SportsMonday, January 10, 2000 - The Michigan Daily - 3B Aiture By igk Freeman 114il > orts Editor :Although Anthony T ot'ir Helen Gilbert' nd a number of small suiggtst that Thomas bruijifng tailback, will se iur season. (Abert, though, de knows this is a done de- newspaper reported on I told (the paper), I like for him to stay for] Gilbert said from herI home yesterday. Oilbert said the fin Snomas' and Thomas'a anti declined to say wha wOUld be. She just hopes he'll degee from the Kinesiology. Thomas to disclose plans today Michigan's leading rusher this season with 1,297 yards and also scored 17 homas and his touchdowns, has scheduled an 11 a.m. won't tip their press conference at Crisler Arena I signs seem to today. , Michigan's That the press conference is at Crisler return for his could in itself be a sign that he may stay, because Michigan is not in the habit of nies that she encouraging athletes to leave school al, as a Detroit early. Or it could mean very little, just Saturday. as Thomas' appearance in an early- myself would morning class last week may or may not his final year," have meant anything either. Winnfield, La. Either way, Thomas, who didn't return phone calls from The Michigan al decision is Daily, has made up his mind. alone to make, He also has his mother's support, it that decision no matter if he chooses to play on Saturdays or Sundays next season. stay to get his "Whatever decision he makes, I Division of will stand by him, because he's my , who was son and I love him," Gilbert said. T.A BE RKA Teeig Off M needs to play Hokies to LOUIS BROWN/Dail Michigan running back Anthony Thomas will announce today whether he will skip his senior season and declare himself eligible for the NFL draft. 1n of players Volunteering for draft KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - for 193 yard Tennesse tailback Jamal Lewis, who explosivenes worked his way back from knee surgery Tennessee and then struggled with other injuries Grant is also this season, will forgo his final year of help out hi ehgibility and enter the NFL draft. mother told' In addition to leading the Vols with to be publish 816 yards rushing this season, Lewis Tennessee was fourth on the team with 15 catches back Jamal resterS ov By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer It's funny how quickly things can change. Going into this weekend's Virginia Duals, attended by erepresentatives of Amateur Wrestling News' top 20, t i No. 7 Michigan wrestling team was favored to win. By the end, coach Joe McFarland was thrilled to escape with a third-place showing. 'The trouble started before the Wolverines even left for tre meet. At the team's last competition, the Midlands Championships, 133-pounder Joe Warren injured his le g. As one of the team's veteran leaders, and a recently- named representative to the National Wrestling Coaches / ociation All-Star Classic, Warren's injury was sure e ffect the team. !,ut when the Wolverines got down to Hampton, Va., ' troubles got worse. 'After making it through the first day of competition with relatively few setbacks against Air Force and 1ndiana, Michigan's problems started early on Saturday. Going against No. 16 Northern Iowa, the unthinkable happened when 174-pound Otto Olson, ranked first in Is, but he lacked the same ss he had his first two years. junior free safety Deon turning pro so that he can s family financially, his The Tennessean for a story hed Sunday. also is losing junior tail- Lewis, according to The Tennessean and The Knoxville News Sentinel. Junior offensive guard Cosey Coleman was expected to follow suit. GATORs GONE: Florida wide receivers Darrell Jackson and Travis Taylor dramatically affected the depth chart today by forgoing their senior sea- sons and entering the NFL draft. The 6-foot, 201-pound Jackson caught 72 passes for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. The true junior had seven 100-yard games. The 6-1, 198-pound Taylor caught 45 passes for 619 yards and nine scores. Also a true junior, he was the Most valuable player of the 1999 Orange Bowl. rercome injuries at Duals spice upb/a/i th the football season over, I have been at a loss about what to write. The antics of Todd Howard, Bennie Joppru and crew have consumed my life for the last five months, so the conclusion to the season nine days ago left me searching for something to write about. Due to the habits that I have devel- oped this season, I decided to peruse next year's schedule. There was really no good reason to do this, as I won't be a student when September rolls around. But I checked the schedule out any- way. Unlike most years that I have done this, all I could do was laugh at Michigan's nonconference docket. Bowling Green, Rice and UCLA? Sounds more like a Sunday morning trip to Dunkin' Donuts than the start of a football season for the Wolverines. Although I did laugh initially at the mockery that Michigan's football schedule was, a feeling of hurt washed over me. I realize Lloyd Carr has complained about playing murderous schedules - both in the Big Ten and in the noncon- ference seasons - but the measures taken this season are ridiculous. Come on, why the hell is Michigan playing Bowling Green? The Falcons are a cupcake in a conference filled with shelves of confectionery delights, the Mid-American Conference. Bowling Green hasn't had a winning season since I have been in school. The. Falcons - who are the true Dirty Birds simply because they play like poop - even lost to Akron by 30 points earlier this season. So after the Wolverines obliterate