2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 5, 2001 ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 'M'~m~u1L ~ Who: Dan Ketchum Hometown: cincinnati Sport: Swimming Year: Freshman Why: At the 2001 Big Ten championships, Ketchum was named the Freshman of the Year. He earned his first Big Ten title by winning the 200- yard freestyle with a time of 1:34.99, tying the conference record. Ketchum then went on to place second in the 500 freestyle and sixth in the 1650 freestyle. In the 800 freestyle relay, he gave his quartet a com- manding lead, allowing the Wolverines to touch first. Ketchum helped earn 90 of Michigan's 549 total points for its second-place finish. Ketchum Thursday, March 8 Men's tennis at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. Men's basketball at Big Ten Tournament First Round, Chicago, 3:30 p.m. CST Friday, March 9 Men's swimming/diving at NCAA Diving Zone Meet, Bloomington, 11 a.m. Women's swimming/diving at NCAA Diving Zone Meet, Bloomington, 11 a.m. Women's gymnastics vs. UCLA, 7 p.m. Hockey vs. Ferris State in CCHA Tournament First Round, 7:35 p.m. Baseball at McNeese State, 7 p.m. CST Men's basketball at Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals, Chicago, 6:40 p.m. CST Saturday, March 10 Men's swimming/diving at NCAA Diving Zone Meet, Bloomington, 11 a.m. Women's swimming/diving at NCAA Diving Zone Meet, Bloomington. 11 a.m. Women's tennis at Notre Dame, 11 a.m. Baseball at McNeese State, 4 p.m. Men's Basketball at Big Ten Tournament Semifinals, Chicago, 4 p.m. CST Hockey vs. Ferris State in CCHA Tournament First Round, 7:05 p.m. THE FORUM Your chance to speak out on issues in Michigan sports ® Tell us what you think about the Michigan hockey team winning just one of its last six games. Who will win the men's Big Ten basketball tournament? What should San Diego do with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft? Daily Sports wants Michigan sports feed- back! Visit www.mlchigandally/forum/sports for your chance to be heard. JEFF HURVITZ/Daily M9 NOTES Softball completes i Instead of building sand castles, the No. 18 Michigan softball team got its chance to play in the dirt another way over spring break. Although its two games in the Alabama Crimson Classic were rained out this past Friday, the Wolverines (6-7) competed in six games over a seven-day span. Last Thursday, Michigan defeated Mississippi State 3-1 because of pitching excellence by Marie Barda who threw nine strikeouts. allowed only three hits. On Wednesday, the Wolverines lost to No. 3 Alabama 7-2. Giving up four runs in the bottom of the first, Michigan then let Alabama score a single run in the bottom of the second. The Wolverines finally got on the board in the top of the fourth with Melinda Moulden's third homerun of the season. She went on to bat in a runner with her third-career triple in the sixth. But Alabama then scored singles in the fifth and sixth to secure the win. On Sunday Feb. 25, Michigan beat Polo drops matches to both San Diegos This past Wednesday, the No. I1 Michigan water polo team (6-9-1) lost 13-5 to No. 12 San Diego State and fell 5-2 to No. 12 San Diego. Against San Diego State, Michigan's lowly five goals came after a struggle with two from pow- erplays. Two points came from sophomore Abbi Rowe with fresh- man Julie Nisbet, junior Deila Sonda and Stephanie Rupp scoring one each. The Wolverines were tied with San Diego 1-1 at halftime and were locked 2-2 going into the final peri- od. But despite 12 saves by Camille Clarendon, the Tritons won the game with a three-goal streak in the fourth period. The day prior, on Tuesday, Michigan lost to No. 7 Long Beach State 7-6. The teams evenly exchanged goals until the last minute when the Wolverine's shot was blocked, crushing their hopes for an overtime second chance. - Staff reports Women's golf finishes in middle of the pack After playing through windy and rainy conditions all weekend, the Michigan women's golf team placed 10th out of 18 in the Midwest Classic in Dallas on February 23-25. The team racked up 943 total points, 37 more than top finisher Oklahoma State. Heading the Wolverines was junior LeAnna Wicks who ended in pa tie for 18th with a total of 232. Also leading the Michigan team was 1unior Misia Lemanski, tying for 27th with 235 points. its Alabama trip Louisiana State 3-1 in eight innings. Stephanie Volpe got on base with a single in the fourth and advanced to third by a wild pitch. She then scored the first run by coming in on a throw- ing error. Monica Schock hit a two- out, two-run single in the eighth for the win. A day earlier, on Saturday the Wolverines lost 1-0 to No. 4 Alabama and won 1-0 to Missouri. Against the Crimson Tide, Marissa Young allowed only one hit. But Alabama took . CLUBSPO T SWEEKLY E dl eItt ,:,i/:ner and Auiiveil Sildt-m Lady icers showcase