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SU 3I* d ~ t g m x Nt
Tracking 'M' coaches
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz was named the 1999
NFHCA West Region Coach of the Year. Last month,
Pankratz led the Wolverines to the NCAA
Championship game and a 20-7 record.
Tuesday
November 7, 1999
10
ill
IiAH. 111C.
Commodores threaten Blue's best start
By Michael Kern
1a1y Sports Writer
Coming off of a 7-0 start, the best in
team history, the Michigan women's bas-
ketball team could face its biggest test of
the season when it plays Vanderbilt
tonight at Crisler Arena at 7 p.m.
After the emotional high of two dom-
inating performances on the road, the
Wolverines look to carry that momen-
tum into their game with the
Commodores.
"We're undefeated at home,"
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "And
one of our goals is to stay undefeated at
home. We lost some games on our home
floor last year that we thought we had no
business losing, but we did. So we need
to focus on this one game at hand"
Fatigue may factor into the game for
the Wolverines, who will play their third
game in five days. Guevara hopes that
the team's depth off the bench will give
her starters energy for the end of the
game.
"That's the strength of this team,"
Guevara said. "I can continually put in
fresh legs. After six minutes, I can put a
sub in and get four or five minutes for
that person without losing a beat."
Despite its depth, Michigan has con-
sistently struggled to score inside.
Against Rice's strong post players this
past Saturday, center Alison Miller and
forward Ruth Kipping failed not only to
score but to shoot in their combined 32
minutes.
"Her numbers may not reflect that she
had a very good weekend, but Alison is a
very steady player for us, Guevara said.
"She is our best post defender, and in
that respect, she had a good weekend."
Michigan will need Miller's post
defense against the 4-2 Commodores,
who are as solid as a brick house inside.
Sophomore forward Zuzana Klimesova
and freshman center Chantelle Anderson
have combined for almost 30 points a
game in Vanderbilt's six contests this
season.
"I'm wormed about their size because
they are big and athletic, Guevara said.
"But Rice was big and very athletic, and
I thought our post players did a nice job
of defending. And because we get up and
down the floor and I can keep putting
fresh legs in there, even though we may
be smaller, we can pose some problems
for them also"
While size inside will be a factor that
might hurt the Wolverines, first they
might have to worry more about getting
the ball in the hands of their post players.
Vanderbilt is well known for its two-
three zone defense, something which
Michigan has struggled to penetrate.
"We have to be patient with the bas-
ketball against the zone and look to pen-
etrate the gaps in the zone, Guevara
said.
Guevara also will shake up the
Michigan starting lineup to adjust to the
Commodores' strong post play and zone
defense, starting sophomore Raina
Goodlow in place of Kipping. Goodlow
went down with a knee injury in
Michigan's first exhibition game and
started the year recovering on the bench.
Since her return, Goodlow has been
solid in limited minutes, averaging 6.7
points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
Freshman center LeeAnn Bies also
emerged this weekend, providing a pres-
ence off the bench that Guevara may not
TONIGHT
Who: Michigan (7-0) vs.
Vanderbilt (4-2)
Where: Crisler Arena
When: 7 p.m. tonight
The Latest: The
Wolverines are off to a 7-0 start
and look to extend that streak
tonight. Led by a gutty perfor-
mance from freshman LeeAnn
Bies, Michigan defeated Rice
63-47 on Saturday.
.
F-lk
ALLISON CA.101 D y
Stacey Thomas and the Michigan women's basketball team looks to extend its
unprecedented seven game winning streak when they host Vanderbilt tonight.
Wrestlers promising in opener
By Jon Schwartz
Dailv Sports Writer
Beipg able to face difficulties, perse-
vere through them and still succeed is
always beneficial for a team.
At this past weekend's Cliff Keen
Invitational in Stateline, Nev., the
Michigan wrestling team finished fifth
of 47 teams with Oklahoma State tak-
ing home the title.
Despite disappointments with the
finish, Michigan coach Joe McFarland
felt that the Wolverines were fortunate
to do as well as they did while fighting
through injuries in the season's first
meet.
And while McFarland was impressed
by his team's ability to fight through the
problems, he knows that much needs to
be done as the season gets underway.
"There were a lot of things that the
coaching staff saw out there that we're
going to work on individually," he said.
McFarland's concerns mainly
focused on slight injuries and what he
considered to be a somewhat lack-
adaisical effort by some members of the
team.
Both the 165-pound Jason Rawls and
the 197-pound Kyle Smith suffered
minor knee injuries during the competi-
tion.
McFarland did not seem overly con-
cerned, stating that they should be
healthy for Friday's meet at Michigan
State.
