The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 1, 2000 - 3B
,Zimmerman helps gymnasts torch Flames
By Rohit Bhave
Daily Sports Writer
Freshman Kris Zimmerman's
scorching 9.9 on the parallel bars
helped the No. I Michigan men's gym-
nastics team smoke Illinois-Chicago,
26.575-222.425 on Saturday in the
indy City. Zimmerman, became only
the third Wolverine to notch a score of
9.9 or above this season.
In only his second dual meet, the
freshman joins sophomores Josh Levin
and Scott Vetere in reaching the near-
perfect mark. Zimmerman joined the
team this year as part of Coach Kurt
Golder's highly-heralded freshman
class.
Due to loss of All-Americans Justin
Toman, Daniel Diaz-Luong and Kenny
Weener to injury, more inexperienced
gymnasts have been called info duty.
Saturday's meet became as an acid test
for the celebrated freshmen.
Freshman Conan Parzuchowski
served as an excellent example. The
Northville, Michigan resident posted a
strong 9.7 on the still rings one week
after sitting out the home opener
against Iowa. He joins a number of
Wolverines stating their case for a per-
manent spot on the end-of-the-season
rotation.
Also, Tim Dehr stepped up his per-
formance this week, coming off last
week's 9.85 on the pommel horse. His
consistent work ranging from 9.250 on
the floor exercise to 9.550 on the par-
allel bars gave the Wolverines a steady
flow of points throughout the meet -
all this from a gymnast who received
little work last season.
While the freshmen impressed,
Scott Vetere continued his torrid sea-
son and set a Michigan record 9.85 on
the vault. The flashy Olympic hopeful
has the go-ahead from Michigan coach
Kurt Golder to wear his characteristic
blue headband in meets.
"It serves as a reminder to me that
this sport is supposed to be fun,'
Vetere said.
He hopes to distribute the head-
bands in meets this season, much like
the t-shirts they already toss to the
crowd.
Toman did not compete because he
had a cortizone shot to aid an ailing
shoulder. The treatment should allow
him to compete in all six all-around
events in both the tri-meet against
Penn State and Minnesota on Friday
Saturday.
Saturday's meet typifies the sort of
meet that top-ranked program's win.
Although the Wolverines experienced
an overall decrease in their scores from
last week's defeat of Iowa, they still
managed to thump the Flames in every
event. It is said that a team knows
when it is good when it can win con-
sistently without competing at its best.
Michigan men's gymnastics takes that
axiom one step further by dominating
without their best.
In a departure from last season when
Golder would rest the team the day
before meets, in this Olympic year he
has chosen to maximize practice time
by working the team harder instead.
The result is a possible sacrifice in
dual-meet performance for long-term
success.
T J
BERKA
Teeing Off
:
A
Friends, Romans, Maize
Ragers - lend me your ears
and the meet against
Ohio State
Michigan falls hard to Illini, nips Boilers
By Ryan C. Moloney
Daily Sports Writer
FORT WAYNE Ind. - -Tucked in a cozy corner of
Northern Indiana, the gym in Carroll High School
proved itself a Hoosiers-esque backdrop for a team that
is fast becoming a real-life incarnation of the scrappy
Hickory Huskers.
The Michigan wrestling team, undermanned and
fatigued, squeezed out a victory over Purdue yesterday
21-15. In true Hollywood fashion, the Wolverines took
it down to the wire, needing a Damian Logan pin on
Purdue's Luis Blanco to break a 15-15 stalemate.
On Friday night against Illinois, the script wasn't quite
as good -- not even B-movie material. Michigan ran
into an orange and blue brickwall - but the 26-9 final
ould be considered an accomplishment in some
respects.
"The guys really fought admirably," Michigan coach
Joe McFarland said. "They tried hard but we just don't
have the horsepower Illinois has right now"
Illinois entered the contest with eight ranked wrestlers
among their top 10, and results to back up a considerably
higher ranking than their current slot at No. 6.
"We've beaten Minnesota, Iowa State and Oklahoma
in tournaments and yet we're behind them," Illinois
coach Mark Johnson said. "We think we're a pretty good
team - we'll figure it all out at the end of the year, any-
way."
For a while, it looked like Michigan had the Illini all
figured out.
Andy Hrovat, ranked No. 12, started things off with a
tight 7-5 win at 184 pounds over No. 4 Nate Patrick. In
the 197 match, Joe DeGain ripped offa surprising clutch
victory in double overtime with an escape from Pat
Quirk.
Just like that, Michigan led 6-0.
"When you lose a match you're heavily favored in,
you can't afford to do that too often," Johnson said.
