The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - September 3, 1996 - 3F
Sixth in country,
Wolvenne
I
gymnasts plan to soar higher
. M'spikers
on the track
to success
In the past, postseason for the Michi-
gan women's volleyball team usually has
anslated into reflecting on the previous
season and looking forward to the next.
But not this year for the Wolverines.
Michigan competed in its second-ever
postseason tournament - the National
Intercollegiate Volleyball Championship
- and won two games against Massa-
chusetts and Arkansas. Losses to Butler
abd San Diego eliminated the Wolverines
from tournament contention.
Michigan (11-9 Big Ten, 19-15 over-
1) finished sixth in the conference. The
Wolverines completed the season with
: three consecutive wins against Penn
State, Northwestern and Purdue, and
were disappointed to hear they didn't get
a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolverines' senior co-captains,
Shannon Brownlee and Suzy O'Donnell,
were the leaders on and off the court.
w Outside hitter Brownlee led Michigan
during the regular season in kills (456),
Cttmpts (1,160) and digs (313), and
ame the first Michigan player ever to
idake the All-Conference first team.
O'Donnell, a middle blocker, was the
- Wlverines' regular season leader in kill
percentage, converting 31 percent of her
" spikes.
K' Without (Brownlee and O'Donnell)
wd wouldn't have had nearly the success
: had," Michigan coach Greg Gio-
yanazzi said. "They played as well as I
ave ever seen from a Michigan athlete."
Michigan now must carry on without
last season's team leaders. One player
6wo could become a leader this season is
stter Linnea Mendoza. In her sopho-
«tinore season, Mendoza led the team in
: sists (1,277).
Mendoza, along with senior outside
hitlers Shareen Luze, Colleen Miniuk
and Kristen Ruschiensky, will have to
Ssep up her game if the Wolverines want
advance farther this year.
!We see ourselves as a very young
team (this year),"Giovanazzi said."(This
year's) senior class will give us a lot of
depth."
Men's cross country
The Michigan men's cross country
team can't seem to catch Wisconsin.
Even in a successful year, the Wolver-
nes weren't able to overcome the deep
Badger team for the second-straight year.
Michigan took second in the Big Ten
championship on Oct. 28.
For. the season, the Wolverines cap-
tured two team tournament titles and fin-
ished runner up in two others. Michigan
-was led by Big Ten Athlete of the Year
-Kevin Sullivan and Freshman of the Year
Sohn Mortimer.
Sullivan blew away the rest of the tour-
ament field by running the 8,000-meter
run in 24:21.4. Mortimer, in his first Big
Ten tournament, placed seventh with a
:25:08.9 time.
Sullivan and the Wolverines missed
AW-American senior Scott MacDonald,
who broke his leg early in the season and
was red-shirted by Michigan coach Ron
:Warhurst. MacDonald focused on mak-
ing the Canadian team for the Olympics.
y red-shirting, he will be able to com-
te this year.
Michigan qualified for the NCAA
National Cross Country Championship
y receiving an at-large bid after placing
third in the regionals.
The Wolverines finished 11th out of
22 teams. Sullivan ended his cross coun-
try career at Michigan with a eighth place
finish and Mortimer placed 37th.
jomen's tennis
The Michigan women's tennis team
began the 1995-96 season with seven
players on its roster and concluded its
schedule with five and two walk-ons.
The roster was changed due to season-
ending knee injuries to senior Angie
Popek and freshman Jennifer Boylan.
w The Wolverines (6-5 Big Ten, 8-12
overall) still emerged with a tie for fifth
lace in the conference and an appear-
ce in the first-ever NCAA Regional
competition, where it split two matches.
Michigan was led by junior Sarah
Cyganiak and sophomore Sora Moon -
-both named to the All-Big Ten team for
the second consecutive season. Cygani-
:ak, who led the Wolverines with a 16-4
By Kevin Kasiborski
Daily Sports Writer
Alabama is a not-so-sweet home for the
Wolverines.
Performing in front of its home crowd,
Alabama pulled away from the field - includ-
ing Michigan - in the final rotation to win its
third women's gymnastics national champi-
onship April 26.
The Crimson Tide finished with a score of
198.025. The Wolverines came in sixth, less
than two points behind with a tally of 196.375.
