NCAA update _
For an updated bracket in the Pizza
House - michigandaily.com Final Four
Challenge, go to the Daily Sports
website.
Also check online for the 2000 NCAA
wrestling Champions.
michigandaily.com/sports
SPORTS
TUESDAY
MARCH 21, 2000
10
Vetere inherits leadership
role in Toman's wake
By Dan Dingerson
DailySports Writer
EAST LANSING . "Don't hurt
cm'-young fella."'
Scott Vetere, only a sophomore,
claimed his place in the Michigan
history books Friday night.
With a performance that topped
anyone who has ever worn a
Wolverines' uniform, Vetere scored
a 58.7 in the all-around to claim the
Big Ten title. The performance was a
team record, the.
highest score in
the nation this
year and possibly
an NCAA record., ,
There is some F
debate among the
coaches about the.
litter.
Vetere blitzed Vete
the field and ere
claimed the title by beating out
Todd Strada by more than a point.
Vetere's score eclipsed his own team
record, which he had set two weeks
prior.
LI is exciting to score so high and
Winthe Big Ten title," Vetere said. "I
still know that I can improve my
score though, I made some mistakes,
and I want to do better."
Doing better is not something that
Vetere has had a problem with
recently. He has performed better
than any gymnast in the country in
recent weeks, and had already
moved to the No. I ranking in the
all-around.
He scored routines above 9.9
eight times in his last four meets,
and is still improving.
"I'm just healthy right now,"
Vetere said at the conclusion of the
regular season.
"Things are coming together for
me at the right time. Hopefully I will
be able to keep it up through Big
Ten's and national's."
Vetere not only matched his best
performance of this season, he
eclipsed it by performing more con-
sistently than he had previously.
His lowest score in claiming the
all-around title was a 9.55 on high
bar, his self-proclaimed weakest
event. '
On the other five events he quali-
fied for individual finals by posting
the top score on two events - the
pommel horse and still rings - while
claiming second on the vault, third
on the parallel bars and fifth on the
floor exercise.
After claiming the all-around title
with his record setting performance
en route to leading the team to a Big
Ten title, Vetere played down his
chances for the following night.
"I'm not that upset that I didn't
qualify for high bar," Vetere said.
"I think that I am going to be
really tired tomorrow; it will be
hard."
Following along with the celebra-
tory tone of the evening, and his
efforts to relax after claiming the
all-around title, Vetere sported a
headband for the individual finals.
"I just wanted to have fun today,"
Vetere said. "I wore the headband
again to symbolize having fun."
His efforts to have fun, and his
light workout during the day could
not stop Vetere from dominating the
field again.
Although he had to run between
events to accommodate the order of
performance, he was undaunted.
Vetere opened with a fourth place
finish on the floor exercise, and then
took over the meet.
He proceeded to take the individ-
ual title on the next three events
pommel horse, still rings and vault.
He would have claimed the title on
parallel bars as well, but was over-
taken by teammate Kris
Zimmerman.
While it is easy to get caught up in
his scores, it was perhaps the leader-
ship that he showed over the week-
end which was most impressive for
the sophomore.
It is leadership and scores that are
necessary in the absence of co-cap-
tain Justin Toman, who is out with a
knee injury.
After his dismount from the paral-
lel bars - his final event for the
evening - Vetere immediately
walked over to Zimmerman and
began to encourage him. While
Zimmerman waited for his turn on
the bars, Vetere was the one who
helped him prep the apparatus for
his routine.
"Zimm' and I always have a bet in
practice to see who is going to win
p-bars, because our scores are
always really close," Vetere said.
"When I finished up, I went over a
told him that I didn't stick my land-
ing, and I left the door open for him
to win.
"I chalk the bars up for him, so I
guess I kind of control his destiny,
but it's great that he won."
Having set a record in claiming
the all-around title, winning three
individual titles, claiming all-Big
Ten honors six times over, and
repeating as team Big Ten
Champions, it wouldn't seem that
life could get any better for Vetere.
It did.
At the end of the meet he was
named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.
"It was tremendous to win, and it
shows all of the hard work that I
have put in all year," Vetere said. "I
still have two more years here, and
nationals this year.
"I want us to win all four years."
DAVID KATZ/Dadiy
Mike Cammalleri and his Michigan teammates are hoping this weekend's setback to Nebraska-Omaha in the CCHA
Tournament will be educational as they prepare for their NCAA Tournament date with Colgate on Friday.
National Championship
team mtvtS .crent icers
As usual, a
'M' softball
starts hot
By Sam Duwe
Daily Sports Writer
On a weekend when leprechauns
search for the pot of gold and students
yearn for green beer, the Michigan soft-
ball team looked for wins - and it
found them.
"We had an outstanding weekend,"
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said.
"We just keep on getting better."
The Wolverines went undefeated
the Tallahassee Democrat Florida St
Invitational, winning six games and
improving to 18-6 on the season.
Michigan, the tournament's only
ranked team, beat both Iowa State and
Princeton 3-1, then concluded Friday
with a 9-1 win over Georgia Southern.
"We started out slowly Friday, falter-
ing in our first couple games," Hutchins
said. "It wasn't until Georgia Southern
that we started to pick up and play."
Saturday included wins o
Massachusetts (3-0) and Florida St
(6-1). Sunday, Michigan handily shut
out Kansas in the championship, 9-0.
This was Michigan's first tournament
win of the season, and the second time
in the past four tries that the Wolverines
have won the FSU Invitational.
Marissa Young stood out for
Michigan, earning tournament MVP
She justified it with a grand slam
against Florida State, her second of 4
year.