"There were some alarms going off in my head."
In the heavyweight class, Michigan's Matt Brink lost
a close, but largely defensive battle, 4-2 to John
Lockhart. But the tide turned for good when A.J. Grant
was pinned by Ryan Escobar at the 2:45 mark of the first
round at 125.
The loss keyed off a tough weekend for Grant - he
was major decisioned yesterday by Purdue's Jason
Silverstein, 14-5.
"A.J.'s standing around too much, McFarland said.
"When you stand around, bad things happen - he gave
(Silverstein) too much respect today."
Michigan started in similar fashion against Purdue,
with Mike Kulczvcki and Tony Holifield recording
close minor decisions at 140 and 157, respectively.
After a Mark Churella loss, Charles Martelli recorded
his first victory of the year with a 5-4 minor over Jon
Fitch at 174."It was definitely nice to get a victory where
it was more important to him," Martelli said of his win
over hometown favorite Fitch. "(The work) has all paid
off."
t was a typical Saturday night.
My boys and I were gathered
around the television, flipping
through the channels while drinking
some beer.
As we engaged in our typical
prepartying banter, one of my .
friends said perhaps the dumbest
thing I've ever heard coming out of
his mouth.
"Hey, Slippy and Slappy (those
aren't their actual names, I just for-
got what their real names are) need
tickets to the basketball game on
Tuesday. They are coming down
from State and we should probably
look to get them tickets."
I was taken aback by this com-
ment. Why would a Wolverine go
out of his way to help a Spartan get
basketball tickets? Didn't my friend
remember what happened last year?
I sure as hell did. I remember
Michigan State coming into Crisler
Arena and embarrassing the
Wolverines. While that sucked pretty
hard, it wasn't as horrible as what
was going on in the stands circling
the court.
In fact, nothing I have encoun-
tered at this school was more humili-
ating than that night at Crisler
Arena..
That night saw members of the
Izzone - Michigan State's cute little
basketball cheering section - out-
shouting the quiet-as-church mice
Michigan student and alumni sec-
tions.
It made me sick to my stomach.
I hated every moment of the last
five minutes of that game. I hated
the Sparty fans - who usually have
no reason to feel good about them-
selves, save the occasional couch
burning or cow-tipping - whoop-
ing it up in our house.
It also pissed me off because it
was a clear beacon of something
which I hope would never happen.
For once, the Spartans were better
than the Wolverines at something.
Michigan State had beaten us in bas-
ketball, hockey, and later down the
road, football.
But being the buffoons that they
are, Michigan State couldn't just be
satisfied with winning a game over
Michigan. They had to screw around
and make Michigan look like a
school of schmucks.
So when I heard my friend talking
about getting his Michigan State
friends tickets, I got mad. All the
bad karma which came from seeing
the Sparty fans dance their stupid lit-
tie Spartan dance at Crisler Arena
boiled up, and I exploded on my
friend.
After laying into my friend for
about 10 minutes about getting his
friends tickets, I was thinking about
what I could do to make sure that
the events of last year weren't
repeated tomorrow. I had to do my
part to make sure that win or lose,
the Michigan State fans wouldn't
dance again.
During this thinking, I remem-
bered I had a column in the Daily, so
I thought I would use this space to
say one thing:
No matter what you do, do not sell
your ticket to or purchase a ticket for
anyone who bleeds green and white..
I don't care if your best friend/
boyfriend/girlfriend goes to that
school.
I don't care if your best friend
since you were seven years old
attends Michigan State.
I don't even care if your parents,
brothers, sisters, uncles, or cousins
from Michigan State ask you for
tickets.
There is only one suitable
response to all Michigan State peo-
ple that ask for tickets to the game
tomorrow.
No.
There is no way 1, or the rest of
this students at the University, can
allow the heathens from East
Lansing to come down and wreak ,
havoc at Crisler Arena.
Not only do they smell bad and
act like children, Spartans just don't
know when to be quiet and accept
success with class.
As the old adage goes, "Act like
you've been there." The Michigan
State fans refuse to do this, as any
sort of fleeting success that they do
have is overblown to ridiculous levels.
While I want us to beat down the
Spartans, I'm not sure if its going to
happen. But if State does win, I don't-
want a bunch of green gremlins jump-
ing around Crisler like it's Romper
Room.
So citizens of the University, do yor
part. Keep the Spartans out of Crisler.
-TJ. Berka thinks everyone in a
green shirt should be given a veggie
tomorrow night. If you agree, email
hii at beikat eumich.ed.
