6B - The Michigan Daily -- SPORTSMonday -- Monday, April 1, 1.996 GJYMNASTICS Buckeyes win Big Ten; 'M' finishes last 'y Sharat Reju Daily Sports Writer The Big Ten is the dominant confer- ence in men's gymnastics. Ohio State, the best team in the best Conference in the nation, didn't disap- point this weekend at the Big Ten cham- pionships in Columbus. The top-ranked Buckeyes defeated all challengers, scoring 231.375 points. Iowa finished a close second with 229.125, followed by Penn State (225.475), Minnesota(224.925), Michi- gan State (222.45) and Illinois (218.875). The 0-11 Wolverines brought up the rearin seventh place with 211.55 points. This finish isn't as disheartening as it sgems, though. °"We were prepared to come in sev- nth place," Michigan coach Bob tDarden said. "We knew the strength of the other programs ... and we would have had to have a Herculean perfor- dmnce to have overtaken one of the ither teams. "Overall, we're happy with our per- formance." ,The best single performance for Michigan was junior Tim Lauring on the vault. His first day total of 9.35 was -ood enough to tie for ninth, and al- :wed him to compete in the finals Sunday. He didn't disappoint as the only Wolverine in the finals, finishing fourth in the event with a score of 9.35 again. Junior Jason MacDonald also per- formed well on the high bar event, grab- bing 10th place with a 9.55. The Buckeyes were the story of the weekend, though. "Ohio State really showed all their championship form during the Big Ten meet," Darden said. 5In the end, Ohio State's talent-heavy squad proved too much for the rest of the field. The Buckeyes had at least three gymnasts to finish in the top nine in each event. Blaine Wilson, one of two U.S. Na- tional Team members on the Buckeyes, was the Big Ten gymnast of the year and responsible for most of the Ohio State success. He won the high bar with a 9.95, second on the rings (9.9), took second on pommel horse (9.8), third on the parallel bars (9.725) and won the all-around (58.225). Wilson wasn't the only gymnast re- sponsible for Ohio State's success, though. Ofthe top seven finishers in the all-around, four were Buckeyes - Wilson was first, Tim Elsner was fourth (56.6), Drew Durbin was sixth (56.575) and Michael Morgan was tied for sev- enth (56.4). Durbin also won the pommel horse, scoring 9.9, and finished second on the parallel bars (9.75). Fellow Buckeye David Eckert won the rings with a 9.925 performance. The only event Ohio State did not thoroughly dominated was the floor exercise. Penn State took care of the event, with five gymnasts finishing in the top 10. Joey Roemer placed second (9.65) with teammates J.M. Michel (9.625), Ron Roeder (9.4), Steve McSparren (9.3) and Roy Malka (9.25) grabbing third, seventh, eighth and ninth place, respectively. Third-ranked Iowa placed second in the meet with a score of 229.125. Top Hawkeye performer Jay Thorton placed second in the all-around (57.4). He was also terrific in winning the floor exercise (9.9), the parallel bars (9.8) and the vault (9.6). Teammate Travis Rosen took second on the vault with a 9.45. Minnesota, the No. 9 team in the nation, finished fourth in the meet, scor- ing 224.92 points. Chris Harrington placed the highest for the Golden Go- phers, scoring a 9.6 on the floor exer- cise for a fourth-place finish. The No. 4 Spartans finished in a Frosh lea( to fifth str By Kevin Kasilborski Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's gymnastics team proved that youth is not necessarily a liability, as four freshmen led the Wol- verines to victory at the Big Ten champi- onships. Fourth-ranked Michigan scored a 194.600 to top all seven teams at the conference meet in Columbus on Satur- day. The victory marked the fifth con- secutive year the Wolverines have been crowned Big Ten champs. Michigan State scored a 193.925, nar- rowly edging host Ohio State for second. The Buckeyes finished third with a total of 193.900. Michigan is only the second team to win five straight conference titles. Ohio State won five in a row from 1983-87. The Wolverines dominated the top of the scoreboard. A different Michigan gymnast placed first in the all-around and the four individual events. Four of these champions were freshmen. Freshman Beth Amelkovich captured the all-around title with a score of39.050, despite not winning an event. Her perfor- mance was highlighted by a career-high 9.950 on the uneven bars. "Not even in my wildest dreams did I think that (winning the all-around) was going to happen," Amelkovich said. "But it wouldn't have meant anything if our team didn't win. The fact that our team won just made everything