Leading the Wolverines once again was
senior Wendy Marshall, who scored a 39.475 in
the all-around. That mark was good enough for
the fourth-highest score in the team finals.
Although the Wolverines finished second last
year, and were the No. 4 seed entering the meet,
coach Bev Plocki said she was not upset with
the sixth-place finish.
"We don't think of ourselves as losers," Ploc-
ki said after the meet.
"I don't think a lot of people thought we would
make it this far after losing five seniors, much
less make it to the Super Six (again),' she said.
The Wolverines' performance in the prelimi-
naries April 25 almost kept them from making
the Super Six.
Michigan scored 193.50 in the early session,
its lowest output since March 1.
However, the score was good enough for
third place in the early session, qualifying the
Wolverines for Super Six competition the fol-
lowing day.
The Wolverines had an up-and-down regular
season, winning some big matches, losing some
unexpectedly and seeing some valuable players
downed by injury.
Michigan defeated defending national cham-
pion Utah and came close to national power
Georgia.
Marshall keyed the team throughout the sea-
son, especially after fellow seniors Tina Miran-
da and Dianna Ranelli - both All-Americans
- suffered season-ending knee injuries.
The team will seek strong leadership this year
from its senior standout Andrea MacDonald.
Also, the Wolverines will build on years of
strong recruiting.
"Most teams don't want to have to count on the
freshmen in the do-or-die," Plocki said before the
regional championships. "Our freshmen have
come through with flying colors."
Those freshmen - now sophomores - won
four individual events at Big Tens, including the
all-around.
The Wolverines will look to sophomores
Beth Amelkovich, Nikki Peters, Kathy Burke
and Lisa Simes, along with juniors Lauren
LaBranche and Heather Kabnick. Kabnick and
Peters are both coming off injuries this season.
Performances in the Big Ten should continue
to improve this year. After years of dominance,
the Wolverines were upset three times by two
Big Ten opponents - Minnesota twice and
Michigan State once.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Senior co-captain Wendy Marshall, the team's all-time leader
in perfect 10s, celebrates another successful event.
Men
swimers
focus on
Atlanta
By Doug Stevens
Daily Sports Writer
It's all about priorities.
Throughout the 1995-96 campaign,
Coach Jon Urbanchek and his Michigan
men's swimming team focused on one
thing.
It wasn't an 11th consecutive Big Ten
title or a successful defense' of the
team's national championship.
Rather, the Wolverines decided to
focus their energy on a strong showing
at the Olympic Trials and, ultimately, on
earning a trip to the Olympic Games in
Atlanta.
In the end, Michigan's expectations
played out pretty much to form.
Despite a shocking defeat at the hands
of Minnesota at the Big Ten champi-
onships in Ann Arbor and a third-place
finish in Austin, Texas, at NCAAs, three
Wolverines in particular exemplified why
the Michigan swimming program is con-
sidered among the nation's best.
Nine-time NCAA champion Tom
Dolan, NCAA champion John Piersma
and freshman Tom Malchow all earned
trips to Atlanta, due to their strong per-
formances at the U.S. Olympic Trials in
Indianapolis, Ind., in early March.
Dolan, who is arguably the best
swimmer in the world, qualified for the
Olympic team in three events - the 400
individual medley, the 200 IM and the
400 freestyle.
Piersma swam the 400 freestyle and
Malchow the 200 butterfly.
Crew
becomes
varsity
Michigan becomes
fourth Big Ten school
with women's crew
By Will McCahill
Daily Sports Writer
Another sport will join Michigan's
athletic fray this fall when the women's
crew team is elevated to varsity status.
After spending 20 years as a club
sport, the squad was chosen from among
a handful of women's club sports as part
of a University effort to reach gendet-
equity goals in the athletic program.
The team placed ninth in national
championship competition last season, in
a field that included many varsity teams.
Michigan is the fourth Big Ten school
to add women's crew to its varsity slate,
joining Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State.
Wolverine head coach Mark Roth-
stein said the goal for the program in its
first season will be to qualify for the
NCAA championships, which would
involve winning regional regattas in
competition with the other Big Ten pro-
grams.
"The other three Big Ten schools are
certainly starting to become pretty big
rivals," Rothstein said.
