifth inning with senior Matt
Copp's first career homer.
"It was pretty exciting, of
course," Copp said. "I'm happy that
I'm helping out the team."
The Wolverines took the lead in
the seventh with a pair of runs, the
second on an RBI single by Weaver.
An insurance run in the ninth made
for the 4-2 final.
Eric Heintschel, in his longest
appearance of the season, pitched 8
1/3 innings to improve his record to
1-2. Marion retired the last two bat-
ters for the save.
"Heintschel pitched excellent in
what was probably our best game of
the season," Freehan said.
On Saturday, the Wolverines
jumped out to an early lead, but Al-
abama came from behind to win.
The Crimson Tide erased a 3-0
Michigan lead with four runs in the
bottom of the sixth. Two more runs
by Alabama and three more by the
Wolverines made it 6-6 going into
the bottom of the eighth.
The Crimson Tide rallied for the
eventual game-winner in the bottom
of the eighth off relievers Matt
Humbles (0-3) and Marion.
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MOLLY STEVEN&/Daily
Michigan gymnast Li Li Leung competes on the uneven
bars in the Big Ten Championships at Crisler Arena.
Men axers stampede over SUNY-Buffalo, 15-6
In The
by J.L. Rostam-Abadi
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's lacrosse
team defeated SUNY-Buffalo 15-6,
Sunday night, improving to 7-1 for
the season.
Wolverines' attackman Doug
Henke led the way, tallying six
goals and two assists for a team-lead-
ing eight attack points.
The team expressed happiness
with its performance.
"We played very solid lacrosse as
a team," junior attackman Stevan
Simich said. "We learned from our
mistakes from our Oberlin game
with our defense. We improved our
transition game and it gave our
defense more of a rest. Everybody
worked really well together and we
played a really solid game."
Simich contributed with two
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goals and two assists of his own.
"It's important for us to be able
to play a consistent game, especially
with our tournaments coming up.
When you have one game after an-
other, you get physically tired, so it
becomes a mental game. It's impor-
tant not to let the level of play de-
cline."
The first goal of the night was
scored unassisted by midfielder Ivan
Frank, exactly one minute into the
game. Sophomore midfielder John
Kolakowski followed suit, scoring
just before the three minute mark.
Henke followed Kolakowski with a
goal, then came up with two more
after Buffalo connected orb its first
goal of the night.
The second quarter was just as
lively as the first, as the Wolverines
accumulated a 13-2 lead by halftime.
Starting goalie Kennon
Broadhurst had an impressive nine
saves for three quarters.
"A lot of it's just that we played
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really tough defense, and it's just be-
ing aggressive out there," Broadhurst
said. When we're down, somebody
comes up and picks it up, like
Henke did tonight. ... Defensively
we're really solid - Ben (Hohmuth),
(Steve) Bishop, (Scott) Van Aman,
and Tippy (Tony Martinez). They
play a hellacious game out there....
They make me look good!"
Staying focused in a game with a
steady 10-goal lead didn't seem to
faze the Wolverines.
"We always have stuff we need to
work on," Henke said. We've got a
big tournament next week at Purdue.
We've got to get our plays down.
We haven't been running them well
as of late. I think the team played re-
ally well as a whole tonight. Every-
thing was clicking in the first half."
Due to the Wolverines' well-exe-
cuted game plan, every team member
managed to get in the game.
The Michigan players expressed
surprise with the lackluster perfor-
mance of their opponent.
"We expected a much tougher and
closer game," Bishop said. "I think
we really played exceptionally well
as a team. In general, even though
no one person on our team played
exceptionally well, everyone did ex-
actly what they were supposed to do
and therefore, the end result was an
excellent team game."
MINNEAPOLIS - The end of the season for the Michigan women's
swimming team was better than anyone, even the swimmers themselves,
expected. The fifth-place finish was the best ever for a Wolverine team.
What makes the finish even more impressive is the feat was accom-
plished with a severe lack of sprint freestylers.
The way that NCAA swimming, and all swim meets for that matter, is
set up is that there is a great imbalance in the number of events per stroke.
There are five individual events and three relays for freestylers, while
there are only two for backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual
medleys, as well as two medley relays.
The three shortest freestyles (50,100 and 200 yards) are generally swum
by sprinters. But in Minneapolis this past weekend, the Wolverines did not
have anyone score in the 50 or 100, and only Kathy Deibler placed in the
200, where she came in ninth.
The Wolverine freestylers tend to be distance-oriented. This helps in the
500 and 1650 freestyles (and the 200 to an extent), but the relays are all the
shorter lengths: 4 x 50,4 x 100 and 4 x 200.
This hurt Michigan doubly, literally, since the relays are worth two times
the points as an individual event.
Just think if the Wolverines had just one or two top sprinters. If they had
placed in the middle of the top 16 finishers, they would have picked up an
extra 20 to 30 points from individual events alone, and another 10 points or
so placing in the bottom part of the freestyle relays scorers. The medley re-
lays would improve a few places, so that's another three or four points.
If you total that up, it could be an extra 40 or more points added to the
Michigan total of 251, which would have easily vaulted them over fourth
place SMU's 273.
Thus the Wolverines would claim the NCAA titles for mortals. The
unsurpassable Stanford, Texas and Florida have shared the top three spots
between themselves in every NCAA championship.
There is a ray of hope, however. Michigan may have found some sprint-
ers in its late recruiting drive. If these prospects commit, the Wolverines
may have the balance they need to reach immortality.
U U
Women swimmers need
sprinters to reach next level
by Charlie Breitrose
Daily Sports Writer
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