"When you have a player who pitch-
es shutouts and hits the ball over the
fence, it's quite an asset to the team,"
Hutchins said. "I'm very pleased at her
success as a freshman."
With the Big Ten season quickly
approaching, these earlyspring tourna-
ments are a time to iron out the kinks in
the lineup and figure out what works.
"Every weekend we're going out
compete - to practice winnin
Hutchins said. "We've improved over
the last four tournaments, but they're
things we can work on. Right now, we
play to the level of our competition.
Still, the future looks bright for
Michigan softball, and that's the atti-
tude that Hutchins wants to bring to the
field.
"We must carry ourselves with the
presence of a World Series cali,
team," Hutchins said.
"We must go into every game think-
ing like a champion."
By Stephanie Offen
Daily Sports Editor
It was two years ago yesterday that the Michigan hockey
team lost the semi-final game of the CCHA Tournament to
Ohio State.
And in two weeks, it will mark the two-year anniversary
of Michigan's last national championship.
This past weekend the Wolverines once again lost that all-
important semi-final game. Top-seeded Michigan was upset
by seventh-seeded Nebraska-Omaha, 7-4, erasing all hopes
of a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament for the
Wolverines. Instead, Michigan settled for a fifth seed in the
East Region. The team heads to Albany this weekend to face
a very similar situation as two years ago.
The Wolverines once again have to regroup. In 1998, the
semi-final loss gave third seeded Michigan an uphill climb
towards that national championship.
This year's team will have to do the same. And the team
is using that national championship as motivation to come
back from last weekend.
"It's a new season now and everyone has a chance to win
it,junior Josh Langfeld said. "We're just going to go on the
fact that if we come out and play hard, then anything can
happen. We weren't the most skilled team when we won in
1998, but there's a lot that goes into (winning a national
championship)."
The Wolverines are not only using the past championship
as motivation, but also as a learning tool.
"The lesson that we learned that year was that we didn't
play well in the CCHA Tournament, and we used that as a
springboard to play better hockey," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "This is another season and it can be a very
gratifying season, but we need to put our best foot forward."
Something that Berenson said will change this week
before the Wolverines head to Albany will be the overall
work ethic and intensity in practice. Michigan's practices
lacked intensity the past few weeks as Michigan headed into
the CCHA Tournament. The team knew it already had the
automatic NCAA bid from winning the regular season title.
But this weekend there are no more second chances.
"We're upset (by not getting a higher seed) but there aren't
too many times in college hockey when you get a second
chance," sophomore Mike Comrie said. "We get a second
chance and we have to prove to ourselves that we should have
won and we have to finish our season on the right.note."
In 1998, the Wolverines' second chance came in the form
of hosting their own regional. Michigan had its own Yost
fans to motivate them past a favored North Dakota squad.
But this weekend, the Wolverines won't have that fan sup-
port. As they head east to face possibly two eastern teams,
Michigan will have to rely on only motivation from within
itself to push past the higher ranked teams.
There are only three more days until the Wolverines head
to Albany. In each of those remaining days, they can look up
at that 1998 National Championship banner during practice
for motivation.
Langfeld, who as a freshman scored the overtime goal to
claim the national championship, knows exactly what his
squad has to do in order to win this weekend.
"We have to understand what we could have done and
know what we should do," Langfeld said. "We don't want to
be looking too far back or too far ahead. We need to worry
about where we are right now."
DeWildt stars for Wolverines in Tallahassee
By David Mosse
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend, while most students
were forced to deal with the frigid
temperatures in Ann Arbor, eight
lucky souls endured a far different
experience.
The field events specialist for the
Michigan men's track and field team
traveled to Tallahassee to take part in
the Florida State Invitational.
Sprinter Derrick Applewhite also
made the trip and actually posted one
of Michigan's two individual victo-
ries.
Applewhite captured the 400-
meter hurdles with a time of 52.88.
The other first-place finish came
courtesy of Charles DeWildt, who
won the pole vault by clearing a
height of 17' 1".
DeWildt's partner in crime, Brent
Scheffer, was not as fortunate.
Scheffer had a disappointing
weekend failing to clear any heights.
"It was very windy during both
days," field events coach Rick
Deligny said.
"I think that hurt both Brent and
Charles "
Thrower Patrick Johansson had a
solid meet, placing second in the
hammer and sixth in the discus.
Johansson's hammer throw trav-
eled an impressive 477 feet.
Other notable performances
included Andy Derr's third-place fin-
ish in the javelin and Nick Rogers'
placing fifth in the discus.
Ryan Stevenson finished a disap-
pointing seventh overall in the
decathlon but did finish second in
the 400-meter run. The results of the
weekend satisfied Deligny.
"It is only two weeks after confer-
ence," Deligny said.
"This is a time to rebuild and
reload.
"I am pleased with most of the
performers. Considering the time of
year, I wasn't expecting too much."
Unfortunately, this past week was
not without bad news for the team,
which suffered a notable absence in
Tallahassee.
Triple Jump specialist Oded Padan
reaggravated an injury that had side-
lined him for the majority of the
indoor season. Padan could be lo t
for the entire outdoor campaign. V
"Right now he is in the recuperat-
ing stage," Deligny said.
"I am hoping he can resume run-
ning in four weeks, but we aren't
really sure if that's possible."
Padan's injury is a devastating
blow to the squad because after miss-
ing much of the indoor season.
He figured to be one of the fresh-
est competitors on the team. 0.
Michigan will have little time to
lament the setbacks as it travels
across the country next week to take
part in the Stanford Invitational in
Palo Alto.
The Michigan sprinters and run-.
ners will reunite with the field events
for the first major competition of the
new season.
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