Men ready
-ly Ma Mo
Following a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten
7Championships, the Michigan men's track team
;Josed the book on its indoor campaign and
began looking ahead to the outdoor season. But
or two Wolverines, the biggest test still looms.
Distance runners Jay Cantin and Steve
awrence were the lone Wolverines to qualify for
2000 NCAA Championships and the pair will
tavel to Arkansas next week to compete with the
premier runners in the nation.
Cantin, who is making his second consecu-
tive trip to the NCAAs, qualified for the mile run
at the Meyo Invitational with an official time of
4:00.70, the fourth-fastest time in the country. He
said he hopes to improve upon his seventh-place
finish a year ago and become only the second
Wolverine miler ever to garner All-American
*onors two year in a row.
Lawrence qualified in the 5000-meter run at
the Silverston Invitational with a time of
~ 14:05.42, good for I Ith best in the nation. He is
making his first appearance at the Indoor
Championships, though he had an ill-fated expe-
nence at the outdoor competition.
In 1999, Lawrence qualified automatically
for the NCAAs but did not place because he
'M' has noth
By Dan Dingerson Wolv(
Daily Sports Writer two
they
Seven weeks. up. I
That's how long the Michigan cerne
men's gymnastics team has been atop the V
'the national rankings. With a lead of natio
5 points over Ohio State, it will "Th
a most certainly remain there no last y
matter what it does this weekend in most
East Lansing against Michigan State. jump
With their No. I ranking safe, the thoug
Wolverines have other things to Ten's.
focus on - improving their hit per- ond
centage and continuing to get onshi
healthy. Go
. Michigan coach Kurt Golder is manc
-oncerned about his team's hit per- the ba
° ntage, which has been hovering win -
around 70 percent all year. hurt y
The team defines a hit as a routine "It'
without any major mistakes, and up," C
rates each routine as a hit, half-hit or done
miss. Sin
"Our hit percentage continues to regul
be a problem," Golder said. "Last Wolve
week at Santa Barbara we were at time.
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March
9, 2000- 23A
for NCAAs
failed to finish the race.
"I hope to do a lot better this time around,"
Lawrence said. "I think I'm a better run than I
was back then"
Lawrence arrives at the meet injury-free, and
coming off a third place showing at the Big Ten
Championships. The same cannot be said for
Cantin who is suffering from an ankle injury at
the most inopportune time.
"My ankle is still bothering me," Cantin said.
"I am hoping it feels better this weekend."
Cantin's ankle injury prevented him from cap-
turing the mile run at the Big Ten Championships,
halting a streak of seven-straight years that a
Michigan runner had won the mile race.
But teammates are confident that Cantin will
shake off the pain and perform his best.
"He's looked great in practice this week," dis-
tance runner Mark Pilja said. "I'm expecting him
to run very well."
Pilja is one of several Wolverines planning to
make the trip down to Fayateville and root on his
teammates in their run to glory.
"A bunch of us are going down there," Pilja
said. "Those guys are representing our team and
they deserve our support."
Two other Wolverines flirted with a trip to the
NCAAs. Fellow distance runner Mike
Wisniewski and pole vaulter Charles DeWildt
Distance Duo
Senior distance runners Jay Canitin and Steve
Lawrence were the lone Wolverines to quali-
fy for the NCAA Indoor Chanpionships in
Arkansas March 10-11. Here are the times
that sent them to Arkansas:
Name Jay Qantin Steve Lawrenc e
Event Mile Run 5000 Mmeter
%4' netters step outdoors
Time 4:00.70
Rank 4th
14:05.42
IIth
both posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks
during the season and ranked nationally in their
events. Yet, neither of their scores held up when
the final field was determined.
As a result, the pressure is on Cantin and
Lawrence if Michigan is to improve upon it's
47th-place finish at last year's championships.
Both men should benefit from the presence of
Ron Warhurst. Though Warhurst is in his first
season as Michigan coach, he has served the last
26 years as the distance running specialist, and
has coached the likes of Kevin Sullivan and John
Scherer to national championships.
"I feel fortunate to be working with someone
like Ron'" Cantin said. "ie is really helping us
get ready,"
By Brian Steere
Daily Sports Writer
As February turns into March and the snow
begins to melt, a few things happen at Michigan.
Students leave for spring break. The baseball and
softball teams start their seasons. March Madness
erupts for men's and women's hoops. And finally,
the men's tennis team launches into its outdoor sea-
son of play.
After escaping California last week with a 4-3
win over San Diego State, Michigan coach Mark
Mees knows that his team needs to practice more
outside.
"This was our first outdoor match of the year, and
I think it showed," Mees said. "We were fortunate to
come out of there with a win."
Senior co-captain John Long added his own com-
ments about playing outside.
"It is definitely a tough adjustment, but I think it
is more mental than physical,' Long said. "You have
to be willing to play through the conditions and
grind out more points."
Despite the scare from San Diego State, the
victory improved Michigan's record to 6-0.
