10 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSTuesday - Tuesday, January 17, 1995

Michigan battles for
first against Illinois

'M 1\en tumblers turn in .
a repeat perfornance

By RYAN WHITE
Daily Basketball Writer
Illinois basketball coach Lou
Henson feels that his team has a num-
ber of problems, especially on de-
fense. What he's not sure about,
though, is whether those problems
are on the basketball court or the
football field.
"Our guys put a lot of effort into
defense, and at times we play really
well," Henson said. "But when we
break down, the other team scores a
touchdown.
"We can give up the 10-yarders or
the 15-yarders, but not the touch-
downs."
In spite of the fact that Henson
hasn't been completely happy with
the play of the Fighting Illini, they are
leading the Big Ten as they prepare to
host Michigan tonight at 7:30 p.m.
(ESPN) in Champaign.
Illinois (4-0 Big Ten, 13-3 over-
all) is coming off a 78-67 win over
Indiana Saturday that gave the Illini
sole possession of the conference's
top spot.
The Wolverines (3-1, 9-6) beat
Northwestern Saturday, 92-70.
Aside from defensive lapses,
Henson is worried about how much
Illinois' emotional victory over the
Hoosiers may affect the team.
"After what (Michigan) has done
in the last two or three years our guys
will get up," he said. "I just hope out
guys haven't used up all their gas."
Offensively, sophomore Kiwani
Garris leads the Illini, averaging 14.9
points per game, along with junior

Richard Keene, who has scored 11.8
per game this year.
Illinois' offense has been incon-
sistent this season but earned praise
from Indiana coach Bobby Knight
after the Hoosiers lost to the Illini.
"I wonder if (Knight) was refer-
ring to our team or someone else's,"
Henson joked. "I think we are getting
better offensively, though."
Wolverine senior Jimmy King
knows that tonight's contest will be
more difficult in both surroundings
and competition then Saturday's
against Northwestern.
"We have to control the crowd
from the tipoff," King said. "We're
going to have to be tough mentally
and physically."
One Wolverine that Illinois won't
have to worry about is Jalen Rose,
who scored 52 points in two games
against the Illini last season.
"(Rose) took about ten years off
my life," Henson said. "I'm glad he's
gone."
Illinois is looking to go 5-0 in
the Big Ten for the first time ever,
and help Henson achieve a personal
milestone - his 400th career vic-
tory.
Henson, however, doesn't feel that
the mark is a very big deal.
"I've been here a long time," he
said. "And when you're here that long,
you should win a lot of games."
Overall, Henson sees his team as
one that is improving.
"We're pleased with the way that
the team is playing, knowing that
we've got to get better," he said.

The Michigan women's gymnastics team swept all four events on its way to
winning the Blue/Gold Invitational in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Women sweep event
r Ioi

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By MICHAEL JOSHUA
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 4 Michigan women's
gymnastics team kicked off its 1995
season at the Blue/Gold Invitational
in Pittsburgh over the weekend and
did so in fine style.
Competing against West Virginia
and Pittsburgh, the Wolverines domi-
nated the meet, sweeping all four
events (vault, bars, beam and floor)
by amassing 189.65 points to top the
Mountaineers (185.525) and the Pan-
thers (181.9).
"With this being our first meet, we
were pleased with the results," senior
co-captain Kelly Carfora said.
The Wolverines (2-0) placed two
athletes in the top three on the uneven
bars, the balance beam and the floor
exercise, while completely sweeping
the vault.
Freshman Heather Kabnick was the
star of the meet for Michigan, win-
ning the floor exercise, the beam and
the all-around title with a score of
38.725.
"I was nervous since it was my first
meet as a freshman," Kabnick said. "I
just wanted to pull through when we
needed it the most.
"Throughout the meet the overall
title was not my goal. However, I'm

happy it turned out that way."
Other solid performances were
turned in by Carfora, who placed sec-
ond on the beam and third on the floor
exercise while finishing second over-
all.
Junior Wendy Marshall won the
vault with a score of 9.9.
Was Carfora surprised at how
well the meet turned out for Michi-
gan?
"Yes and no," Carfora said. "Yes,
because it was our first meet, but no,
because we didn't know anything about
the other teams. They were not ranked
like us."
The Wolverines were without the
services of seniors Debbie Berman and
Beth Wymer and freshman Lauren
LaBranche. Wymer has a shoulder in-
jury and Berman has a hurt knee.
LaBranche is suffering from mono-
nucleosis.
"When they return we should be
even stronger," Carfora said.
Michigan next hosts Illinois atCliff
Keen Arena on Jan. 27. The Wolver-
ines have a few things they would like
to improve before that competition.
"We need to work on our confi-
dence, the floor and landings," Carfora
said. "It's different foreach individual.
But we have a little cleaning up to do."