sweeter." The winner on the bars was freshman Nikki Peters, who became the first gym- nast to ever record a perfect 10 in that event at the Big Ten championship meet. Herscore ledthe Wolverinestoa49.525 on the bars, breaking the two-week-old school record. Peters and senior Wendy Marshall are the only Wolverines to re- ceive a perfect mark this season. Marshall, who was named Big Ten gymnast of the year, was the only Michi- gan upperclassman to win an event. The senior's score of 9.850 made her Big Ten I tumblers* aight title champion on the vault, an event she has dominated throughout most of the sea- son. "This was the sweetest win I have ever felt," Marshall said. "We won and that is all that matters." Junior Andrea McDonald, freshman Lisa Simes and Peters each scored 9.825 on the vault. They were part ofa four-way tie for second, along with Betsy Cousins of Ohio State. Simes shared first place in the floor exercise with Mindy Knaeble of Minne- sota. They both scored a 9.850. McDonald and sophomore Heathe Kabnick each scored a 9.825 on the floor, leaving them in a tie for third. Michigan freshman Kathy Burke's career-high 9.850 tied her with Michigan State's Carolyn Hecht for top honors on the balance beam, but Burke was the only Wolverine to perform weJl on that appa- ratus. The team score was only 47.100 on the beam. "We tried to give this one away in th last event," Michigan coach Bev Plock said. "We were on such an adrenaline high coming off bars and had to go right to the beam. It was a great lesson for us to learn from going into regionals and na- tionals." The freshmen have been turning in solid performances all season long, but this weekend marked their best collective efforts yet. The four have only been in th lineup together since late February. Injuries kep Peters and Simes out of competition, an the fifth freshman, Kristin Duff, has missed virtually the entire season with an injury. This victory should put to rest any doubts about who is the top team in the conference. But Michigan isn't content with just the Big Ten title. The Wolverines have two weeks to perfect their routines for the NCAAs. They will be competing April 13 in th Central Regional in Baton Rouge. e Bulldogs 15-5 run to increase its lead to 57-41. in hit two 3-pointers during that stretch ur other Tennessee players scored as the /ols took control. y also were doing it on the defensive end tree got nothing against Davis and Frett, iissed only two shots in the first half, get a second-half basket until scoring on ack with just 1:59 remaining. By then, it 'er. as such a frustrating half for Frett that at >int, she missed a point-blank shot,.got ound and then missed again fro' the pot. Roundtree was equally frustrated. d six assists but also six turnovers. 0 run that included a 3-pointer by Kedr td drew Georgia to 57-48, and the Lady >gs trailed 61-52 after Henderson's bas- th 11:52 to play. that's as close as they would get. Ten- scored the next seven points for a 68-52 nd as the Lady Vols kept pounding away the lead kept growing. An 11-2 run it 81-60 and Georgia was finished, rel- l to its second loss in as many appear- in the title game. The Lady Bulldogs lost Dominion in the 1985 finals. Michigan finished last in the Big Ten championships this weekend. disappointing fifth place (222.45). Michigan State was poised to have a strong showing after climbing in the rankings all season long. The ordi- narily potent combination of Joe Duda and Ethan Stark did not perform nearly as well as they did all season. Al- though Duda finished fourth on the parallel bars (9.6), and Sterk finished fifth on the pommel horse (9.65) and eighth on the high bar (9.525), neither placed higher than 15th in any other event. Tenth-ranked Illinois finished sixth with a score of 218.875 points. Greg McGlaun's fifth place finish on the high bar (9.775) and Yuval Ayalon's fifth place on the rings (9.625) were the best performances for the Fight- ing Illini. .. . . Lady Vols take the bite out of th The Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Tennessee was big- ger and stronger, Georgia was quicker. In this case, bigger was better. Tenncssee dominated inside and got some in- spired defense from Latina Davis in beating South- eastern Conference rival Georgia, 83-65, last night to win its fourth NCAA championship. Tennessee now has twice as many national titles as any other school in 15 years of NCAA play. The Lady Vols won their previous cham- pionships in 1987, 1989 and 1991 - all under current coach Pat Summitt. Tennessee's players donned the traditional championship caps and pranced around the court in