The team travels to Louisiana this weekend for
two dual matches against Louisiana-Lafayette
and Tulane. These will be the final nonconfer-
ence opponents for the Wolverines until they
face Notre Dame on April 13.
With the Big Ten season starting in less than two
weeks, it may be easy for the team to look past this
weekend's trip to the Bayou.
"We can't afford to look ahead to conference
play," senior Ron Nano said. "Tulane and Louisiana-
Lafayette are two dangerous opponents."
Long added how the team is handling the situation.
"I know it's a clich6, but we're taking one match
at a time;' Long said. "We realize that we have to
focus on the task at hand and avoid overlooking cer-
tain opponents."
A main contributor to the Wolverines' success this
season has been Henry Beam. The sophomore out of
Kalamazoo is undefeated in dual match competition
with six singles and two doubles wins.
"I've been fortunate to play well this year, but I
can't take all of the credit," Beam said. "I think the
outstanding senior leadership has really pushed me,
and it's the reason for the team's great start"
After such a great start, it's hard to pinpoint
any specific weaknesses for Michigan. However,
the one area where the team would like to
improve is their doubles play. Long and fellow
co-captain Brad McFarlane are particularly upset
about their 4-2 record at No. 2 doubles.
"It's frustrating when you lose a couple of tough
matches,"McFarlane said. "We need to start serving
better in order to have a successful outdoor season.
ing to lose at State
[The American Movement for Israel and Hamagshamim present
verines can afford to miss one or
routines in every event because
are strong throughout the line-
n spite of this, Golder is con-
d because it will take more for
Wolverines to defend their 1999
nal championship.
his year is similar to our team
year - we were in the 70's for
of the year," Golder said. "We
ed it up in the postseason
h, moving into the 80's at Big
and then 97 percent on the sec-
day at the national champi-
ps."
lder relates his team's perfor-
e to a football team that turns
all over a lot, but continues to
- eventually the turnovers will
ou.
s just a matter of stepping it
Golder said. "They just haven't
it yet."
nce this weekend marks the last
ar season meet for the
erines, it represents a perfect
for the team to step it up, espe-
against a Michigan State team
s surging.
e Spartans have moved up to
in the country after finding
elves as low as I11 th earlier in
the season. Michigan State's rise in
the rankings has coincided with the
return of some of its top gymnasts
from injury.
Additional motivation for the
Spartans comes from the opportunity
to defeat their hated rivals, the No. 1
Wolverines, at home.
"They are making a move at the
right time, and they will be coming
after us," Golder said.
In addition, Michigan is slowly
recovering from injuries.
Daniel Diaz-Luong and Brad
Kenna may compete in more events
than they have in recent weeks, as
they attempt to recover from season-
long injuries. On the downside,
freshman Kris Zimmerman will take
a slight rest due to a sore back.
"We can still get a lot stronger in
our lineup," Golder said. "To have
Kenna and Diaz-Luong back - they
are both All-Americans - really
helps us to be a lot stronger."
For the No. 1 Wolverines - who
have been dominant -- the problems
have been overshadowed by their tal-
ent.
This is the last chance for
Michigan to work out its problems
before things really start to count.
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only 63 percent, at this point in the
season we should be at 80 percent."
, Michigan has been winning and
' oring high, but that has been
because of the team's depth. The
cially
that i
The
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Zone meet do-or-die for divers
By Benjamin Singer
Daily Sports Writer
The swimmers of the NCAA have
made their final cases for going to the
NCAA Championships as they have
swam their last competitive events until
the championships. Divers, however,
have to reprove their worth before
advancing.
Minneapolis will host the NCAA
Diving Zone meet for both men and
women in zone C to decide who can go
on to the NCAAs on March 10-12. It is a
*rdle on the road to the championships
Tir the divers that the swimmers don't
have to jump.
"It is an extra step and it's a difficult
step," Michigan men's and women's div-
ing coach Dick Kimball said. "You could
take the Big Ten Championship and still
not go to the NCAAs."
The reason for the zone meets is
because diving scores are arbitrary. The
suIts do not necessarily show what per-
iLmances are better than others from
different meets because of different
judges basing the scores in comparison to
the previous dives of that meet.
G Senior tri-captain Josh Trexler from
the men's team and senior Hanna Shin
and juniors Amanda Crews and Theresa
DeSitter from the women's will represent
Michigan.
This is the first trip to a zone meet for
DeSitter, but the experience is familiar to
the others. Trexler is making his second
appearance while Shin and Crews will be
there for a third time. All, three went to
the NCAAs after trips to the zone meet.
Each qualified with an automatic
score and is allowed to dive in all three
events - the one-meter, three-meter and
tower. Only DeSitter will not participate
in all three.
The top six of approximately 40
women and six of 25-30 men advance to
the NCAAs. In the NCAAs, divers may
participate in any event that they compet-
ed in during the zone meet.
_________________________________________________________________________ a
Free
&
Easy.
~ ( 2 words
you won't hear
coming out
of her mouth.)
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