Collins and Wymer to be honored Todd Collins and Beth Wymer will be honored at tonight's Michigan Athletic Academic Honors Banquet as the 1995 Michigan Conference Medal of Honor recipients. The Big Ten Medal of Honor is presented annually to the graduating male and female student-athlete at each conference school who has attained the greatest proficiency in both academics and athletics. Page 9 Tuesday~ npnr ii, i av. x° ... Traylor to join Michigan eWolverines land 6-foot-9, 300-pound center from Detroit By Ryan White 'aily Basketball Writer DETROIT - His nicknames are "Baby Shaq" and "The House." Now, Ie's also a Wolverine. At a press conference in his high school yesterday, Detroit Murray- Wright's Robert Traylor,, the state's "Mr. Basketball," became the third 4xemberof Michigan's recruiting class for next season. He joins Inkster's Albert White and Maryland's Louis Bullock, both of whom committed to Michigan dur- ing the early signing period in No- vember. "This is an important day for my amily and for myself," Traylor said. "When you dream, you set goals, and *ny goal is to make it to the National Basketball Association one day. To achieve that goal I have to work hard on the court as well as further my .ducation." Then, after thanking all of the :oaches and schools who recruited him, he announced he'd be going to Michigan. Traylor said that after narrow- ing his choice down to three schools: Michigan, Michigan State and Detroit, he made his final deci- sion 10 minutes before the press conference. "It was just the feeling in my heart that I always wanted to play at Michi- gan," he said. However, Traylor didn't promise to stay in Ann Arbor for a full four years. "I hope it's possible for me to leave college in two years," he said of his NBA aspirations. "But that is go- ing to take a lot of hard work." He added, though, that receiving his degree is important. At 6-foot-9, 300 pounds, Traylor will likely step in at center for the Wolverines. But he plans on drop- ping 20-25 pounds before next season begins. "I thinkat275-280I'll bequicker, I'll be able to jump better and I won't get tired as quickly," he said. Traylor said he was looking for- ward to playing with this season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Maurice Taylor. He also added that while he can't give future teammate Maceo Baston any tips on gaining weight, he "would like to talk to him about losing some." In his senior year for the Pilots, Traylor averaged 23 points, 15 re- bounds, five blocks and five assists per game. Sunday, in Magic's Roundball Classic at the Palace of Auburn Hills he led all scorers with 22 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and was named Most Valuable Player of the victori- ous West team. In Sunday's game Traylor went up against the player who many be- lieve is the top high school prospect in the country - Kevin Garnett. Garnett is still rumored to possi- bly be coming to Michigan if he scores a 17 or better on the ACT. Many felt that Traylor wouldn't join the Wolverines if Garnett was going to be there as well, but Traylor denied those reports. See TRAYLOR, Page 10 MOLLY STEVENS/Daily Detroit Murray-Wright's Robert Traylor, with his grandmother and five-year old brother at his side, announced yesterday that he will attend Michigan in the fall. Traylor averaged 23 points and 15 rebounds in his senior year. Winkler and Toni qualify for NCAAs Men's Regional _ _ _DumNc. WNW a w__ a __e_ a __. __ ___ By Chris Murphy Daily Sports writer Saturday's NCAA East Regional at Penn State featured top-caliber gymnastics competition from around the region. Included in the field of athletes were five members from the Michigan men's gymnas-, tics team. While the team itself failed to qualify, the five Wolverines who were selected were able to make quite an impact on the competition. The Wolverines finished the day with two gymnasts qualify- ing for NCAAs, each in two events. Seniors Royce Toni and Brian Winkler will travel to Columbus in two weeks. Toni will compete on the rings and the parallel bars, while Winkler competes on the floor and the parallel bars. "By and large, I was very pleased, and very satisfied with the five individuals that went to State College," Michigan coach Bob Darden said. The Wolverines' overall perfor- mance proved to be strong as the individuals competed for the first time all year without their teammates to back them up. "Going into a competition like this, one without our whole team, is very tough for two reasons," Darden said. "First, we miss the enthusiasm of the team. Second, we lack the continuity in the lineup." Junior Bob Young, competing all-around, led off the regional for Michigan. The only Wolverine to compete in every event, Young turned in a strong performance, fin- ishing