Men's Basketball Men's Swimming vs. George Washington at NCAA Championships Tomorrow, 8:05 p.m. (CBS) Today, Tomorrow and Saturday Seattle Indianapolis The Michigan Daily Thursday, March 25,1993 Page 8 A 1111 1 1 1111 1 1 A\ BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK Distance limits amount of students making trip by Adam Miller Daily Basketball Writer Coaches upset over cuttin g fgymnasics Let us do the math for you. The Seattle Kingdome - site of tomorrow night's Michigan men's bas- ketball West Regional semifinal vs. George Washington -- seats an even 40,000 spectators in its basketball configuration. There are four schools at the site. Figure on at least half of those withdrawn for VIPs and regional sales, and you get 5,000 seats per school. So how many students are following the Wolverines to Seattle? Only 37. No, there's no zero missing. While there was a lottery held to determine the recipients of Michigan's 400 student tickets, Jan Pearen, assistant ath- letic ticket manager, said the turnout was "very low ... so everybody gets to go. You may be wondering what's keeping the students home. LSA senior Wendy Stein said it's simple economics. "Seattle was just out of the question," Stein said. "(It's) an impossible drive and too expensive a flight.". David Siegel, an LSA sophomore who went to Lexington, Ky., last year for the Southeast Regional, agreed with Stein that the distance was prohibitive. However, Siegel did enter the Final Four lottery before yesterday's 5:30 p.m. deadline. Siegel went so far as to suggest that those who did purchase Seattle tickets should be rewarded. "The people who applied for Seattle shouldn't have to enter the lottery for the Final Four," he said. "If you're going to follow (the Wolverines) all the way to Seattle you deserve Final Four tickets." Pearen said that there will not be a general ticket sale for the remaining 363 seats. "We can not at this point offer them now," Pearen said. "We just don't have the time and the means to put another plan into effect." Instead, the tickets will be going to the Seattle chapter of the Michigan Alumni Club, according to chapter president John Hatley. "I'm not aware of the precise numbers," Hatley said. "But I can tell you that we have orders for in excess of 300 tickets ... so it appears we will be buying a substantial portion of (the remainders)." Student ticket applications have dropped significantly from last year. For the two games in Lexington, Pearen said 350 students applied for seats and all were able to attend since the University was given a 400-seat allotment. DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY: Contrary to rumor, Michigan forward Chris Webber has not suffered a serious injury that will keep him out of Friday night's game. Webber, who left with the team yesterday for Seattle, merely has a sore left hamstring. "It's nothing serious," Webber said. "I just need to take it easy." Softball hopes to hit it big in Califorma invite by Bryn Mickle Daily Staff Reporter The Athletic Department's deci- sion to drop the men's gymnastics program in favor of women's soccer has sent shock waves through the Big Ten. Coaches from across the conference expressed anger and dis- belief that Michigan would make the decision to eliminate a "successful" program. "It's very disappointing," said Yoshi Hayasaki, coach of the Illinois men's gymnastics team, "to think that a nationally-recognized program like Michigan would drop gymnas- tics." Coaches surveyed across the Big Ten acknowledged that the lack of a participating Michigan team could threaten the future of their programs. Rick Atkinson, coach at Michigan State, said, "We're going to be in trouble. Who's next? MSU? Iowa? Where does it stop?" "We feel we can survive in the conference if we lose the NCAA sponsorship," Tom Dunn, coach at Iowa, said. "The bottom line is that if the (Big Ten) conference champi- onship disappears, then it will be hard to justify our sport." Mike Pearson, Illinois' sports information director, said, "Michi- gan's decision could affect U of I's thoughts on whether or not to drop our program." Mark Rudner, assistant commis- sioner for communications for the Big Ten, would not comment on Michigan's press release, but did say that "these are tough institutional decisions that have to be made." Not everyone, however, agreed the decision would have a far-reach- ing effect. "I'm sure (Michigan) had their reasons (for cutting the program)," Iowa Athletic Director Robert Bowlsby said. "It has no effect on us." The coaches' biggest concerns, with the decision were the reasons given in the Athletic Department's, press release - the issues of gender,, equity and the decline of boys' par- ticipation on the high school level. "The purpose of gender equity is to increase women's opportunities,k not decrease the number of men's opportunities," Atkinson said. He added that 30 percent of all girls participate in high school ath- letics, compared to 75 percent in- volvement by boys. "We're not going to be able to find enough good women's athletes to fill these spots," he said. "Let's fix the high school inequity first and then address the collegiate issue." Minnesota coach Fred Roeth-, lisberger, criticized the decision, based on his belief that Michigan ad-' ministrators' seem to think recruit- able athletes are not available and challenged the Michigan Athletic See REACTION, Page 10 KRISTOFFER GILLETT Ray Jackson goes up for two of his 19 points in Michigan's win over Coastal Carolina. Jackson repeated his point production against UCLA. Golfers leave Michigan for some southern comfort Women seek to improve on early season performances in S. C. by Rachel Bachman Daily Softball Writer Like Luke Perry look-alikes hop- ing for their own "90210," the members of the Michigan softball team travel en masse to California today, in search of a.hit series. For four days, the town