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The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 30, 1999 - 11
*Golfers
create own
destinies
By Uma Subramanian
Daily Sports Writer
Golf, on many levels, is an individ-
ual's game. The vision of the golfer
standing isolated at the tee with a large
and silent gallery, intently focused on
his shot creates a lonely image.
Actually, in competitive golf, that's
a representative description. It's true
everywhere except in collegiate golf.
( n that, though, it is still one person
, aging a mental war with himself in
order to shoot the lowest score, it is,
above all, a team game.
"It's important that they realize it's a
team sport at this level," said
Michigan men's golf coach Jim
Carras. "The team is affected by the
play of every person.
"If one player is self-serving and
doesn't care how he plays, the team
ioesn't do well. It's important that
veryone contribute."
Collegiate golf tournaments are
scored by taking the four lowest scores
from a team and then adding them
together. The composite score is the
team score which determines final
standings in a tournament. The catch
is that each team has only five
entrants.
Unlike many other sports, golfers
decide their own fate. In competition,
e golfers do not have contact with
anyone. The coach does not tell them
what plays to make nor what club to
use in given situation. On the course
the Wolverines make their own deci-
sions.
Eight golfers have varsity status at
Michigan. But since only five of them
can compete weekly, there must be
some way to separate out who gets to
lay.
During the fall season, while trying
to assess individual capabilities,
Carras hand-picked the travel team in
order to see who would fare well in
tournament play. As a result, everyone
Crew disappointed
with poor showing
By Emily Achenbaum
Daily Sports Writer
Although the skies were clear and
the sun was shining, the Michigan
women's rowing team's experience at
last weekend's San Diego Crew
Classic in Mission Bay, Calif., can
best be described as getting "weath-
ered".
The Wolverines knew that highly
skilled Virginia and defending
national champion Washington were
the schools to beat. They also knew
that they had been pulling times
faster than ever before in practice.
They also knew they stood a shot at
beating the favorites.
What the Wolverines didn't know
was the degree of composure and
intense mental edge they would need
in order to win.
After qualifying for Sunday's final
in Saturday's brutal race, the team's
first varsity eight boat finished fifth
overall.
The second varsity eight boat and
novice boat both finished seventh
overall, winning their respective
petite finals.
While Michigan came back in its
Sunday races, its performance in
Saturday's qualifying heats was crip-
pling.
"We raced poorly on Saturday,"
said Michigan coach Mark Rothstein.
"We did not row with composure; we
got into the heat of the battle, and we
weren't efficient."
"We are definitely physically in top
form - mentally, we're not," senior
Heather Uhring said. "Saturday's race
was very powerful, and we didn't get
it together. We didn't row as one.
"Within the first couple of strokes,
we were behind, and we couldn't get
it back together."
Coming off a triumphant slaughter-
ing of the Spartans during the previ-
ous weekend's scrimmages, the
results were disappointing.
The team was "a little tense going
in. It was our first official race of the
season, and we were matched up
against the teams we'll be seeing at
nationals," senior Vita Scaglione
said.
The team was also caught off guard
by the suddenly formidable presence
of several west coast competitors,
including California and Southern
California.
"A lot of west coast teams got real-
ly fast - we didn't know they'd got-
ten so fast," Uhring said.
But the Wolverines learned an
important lesson - their greatest
weakness - early in the season. With
another race against Virginia just a
few days away, Michigan is eager to
work hard on improving its mental
edge and finding its niche as a team.
"San Diego was a fabulous learn-
ing experience - a wake-up call."
Scaglione said. "We may have talent,
but it's not going to be easy."
"We didn't row our best, but we're
within striking distance," Rothstein
said, who like Scaglione and Uhring,
is excited to face Virginia again this
weekend.
Their experience in San Diego has
given the team a different sense of
purpose.
Before its season opener, the
Wolverines knew they were strong
and fast but did not know where that
put them. But now that their abilities
have been measured against the
sport's toughest competitors, it's clear
what work the team has cut out for
them.
"It's going to take extraordinary
effort, which we have, and an
extreme amount of mental toughness,
which we have to work on,"
Scaglione said.
"But we thrive on challenge.
Racing UVA can only make us bet-
ter."
The Wolverines next trip is this
weekend to Columbus where they
will take on North Carolina and
Virginia.
SARASCHENCK/.Daily
The Michigan men's golf team has this weekend off to practice. Next weekend they will play in the Marshall invitational in
Huntington, West Virginia.
had opportunities.