celebration. Summitt, wearing a burnt orange pantsuit, watched calmly from the sidelines and chatted with a television reporter. Tennessee's Michelle Marciniak, who had 10 points, five assists and two steals, was named the outstanding player in the Final Four. She scored 21 in a semifinal victory over defending champion Connecticut Friday night. Abby Conklin helped with some timely 3- point shooting for the Lady Vols, who had lost at Georgia, 77-71, during the season. Tennessee outrebounded Georgia, 63-30, in that game and enjoyed another big edge on the boards last night, this time, 54-39. That total included 21 offensive rebounds, which led to 17 second-chance points. Davis, Tennessee's leading scorer in the tour- nament, stood out with her defense by shutting down Georgia's All-America guard, Saudia Roundtree. Roundtree had promised coach Andy Landers a national championship when she signed with Georgia out ofjunior college two years ago, but she couldn't make it happen. The 5-foot-7 senior, who had 63 points in her two previous tournament games, rarely was able to get Georgia into its deadly transition game and scored only eight points on 3-for-14 shooting. She went scoreless in the second half. Freshman Chamique Holdsclaw led Tennes- see (32-4) with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Tiffani Johnson also scored 16 for the Lady Vols and Conklin added 14, including four 3-pointers. Pashen Thompson had 12 points and II re- bounds. La'Keshia Frett led Georgia (28-5) with 25 points but had only seven in the second half. Tracy Henderson scored 16. Ahead 42-37 at halftime despite shooting only 43 percent, Tennessee opened the second half Poor passing plagues M volleyball in weekend 1 Tennessee beat Georgia last night in the women's NCAA basketball tournament, 83- 65, to win its fourth NCAA championship. AP PHOTO By Mark Snyder Daily Sports Writer Every team has a weakness, a part of its game that will cause certain defeat. This weekend, Michigan's opponents found the Wolverines' flaw and they attacked. Poor passing is sure to doom a vol- leyball team, and this weekend was no exception. The Wolverines lost to Min- nesota in pool play and were eliminated by Iowa State in the first round of seeded play. The Wolverines entered the Michi- gan Intercollegiate Volleyball Tourna- ment on Friday on a high note. They had defeated Michigan State the previ- ous weekend and were looking to reach the semifinals or even the finals of the tournament in Kalamazoo. But those dreams fell short as Michi- gan was eliminated in the first round once again. At the Big Ten Champion- ships, the Wolverines steamrolled the competition in pool play, faltering only once the bracket play began. That was again the case this weekend as Minnesota- in pool play - and the Cyclones - in tournament competi- tion - took advantage of Michigan's weak middle. "(Minnesota) served us offthe court," Michigan coach Kent Booker said. "They didn't serve to Ernesto (Rodriguez) and only served to Ted Skolarus." This focus on one individual is a strategy not often employed in volley- ball, but this time it worked. Skolarus was worn down by the constant pres- sure to return, and consequently, his confidence suffered. Skolarus isthe squad's primary passer - and without strong passes, the all- around game suffers. "If the passing doesn't work, it's hard to set the middle attackers and cover the (center)," Booker said. The coach tried to overcome this with a number of strategies -none of which were successful. He experimented by moving three passers onto the court at once, but this threw off Michigan's rhythm. Booker then attempted to substi- tute in Judd Larned, but it was too lichigan tournament little, too late. Michigan stayed with Minnesota point for point thereafte but the Gophers had already jumped out to a lead. The tournament was not a total loss, though. The Wolverines received strong performances from Rodriguez and Chad Stilstra, who led the team to pool round victories over Miami (Ohio) and Cen- tral Michigan. The injury bug is playing tricks on Michigan again. Suresh Pothiraj was expected to s out the MIVA Tournament after twist- ing his knee in practice last week. The sprain was not as serious as was first thought and Pothiraj played the entire weekend without problems. Andy Spitser hadtroublepassing with the soft cast he has on his thumb. Spitser's effectiveness was limited, decimating the Wolverines' power game. Michigan heads back out onthe cou with a rare home match at Cliff Keen Arena Saturday. The 7:30 p.m. contest will pit the Wolverines against Eastern Michigan. 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