10-The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 12, 1996 'NI rugby club takes .o. Frrs State tomorrow at Elbel Field The Michigan rugby club is set to face Ferris State this Saturday at Elbel Field. sThe rugby team is having a pretty Successful season so far, having complied a record of 6-1 The team's only loss came during the Michigan Cup tournament, which is composed of all the clubs and colleges in the state that field a rugby team. Michigan's victories this year included wins over Ohio State and Windsor. The Bulldogs are generally a tough team, made up of former football team members and.potential football walk-ons, said Michigan's Carl Wahl. Klinger to hit the high bar at regionals for Wolverines . By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer Thanks to Michigan senior Kris Klinger, men's gymnastics coach Bob Darden's career isn't quite over just yet. But then again, neither is Klinger's. On Monday, the senior from Kalamazoo was selected to compete on the high bar at the 1996 NCAA east regionals to be held Saturday in Iowa City. "I'm just happy to be there again for the fourth time," Klinger said. Klinger tied his career best on the high bar with a 9.6 score last weekend at Michigan State. The Wolverine senior is no stranger to NCAA postseason competition, having qualified forregionals on the event in each of the past three seasons. In 1993, he advanced all the way to the NCAA champion- ships. Not only has he extended his own season, he has postponed Darden's retirement for a little while longer. More than two weeks ago, Darden announced his plan to resign at the end of the season. "It's nice that he is a candidate this year and that he has allowed me to come along with him and teams that qualify for the regionals send all their gymnasts. Then, the top individuals from the teams that did not make the regionals are selected to compete as well. "I'm going to try to make it to nationals like I did as a freshman," Klinger said. The Wol- prolong my fi- nal season," Darden said. Kl inger was selected by a process used by the NCAA that reaches deep into the pool of potential g y m n a s ts. The top six It's nice that he's a candidate this year and that he has allowed mee to.. prolong my final season. " - Bob Darden Michigan gymnastics coach verines have hadadifficult year, finish- ing Darden's final season with a 0-12 record. With only three se- niors remain- ing on the squad, this has been a re- building year, Darden said. Along with Klinger, three other teammates were regional hopefuls - senior Chris Onuska, junior Flavio Martins and junior Jason MacDonald. Only Klinger was selected, however. The training regimen for Klinger this week con- sists of fine-tuning the little aspects of his routine. Concentrating on the landing dismount is Klinger's biggest task, Darden said. "Kris and I have had a great four years together," Darden said. "He's on track to continue in the same direction as in his freshman year, when he qualified for nationals." Klinger hopes to end his senior season on a very positive note. "The biggest difference this year is that it's mylast time," Klinger added. "In previous years I've put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, and this year I plan to relax and have more fun." . I I * . . s, . . N a:. 1. 1 , Women tumblers set for regionals T I( fl fLBUI Ilily o[fULLLJ 0 BIG& BUliY HFATURE B ODITOS f f DDOW TOGETHER By Nancy Berger Daily Sports Writer Some schools atthisweekend'sNCAA Central Regional Women's Gymnastics Championships are happy just to be able to compete in the national qualifying event. Michigan, though,is expected to be there, and nothing would make the Wolverines happier than to win their first-ever re- gional title at the Baton Rouge, La., meet. "We have a desire to win it, not just make nationals," senior Wendy Marshall said. To bring a smile tq the Wolverines' faces, the five-time defending Big Ten champions will have to defeat defending regional champion, Alabama. One might say that this task is easier said than done. Alabama, a perennial powerhouse, is currently ranked second in the country behind Georgiaafter hold- ing the No. 1 spot for two weeks. At the regionals, No. 4 Michigan will be ranked second behind the Crimson Tide. Intheirlastmeeting, atthe 1995 NCAA championships, Michigan tied Alabama for second with 196.425 points. After the Wolverines completed one of the tough- est schedules in the country-facing five ranked teams in the top seven, including the No. 1 Bulldogs - Michigan should be well prepared to take on one of the most difficult regions in the country. "More teams out of our region than usual could qualify for nationals," Marshall said. The seven-team field that Michigan must face contains six schools ranked in the top 20. Among them are Michigan State and Minnesota, both of which have beaten the Wolverines this year. "MSU is the third seed and, ifthey can hit, they can give a run for our money," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "The most competition will be between Michi- gan and Alabama." With all of the talk centered on the top two seeds, the real issue at hand for most of the teams will be who gains an invita- tion to the prestigious 12-team field at the NCAAs. The winners of the five NCAA regionals, which will allbeheldthis week- end, receive automatic bids. Of the 30 teams remaining after automatic bids are handed out, the seven best national scores will qualify. Even if they don't win their region, the Wolverines will most likely not beleft out ofthe elite group thatwill compete for the national title. In each of the past three years, Michi- gan has qualified for the NCAAs despite coming in fourth in 1993, third in 1994 and second last year. To qualify this sea- son, though, the Wolverines will have to stay focused as well as come close to perfect on nearly all their routines. Michigan knows that a lapse of con- centration could mean the difference be- tween winningandlosingafterlast week's Big Tens. At the conference championships, the Wolverines faltered on their final event, the balance beam, right after their record- breaking bars performance. Their bars score of 49.525 was just enough insur- ance to cover Michigan's poorbeam score of 47.1. "It was a lack ofmental preparedness," Plocki said. "I don't think they pinched themselves after the bars. They have to prepare and focus on the event they are competing on." While the gymnasts will be focusing on their routines, the judges at regionals will be paying close attentionto flaws and imperfection. In national meets such as this, there is little room for error. "As you get closer to nationals, the have to find ways to differentiate be- cause the teams are so close together," Plocki said. "They start taking deduc- tions compositionaly, but it should not affect us. Other teams that don't have the level of difficulty won't be as com- petitive." Michigan also has one other advantage over all other teams - depth. The fresh- men class is the primary reason for this advantage. At Big Tens, four fresha won individual events, including thea - around. "Most teams don't want to have to count on the freshmen in do-or-die," Plocki said. "Our freshmen have come through with flying colors?" -.I 01996 PolyGram Records Inc. 314 528 999-2 AVAILABLE AT: SCHOOLKIDS 523 E. LIBERTY ANN ARBOR, MI 48104 313-332-5258 a1 U-M Computer Showcase Thursday, April 18, 1-5 pm Michigan Union, ground level Wendy Marshall and the Michigan women gymnasts hope to caputre the regional title this weekend at Baton Rouge, La. MARK FRIEDMAN/Daity POLO RALPH LAUREN a See, Try out, and Buy PageMill & other Adobe author manage software! It It - create lidks edit Cges correct errors Adobe PageMill Adobe SiteMillTM Post events,activities,'and course catalogs on your school's home page. Write World Wide Web pages easily with Adobe PageMill.TM Author more advanced Web pages and manage a Website with Adobe SiteMill.TM Adobe PageMill is an ideal entry-level program for creating or maintaining Web pages because it operates in a WYSIWYG environment using tools just like the ones you already know. You can always upgrade to Adobe SiteMill, software that maintains large Web sites and ensures their error-free operation by managing link integrity across pages.