talent and fisticfs That'll leave a mark advantage of it, scoring on an interna- tional tie-breaker. Michigan had chances to score in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh with runners on sec- ond, but they could not get the key hit. Facing Missouri, Marie Barda had eight strikeouts and allowed only two hits. Melinda Moulden hit a one-out homerun in the fourth inning for the win. On Friday, February 23, Michigan won .6-1 against No. 8 Fresno State and was upset 8-5 by Georgia. - Staff reports Ohio State's Mollie Fankhauser took first place with a 217 total. - Staff Reports Wisniewski earns a spot at NCAA Indoors This past Friday, the Michigan men's track and field team sent only part of its roster to the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame, but it was able to provisionally qualify one run- ner for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Junior Mike Wisniewski ran a time of 14:16.28 in the 5000-meter run for a second-place finish. He will compete in the upcoming weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. As for the rest of the Wolverines, the team will find out this afternoon who else will compete in the championship. - Stafreports Wolverines take top three places in Spain Spain's best couldn't out-perform Michigan. Last Friday, the No. 2 men's gym- nastics team defeated the Spanish National Team in Madrid 213.100- 205.600. Leading the team was junior Scott Vetere who took top honors in the all-around as well as first place par- allel bars, vault and on the still rings. Also key for the Wolverines was, junior Daniel Diaz-Luong, placing second in the all-around, pommel house and horizontal bar as well as fifth on the floor-exercise. Securing the Michigan victory, junior Brad Kenna took third in the all-around and placed second on the parallel bars while sophomore Kris Zimmerman placed first in the hori- zontal bar. - Staff reports Be careful Evander... Your face might get stuck that way. Poa~BRIEFS Ruiz wins WBA belt; Holyfield looks old LAS VEGAS (AP) - John Ruiz didn't look much like a champion, but he was. Evander Holyfield looked like he should retire, but said he wasn't. An ugly but interesting fight ended with Ruiz winning the WBA heavy- weight title Saturday night, and in the process exposing Holyfield even fur- ther as an aging fighter with declining skills. A bloodied Ruiz became the first Hispanic heavyweight champion by knocking Holyfield down with a huge right hand in the I Ith round to blunt a rally by the champion and win a unanimous decision. Ruiz wore the WBA belt around his waist proudly, even though most in boxing consider Lennox Lewis the true heavyweight champion. Holyfield, who fell to 37-5-1 said he would not retire and would contin- ue to pursue his goal of winning the undisputed title once again. AP PHOTO By Jim Weber Daily Sports Writer Although the fights of the Michigan women's ice hockey team might be pic- tured as a bunch of slapping and hair pulling, the police know that they are much more serious affairs. After a 4-3 win over the She Devils of Arizona State on January 27, the teams got into such an intense brawl that cops had to come to Yost Ice Arena to monitor the situation. Blood started to boil during the game after a clock dispute in which Arizona State claimed that they had been cheated out of more time. Then, the She Devils decided they had seen enough after Michigan skated onto the ice. Although the team insists they were celebrating their victory, Arizona State thought the Wolverines skated out to start a brawl. They cleared their bench accordingly, throwing down their gloves and starting a fight between both of the squads. "Five people jumped on me and I just got my ass kicked," said Priscilla Prior. "It was fun." The Wolverines have started to see a pattern developing with fighting involved in almost all of their games. "We get ahead and then their only way to catch up is to get chippy and start slashing us," said sophomore Katie Verhey. The opponents also get "chippy" with Michigan by going after the goalie, whom the team is intent on defending. "If they hit our goalie, I'm going to start something," said Prior. There have been plenty of opportu- nities for opposing teams to get frus- trated with the Wolverines, who hold an impressive record of 24-1-1. Michigan's only loss was to the same Arizona State team, on the night prior to the brawl. The team credits its success to the coach, Hal Krenkel, only a sophom@ at Michigan. Conversely, Krenkel thinks it is the talent on the team that has led to Michigan's success. "We have the most talent in the league. If they play up to their ability, nobody can beat us," said Krenkel. Most recently, Michigan defeated Michigan State on back-to-back games February 23-24. The team crushed thy Spartans on Saturday, 4-0, and pulled out a 1-0 victory the