In Action This Weekend
Men's volleyball plays at the Big Ten Championships in Madison,
Saturday and Sunday.
Women's tennis hosts Penn State Saturday at the Liberty Sports
Complex, 1 p.m. Men's tennis hosts Wisconsin Sunday at the Liberty
Sports Complex, 9 a.m.
Women's golf travels to the Saluki Invitational Sunday, at Carbondale, Ill.

Page 10
Friday,
March 24. 199S

M..r.h4.., 199

F

Softball faces Purdue

Controversy aside,

Wolverines open
By Danielle Rumore
Daily Softball Writer
The No. 8 Michigan softball team
(17-3) travels to Purdue (8-10) to-
morrow and Sunday to kick off Big
Ten season.
The Wolverines captured the Lady
Seminole Invitational last weekend,
compiling an 8-0 record. Freshman
shortstop/pitcher Sara Griffin was
named the tournament MVP after go-
ing 2-for-3 with a home run, a double
and three RBI.
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
attributes most of the team's success
last weekend to its pitching - which
gave upjust one run in the tournament
- and to its infield.
"Our pitching was outstanding,"
Hutchins said. "You have to give some
credit to our defense, too. Tracy Carr
was fabulous at third base. She made
some key, key plays for us."
The Boilermakers are a second-
year program under the tutelage of

Big Ten schedule
coach Carol Bruggeman, a former
Michigan assistant under Hutchins.
This is Purdue's first season as a mem-
ber of the Big Ten.
"Our kids are excited to go back
and see (Bruggeman)," Hutchins said.
"Purdue is a new school for us, but it
is still just another game. We just
want to play our game."
Purdue returns eight players who
helped the Boilermakers compile a 21-
17-1 record in their inaugural season.
However, Purdue lost its top pitcher,
Deana Jackson, to graduation.
The addition of two rookies, Jenn
Markert and Sheryl Scheve, have
helped ease the loss of Jackson.
Markert was the New York State
Player of the Year the last two sea-
sons, and Scheve recorded a perfect
0.00 ERA in a national summer tour-
nament in 1994.
"(Purdue) can hit the ball," Hutch-
ins said. "They lost a lot of games
early, but they are big scorers."

Blue set for Iowa

0

By Marc Diller
Daily Baseball Writer
In the midst of allegations of impro-
prieties, the Michigan baseball team's
season must go on. The Wolverines (7-
11) will try to set aside the distractions
as they embark upon the 1995 Big Ten
season tomorrow and Sunday at Iowa
in a pair of doubleheaders.
Reported allegations of players
being rewarded with pizza and being
offered to use. head coach Bill
Freehan's Corvette were filed with
the athletic department. The prob-
lems arose after former assistant coach
Dan O'Brien reportedly went to Ath-
letic Department officials with
charges against his brother-in-law,
Freehan, and the program.
According to sources close to the
situation, a letter from O'Brien re-
garding his status and possible reas-
signment within the athletic depart-
ment is on Joe Roberson's desk.
O'Brien's status will not be updated
until Roberson returns from out-of-
town business this weekend.
Neither NCAA nor Big Ten offi-
cials would confirm or deny any alle-

gations against the program.
To complicate matters, in
Wednesday's victory over Eastern
Michigan, Wolverine starters Chad
Chapman, catcher Scott Niemiec and
shortstop and co-captain Ryan Van
Oeveren were forced to sit out for "pre-
cautionary reasons." Freehan expects
the three to make the trip to Iowa City.
As of last night, the three players
had not been cleared.
In the players' absence, the Wol-
verines looked to outfielder Brian
Simmons for offensiv, production.
Simmons' 3-for-4 performance
against the Eagles raised his season
average to a team-best .403.
Asateam, though, the Wolverines
are hitting a mere .257.
"Our team batting average is not
where we want it to be but we're
working on improving it," Freehan said.
"Brian is a team leader and we'd like a
big series from him."
Michigan's pitchers haven't fared
too well either. The Hawkeyes (6-5)
may just be the Wolverines' pitching
remedy. Iowa boasts a mediocre .260
team batting average.