Anchoring the top boat - which is
crewed by the team's top eight rowers and
the top coxswain, who directs the rowers
- will be senior rowers Jeannette Staws-
ki and Lisa Lavadie and senior coxswain
Naz Siddiqui. All three have two years'
experience with the squad, and Stawski
and Lavadie were invited to national-
team camps this summer.
File photo
Tom Dolan qualifies for the top spot In the 500 freestyle during the preliminaries at the NCAA men's swimming and diving meet
In March. Dolan also qualified for the Olympics.
Due to the Wolverines' strong show-
ing at the trials (Michigan's qualifying
members of the Wolverine team who
competed in Atlanta, Derya Buyukuncu
total of three was high-
er than any other
school), Urbanchek
hardly regretted his
decision to de-empha-
size the collegiate
championship meets.
"We made the deci-
sion not to focus on
(those meets), but on
the Olympics," he said.
"We have to cater to the
Olympians. I admit it
would have been great
to plan for (Big Tens
and NCAAs) to satisfy
our fans and Michigan.
We had to decide
"Discipline is
the ability to
wait .for
long-term
goalS.,
-Jon U rban~hek
Men's swimming
coach
of Turkey and Ryan
Papa of the Philippines
both represented their
respective nations at
the Games. Canada's
Owen von Richter and
Japan's Shuichi Mat-
sumoto also attempted
to earn spots on their
country's squads.
While the emphasis
of the season was
undoubtedly aimed at
achieving success at the
Olympic Trials, numer-
ous Wolverines were
able to overcome disap-
pointment at that meet to
freshman Andy Potts all overcame near
misses at the trials to earn All-American
status at NCAAs two weeks later.
Perhaps the most remarkable perfor-
mance in Austin was put up by Dolan.
The junior, who later decided to
forego his final year of eligibility
(although he will return in the fall to
work toward his degree), wrapped up his
prolific college career by capturing three
more individual titles.
Dolan won the 500 freestyle, the 1650
freestyle and the 400 individual medley,
all by considerable margins, to help
Michigan place third overall.
"He won nine NCAA titles and helped
Michigan to the team title in 1995,"
Urbanchek said. "It's time for him to
move on and take the opportunity to
expose swimming on a national scale.
"Swimming needs someone to pick
up the sport and publicize it."
where our priorities were. Discipline is
the ability to wait for long-term goals."
In addition to the three American
contribute greatly to Michigan's effort.
Jason Lancaster, Chris Rumley and
Golf team loses stars
after season's success
By James Goldstein
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan women's golf coach Kathy
Teichert got back from her post-season
vacation to find out something she didn't
want to hear.
Another player had left her.
All-Big Ten senior Shannon McDon-
ald graduated, but that was the tradition-
al way to leave a coach.
What the co-Big Ten Coach of the Year
didn't know until weeks after the Wolver-
ines' fifth-place finish in the Big Ten
tournament was that one of her prized
newcomers was also on her way out.
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Katy
Loy told Teichert she was transferring.
"We will definitely recover from (Loy
transferring)," Teichert said. "We will go
on. I think we have very good kids in our
program and they are just going to have
to step up their game another notch."
Now, it's Sharon Park, Wendy Westfall,
Ashley Williams and Sarah Lindholm
who have to carry the team this season.
The Wolverines are coming off one of
the best seasons in the program's 20-
year history. Michigan captured three
invitationals and came away with three
individual first places - both the most
in Teichert's three-year tenure.
McDonald led the way, winning all-
conference honors for the first time in
the school's history, and topped the team
with an 80-stroke average per round.
The three-year team leader in scoring
average finished first in the Lady Kat
Invitational on Oct. 6-7 with a 217 three-
round score.
"(McDonald) was a great leader for
us on and off the course," Teichert said.
"She kept the team together and made
sure they were unified."
Loy was supposed to be one of this
year's important players. The freshman
from Ann Arbor captured the Saluki
Invitational on March 23-24 with a 154
for 36 holes. Michigan also came away
with the team title at the invitational.
Without Loy, Park looks to be a crucial
pieces of the puzzle. As a freshman, she
took first place at the Boilermaker Invi-
tational and led her team to the title.
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