By JULIE KEATING
For the Daily
It came down to the final tenths of
a point for the Michigan men's gym-;
nastics team last weekend at the 24th
Windy City Invitational.
With less than a point separating
the second- and fourth-place teams,
the Wolverines repeated last season's
showing at the same meet by finish-
ing fourth
"It was a very strong field with the
Big Ten represented very well,"
Michigan coach Bob Darden said.
In addition to six teams from the+
Big Ten, the Wolverines had to con-
tend with host Illinois-Chicago, West-
ern Michigan and Washington at the
tournament. Michigan bested confer-
ence rivals Minnesota, Illinois and
Michigan State but could not get by
Iowa or Ohio State, who placed first
and second, respectively.
"We were really pleased finishing
fourth in front of Minnesota and Illi-
nois, because they are such strong
teams," Darden said.
Beginning on the parallel bars, the
Wolverines set the pace early. They
were in first place until midway
through the meet but struggled with
the pommel horse.
"We were kind of taken back by
our performance on pommel horse,"
Darden explained.
Sophomore Flavio Martins had the
best performance with an average of
8.5. Brian Winkler and Jason Taft
followed closely behind, both aver-
aging 8.45.
Michigan fell to fifth, behind the
Golden Gophers, and then regained
the fourth slot with seventh- and
eighth-place finishes from Royce
MATTERS
Continued from page 7
Instead of being tied at 12 going
into the 190-pound class, Michigan
was up two.
Though Richardson did not win
his match against McCoy, he held off
a near pin that prevented a team loss.
If Biggert and Rawls had each regis-
tered a simple decision, the Wolver-
ines would have tied Penn State - a
far cry from their sweet victory.
"We won in the middle with the
seniors," Bahr said. "Jesse and Chad
were the difference. They put points
on the board."
Now that Michigan is headed into

Toni and Martins on the rings. They
posted scores of 9.575 and 9.6, re-
spectively. In addition to Martins
and Toni, the Wolverines qualified
five more members for the finals,
including key performers Raul '*
Molina and Winkler.
"Raul was actually in first place
in floor exercise up until the last
performer, finishing in a two way
tie for third with a 9.65," Darden
said.
Just a little over a tenth of point
kept Molina from the all-around
championship, which was captured
by Minnesota's Brian Yee. Molina
also secured top-10 finishes on the
parallel bars and the high bar, as
well as qualifying for the pommel
horse, rings and vault finals.
Winkler followed closely, quali-
fying for every event except the
high Bar. He finished in the top five
on the bars and second on the vault.
Declining to perform on the floor
exercise -- his favorite event -
Winkler sat out the finals due to a
weakened back stemming from sur-
gery in 1993.
Other members of the team
helped the Wolverines cause by turn-
ing in solid performances on their
specific apparatus, including Kris
Klinger, who finished fourth on the
high bar.
With only tenths of a point sepa-
rating the champions from the run-
ners-up, this meet meant a great
deal in terms of confidence for the
Wolverines.
"The guys were very pleased with
their performance, and realized that
they are a team in contention,"
Darden said.
the second half of the season, the
lower weight classes will have to step 0
up. Major decisions may not come
with as much ease as they did Sunday,
and the Wolverines can not wait until
the upper weight classes to begin scor-
ing. With two sets of back-to-back
meets followed by another road trip
in February, as well as the Big Ten
and NCAA Championships, Michi-
gan needs contribution from the en-
tire team.
"We do need a full team contribu-
tion to hang with the elite in the nation
so its great when they can contrib-
ute," Biggert said. "A lot of times
they go against really tough guys,
ranked guys, but it would be great if
we can get a full team effort."

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u

INTRAMURAL
SPORTS
PROGRAM


UNIVERSITY HOUSING

GREAT!
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

PADDLEBALL
(SgIs & Dbls)
FREE THROW
CONTEST &
3-POINT
SHOOTOUT

Entry Deadline: Thurs 1/26 4:30pm IMSB Main Office
Entry Fee: $5.00 for Sgls; $9.00 for Dbls
Tournament Format: Pool Play followed by Sgl Elim Tour
Tournament Dates: Sat & Sun 1/28 & 1/29 (IMSB Courts)
Entries Taken: Beginning 1/4 and through event - 2/2
Entry Fee: $5.00 per individual
Format: Free Throw (50 Fr's); 3-Point (25 shots/75 seconds)
Free Throw & Shootout Date/Times: Thurs 2/2 11a - 10p

6
U
q

SWIMMING & Entry Deadline: Thurs 2/2 4:30pm IMSB Main Office
DIVING MEET Entry Fee: $35.00 per team/$5.00 per individual
Manager's Meeting (Mandatory): Thursday 2/2 6pm IMSB
Meet Date: Friday 2/3 at Canham Natatorium
The entry deadline for the RELAYS MEET is Tuesday February 28.
Get ready now for activites beginning after Spring Break
(Mini-Soccer, Pre-Season VB, Volleyball, Table Tennis,
Broomball,Racquetball - SgIs & Dbls, Cross Country Run)
OFFICIATING OPPORTUNITIES

I. -~


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