of Sun- nyvale will be home to the 16 teams competing at the National Invita- tional Softball tournament. It is the Wolverines' final in-season tourna- ment before they begin conference play Apr. 3 against Minnesota. The hot-hitting Wolverines (11-5 overall) are ranked No. 9 nationally and No. 1 in the Mideast Region. It is only the second time that the team has cracked the nation's top 10. "Being ranked this high puts pressure on us," sophomore pitcher Kelly Kovach said. "If we play an unranked team, we're expected to beat them." The squad is led at the plate by senior outfielder Patti Benedict, currently batting .511, and junior shortstop Mary Campana, who needs just two home runs to break Michigan's season record in that category. Benedict is third on the all-time triples (18), doubles (27) and RBI (93) lists. She needs just four RBIs to surpass Michigan's career RBI total, now held by 1986 All-Ameri- can Alicia Seegert. Even the six freshmen are pro- ducing. Utility player Tracy Carr, who has already hit her first home run, carries a rookie-best .375 bat- See SOFTBALL, Page 10 by Tyler Rheem The difference between attending Michigan and going to a school in the South is the five or six extra months of warm weather those for- tunate southerners enjoy. The differ- ence between golfing for the Wolverines and playing at another college is the amount of time avail- able for practice. While Michigan's women golfers bundle up and trod around like Mus- covites, other teams are practicing. While this weekend's tournament at the Woodland Country Club in Columbia, S.C. will be the team's second of the year, it will be the_ third, fourth or even fifth for many others. The Michigan squad is coming off of a 10th place finish out of 20 teams last week at the Northern Illi- nois Snowbird Intercollegiate in Tampa, Fla. The team managed to play well, considering some adverse conditions. "Most schools were on spring break and had been practicing that whole preceding week," coach Sue LeClair said. "We didn't even get the chance to see the last four holes before having to compete. "This time, at least we'll be able to get a full round of practice in," she continued. LeClair takes with her this week- end senior golfers Wendy Bigler, Tricia Good and Maura Hawkins as well as sophomore Jenny Zimmer- man and freshman Shannon McDon- ald. Consistency is the team's goal for this tournament. "We need to get the scoring aver- ages down from the mid- and upper- 80s to around 80," LeClair said. "Our players have the ability to do it, it's just a matter of actually doing it." For the most part, McDonald and Bigler have been "doing it" all year. Of the five tournaments thus far (four were held last fall), either Bigler or McDonald has placed first individually for Michigan. It is their play that is the key. Also traveling to Columbia this weekend are Big Ten foes Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State. Wiscon- sin and Illinois both performed im- pressively in Tampa last week, fin- ishing second and third respectively. This weekend's field will allow Michigan to gauge the rest of the: conference's talent. "We're trying to practice and place better in Big Tens this year," 1 McDonald said. "The top four is very realistic." With tournaments coming up ev- r ery weekend for the next month, the; Wolverine golfers should finally be, getting the regular practice they'll, need for the conference tournament. "We're just trying to get back into the swing of it," LeClair said. That should be a lot easier without having to golf in mittens and boots. 0 A Men golfers return to action following layoff ~.# by Elisa Sneed Following two weeks away from competition, the Michigan men's golf team will again see tournament action this weekend. The Wolverines will be playing in the Kentucky- Johnny Owens Invitational, a two- day, 54-hole event at Kearney Hills in Lexington, Ky. Among the tournament's 22-team field are Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Kentucky and Ball State, which will provide tough competition for the Wolverines. "They've been strong teams for the past couple of years," Michigan coach Jim Carras said. "You've got to expect that they'll have some- thing again this year." Traditionally a difficult event for 'Last year we got snowed out on Sunday, this time of year it's a tough tournament. Hopefully, the forecast will be right.' I the Wolverines, Carras expressed hope that this year's finish would be better than the 638-stroke team total that placed Michigan 14th last year. "I like to think that we could fin- ish in the top five," Carras said. "If we play decently, we'll finish in the top five." But as always, the weather will play a big role in the Wolverines ability to perform. "It's usually difficult because we never have good weather," he said. "Last year we got snowed out on Sunday, this time of year it's a tough tournament. Hopefully, the forecast will be right." - Bob Carras Michigan men's golf coach Last year's Michigan line-up in- cluded three team members who will be returning to the tournament this year - senior co-captains James Carson and Anthony Dietz, along with senior Bob Henighan. Joining* them will be sophomore Bill Lyle- and senior David Hall - one of Michigan's medalists at Fripp Is- land. Both Hall and Dietz are fifth year seniors, staying on to finish out- their last year of NCAA eligibility. They have been able to maintain. their status as student-athletes by taking one credit hour, a light load' that has enabled them to travel t;4 Florida for some extra practice. LOVE 3 It seems to come only when you least expect it. In these comical one-act operas love is discovered in some very surprising ways. I La Serva Padrona & The Boor The Princeton Review by Giovanni Pergolesi by Dominick Argento is sponsoring a FREE full-length practice LSAT for all Michigan students. Partici- Conducted by Martin Katz 1.. . AA--, .