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Weaver: Player of the Year?
Michigan junior outfielder Scott Weaver is a pre-season candidate for
the Smith Award, given annually to college baseball's player of the year.
Weaver, who hit .323 while belting two homers last season, was rated 95
in the top 100 professional prospects by Baseball America. Michigan
coach Bil Freehan expects Weaver to be a leader for the Wolverines.
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Page 10
Friday,
February 17, 1995
Cycling set
to race in
Kentucky
By Ravi Gopal
Daily Sports writer
When the Michigan cycling team
hits the road for its first two road-
racing meets of the season over, the
experience will be a tad unusual.
In the Wolverines' meets at Ken-
tucky this weekend and Xavier the
next, Michigan will battle between 15
and 20 teams from the Midwest Con-
ference of the National Collegiate
Cycling Association.
At Lexington, Ky. tomorrow and
Sunday, the Wolverines will compete
in a standard run-of-the-mill criterium
race, as well as a win-and-out race.
A criterium is a basic road-racing
event, with riders making anywhere
between a 12-mile (C-Team/Begin-
ning squad) and 27-mile (A-Team/
Advanced squad) circuit, usually
around a football stadium.
A win-and-out is substantially
different, with the race split into
two parts. The first is a five-lap
circle of the stadium. After that, the
riders break into an all-out sprint
for one lap, and the first rider across
the line is declared the winner. Af-
ter the victor drops out of the race,
another one-lap sprint occurs, with
the leader named runner-up. This
procedure is repeated until about 15
places are filled up.
In addition to the odd formatof the
meet, the Wolverines will feature
something new, on their squad -
women. Michigan has never had any
females on its squad. The experience
for the women differs vastly from the
rest of the team.
"It's pretty hard to keep up with
(the males) when we go out on the
road," sophomore Mandy Holen
said.
Despite their troubles, the pres-
ence of Holen and fellow sophomore
Angela Mustonen will help the Wol-
verines substantially, since all meets
are scored in four categories - A, B,
C and women.
Due to its membership, Michi-
gan has never been able to score in
the last category. Teams with women
tend to perform well, as perennial
cycling powerhouses Indiana and
Marion (nd.) feature females on
their rosters.
The Xavier meet, held in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, also has its quirks. On
Saturday, riders will start off the day
in an individual time trial, where each
competitor is separately timed over a
one-kilometer sprint.
The same day, a point-to-point
40-mile road race will held, and
Sunday's criterium caps off the week-
end. Due to the amount of racing,
fatigue could be a problem for the
Wolverines.
"We're at a disadvantage because
(the other schools) are more south,"
Curin said. "(Because of this), we're
a little behind in fitness, and none of
us expect to do really well."
'M' to be tested over break
Wolverines will battle with Spartans, Hoosiers and Illini e
By Paul Barger
Daily Basketball Writer
Eight days to ponder the rest of the
season.
The Michigan men's basketball
team (7-4 Big Ten, 13-10 overall)
takes the court against Indiana (7-5,
15-9) Sunday with a lot on its mind.
First and foremost, last Saturday's
loss at Wisconsin puts the Wolver-
ines in jeopardy of missing the NCAA
tournament for the first time since the
1990-91 season.
"We're fighting with (Indiana) for
an NCAA playoff spot," Michigan
coach Steve Fisher said. "It's almost
red alert time. We especially need to
win at home."
The Wolverines seem to have an
advantage, facing the Hoosiers on
eight days rest.
However, Michigan was given this
same advantage last season before it
traveled to Wisconsin and ended up
dropping three of the its next four
games.
Even the Wolverines' home court
advantage will be diminished because
of spring break. There will be no
student section for Sunday's contest
with the Hoosiers or next Sunday's
game with Illinois.
"I'm concerned that it won't be
quite as raucous," Fisher said. "I know
we'll have a good crowd, but it won't -
be exciting loud. We need the crowd
to spark us."
Indiana has added incentive for
this contest. In the teams' first meet-
ing of the year, the Wolverines ended
the Hoosiers' 50-game home win-
ning streak.