SWIMMING
Continued from page 1
and 200-yard freestyles. Last week at
the Pan-American Games, Borges
swam his best times ever in both of
those events, winning each.
Michigan freshman Jason
Lancaster placed second (1:45.63) in
the 200-individual medley, and se-
niorco-captain Marcel Woudaplaced
third (1:46.54), gaining valuable
points for the Wolverines.
Michigan didn't completely domi-
nate, however.
The Wolverines placed second in
the 400-medley relay, thanks to an all-

outperformance by Borges, swimming
the anchor leg. Borges' efforts brought
Michigan from fifth-place to second
with his personal-best time of 41.85.
"He made up lots of ground,"
Urbanchek said. "It was an unbeliev-
able swim."
Stanford won both the 400-med-
ley relay and the 200-free relay, set-
ting an American record in the long
medley with a time of 3:07.28, paced
by backstroker Brian Retterer.
Michigan finishedsixth in theshort
freestyle relay, the meet's first event.
"This is definitely the best first
day we've had at the NCAAs," Dolan
said.

TICHAEL FIsZHgsg in l y
The Wolverines open their Big Ten slate with four weekend games in Iowa.


Men tumbli
By Chris Murphy
Daily Sports Writer
After a season of ups and downs, the
Michigan men's gymnastics team is
peaking atj ustthe right time. This week-
end, the Wolverines travel to Cham-
paign for the Big Ten Championships.
After Michigan's strong show-
ing at the Michigan Invitational last

ers peaking
weekend, the No. 12 Wolverines
are on the bubble for a berth in the
upcoming regional meet.
To make regionals,Michigan must
perform well at the Big Tens,
outscoring the majority of the compe-
tition.
The Wolverines will face some of
the best competition in the country, as
the Big Ten boasts four teams in the top
10. Penn State, Iowa and Ohio State
rank third, fourth and fifth respectively.
"It's anybody's game when you
get to the championship," Michigan
coach Bob Darden said.
The Wolverines hope to beat two
teams in particular: Illinois, ranked
No. I 1,and Minnesota, ranked No.9.
If they outscore the Fighting Illini and

as Big Tens
the Golden Gophers, the Wolverines
will greatly improve their chances for
the postseason.
The rankings place several Big
Ten teams close together in terms of
points. Michigan, with a season aver-
age of 225.72, is separated from the
top-three by only a few points. A a
strong showing this weekend could
put the Wolverines over the top.
The team has been having physi-
cal practices for three weeks, stop-
ping only to compete in the Michigan
Invitational, a meet in which they 1
scored a Michigan-high 227.7.
Having recovered from some of
its early-season injuries, Michigan
will be able to utilize mostof its roster
this weekend.i

approach
"There are those aches and pains
but it won't be a limiting factor,"
Darden said.
Although Michigan will still be
without Chris Onuska (torn Achilles
tendon), it will be aided by the return of6,
captain Raul Molina. He is still recov-
ering from a sprained ankle, but should
compete in four events.
With the team healthy and on the
upswing, all that is left now is the
competition.
"Throughout my tenure as coach,
the most important competition that
we have is the competition at Big
Tens," Darden said. "The guys know
it and that's what we point towards.@
Anything else, before or after, is just
icing on the cake."


U - I I

We've taken
RECYCLING out
to the Diag!

t-4evv5paeV

You can recycle
newspapers,
and glass and
metal beverage
containers in the
new recycling
bins on the Diag!

c&de
~0tt401

IM act
t ea re
march 23-25
8:00 pm
mendelssohn theatre
tickets ;4.00, $5.oo at door

0

L 1

i

call 7631107

for more info

Recycling services provided by: University of Michigan
Grounds & Waste Management Services, 763-5539


Dance for Mother Earth
*1231) arber

/ I

7evw

Wow
F'riday, $aturday & Sundayr
Macrch 24, 25 S& 26
T h Cri~1er Arenaz
inn al ~rbor, Michigan2

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