Bowling Green 87-8 - I'm sure even the Falcon starters can get a touchdown on the Michigan freshmen redshirt walkons - Rice comes into Michigan Stadium again. I can see why Rice would be wel- comed back to Ann Arbor. The Owls did combine with the Wolverines to pro- vide one of the more exciting games in recent Michigan history this past season. I'm sure Rice was just feeling out Michigan in its 37-3 loss this past season so they could pull the upset when Sept. 9 rolls around. Honestly, how can a team not cross midfield - even by accident - until three minutes are left in the game? You know those tricky Owls were plotting something. his class and Michigan's other member of the NWCA All-Star Classic, went down with a knee injury against Northern Iowa's Randy Pugh. While a healthy Olson could not have salvaged the round for the Wolverines, a 25-16 loss to Northern Iowa, the tournament's runner-up to No. 12 Edinboro, his injury certainly made things more difficult. In the consolation and third-place rounds, Olson's absence was evident. While Michigan won both match- es, it was disconcerting for the Wolverines to be without their captain. "We couldn't wrestle him in the last two matches," McFarland said. "We were giving them six points." Also, with Warren's absence added to the mix, the coach could barely rest during the two-day tournament. He was constantly having to move his men around and put people in weight classes where they might not have belonged. But considering the injuries, McFarland was very pleased with the outcome. "With the kind of competition that we faced, our guys showed a lot of character," McFarland said. "All the Z00OO schedule guys did great." The two most obvious examples were 184-pound Andy Hrovat and heavyweight Matt Brink. "Both of those guys had a nice tournament," McFarland said. "They were both moving well and being aggressive." For Hrovat, the undefeated performance locked up the 184-pound spot, for which he had been competing all season with Joe DeGain. DeGain will compete in the 197-pound class, a move that the coach described as the "best thing for the team:' Brink also went through the Duals without losing, including a major decision in the first round. But with the Big Ten season looming in two weeks, the team must address its biggest problem - having its two stars cheering on the sidelines. Olson will have an MRI taken this week, but is extremely doubtful for the two meets this weekend, home against Pennsylvania and at Central Michigan. Warren, who spent the weekend rehabbing his leg instead ofjoining the team, may be ready but that is still unknown. Sorry, they weren't. They just simply suck. Michigan will win that game 67- 2, as Hayden Epstein will punt the ball backward out of the end zone out of pure boredom. After that hard-fought trouncing, the Wolverines travel to UCLA to play Cade McNown and John Wooden. I know, UCLA has had a few teams make it to the Rose Bowl and lose to Wisconsin recently. But the Bruins were. 4-7 this season, about equal to Indiana's output. And besides, UCLA's main color is pastel blue, which is gross. Any football team that wears colors that an interior decorator would love is not a threat. After I let out all of this rage, I hap- pened to have a copy of the Newark Star-Ledger in my hand. I really have no clue how this happened, as I don't live in New Jersey and I never have had a desire to visit the Garden State. But I had the Star-Ledger in my hand, so I flipped through it. As I was reading this fine paper, I saw that Michigan had agreed to play in the Kickoff Classic. This gave me excitement, as I started to envision the Wolverines knocking boots with a major power in the Jersey Swamps. But that excitement turned to dis gust again once I read that the Wolverines turned down a matchup with No. 2 Virginia Tech. Instead, Michigan was looking to proposition *Boston College, the same gaggle of fools that lost 62-28 to a less-than- competent Colorado team in the Insight.com Bowl. I think its safe to say that the student body would be excited with a matchup with the Hokies. If Michigan somehow could have gotten past that perennial juggernaut Illinois this season, there would have been a lot of debate on who would have played in the Sugar Bowl this season. Basically, the Kickoff Classic could showcase Virginia Tech as a bunch of turkeys - if the Wolverines grow the spine necessary to schedule the game of that magnitude. Michigan has never ducked a tough football game. Let's hope that it doesn't start this season. - T' Berka would love to trade fo Michael Vick, but that's slightly illegal undercurrent NCAA rules. He can be reached at bekat(ajunich.edu." Since teams may not appear in"the Classic twice in a four-year period, Miami (Fla.), Florida State, Texas A& and Syracuse are not possible opponents for Michigan's first Kickoff Classic. Southern Cal, which played in the 1996 Classic, is technically eligible, but has already slated a high-profile opener with Colorado at the L.A. Coliseum. In last season's Kickoff Classic, Miami (Fla.) defeated Ohio State, 23-12. Each team received a payout of at least $650,000. The 2002 game will mark the end of the Kickoff Classic, since the NCAA has voted to abolish early-season "bowl games.' The first Classic was in 1983 The last time Michigan started its season earlier than normal was the 1995 Pigskin Classic at Michigan Stadium. Quarterback Scott Dreisbach passed for 372 yards and brought the Wolverines back from a 17-0 fourth-quarter deficit. Michigan defeated Virginia, 18-17, in Carr's first game as head coach. 