10 The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 20, 1998

Ward assumes
greater role
BAS KETBALL
Continued from Page 9
and things could be answered in terms of the stretch run and
the seeding for the Big Ten Tournament."
The news is not looking so good for Baston, who broke his
right foot against Minnesota on Feb. 7, and is not expected to
return any time soon.
With Baston out of the lineup, Ward and Josh Asselin will
play more minutes at power forward. But with the way Ward
has played lately, he should expect lots of playing time -
whether he has to play the four-spot or small forward. Against
Michigan State, Ward scored a career-high 22 points, includ-
ing three 3-pointers and a 7-of-8 free throw performance.
"Jerod is doing a solid job,' Ellerbe said. "I couldn't ask for
anything more, having him thrown at the power forward posi-
tion and having to adjust so quickly, and he's produced:"
Ward played with his back to the basket in parts of Tuesday's
game. He may also have to play in the post against Indiana, but
the Hoosiers are a versatile team. Andrae Patterson, who
scored a team-high 19 points against the Wolverines on Jan. 6,
stands at 6-8 but thrives from the perimeter. Traylor went
against him in the earlier meeting, but Patterson beat Traylor
pr vrily with outside shots. Besides Patterson, 6-8 forward
WjV14m Gladness could also face Ward in the trenches.
Vrd could also pose a problem for the Hoosiers' defense
with his outside capabilities. But Ward knows that he must uti-
lize his postgame, which changes his mentality.
Also, Ward is focused on adding to his rebounding totals -
he averages six boards per game - without Baston in the
paint. Baston was pulling down 8.3 rebounds per game before
ib got injured. Ward said he is going to the glass more, but he
can't make up for Baston's rebounds by himself.
2"I feel like I've been playing aggressive on the boards,"
Ward said. "But you just can't expect Rob (Traylor) and me to
i ake up for Baston's eight a game."

Blue men gymnasts
set sights on regionals

0

By Jason Emoott
For the Daily
With every goal set, there eventually
comes a crossroads where one challenge
will prove whether the goal is realistic, or
if the intensity of the task will kill the
aspiration.
This weekend, the No. 8 Michigan
men's gymnastics team reaches that
crossroads when it takes on No. 12
Illinois-Chicago tomorrow in Chicago.
The goal for the Wolverines: become
the first Michigan squad to reach the
NCAA East Regionals since 1994.
The obstacle: Illinois-Chicago. NCAA
rules only allow the teams with the top
six overall scores to advance to the
regionals. Michigan currently has a hold
of the sixth and final berth with an over-
all team score of 226.85, but Illinois-
Chicago is right behind, in the seventh
spot, at 222.57. So the Flames will be
doing all they can to overtake the
Wolverines.
"They're going to be gunning for us,"
Michigan coach Kurt Golder said.
Golder has encouraged his gymnasts
to handle some of this weekend's pres-
sure by focusing on their own perfor-
mances.
"It's going to be exciting this week-
end," senior captain Ed Ledgard said.
"We can't worry about what the other
team does, but we can control how we
perform."
That attitude has carried the
Wolverines to major improvement this

season. This year's best overall team
score of 226.85 tops last year's mark of
222.225 by more than four points. In a
sport that is measured in tenths of points,
four points represent an enormous
improvement.
Now, the Wolverines are just hoping
that all the improvement will result in the
accomplishment of the primary goal they
set for themselves when the season began
- qualifying for the NCAA East
Regionals.
"That's the goal for this year.
Everybody's going to be surprised,!'
sophomore Jose Haro said. "We've been
working hard. We keep pushing each
other."
Golder said he hopes the Wolverines
will ride the momentum from last week,-
end's win over Minnesota - the team's
first conference win in four years - all
the way to Chicago, then the NCAAs.
He also said he will be rotating the
lineup this week as he looks to find thq
team's strongest combination. He noted
that compiling the team's best lineup wilJ
be essential next month when five of the'
nation's top 10 teams visit Crisler Arena
for the Big Ten Championships (March
20-21).
This weekend, Golder has a healthy
lineup and he cautiously expects a victo-
ry from his team. The Wolverines defeat{
ed Illinois-Chicago early in the season on
Jan. 20, at the Windy City Invitational.
"I feel confident that we're going to do.
it," Golder said.

SARA STILLMAN/Daily
Travis Conlan wasn't happy with the outcome the last time Michigan faced Indiana. The Wolverines fell
to the Hoosiers earlier this season in Bloomington. This time, however, they match up in Crisler Arena.

'M' swimmers lead after one day

.-CC)

.t -

a

1

By Uma Subramanian
Daily Sports Writer
The quest for 12 in a row has begun. One day in, the
Wolverines are already showing signs of why they are the
reigning Big Ten champions.
Yesterday at the Big Ten Championsips in Bloomington, the
Michigan women's swimming and diving team garnered sev-
eral victories to take the lead going into today's events. Leading
the Wolverines was sophomore Shannon Shakespeare. The
former Olympian set a new pool record and a new meet record
in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:00.86.
Shakespeare is ranked 10th in the world in the event.
The highly touted 200 freestyle relay team of Shakespeare,
Big Ten record-holder Jennie Eberwein, captain Kim Johnson
and freshman Jennifer Crisman blew past the rest of the com-
petition, winning in a time of 1:30.97.
Michigan set another meet and pool record in the 400 IM
with Linda Riker, Rachel Gustin, Crisman and Eberwein fin-
ishing in a time of 3:41.27. Michigan's distance team faltered,
however, when Riker placed eighth in the 500 free and Missy
Sugar failed to qualify for the final heat.
The diving team also showed its weak side as Amanda

Nagano 1998 medal count
Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
Germany 9 8 8 25
Norway 7 8 5 20
Russia 9 5 2 16
Austria 3 4 7 14
Canada 5 5 4 14
Netherlands 5 4 2 11
United States 5 2 4 11
Finland 2 3 5 10
Italy 1 6 2 9
Japan 4 1 3 8

WARREN Z INN/Daily
The Michigan women's swimmers hold a commanding lead at
the Big Ten Championships after one day of competition.
Crews placed seventh and Hannah Shin placed ninth in the
one-meter competition. Indiana freshman sprinter Jennifer
Cristy took first in the 50 free. After the Indiana meet,
Michigan coach Jim Richardson remarked that Cristy would be
a threat. Richardson's words rang true.

Hockey players erupt


NAGANO, Japan (AP) - Some
U.S. hockey players trashed their
rooms at the Olympic Village after
being knocked out of the Nagano
Games, and the NHL was investigat-
ing who was responsible for the
damage, estimated at $1,000.
Chairs were broken, two apart-
ments were damaged by fire extin-
guishers and one extinguisher was
thrown from the fifth floor into a
courtyard during the incident, which
occurred Wednesday afternoon said
Paul George, head of the U.S. dele-
gation in the Olympic Village.
"There was a mess," said

International Ice Hockey Federation
president Rene Fasel.
The incident occurred about 12
hours after the highly touted U.,S.
team, composed entirely of NIHL
players, was eliminated in a 4-1 loss
to the Czech Republic.
Members of the United States
Olympic Committee discovered the
damage about 7 a.m. yesterday and
National Hockey League commt@
sioner Gary Bettman and players'
union chief Bob Goodenow, along%
with other United States hockey offi-
cials, went to the village to inve"i-
gate.

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