Michigan has only one day to
rest before it must head to East Lan-
sing to face Michigan State. The
Spartans (10-2, 18-3) are alone in
first place in the conference and are
ranked in the top 10 in most national
polls.
The Wolverines do not have
much time to prepare for their arch-
rivals so they will have to take les-
sons from their 73-71 loss Jan. 22.
Michigan had a chance to win that
game in the waning moments, but a
Maurice Taylor 3-pointer was off
the mark.
In that contest Michigan State's
Shawn Respert scored 30 second-half
points to lead the Spartans to victory.
"It is to our benefit to play Michi-
gan State as good as they are," Fisher
said. "No extra incentive is needed.
(We) hope we remember what (they)
did. Hopefully, we'll do a little better
job of denying (Respert) the ball."
The Wolverines round out the
week next Sunday against Illinois (7-
5, 16-8). The Illini are another team in
solid contention for an NCAA tour-
nament bid. They are tied with Indi-
ana for fifth place, but both teams
have respectable non-conference
records.
This week's actions will go a long
way in determining how many teams
the Big Ten will send to the NCAA
tournament. Currently, Michigan
State and Purdue are the only teams
that appear to be assured of bids.
Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indi-
ana and Iowa are all legitimately in
the hunt. Wisconsin and Penn State
are likely NIT-bound.
Up next for the Wolverines
Sunday: Indiana (Crisler Arena, 3:45 p.m.)
The Hoosiers are 7-5 in the conference and 15-9
overall.I
Key Players: Forward Brian Evans and center Alan
Henderson lead the Hoosiers in nearly every
statistical category.
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MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Michigan returns from its week off Sunday to face Big Ten foe Indiana.
Michigan hopes to put Spartans, Falcons on ice
By Tom Seeley
Daily Hockey Writer
When the Michigan hockey team
faces off against this weekend against
Bowling Green and Michigan State, it
won't need a program to figure out
who's who on theother side of thepuck.
So far this season, the Wolverines
(17-3-1 CCHA, 22-5-1 overall) have
faced off against the Falcons (14-6-1,
19-9-1) and the Spartans (12-6-3, 17-
9-3) a combined five times. But when
Michigan lines up this weekend, the
team will find itself with more at
stake than it had previously.
With a pair of wins this weekend,
the Wolverines could clinch at least a
share of the CCHA regular season
championship.
Michigan faces
Bowling Green
tonight at Yost
Ice Arenaand the
Spartans tomor-
row night at Joe
Louis Arena in
Detroit.W
"I think it's
just a matter of
time before Carter
Michigan is going to be a first-place
team," Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "The sooner the better, obvi-
ously, but this weekend we want to do
it in style. We don't want to win first
place by losing. We don't want to
back into it."
While tomorrow's game at the
"Joe" gives the Wolverines a chance
to play a home game in a venue that
seats 19,000-plus fans, the Falcons
and the Spartans also find themselves
in the midst of something foreign this
weekend - losing streaks.
Last weekend, while Michigan
State was suffering a pair of nail-
biting losses to Miami (Ohio), 3-2
and 1-0, Bowling Green was getting
eaten alive in Sault Ste. Marie. The
Falcons were blown out by Lake Su-
perior 7-2 and 8-2 and fell six points
behind the first-place Wolverines.
Michigan also finds itself rebound-
ing from a loss after its 5-4 overtime
defeat at the hands of Illinois-Chi-
cago last Saturday in Woodridge, IL.
The loss snapped the Wolverines' 14-
game unbeaten streak.
"We want to get back on track and
play playoff-style hockey," Michi-
gan forward Mike Knuble said.
"We've been struggling lately and we
don't want to keep it up."
Two weeks ago the Wolverines
marched into Munn Ice Arena in East
Lansing and used tough defense to
shut down the Spartans 5-3. Berenson
feels Michigan needs to return to that
form.
"(This weekend) we have to play
a better team-defensive game,"
Berenson said. " We can't get up four
or five goals and expect to win."
Bowling Green will also throw
some big-time scorers at the Wolver-
ine blueliners. The Falcon offense
averages 5.45 goals per game, second
only to the Michigan in the CCHA,
and boasts the nation's top scorer in
senior Brian Holzinger.