M' graduate coaches
Ilii over Wolverines
By Dan Williams
Daily Sports Writer
FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- The inepti-
tude of the Illinois wrestling program in
the 1970's led Mark Johnson, a native
son, to attend Michigan in 1974.
The former Wolverine finished sec-
ond twice in the NCAA wrestling cham-
*ionships, in 1976 and 1977.
But when he became a coach,
Johnson hoped to eventually returning
home to resurrect the Illinois program.
"I always wanted the Illinois job:'
Johnson said. "For years and years it was
a very poor program. I always wanted to
turn it around."
When the opportunity arose in 1992,
Johnson left his head coaching job at
Oregon State to coach the Fighting Illini.
0 Illinois athletic director Ryan Gunther
promised Johnson the university would
allocate more resources to wrestling.
"They gave me a commitment,"
Johnson said. "They doubled the budget,
gave me a full staff and upgraded the
facilities.
Johnson admits that durng his college
days, he fell in love in with Michigan's
shorts teams and the town of Ann Arbor.
But Johnson cast those feelings aside
when he agreed to turn the Illinois pro-
gram around, something he's done suc-
cessfully. In 1998 Johnson led his squad
to a seventh-place finish nationally -
the best showing in more than 40 years.
The win over Michigan on Friday
upped Johnson's record against his alma
mater to 5-4. Of those five wins against
the Wolverines, the latest one may be the
best illustrator of Johnson's success in
resurrecting Illinois' program.
In the 26-9 triumph in Champaign, the
Illini grapplers handled one of college
wrestling's traditional powers with rela-
tive case. This win may legitimize
Illinois as a national title contender.
"Their program is in good shape,"
Michigan coach Joe McFarland said.
"Mark's done a great job with this team
over the years, no question about it."
Michigan can probably look forward
to numerous hard-fought matches with
Illinois in the future as long as Johnson
is the Illini coach. And Johnson can look
back on his college days in Ann Arbor
fondly, as long as he remembers that his
chief allegiance now is to Champagne.
"I still pay a little more attention to
Michigan," Johnson said. "But as good
as Illinois treats me, I want to see them
win over Michigan every time. I know
where the paychecks come from"
GYM NASTS
Continued from Page 1B
been really rough for me, so (posting a
9.785) was a huge lift off my chest. I'm
feeling really confident now'
Senior captain Sarah Cain led the
Wolverines, recording season highs in all
four events and the all-around (39.7) for a
third consecutive all-around title. Cain's
near-flawless execution of a difficult
vault in the opening event gave the unfor-
tunate GymKats a hint of things to come
and an early deficit to surmount.
Six Wolverine competitors captured
the uneven bars top six places. Cain and
freshman Tara Tagliarino tied for first
place, while the overmatched Kentucky
squad fell even further behind.
"Fell" is an appropriate expression;
the GymKats were plagued by falls
throughout the night, while in contrast,
Michigan suffered only one setback.
Despite the lone fall's occurrence on the
balance beam, the Wolverines managed
to tie their third-best balance beam score
of all time for the second straight week,
recording a 49.3. Missy Peterson's first
appearance on the apparatus this season
proved successful, as the sophomore took
first place with a career-best of 9.95.
"I've been working my butt off in prac-
tice because I've been wanting to prove to
my coach that I know I can do this beam
routine" an ecstatic Peterson said.
While the beam was an Achilles heel
for the Wolverines earlier in the season, to
Plocki's delight, it has blossomed into a
strength.
"It's totally about being confident, and
totally about being in control of what
we're doing,' she said. "I'm thrilled to see
that we've hit beam three weeks in a row,
because the beam is one of those events
that can kill you."
The floor exercise provided another
showcase for the Wolverines and a
chance to reward the 1,265 fans in atten-
dance. Sweeping the top six spots again,
Michigan put an exclamation point on the
entertainment standpoint of the night.
Jodie Rosenberg's routine fired up the
crowd and spurred nearly all in atten-
dance to stand up and clap rhythmically.
.lanessa Grieco lived up to the moniker of
"meet-baby" bestowed by Plocki, confi-
dently strutting, beaming at the conclu-
sion of a career-best 9.925. The
GymKats' floor exercise, on the other
hand. was aesthetically plagued as spo-
radic cat roars and meows were a staple
of Kentucky's musical palette.
"My athletes draw energy from the
crowd," Plocki said. "I think that's key to
our success, to see a packed arena. I
won't be happy until we pack Crisler."
Based on Friday's results, Plocki's
dream of performing in front of a sold-
out crowd will come closer to reality.
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. Spending hot & "humid summer
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If you answered "A" to any of the above, choose a summer in the "Last Best Place."
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