IML Zm I4w Jllil w.rlra . r.arrr 14.. a.r a'.. rr _ _.. 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. 0 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. 0 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. 0 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 0 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 0