Since Smith's and Rawls' injuries
were sustained in the first round, the
team had two weight classes unrepre-
sented in the standings, which affected
the team's overall performance.
In addition to the injuries to Smith
and Rawls, McFarland said several of
his wrestlers lacked the fire necessary
to succeed in the sport.
"We lost a couple of matches because
we didn't score the first takedown,"
McFarland said. "Those guys have to
see that you can't ease into a match. You
have to be ready to go off the whistle."
But with all of McFarland's negative
opinions, the first-year coach still saw
several great things in what he consid-
ered to be his first major competition.
"I think we got a chance to go see
some other good teams in the country,'
he said. "We got to see how some of our.
guys perform in those opportunities."
Specifically, he pointed out 17
pound Otto Olson and 133-pounder Joe
Warren. Both were champions of their
respective weight classes.
Overall, the coach expressed his
opinion that the team is in great shape,
but he singled out Olson and Warren for
capitalizing on their abilities.
"The thing I liked about the way Otto
and Joe performed was their intensity,"
he said. "They were ready to go when
they stepped on the mat."
After redshirting his freshman year,
Mike Kulczycki was only able to win
one of his three meets in the 149-pound
weight class.
But McFarland praised him for main-
taining his composure throughout the
meet.
"He's really not where he'd want to
be right now, but that's understandable,"
the coach said. "That really was one of
his first times back on the mat."
FILE PHOTO
Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland praised 174-pound Otto Olson (above) and
133-pound Joe Warren for their intensity in this weekend's Cliff Keen invitational.
1
For a possible explanation of why
species become extinct, see...
Blanchard nets
Big Ten, honor
Michigan freshman forward
LaVell Blanchard earned Big Ten
player of the week honors yes-
terday for his1 8-point perfor-
mance against Georgia Tech
and his 21-point showing
against Chattanooga. He has to'
share the award with Michigan
State's AIGranger.
have expected from her so early in her
career. Bies earned tournament MVP
honors at the Gene Hackerman invita-
tional with a 13-point, 10-rebound per-
formance against Rice in the tournament
final.
"I talked to her about coming off the
bench," Guevara said. "She said, 'Coach
it gives me the opportunity to see what is
going on out on the floor."'
Shakespeare
quaifes for
NCAAs inM
Texas Invite
By David Horn
Daily Sports Writer
This past weekend, in less than three
minutes, Michigan senior Shannon
Shakespeare qualified for next March's
NCAA Championships - twice.
On Saturday at the Texas Invitational
in Austin, Texas, Shakespeare posted a
third-place time of 1:58:89 in the 200-
meter freestyle, less than nine-tenths of
a second behind the event's winner, *
Wisconsin's Ellen Stonebraker. On
Sunday, Shakespeare, an All-
American, won the 100-meter freestyle
with a time of 0:55:10, which was also
good enough for a bid to nationals.
Shakespeare will not be alone in
Indianapolis in March. Junior Jennifer
Crisman earned a bid to the NCAA
Championships via her time of 1:00:99
in the 100-meter backstroke. She
placed second in the race behind
Arizona's Beth Botsford.
While the strong performances of
veterans Shakespeare and Crisman
were expected, perhaps most promis-
ing for this Michigan team were the
showings of the newcomers. Freshmen
Jenay Karlson, Traci Valasco, Laura
Kazniecki and Erin Abbey each swam
personal-best times in their respective
races.
"This was a good weekend,"
Michigan coach Jim Richardson said.
"Everyone swam pretty well. All you
want to see is personal-best times, and
that's what we got. Missy (Sugar) suf-
fered a little bit with some sort of virus,
and didn't swim as well as we thought
she would have:'
The Texas Invitational allowed the
Wolverines a look at some of their
national competition - schools like
Arizona, Southern Methodist and
Texas - as well as Big Ten foes
Wisconsin and Minnesota. But team
scoring was not a concern, as the
swimmers looked primarily to improve
their personal bests and to qualify for
nationals.
"This is the kind of sport where you
don't want to duck from the competi-
tion," Richardson said. "It isn't foot-
ball, where you shoot for seven wins to
get to a bowl, or basketball, where 20
wins gets you in the tournament. Our*
kids want to swim against the nation's
top people.
"We wanted to get strong individual
performances, and get the relays set.
We're trying to get (the relay teams)
comfortable with each other. We can
do a lot with Shakespeare and
Crisman, and have to utilize them."
Richardson said he is skeptical about
the 800-meter freestyle relay. Two
freshmen will have to "fill in" during
future meets in that race. But in order
for Shakespeare to swim that race,
Richardson said he must be confident
that the freshmen can perform at the
appropriate level so that her talents are
not wasted.
Michigan will spend the holiday
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