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. 0 0 0 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 r - - W E DELIVER! 1i '- 665-7777 1 TUESDAY SPECIAL! 1 1 1 115 WINGS1 $3.25/ Pitcher 7.'1 Any Bud Family 1 delivery exclded 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 Hairstyling With A Flair -6 Barber Stylists For Men Women -NO WAITING!!!!! DASCO LA STYLISTS Liberty of State 668-9329 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 0 0 Z rD 0 Z u o f w Saturday i Pm Sunday 5 pm MERCH 2752998,1993 Dearborn Civic Center 15801 Michigan Ave.- (at Greenfield) Admission $6 per day or $10 for both days yON ? _ , ' , o , ') ,, v .- 7 r "s. r ,1 c, _ ~ ' ,, ° .._-_ OVER 1/2 MILLION COMICS FOR SALE!! SPECIAL GUEST ARTISTS AND WRITERS including: Neil Gaiman, Mark Bagley, Ron Frenz, Adam Kubert, Sergio Aragones, Brian Murray, Larry Stroman, John Ostrander, Charles Vess Tau Epsilon Phi, founded in October of 1910 at Columbia University and the University of Michigan Chapter founded January 13, 1923 are seeking student leaders interested in reactivating our Fraternity at Michigan. opq 1 0 -, - - -NN s i