The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - February 24, 1997 - 78
Forfeits benefit Blue
Badgers beating ends grapplers' regular season
By Tracy Sandler
Daily Sports Writer
It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's
how you play the game. But if you don't
play, it's pretty hard to win.
This was the lesson learned by the
Wisconsin wrestling team in its Saturday
ight, 31-10, dual-meet loss to
ichigan. The Badgers had to forfeit
matches at 118 pounds, 158 and heavy-
weight, because those wrestlers failed to
'make weight. After two tough home
losses to Minnesota and Illinois, the
Wolverines were in dire need of a strong
performance, as they prepare for the Big
Ten tournament to be held March 8-9.
"It's nice to finish the season with a
Big Ten win," Michigan coach Dale
Bahr said. "We finished 10-5, winning
of our matches, and we're happy
with that. It's nice to finish on a positive
note with a win."
Despite back problems all week, 167-
pound, No. 4 Jeff Catrabone defeated the
No. 2 wrestler in the country in his
weight class, Kevin Wilmot, 4-0.
"It's a real tribute to Jeff' Bahr said.
"On Tuesday or Wednesday, after sleep-
ing funny, he couldn't even walk."
Part of Catrabone's rehabilitation
*cluded wearing a 24-hour stimulator
that sent a slight electric shock to his
back. The stimulator was so effective
that by Friday's weigh-in Catrabone was
feeling well enough to go on Saturday.
"He wrestled his best match of the
year,' Bahr said. "He's back. He
slumped a little towards the end of
January and the beginning of February,
but he looked good Saturday, beating the
second-ranked kid in the country. It was
a good win for Jeff"
Catrabone recognizes that he has not
been wrestling to his full abilities.
"I've been slumping since January,"
Catrabone said. "Now I'm seeing the
light and striding towards it for the Big
Tens. Before, it was the down part of the
season, but now's the time to turn it on."
At this point in the season, the whole
team is turning it up a notch to prepare
for the conference championship.
"Everyone's starting to focus more on
the Big Tens," wrestler Bill Lacure said.
"We're going to continue to push hard in
practice. They'll be shorter but harder to
get us in the kind of condition we need
to be in. Hopefully, we can out-condition
anyone in the nation."
Although it will not last as long, the
Wolverines will practice in a more
intense atmosphere.
"We have to get them in the best shapd
of the season," Bahr said. "We don't do
any good by trying to wear them down.
We want to keep the kids in a positive
frame .of mind. We'll have more explo-
sive running and more explosive weight-
lifting. We're trying to simulate short,
quick types of practices. It keeps the kids
in shape, and we have to keep them
fresh."
'M' men aren't abl
to burn the Flames
By Jacob Wheeler Women's
Daily Sports Writer G m n tc
There's a silver lining in every
dark cloud. For the Michigan men's The Michigan women's gymnt
gymnastics team Saturday, that silver team's streak of 10-straight wins w
lining was improvement and the real- like a ripe grapefruit last weekend ate
ization that its first victory was Magical Classic in Orlando, Fla.
almost a reality. And like that tangy morning breal-
Illinois-Chicago defeated the fast, the bitter-sour taste of defeat i
Wolverines by a slim margin, shadowed any sugar on top. NaturatIi,
221.35-221.2. Michigan led after the Michigan's streak was stopped bya
four events by 0.7 points, but it menace from the land of citrus: N.3
couldn't hold on. The Flames relin- UCLA. The Bruins defeated Nl.:)
quished the lead on the parallel bars Michigan 196.925-195.975. IrontQ4IZ
and the horizontal bar, handing UCLA only scored higher than - h
Michigan its fifth loss in as many Wolverines in one apparatus. But tQ
contests. balance beam did the damage. "We Ail
"Although we didn't win today, n't do a bad job," Michigan coachi i4
we've exceeded the expectations I Plocki said. "But I'm not real thril.
had in September," Michigan coach We were a little bit flat overall."
Kurt Golder said. Nikki Peters' score of 9.375 left i b!l
"Our goal was to reach 220 points ter taste in the mouths of Michigan faith!
by season's end, and we've already ful. The sophomore's streak of four con;
reached that. I think we've improved secutive perfect scores on the apparatus
to the point where we're capable of ended yesterday. "Her performance had
scoring 225." nothing to do with nerves," Plocki said
Jose "LaLo" Haro, Michigan's "She just can't be perfect every time."_
anchor all year long, won the all- The split grapefruit was not without a
around with a season-high score of little sweetness, however. Freshman
56.75. Haro also topped all competi- Sarah Cain pulled down another aW1-
tion with a 9.4 on the still rings and around title, her sixth of the season.
scored a team-high 9.55 on the par- Cain's 39.575 was the eighth highest
allel bars. in Michigan history.
JUL WYLTIITEumy
Senior co-captain Flavio Martins and the Michigan men's gymnastics team came
close to defeating Illinois-Chicago this weekend, narrowly falling, 221.35-221.2. It
would have been the Wolverines' first victory of the season.
.4
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