But now, during the second half of
the season, the stakes are a little bit
higher. Here again, the golfers control
their own destinies.
In basketball and football, the
coaches decide who will play. An indi-
vidual will only compete if the coach
is confident that he or she can get the
job done.
In contrast, on Carras' team, the
players make those decisions for him.
Those that have strong showings,
defined as consistently low rounds in
the most recent tournament, are
almost always guaranteed spots on the
following week's trip.
For the remaining players, during
practice that week, those who did not
compete have a chance to prove them-
selves and those who played poorly
have the opportunity to redeem them-
selves.
Granted anyone can have an off-day
or even an off-week. Practice is the
time to make sure that those who are
competing are up to par - literally
and figuratively.
The week of practice culminates in
two-round qualifiers. The rules are
simple: those who shoot the lowest
scores get the spots. Though method
may seem appear to create a highly
competitive atmosphere, Carras
believes it is the only way.
"I want them to have the opportuni-
ty to create their own destiny," Carras
said. "I don't want to hand-pick them.
They earn the right to play.
"They don't like qualifying, they
don't want to have to do it. But the
kids sitting at home work just as hard
as the kids who travel. It's the only
way to be fair to everybody. They cre-
ate their own destiny."
Blue shies away from superstition during streak
By Jon Zemke
Daily Sports Writer
'It's bad luck to talk about streaks.
Players get really superstitious about
them. Some wear the same clothes,
some follow the exact same procedure
before every at bat and some go
bohemian and refuse to shower.
Fortunately for the player's roomates,
the coaches of the Michigan softball
team refuse to talk about the streak.
Their only comment concerning the
Creak is, "Shhhhh... Don't jinx it."
The unbeaten streak (20-0-1) that
Michigan has enjoyed this season
stretches all the way back to the begin-
ning of March. After beginning the
season 5-5 in February, the Wolverines
entered March with high expectations
to improve their then .500 record.
They went above and beyond those
expectations as they proceeded to run
over every opponent on their way to
staying unbeaten so far this month.
r ichigan has only a doubleheader at
'eastern Michigan on Wednesday to
* JUST SIX MORE
DAYS UNTIL
SPORTSMONDAY-
stand in its way of remaining unbeaten.
That contest at Eastern Michigan
will be the christening game for the
Eagles' new softball field. It also
marks the first time that Eastern has
played Michigan before the beginning
of the Big Ten season.
During last year's contest,
Michigan's star senior pitcher, Sara
Griffin, came in to pitch when she
wasn't scheduled, to seal the win. The
victory was the 100th of her Wolverine
career.
Ranked No. 8 in the nation, the
Wolverines should keep the streak
alive against Eastern Michigan.
Michigan has won three separate
tournaments during the unbeaten
streak.
In what assistant coach Bonnie
Tholl called, "the toughest tournament
the team will play in until the World
Series," Michigan took out all the
competition in the Speedline Classic.
The Wolverines beat then No. 17
Illinois-Chicago and No. 13 South
Carolina en route to their first tourna-
ment championship of the season.
Michigan has gone on to victory in
the Capitol Classic and the
Boilermaker Invitational. The only
blemish to their record came at the
Capitol Classic where the team literal-
ly had to run off the field during extra
innings against No. 21 Iowa in order to
make their flight back home.
The game was decided as a tie and
the championship shared between
Michigan and Iowa.
Several players were crucial in help-
ing the Wolverines in their quest for
near perfection.
Jamie Gillies who was 0-2 before
the unbeaten streak has won six games
since. Marie Barda was 0-1 before the
streak and has won eight games since
then, establishing herself as
Michigan's hardest throwing pitcher.
Even freshman Kate Eiland has won
five straight since absorbing the last
loss for the Wolverines.
Perhaps the biggest reason Michigan
has been able to continue such a streak
is the hot bats of Catherine Davie and
Karmen Lappo.
Lappo has taken over the catching
position for injured star catcher
Melissa Gentile. It is through her help
and leadership that the pitchers have
held opponents to only three runs in
the last six games.
She has been an instrumental part of
keeping the Wolverines running, but
shhh... Don't tell them that.
Stop by
or call 764-0554 to have your
SENIOR WISH published April 15th
deadline March 31
Norm The six years you spent running up the tab at our
bar was great business, and we're gonnaamiss you here.
No more seeing you in a drunken stuper and embarrass -
ing yourself in everyway possible. Good luck with collect-
ing garbage next year. -Sam (your bartender)
0 3.
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