'M' gymnast Vetere takes routine overseas Dan Dingersofl Ialy Spans Xwrter Riding on the bullet train across the Jpanese countryside and touring the ancient Nagoya Castle are not the most typical activities in the days leading up to final exams. But one Michigan athlete was traveling Asia instead of visiting the ,jan December, sophomore gymnast Scott Vetere traveled to Nagoya, Japan to jnpete in the Chunichi Cup. The inter- national competition featured many of the top gymnasts in the world amongst the 13 competitors, including five of the wop 10. Although Vetere was not ranked as highly as some of his competition, he finished 1 lth in the all-around competi- tion while qualifying for five event finals. - Vetere was selected to compete based Po his No. 12 ranking on the U.S. nation- team. He was invited after some of the gher-ranked Americans declined because of injuries and fatigue. The schedule that was set for the trip Aid not give Vetere the best chance to 'succeed in his first international compe- tition as a member of the senior national team. Because of class schedules, and the lengthy 14-hour flight, Vetere could not maintain a standard gymnast's sched- ule. Michigan coach Kurt Golder, who accompanied Vetere on the trip, recom- mends four days of rest for a trip of that length to adjust to the time difference. The duo arrived in Japan the day before the competition, Dec. 10, only allowing for a light warm-up. Although international competitions are very important for gymnasts to improve, they are not always possible for college students because of class sched- ules. Vetere was able to make this trip because it came before finals and was over a weekend. "The reason that we thought it would be okay was because of the timing and because of the long flight," Golder said. "Fourteen hours stuck in one place makes a perfect environment to study, and is probably longer than he would have if he had stayed here" With jetlag, class stresses, and a world-class group of competitors, the prospects of Vetere being extremely suc- cessful in the meet were not great. Vetere showed that he belonged, though, in that class by excelling and qualifying for five event finals, only missing in his weakest event, the high bar. "For him to make five event finals with only one day of preparation was really a great performance," Golder said. Vetere's highest placing in the first day was sixth, which he achieved in both the floor exercise and parallel bars. His floor exercise was particularly impressive. "Our floors use a four-inch spring cov- ered by plywood, then two inches of foam and then the carpet on top. It is a very springy surface that we use in the United States," Golder said. "The area in Japan was equivalent to rolling out a wrestling mat, that is a significant difference. Scott went out there, it was his first event, com- peting under the worst conditions, and he nailed the routine. It was good to see him handle that situation, and it set the, tone for the rest of the competition." Vetere's 11th place finish in the all- around competition was mostly a result of his poor high bar performance, which kept him from a top-five finish. On the second day of competition, in the event finals, the conditions finally began to affect Vetere, and he was not able to perform at the same level that he did the day before. He failed to match any of the scores that he posted in the all- around competition. "I didn't really feel anything negative until Sunday, and the fatigue finally got to me,"Vetere said. The trip was a resounding success though, measured by Vetere and Golder. It was an impressive showing, and will help him in both future international competitions and collegiate competition. "It should give him a lot of confi- dence, seeing that he can compete with those guys," Golder said. "It was a really great experience," Vetere said. "It was frustrating because I wasn't quite at the level of the guys I was competing against, but it will inspire me. I think that I can use this to help myself and my teammates to make us work harder'. CLASSIC Continued from Page 1B before facing UCLA in Pasadena. Last fall, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr criticized Notre Dame for sneaking unranked Kansas into its schedule before the Irish faced No. 7 Michigan in the Wolverines' opener on Sept. 5. Despite early appearances, it seems Michigan will again go without a "warmup" game to start the season, and instead opt for a nationally-televised contest at Giants Stadium. According to BCS rankings, Michigan competed with the second-hardest schedule in the NCAA last season, second only to Alabama, which Michigan defeated in the Orange Bowl. With the Kickoff Classic in East Ratherford, N.J., Michigan conceivably seeks to draw from its heavy East Coast alumni base, and also hopes to increase visibility to East Coast recruiting prospects. j Restaurant 9 ax & Erma's Understands lw y e ti " ,5 the Importance of Educational I %asi. Ambitious, fun-loving individuals can really hit paydirt at Max & Erma's, where our flexible schedules and good wages are perfect for college students seeking full and part-time opportunities. We're winning additional customers at more than 50 locations throughout the nation with excellent food and a casual environment. If you're fanatical about success, join us as: HOSTS/HOSTESSES WAITSTAFF DISHWASHERS NOTE TAKERS FOR EVERY CLASS RUN YOUR OWN LECTURE NOTE SERVICE ON THE WEB SET YOUR OWN PRICE SIGN UP NOW TO EARN CASH! 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