Scoreboard- I Tracking 'M' teams
NFL NHL Want to take a long road trip? Then go watch the mens
FOOTBALL HOCKEY cross country team at the Eastern Michigan Open on
N.Y. Jets 24, Chicago 2 Friday. Take the day off, head to Ypsi, and watch the@
NEW ENGLAND14 MONTREAL sixth-ranked Wolverines run. And buy a souvenir.
' TORONTO 2 (OT)
Boston at Tuesday
PHOENIX, nc. T
Men's gymnastics holds rally in Diag to drum up support.
n, Gymnasts promote team with half-hour athletic display
By Stephanie Offen
Daily Sports Wter
' " { F 7 'The Diag - a place for preachers, studying, people-
watching and relaxation. But yesterday, the Diag was con-
verted into a gym for the Michigan men's gymnastics team.
f Yesterday at 2:30 p.m., in the middle of the Diag, the
Wolverines performed pommel horse routines, handstands
and other mat exercises in an attempt to heighten awareness
of the sport.
"This was a chance to put the guys in front of a crowd"
Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "Since gymnastics is a
1 .. winter sport, we need to do things outside now before it gets
too cold."
X S< n' " And a crowd did form. Students stopped on their way to
S 'or from class to watch the routines.
" The Diag is the perfect place to do this because there are
f z r .s:: f, { f so many people around," assistant coach Mike Burns said. "It
also gives people something else to look at besides grass."
The gymnasts really put on a show. All the gymnasts were
given the chance to perform, and they all gathered around the
apparati and took their turns to impress the crowd.
Besides normal pommel horse routines, the crowd got to
witness U.S. National Team member Justin Toman attempt to
4 7 t to pick up a team schedule card it his teeth while doing a
y yheadstand - definitely more interesting than watching grass
Ton grow
grow ut after a while, the gymnasts got tired of the hand-
stands and removed the handstand bars and used just the
mats and the pommel horse.
"We brought out the pommel horse, because we have a
very strong pommel horse team, junior gymnast Ethan
Johnson said. "Everyone on the team swings pommel horse."
r aAlong with being picked up by Toman's teeth, copies of
the schedule were also passed out to the crowd by the gym-
nasts and coaches, who also talked to the students about the
upcoming season.
Spasven though things like this might have taken place in the
past, this was the first time the Wolverines put on this kind of
OUIS BROWN/Daily exhibition under Golder's reign.
Junior Tim Dehr showed off his pommel horse technique In the Diag yesterday. The Michigan men s gymnastics team had a "Golder and I had been thinking about this since this
half-hour workout session to try to build up support for the upcoming season. summer," Burns said. "We thought that this would be a per-
"We are one of the lower-
covered sports, and these
exhibitions are trying to gA
awareness for our sport."
- Adam Hattersley
Michigan gymnast
feet weekend to do it because of hoticcoming, and it tuincd
out to be a terrific day."
With the sun shining and no clouds in the sky,
Wolverines could not have picked a better day for the demW
stration.
But the coaches were definitely concerned for the gyfs-
nasts' safety as they performed their routines on the ceient
in the Diag.
"We placed mats around everything to keep it safe,"
Golder said. "You just can't take any chances, especially
since the season hasn't even started yet."
But this exhibition did not take the place of the team's
practice. The Wolverines are Alreaidy getting prepared for the
upconing season. After the exhibition, the team headed back
to Cliff Keen Arena to practice on the other equipment to
wasn't present on the Diag.
The Wolverines will begin their season Dec. 4 with
another exhibition, the Maize and Blue intrasquad. The team
will be broken up into two squads to compete against caci
other.This will give Michigan yet another chance to draw
spectators to their sport.
The first competition for the Wolverines will take place
in Chicago at the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 16.
"We are one of the lower-covered sports, and these exhti-
bitions are trying to get awareness for our sport, junior gym-
nast Adam Hattersley said. "We are a really good team t
season, who have a good chance at the Big Ten title and even
the NCAA championship."
Randle El gives Michigan defense a
familiar, but still unsolved, mystery
By Rick Freeman
Daily Sports Writer
Who says the Big Ten is a cure for
insomnia?
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's past
two games have teetered on the edge,
where one mistake paves the way for a
game and heart-breaking big play.
"They don't allow you to get a lot of
sleep" Carr said of his team's past two
performances. And neither does
preparing for the Big Ten's teflon team
- Indiana. In his nightmares, should
he ever get to sleep, Carr probably sees
Indiana's freshman quarterback,
Antwaan Randle El, slithering through
his defense - the same defense that
has sunk its teeth into sticky, between-
the-tackles Big Ten running attacks
since losing to two option attacks early
in the season.
Michigan hasn't practiced against
the option since before the Syracuse
game, linebacker James Hall said. And
now, with midterms looming, it's time
to stay up all night and cram.
Like a calculus problem they just
can't solve, the option has stumped the
Wolverines, even when the defense has
known who to study. This week, the
slippery Randle El will be on all of the
Wolverines' crib notes.
"We need to come up with a game
plan where we can keep Randle El
deep in his own territory as much as we
can," Carr said.
What goes a long way toward that
end is actually tackling the person car-
rying the ball, something that hasn't
always been elementary for the
Wolverines this season. Despite their
recent success, it might be tougher
against someone who's as hard to hold
on to as a water weenie.
"Any time a defense over commits
on him, that leaves the pitch and the
option open," Carr said.
Indiana's shiny new freshman
might have Carr up nights, but
Michigan's budding young star, Justin
Fargas, will keep him awake, too. In the
somnolent world of Michigan's ground
game this season (two yards, a fumble
and a splash of mud), Justin Fargas is
like a jolt of double espresso. And the
way he played Saturday night, he
looked like he might have been in an
Evanston coffee house before the
game,
His 31 carries were only part of his
opening night. He played on both kick
and punt coverage, too. His one kick
return (yes, he did that, too) went for
28 yards, and Carr called it the biggest
play of the game, since it set up the
game's only touchdown.
But even bigger might have been
what Fargas didn't do - fumble. With
a ball that was as slippery as, say,
Randle El might turn out to be, Fargas
never lost his grip. And at Michigan,
that's almost as important as the 120
yards he gained.
"What you saw there was one of the
finest efforts by a true freshman since
I've been in coaching." Carr said.
If Fargas hangs on, both to the ball
and the starting job he earned with his
rain dance Saturday, Carr might find
himself finally sleeping easier.
MCCALL HANGS IT UP: Patrick
McCall, originally brought to
Michigan to play tailback and convert-
ed to defensive back, is no longer part
of the Wolverines.
McCall will be transferring because
of lack of playing time, Carr said.
The Carson, Calif. native apparent-
ly asked to be moved to defensive back
early in the season. He recorded
Michigan's first sack of the season
against Notre Dame, but had seen little
playing time since.
WALKING WOUNDED: Linebacker
Dhani Jones and tailback Anthony
Thomas remain banged up from the
Iowa game two weeks ago.
Neither Jones nor Thomas made the
trip to Northwestern this weekend.
Both are listed as "day-to-day," Carr
said.
RAIN DANCE: Punter Jason Vinson
split the Big Ten special teams player
of the week award. The other recipient
of the award this week was Illinois
punter Steve Fitts, after the Fighting
Illini were pummeled by No. 9
Wisconsin this weekend.
Almos
The Indiana football team for the past
Lloyd Carr might be having nightmares about Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle
El. One thing that might help him rest easily is the recent play of Justin Fargas.
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