The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 14, 1996 - 15
MICHIGAN
Eontinued from Page 14
injury which could keep her out for the
rest of the season. Two freshmen,
Kristen Duff and Lisa Simes, have just
been cleared to practice and their status
for the weekend is still up in the air.
Also, Nikki Peters is out forthe week-
end, while Dianna Ranelli and Heather
Kalbnick remain questionable.
But everything isn't so glum for
4pichigan coach Beverly Plocki's squad.
Michigan (1-2 Big Ten, 7-2 over-
all) is still No. 4 in the nation and is
coning off a close victory in Colum-
bus last weekend.
Jiten Ghelani
Men's tennis
A quirk in scheduling has the Michi-
gan men's tennis team on an extended
holiday lately, after playing one-fourth
of its season in January.
0 An invitation to the National Indoor
Singles and Doubles Championships
was missing from the hands of Michi-
gan coach Brian Eisner- and now the
team has a three-week stretch with no
matches scheduled.
Eisner laments the omission of the
Wolverines but puts a positive spin on
the situation.
"We do deserve (to be playing at
Nationals)," Eisner said. "But now we
Oave a chance to pull back, let people
relax, and then start it back up and start
that whole building effect again. We
want to go to the next level."
Michigan will use the time off to
heal injuries and prepare for its match
in Texas, March 5. The Wolverines
then face more ranked opponents at
the Corpus Christi Team Tournament
in Corpus Christi, Texas, March 8-
10.
Eisner is looking forward to a rematch
,ith South Alabama in Corpus Christi.
Michigan has a second chance against
the team that defeated them in the finals
of O'Charley's Invitational Feb. 11.
"We're going to see (South Alabama)
in Corpus Christi, and they'll certainly
be seeded No. 1 down there," Eisner
said. "I hope that our national rankingis
high enough that we're seeded second,
so if we play well enough, we could see
'em in the finals there, also."
- Richard Shin
Women's track
The Michigan women's track and
fieldteam was withoutthree ofits fresh-
menthis weekend. While the team faced
Big Ten competition in Illinois, fresh-
men Katie McGregor, Allison Noe and
Marcy Akard were in Ohio, competing
in the U.S. Junior Cross Country Team
rils.
Top 18-and 19-year-old runners from
around the nation, including both high-
school standouts and collegiate new-
comers, flocked to Cincinnati in hopes
of making the national team.
The squad will spend a week and a
half in Cape Town, South Africa, next
month competing against the top dis-
tance runners from around the globe.
McGregor will be part of the exclu-
ve group of six junior athletes travel-
g overseas in March. She earned her
spot on the roster with a third-place
finish. Although only the top six run-
ners were selected for the team, Noe
and Akard turned in impressive perfor-
mances as well, finishing 10th and 13th,
respectively.
"I'm really excited," McGregor said.
"It's incredible. It's going to be unbe-
lievable down there."
The athletes qualifying for the IAAF
elorld Championships were forced to
overcome a course that was, in
McGregor's words, "basically all mud."
Joining the women's junior team in
Cape Town will be 18 other runners.
Six women were also selected from the
senior trials, as well as six men from
both thejunior and senior divisions. All
24 athletes will represent the U.S. in
South Africa from March 15 to March
25.
- Jeremy Horelick
Men's track
With the Big Ten Championships
coming up in two weeks, the Michigan
men's track and field team looks like a
tough act to beat, especially after last
weekend's results.
The other 11 teams in the 12-team
meet were left in the Wolverines' wake
as Michigan captured first place at the
Central Collegiate Championships. The
Wolverines scored 136 points, Eastern
Michigan followed with 121.5 points
and Western Michigan was next with
97.
For Michigan to contend for the
conference championship, the Wol-
verines need strong showings from
their key performers - Kevin
Sullivan, Trinity Townsend and John
Royce, all of whom took first place in
their respective events.
Sullivan finished first in the mile run,
Townsend in the 800-meter run and
Royce in the high jump event.
Scott MacDonald also turned in an
encouraging performance, running in
two relays after coming off a stress
fracture in his leg earlier in the season.
The Wolverines were also victorious in
the distance medley and 400 meter re-
lay.
- Sharat Raju
Men's volleyball
The Michigan men's volleyball team
anticipated being at full strength this
weekend at the Arizona Classic. In-
stead, the team heads into the two-day
event with one player coming back from
the injured list and another player going
on it.
Back from the ranks of the injured is
middle blocker Suresh Pothiraj, who
recently recovered from mononucleo-
sis. Heading to the sidelines with a
thumb injury is teammate Andy Spitser.
"(Spitser) is an integral part of the
team," teammate Justin Biebel said.
"He will definitely be missed."
Spitser, who had surgery yesterday,
will be out for four to five weeks, leav-
ing the Wolverines plenty of time to
adjust.
The round-robin tournament guaran-
tees nine matches for the injury-plagued
Wolverines, and the 48-team field will
give Michigan plenty of chances to
prove itself.
"If we play consistently, we should
be looking at a top five finish," Biebel
said. "The key is playing up to the level
we all know we can play at."
- Richard Shin
Women's
basketball
They've been getting there - they
just haven't been getting results.
The Michigan women's basketball
team has done a better job at getting to
the charity stripe.
But, for whatever reason, the Wol-
verines have not been converting their
chances.
In Michigan's last two losses against
Penn State Sunday and Illinois the Sun-
day before, the Wolverines connected
on only 60 percent of their free throw
attempts.
Michigan struggled at the line Sun-
day against the Nittany Lions, hitting
just 23-of-40 from the charity stripe.
Michigan coach Trish Roberts men-
tioned the Wolverines' woeful free
throw shooting as part of the reason the
team lost.
This season, Michigan is shooting an
anemic 63 percent from the line as a
team. The Wolverines' opponents have
totaled 84 more points than Michigan
for the season.
Michigan's 6-foot-3 center Pollyana
Johns had a horrendous time at the line.
She connected on only 4-of-14 for the
night. Johns summed it up well.
"Nothing was falling," Johns said.
"We couldn't hit our shots all night."
-Jim Rose
Wrestling
Michigan's No. 7 sophomore wres-
tler Airron Richardson has been carry-
ing a heavy workload in the heavy-
weight class in recent meets.
In a stretch of less than a month,
Richardson will have faced five of the
top 12 wrestlers in his class.
Richardson overcame Illinois' NO.
8 Seth Brady Jan. 26 and secured a
meet victory with a win over No. 12
Nick Nutter of Ohio State last Sun-
day. His only dual meet loss came at-
the hands of Purdue's No. 6 Tony
Vaughn on Feb. 4.
However, Richardson will face his
biggest challenges this weekend, when
he will take on No. 1 Billy Pierce of
Minnesota and No. 4 Jeff Walter cf
Wisconsin.
-Jennifer Hodulik
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