10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 10, 1998



Plocki's gymnasts to
open season in A2

Driver in crash

.

indicted for deaths

By Brent Badbeau
For the Daily
With the return of five All-Big Ten
performers and three 1998 All-
Americans, Michigan women's gymnas-
tics coach Bev Plocki is excited.
"I have a good feeling heading into
the new season, we are definitely look-
ing for a great season," Plocki said.
Plocki is looking for great leadership
to come from her three tri-captains,
seniors Lisa Simes and Kristin Duff, and
junior Sarah Cain.
"Lisa and Kristin are seniors and they
have shown great work ethics through-
out their careers at Michigan," Plocki
said. "Sarah is only a junior, but she is
our team's emotional leader."
The three women and the rest of the
team will showcase their skills for the
first time this year at the annual
intrasquad meet at 4 p.m. this Saturday
at Cliff Keen Arena.
"The intrasquad meet is a chance for
us to build confidence for the upcoming
competitions and also a great chance for
people to come out and see the team,"

Plocki said.
Michigan is coming off a second-
place finish in the Big Ten last year and
a trip to the NCAA finals.
"Our season basically starts with the
intrasquad and we are taking the meets
one at a time" Plocki said. "We don't
want to look past anybody."
And looking ahead to their schedule,
they shouldn't.
The team travels to Gainesville, Fla.,
on Jan. 8 to take on Florida to begin the
season.
The Gators finished the 1997 season
second in the nation and should be a
good test for the Wolverines. The team
then hosts Minnesota on Jan. 15 to begin
the Big Ten season.
"Our goal is to continue to improve
and to have a successful season. We also
look to get back the Big Ten champi-
onship that we lost a year ago" Plocki
said.
The Wolverines had previously .won
six straight Big Ten championships. The
chance to start a new streak begins this
Saturday at 4 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena.

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) - Former
University of Kentucky football
player Jason Watts was indicted yes-
terday on charges stemming from a
crash last month that killed two men.
A Pulaski County grand jury
charged Watts with two counts of
second-degree manslaughter and one
count of wanton endangerment in a
Nov. 15 crash that killed Arthur
Steinmetz - a defensive lineman
who transferred to Kentucky from
Michigan State in August - and
Eastern Kentucky University student
Scott Brock.
Watts, 21, is accused of wantonly
causing the death of Steinmetz and
Brock and wantonly engaging in
conduct that endangered another
motorist, according to acting
Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy
Montgomery.
According to police, Steinmetz
and Brock were passengers in Watts'
truck when the vehicle went out of
control and overturned on a rural
highway near Somerset.
Watts, who was driving, was legal-
ly drunk, as were Steinmetz and
Brock, police said.
Montgomery said Watts' truck
almost hit another vehicle shortly
before the crash.
Watts, of Oviedo, Fla., has been
thrown off the football team and has
left school.
if convicted, Watts faces a penalty
of five to 10 years in prison for each
manslaughter count and one to five
years imprisonment on the wanton
o endangerment count.
Among the witnesses who
appeared before the grand jury yes-

terday were Kentucky football play-
ers Omar Smith, Jimmy Haley antd
Paul McGonagle.
Smith was shot in the buttocks by
Watts in 1997 as the two handled 4
rifle outside the house they shared.
Two hours after the shooting, Watts'
blood-alcohol level was 0.129 per-
cent, according to police.
Watts initially was charged with
first-degree assault, but charges later
were reduced to unlawful discharge
of a weapon.
McGonagle was Watts' roommate
and was among a group of football
players who made regular trips to an
apple orchard near Somerset, sail
Ann Haney, of Haney's Appledale
Farm.
Watts, Brock and Steinmetz werc
on their way to the orchard when the
fatal crash occurred.
Lexington bar owner Jim H ancy
and his wife, Helen HNancy, also
appeared before the grand jury.
Jim Haney has said Brock and
Watts visited the bar and then hi
home in the early-morning hours oW
Nov. 15 but that the men were sober,
when they left.
Jim and Helen Haney are not relat-
ed to the family who owns Haney's
Appledale Farm.
An arrest warrant was issued for
Watts, and bond was set at S40,000
cash, Montgomery said.
Watts was scheduled to be
arraigned in Pulaski Circuit Court in
the latter part of January, he said.
Watts' attorney, Jim Lowry of
Lexington, and a spokesman for the
Kentucky athletic department did not,
return calls seeking comment.

Badgers keep rolling

By Rob Jansen
'he Daily Cardinal (U. Wisconsin)
MADISON (U-WIRE) -What
injuries?
That is the attitude the Wisconsin vol-
leyball team took into the start of the
NCAA tournament last weekend, and so
far so good.
None of the team's injuries derailed
Wisconsin's momentum, as the Badgers
head to the Sweet 16, played in Lincoln,
Neb.
"Offensively, we've been as good as

we've been since I've been here,"
Wisconsin coach John Cook said.
"We've only dropped one game since
our loss to Penn State, so we're on a roll
right now. We've got a lot of momentum.
"We've got a lot of confidence, and
Colleen Neels and Marisa Mackey are
playing their best volleyball of their
careers."
Wisconsin will have to take care of
-business here if they want any shot at a
possible regional final matchup with
Nebraska.

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FILE PHOT(
The Michigan women's gymnastics team will begin another season in the hopes of
making it to the NCAA's championship round for the third straight season.


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