The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 12, 20Q0 - 13
Missed the football deadline?
Want more tickets? Act now
JOANNA PAINE/Daily
The Michigan men's gymnastics team overcame injuries and the pressure of high expectations to post a bittersweet runner-up
finish at the NCAA championships.
'M' g lnasts refect on season
By Mark Francescutti
Daily Sports Editor
The pigskin is ready to roast. The
Michigan football season is only a few
short months away.
But are your tickets in order?
If your one of those students which
slept through the Mar. 31 ticket deadline,
there is still time to get your application
in at the Michigan Ticket Office next to
Yost Ice Arena on State Street.
The office should know by early
August whether or not late applicants
will get tickets. Last year only about 100
late students were turned away.
The office earlier raised the student
allotment of tickets to 22,000 on March
8, which Michigan Ticket Manager
Marty Bodnar said yesterday is about
1,000 tickets lower than last year's sales
of 23,000.
"That's our demand forecast," Bodnar
said. "We hope that 22,000 tickets is a
good number to satisfy the demand."
Bodnar says the demand estimate and
' cutoff point this season is lower than last
season because of the lower quality of
nonconference games - Michigan
plays Bowling Green instead of Notre
Dame, and in the conference season,
Michigan doesn't play Ohio State at
home this season.
The 22,000 estimate also gives the
office extra time to coordinate faculty
tickets. Over 1,000 faculty members
have been denied season tickets in the
Goi n' away?7
Planning to infiltrate Columbus this season!Single-game
tickets for away games are on sale until Friday. Students may
purchase a limited quantity with M-Card identification by
trekking down to the Michigan Ticket Office on State
Street.
UCLA (no limit) -$37 Illinois (limit two) - $30
Northwestem (limit two) -$30 Purdue (limit two) -$38
Ohio State (limit one) -$41
past two seasons.
"We just haven't been able to get tick-
ets to faculty," Bodnar said. "The esti-
mate helps."
For those students who ordered season
football tickets and want more, individ-
ual road game tickets are now on sale.
Fans must present M-Card identifica-
tion at the Ticket Office before Friday to
apply. Tickets to the UCLA game have
no limit and cost $37. Illinois,
Northwestern and Purdue have limits of
two tickets per person at prices of $27,
$30 and $38, respectively.
The away game at Ohio State will cost
students $41 and has a limit of only one
per person.
Ohio State tickets will not be sold to
the general public.
Tickets to home games, if available,
will be sold beginning on Monday, July
10, 2000, by telephone or in person at
the Ticket Office. Ticket prices are $40.
It's likely that only the two nonconfer-
ence games will be available.
SPRING GAME NOT A GAME:
Michigan officials told the Daily yester-
day that Saturday's Springfest will not
have an official scrimmage on the grid-
iron. The 1 p.m. start of football festivi-
ties will instead be a practice, with
scrimmage-like elements in between.
The change resulted from a lack of play-
ers at certain positions.
I
By Rohit Bhave
Daily Sports Writer
UNLV Basketball 1990-91, Miami
Football 1991-92 and Michigan Hockey
1997. .
Like each of the preceding teams, the
2000 Michigan men's gymnastics team
displayed nearly unparalleled excellence
throughout the majority of the collegiate
season.
Also like the preceding teams, coach
Kurt Golder's Wolverines could not
maintain their level of performance dur-
ing the NCAA Championships. Heavy
favorites going in, top-ranked Michigan
had to settle for a second-place finish in
the NCAA finals.
"We were easily the best team in the
NCAA gymnastics by far, but on that
night, Penn State was the the best," co-
captain Justin Toman said.
While this year's formidable assem-
blage of All-Americans, overachievers
and role players could not win the 2000
* NCAA title, they left an impressive
resume in their wake.
Michigan won this year's Big Ten
team championship with an NCAA sea-
son high of 232.1, easily surpassing sec-
ond-place Ohio State.
The next night in the individual
finals, the Wolverines swept the top four
places on the rings and won an astound-
ing five of six individual titles. Big Ten
Gymnast of the Year Scott Vetere com-
piled an NCAA-best all-around mark of
58.77, en route to winning three individ-
ual titles.
During the NCAA individual
finals, Toman and Kris Zimmerman
shared the parallel bar championship
- in all, six Wolverines earned All-
American honors.
Michigan dominated the best gym-
nastics conference in the country -
including NCAA champion Penn State,
the Big Ten secured three of the top four
finishes at the NCAA finals.
Throughout the year, injuries forced
Golder to juggle the lineup. Top gym-
nasts such as Daniel Diaz-Luong and
Brad Kenna were forced out of the line-
up for large chunks of the regular sea-
son.
As if the Wolverines had not dealt
with enough lineup difficulties, All-
American and NCAA parallel bar co-
champion Toman suffered an anterior
cruciate ligament injury just prior to the
Big Ten Championships.
Consequently, Toman was knocked
out of Big Tens, and was limited to three
events at the NCAA Championship.
Freshmen Zimmerman, Conan
Parzuchowski and Jamie Hertza helped
fill in for the injured stars, along with
specialists Tim Dehr, Kenny Keener,
and Ethan Johnson. Collectively, their
contributions helped Michigan to its
regular-season No. I ranking.
At first, the injuries to top stars
appeared to have long-term benefits -
less-experienced gymnasts would be
forced to perform well and contribute.
The shuffled lineup enhanced
Michigan's depth and versatility but
eventually hurt the Wolverines' continu-
ity, especially at NCAAs.
"Juggling the lineup throughout the
year hurt the consistency a little bit,
Toman admitted.
Michigan's inconsistencies directly
contributed to two fault-ridden perfor-
mances on the high bar and the pommel
horse at the NCAAs.
Golder Update
Michigan men's gymnastics coach
Kurt Golder was diagnosed with a
heart attack on Monday, April 3, fol-
lowing his team's 2000 NCAA
Championship appearance.
The 2000 Big TetiCoach of the Year
is in good condition and resting
comfortably, team inemnbers say.
"We had no idea that it happened,
but we were relieved when they said
he was fine," co-captain Justin
Toman said. "Right now Kurt is in
good spirits."
Though the Wolverines nearly mount-
ed a heroic late comeback with near-
perfect routines on the rings and vault,
they had to settle for second behind
Penn State.
Though the NCAA gymnastics sea-
son is over, nine Michigan gymnasts
have continued training for the United
States National team and a possible
Olympic berth - most of them began
training a week ago.
Obvious contenders for the national
team appear to be Toman and Vetere.
Vetere has been very sharp the last
month, and will look to continue his hot
streak during qualifying.
Toman, on the other hand, has been
nursing his ACL injury for nearly a
month. The ailment does not appear to
deter the All-American - he feels as
though he can begin training in the all-
around by the start of summer.
"I've come too far to let a little injury
like this stop me," Toman said.
ii
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