The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 7, 1995 - 13 Five 'M' gymnasts prepare for regionals By Chris Murphy Daily Sports Writer This weekend, five members of the Michigan men's gymnastics team will travel to Penn State for the NCAA East Regional. Saturday, seniors Rich Dopp, Royce Toni and Brian Winkler, and juniors Bob Young and Kris Klingler will represent the Wolver- ines in a competition that will feature some of the top teams and gymnasts from the region. With a sixth place in the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, Michigan finished off a successful season. However, due to the tough competition in the league, the Wol- verines were unable to qualify for Regionals as a team. Four teams from the Big Ten were selected, signifying the caliber of gymnastics competition in the con- ference "The Big Ten Championship is a very closely-contested event, and the judges know that," head coach Bob Darden said. "It's very difficult to separate seven teams within several points of each other." Michigan's performance this year proved to be strong at times. How- ever, it seemed circumstances beyond the team's control were conspiring against it. "This year's team was tons better than last year's team," Darden said. "But for a whole litany of concerns we just didn't put together a strong effort during the part of the season we needed to." The team had trouble shaking the injury bug. Senior Chris Onuska was out of competition in February with a torn Achilles' tendon and senior cap- tain Raul Molina was in and out of competition due to a sprained ankle. "It's one of those years, but I'm not disappointed in [the season]," Darden said. "We tried, and the guys we expected to go on are moving on. The teams we put on the floor were very good teams. We just didn't have the full complement of athletes on the floor competing." Regardless, the Wolverines com- peting will look forward to represent- ing their team and their school with some strong showings. Young, perhaps the team's most consistent performer, qualified for the all-around competition. He fin- ished with an average all-around score of 56.52 on the season and will compete in all events this weekend. Winkler and Dopp were the one and two qualifiers respectively on the floor exercises. The floor proved to be one of the Wolverines' top events all year. Winkler and Toni will compete on the parallel bars, with Winkler being the number one qualifier. Dopp and Klingler will compete on the parallel bar. Toni is an alternate for the rings competition. The Michigan gymnasts will ben- efit from a favorable rotation of the events. While Young will be com- peting in all events, the others will be able to wait, as their events shall be the last three in the rotation. "We're in the best rotation we could have drawn," Darden said. MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily *Michigan will send Rich Dopp, Royce Toni, Brian Winkler, Bob Young and Kris Klingler to the NCAA East Regionals at Penn State this weekend. Tumblers to host Central Regionals 4 Second-seeded Michigan among seven teams competing at Crisler Arena By Michael Joshua Daily Sports Writer This Saturday, Crisler Arena will be the site for some of the best gymnastics in the country. For the first time in its history, the Michi- gan women's gymnastics team will be hosting the NCAA Central Re- gional Championships. Seven teams will be vying to win the region. However, only one will walk away with the title. The No. 4 Wolverines (24-2 overall) are seeded second, between top seed and third-ranked Alabama (19-1) and No. 5 Louisiana State (14-4). The teams that are being over- looked and that are hoping to pull Doff an upset are not pushovers them- selves; all are ranked in the top 25. These include Southeast Missouri State, Northern Illinois, Illinois State and Illinois-Chicago. The title, however, should be de- cided among the top three seeds, considering all three have been ranked among the top five since Feb. 7. Each team has been on a roll and hopes to keep its momentum going. "It's going to be a tough and tight meet," Wolverine co-captain Beth Wymer said. Two weeks ago, the Crimson Tide (196.175) edged out the Tigers (196.125), top-ranked Georgia, No. 6 Florida and No. 10 Kentucky to win the Southeastern Conference Wymgr "Obviously it's going to be an advantage," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "But the officiating is really going to be the determining factor, and the officials are being flown in from different parts of the country. "The kids are going to feel less intimidated and hopefully (will) per- form better because it's being hosted by us. Definitely the fan support will be a factor." The seedings for the meet were determined by the teams' Regional qualifying score. The Wolverines trailed the Tigers for most of the season. However, they finally passed LSU with a number of school-best scores over the past few weeks. Michigan's school-record 197.225 on March 18 helped secure the sec- ond seed. Alabama ended with a qualify- ing score of 196.3375, followed by the Wolverines (196.2635) and the Tigers (195.85). The rest of the teams ended with scores below 193.5. "We won't be doing anything dif- ferent in this meet than we've done all year," LSU coach D-D Pollock said. "We have been consistent all year, and we just want to go out and hit our same routines." Receiving the higher seed means the Wolverines will be going in their most comfortable rotation. Michigan will be on the bars first, followed by Championship. At that meet Ala- bama set an NCAA record -in the vault with a score of 49.750. LSU is hoping to get some sweet revenge by winning the Regionals. "We are out for blood now," LSU junior Jennifer Wood said. "We are very frustrated by the outcome of the SEC meet. "Because we lost by so little, it will mean more if we win at Regionals." Michigan is poised to make a strong showing after winning the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago. The Wolverines believe being at home should have a great impact on the outcome of the meet. "We are out for blood now We are very frustratedR Pby the outcome of the SEC meet." - Jennifer Wood LSU junior gymnast the beam, floor and the vault. "It's not that it makes that much of a difference," sophomore Andrea McDonald said. "You just feel you have the mental edge because you get to get your two harder events over with." With the top three teams consis- tently scoring around the 196 mark, the team which emerges as the win- ner has to make the least amount of mistakes, and also needs a bit of good luck. "I guess we are the underdog be- cause we are the third seed," Wood said, "but I think people will be sur- prised with our performance." Michigan, Alabama and LSU all understand that they have to stay fo- cused for all four routines and not become intimidated by the high caliber of competition. "The philosophy and the hard work that you put in -- you have to trust that the payoffs will be there," Plocki said. PRINTING HMGHQUALITY tw PRnCE FILE PHOTO The Wolverines will host the NCAA Central Regionals this weekend. Tennis shoots for fifth straight By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Writer With its tough non-conference schedule now finished, the Michigan women's tennis team turns its heads to four Big Ten foes as it closes out the regular season over the next two week- ends. Tomorrow, the Wolverines travel to Evanston to take on 29th-ranked Northwestern. On Sunday, the com- petition doesn't get any easier, as Michigan battles perennial nemesis Wisconsin in Madison. The Wolverines (5-1 Big Ten, 11- 5 overall) are currently sitting in sec- ond place in the Big Ten, trailing only an undefeated Indiana club. The Wild- cats and Badgers follow Michigan in third and fourth, respectively. With a victory tomorrow, Michi- gan will have strung together a season- best five-game winning streak. A 12th- ranked Kentucky team ended the first, sending the Wolverines on their de- scent from the Rolex Top 50 rankings. Ironically, when Michigan plays Northwestern, it will be the second time that the Wolverines will be going for their fifth straight victory playing a team of Wildcats. However, the cir- cumstances will be significantly dif- ferent. "It's true that it's similar in that we won four straight matches to start off the year, but the level of play wasn't very good," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt 0 said. "(The streak) came against two non-conference teams and two middle of the pack Big Ten opponents. Northwestern (4-1 Big Ten, 9-4 overall) brings with it a balanced at- tack with no single dominant player. ,Ii. 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