with a score of 55.75. Unfor- tunately, that put him in 15th place, not good enough to qualify for na- tionals. The Wolverines were looking to benefit from a favorable schedule that had them competing toward the end of the rotation. Michigan was not able to capitalize as senior Rich Dopp and junior Kris Klingler failed to compete well on the high bar, traditionally a strong event for the tumblers. "If we had to do two routines again, I would like to see them redone on high bar," Darden said. "Rich Dopp and Kris Klingler's performance was flat, it just did not have the normal sparkle." Fortunately, the Wolverines were able to turn it around on the floor exercises. Dopp received a score of 9.75 while Winkler won the floor competition with a score of 9.925, qualifying for NCAAs for the second year in a row. Winkler's victory proved to be especially sweet since he was _ able to outscore Iowa's Jay Thornton, the gymnast that beat him at Big Tens. "That was very redeeming for Brian," Darden said. "It gives him a little bit better frame of mind going into Nationals." Perhaps Michigan's biggest surprise of the meet came from Toni. Toni had been selected as an alternate on the still rings and did not expect to compete. How- ever, when a space opened up for him, Toni was able to take advan- tage. The senior turned in one of his strongest performances of the year, earning a 9.7, good enough for seventh place and a berth in the National Champion- ships. Toni continued his heroics on the parallel bars, scoring 9.675; a fourth place finish thatqualified him for NCAAs. Winkler also qualified with a 12th place score of 9.5 on the bars. Neither gymnast is a stranger to finals competition. Both have com- peted in at least one national cham- pionship in the past. Winkler fin- ished first in nationals on the floor in 1992. "Both Royce and Brian are veter- ans of NCAA final competition," Darden said. I [Gup5I 11 r This is how Michigan fared at the at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics East Regional this past weekend in State College: Floor exercise *1. Brian Winkler 7. Rich Dopp 36. Bob Young Pommel Horse 30. Bob Young' Still Rings *7. Royce Toni 29. Bob Young Vault 40. Bob Young Parallel Bars *4. Royce Toni *12. Brian Winkler 16. Bob Young High Bar 13. Rich Dopp 20. Bob Young 46. Kris Klingler All-Around 15. Bob Young 9.925 9.75 9.35 9.10 9.70 9 .45 ,. 8.95 9.675 9.50 9.45 9.60 9.45 7.90 55.75 MOLLY STEVENS/Daily Junior Bob Young was one of five Michigan men's gymnasts who competed in the NCAA Regionals this weekend at Penn State. *qualifies for NCAA Championships 'M' lacrosse falls to Wheaton in overtime By Dorothy Chambers For the Daily The insistent buzz of an alarm clock echoed in the back of each Wolverine's head on Saturday night. Time to wake up. In its final home game of the year at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, the Michigan men's lacrosse team was caught napping by Wheaton, a small Shicago-area school, II1-10in over- time. "We never really hit that sense of urgency during the game where you step it up a level and you say 'Okay, we've got to start playing for real,"' co-captain John Kolakowski said. The match was tight from start to finish, with each period ending in a tie. Wheaton managed to build a two- goal lead in the fourth, but a goal by midfielder Andy Tumpowsky cut the Wolverines' deficit to one. With less than three minutes to play, Brian Molitor grabbed the ball in his own end. The Michigan midfielder raced the length of the field and flipped a shot past the Wheaton goaltender to knot the score at 10. In overtime, Wheaton attackman Seth Richardson burned the Wolver- ines for the fifth time that night, scor- ing the game-winner 30 seconds into the extra period. "We underestimated them," Kolakowski said. "We didn't know much about them coming in, so we just assumed that they probably weren't going to be very good. In- stead, we should have assumed that they were going to be a pretty good team and just worked from there." Wheaton outplayed Michigan in just about every aspect of the game, clogging up the crease and swarming the Wolverines every time they touched the ball. Michigan didn't handle Wheaton's zone defense very well and had a hard time getting a shot off, especially in See LACROSSE, Page 10 BREAKING the MOLD G, --I G SCOREKEEPERS * 150 Rs !ONE** ET ONE FOR Any regular footlong sub with purchase of a medium drink. 6 wommor Exploring Career Related Opportunities in the Sports Industry featured panelists include representatives from: USA Basketball, Mike, Upper Deck, NBA, NFL, CNN, Atlanta Olympic Commit- tee, Turner Broadcasting and many more. KILLIANS & WHEN: TIME: April 22, 1995 9:00 aIm. - 5:00 p.m. (reception to follow) I I I ... Ctt ________ klo "* i i :