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Michigan Sports Roundup:
Wolverine grapplers hit the road to face No.16 Wisconsin
By Danielle Rumore
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team trav-
els to Wisconsin tomorrow night for a
battle with the No. 16 Badgers, who
are coming off victories against North-
western and Northern Illinois last
Saturday.
"Against them, we don't match up
too well," Michigan coach Dale Bahr
said. "Their 118 is an All-American
and their 126 is tough. Through the
middle they are pretty good and they
have a good heavyweight."
Junior All-American Jesse Rawls
Jr. (177) tore his anterior cruciate
ligament in the Penn State meet Jan.
15th and will not see action against
the Badgers.
e b.
The bats and gloves return to ac-
tion this weekend when Michigan
makes its annual pilgrimmage to the
mecca of winter college baseball -
Florida. The Wolverines will play
nine games in nine days beginning
Saturday against St. Leo at Henley
Park in Lakeland.
The trip will set the tone for the
rest of Michigan's season. Wolverine
coach Bill Freehan is looking to final-
ize his lineup and to fill some gaping
holes in his pitching rotation.
"We're going to see who is going
to be playing this year," Freehan said.
"We're going to get a look at a lot of
people, especially our pitchers."
Freehan will be able to watch his
staff when they work against the
Monarchs, Eckerd, Rollins, Eastern
Michigan, Western Michigan and
Florida Southern during the week.
- Nicholas J. Cotsonika
Me' Swmmn
The top-ranked Michigan men's
swimming and diving team is primed
to win its tenth-straight Big Ten cham-
pionship next weekend..
Michigan heads to Minneapolis
with a 3-0 record in conference dual-
meet action this season. They are not
expected to be tested at the meet.
For example, sophomore Tom
Dolan said he will not shave or taper
for Big Tens. He will wait in anticipa-
tion for NCAAs.
- Nicholas J. Cotsonika
the Wolverines are eyeing a confer-
ence championship and an NCAA
Tournament berth.
The Wolverines begin play Sun-
day at the Arizona State University
Classic. Michigan will be led by its
returning seniors Kelly Kovach, Lesa
Arvia, and Michelle Silva. The Wol-
verines plan to use these early season
tournaments to prepare them for the
upcoming Big Ten season.
- Doug Stevens
The Wolverine men's gymnastics
team heads out West for spring break.
Michigan will be competing against
Brigham Young on Saturday.
The Cougars haye the strengh of
the nation's top all-around performer
Darren Elg.
Michigan will have to pull through
without top performers Brian Winkler
and Raul Molina. Winkler is out for
personal reasons, while Molina is on
the injury list.
After their match against BYU, the
Wolverines will return to action Feb.25
against No. 14 Illinois-Chicago.
- Julie Keating
There will be no break this spring
for the Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team.
The Wolverines (5-0 Big Ten, 5-0
overall) face three teams ranked
among the top six during spring break.
No. 5 Michigan faces top-ranked
Utah on Monday and then travels to
Athens, Ga. to face No.2 Georgia and
No. 6 Florida.
It will be the first time that the
Wolverines will find themselves in
the position of underdogs.
"The thing that we have to do with
these teams is to relax,"junior Wendy
Marshall said. "The more relaxed we
are, the better we'll perform."
Michigan is taking these meets as
an extension of the NCAA meet.
- Michael Joshua
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After a 1994 campaign which
brought the Michigan women's soft-
ball team athird-place Big Ten finish,
The Michigan men's track and
field team knows what its priorities
are. Worrying about the EMU Clas-
sic, hosted by Eastern Michigan, is
not one of them. The Wolverines head
into Ypsilanti today without the top
members of their team as they rest up
for next week's Big Ten Champion-
ships at Champaign.
"It will be a low-key meet for us,"
Michigan coach Jack Harvey said.
"It's going to be mainly second-line
guys so we can rest the others for the
Big Tens."
Michigan will face stiff competi-
tion from Illinois and Wisconsin in
the conference championships.
- Brian Sklar
The Wolverines will face
Chaminade on Tuesday and Brigham
m
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