previous night. The Wolverines' regular seas ended against Michigan State, but they are hoping to defend their league championship from from March 23-25 at Lake Superior State. There will also be a national club women's hockey tournament for -the first time this year. It will be held in St. Louis the week after the league cham- pionship. The Wolverines are currently favorites, as they are the top seed in-t East for the tournament. Interestingly, Arizona State is the third seed in the Western bracket, mak- ing a rematch only possible in the championship game of the national tournament. Although the Wolverines could fear a possible rematch with the She Devils,- they have vet to back down from any- one this season and.will not be intimi- dated by a another battle with Arizona State. "I'm looking forward to it and I' sure (the players) are," Krenkel said. Selig considering dumping MLB teams TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday he would not rule out anything in attempts to handle the league's salary disparity, and that could include the subtraction of franchises. "I will tell you today that the eco- nomic situation is so significant, and as I would call it pervasive, that I would- n't take contraction off the table," Selig said. "It's one of the options out there that we are considering. No question about it, I have had a change of heart." Selig made the comments yesterday before the exhibition game between the Oakland A's and Anaheim Angels. Temple gets the - by the seven other schools on Friday. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Temple consistently failed to meet criteria adopted by the members in 1996, such as attendance and non-conference scheduling. Temple officials, stunned by the deci- sion, said they will try to convince the league to re-think the decision. Tigers sign seven to one year deals LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) - Pitchers Matt Anderson and Jeff Weaver were among seven players who agreed yes- terday to one-year contracts with the Detroit Tigers. Catchers Javier Cardona, Robert Fick and Mitch Meluskey also signed along with outfielders Juan Encarnacion and Wendell Magee. DAILY SC(RE BOARD NBA STANDINGS EASTERN CONFERENCE NHL STANDINGS EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Atlantic Division Philadelphia Miami New York Orlando Boston New Jersey Washington central Division Milwaukee Charlotte Toronto Indiana Cleveland Detroit Atlanta Chicago W L 44 16 35 24 34 24. 31 26. 26 33 20 40. 13 46. W L 36 22 33 26. 32 27 26 30. 22 35 21 37 18 42. 10 48. boot from Big East coaches unhappy PHILADELPHIA (AP)- The Big With XFL recruiting East Conference won't have Temnle to Pct GB .733 - .593 8.5 .586 9 .544 11.5 .441 17.5 .333 24 .220 30.5 Pct GB .621 - .559 3.5 .542 4.5 .464 9 .386 13.5 .362 15 .300 19 .172 26 Pct GB .684 - .672 .5 .627 3 .593 5 .533 8.5 .492 11 .300 22.5 Pct GB .700 - .667 2.5 .667 2.5 .603 6 .517 11 .339 22 .271 25.5 Philadelphia New Jersey Pittsburgh NY Rangers NY Islanders Northeast Division Ottawa Buffalo Toronto Boston Montreal Southeast Division Washington Carolina Atlanta _Florida Tampa Bay w 34 32 33 26 17 T RT Pts 20 102 80 17 123 79 23 7 2 75 334 1 57 40 5 3 42 w 38 35 30 28 23 w 33 "28 19 17 17 L T RT Pts GF GA 178 2 86 210 157 245 1 76 172151 22 10 5 75 199 167 246 7 69 176 196 345 4 55 162 189 L T RT Pts 20102 78 258 3 67 33 112 51 339 8 51 396 3 43 GF GA 183 164 166 177 173 225 157 202 161 227 GF GA 195 1 710 217 157W 219 203 202 226 144 213 WESTERN CONFERENCE Midwest Division WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division kick around after next season. The Owls, the one football-only school in the Big East, were booted out of the league - effective June 30, 2002 F~ NEW YORK (AP) - A plan to have the XFL sign some players directly out of high school was criti- cized yesterday by the head of the American Football Coaches Association. The new league has said it might target players who have not qualified academically for college. But Grant Teaff, a former coach at Baylor and now AFCA executive director, said yesterday that the policy might hurt even those players and that his organi- zation would do everything it could to oppose it. Michael Keller, the XFL's vice pres- ident for football operations, expressed surprise over the AFCA's position, saying he had worked with the coaches' group in an attempt to reach an understanding on the signing of players. Utah San Antonio Dallas Minnesota Houston Denver Vancouver Pacific Division Portland Sacramento LA Lakers Phoenix Seattle LA Clippers Golden State WIL 39 18. 39 19. 37 22 35 24. 32 28. 30 31. 18 42 W L 42 18. 38 19. 38 19. 35 23. 31 29. 21 41. 16 43. St Louis Detroit Chicago Nashville Columbus Northwest Division Colorado Vancouver Edmonton Calgary Minnesota Pacific Division Dallas San Jose Phoenix Los Angeles Anahiem iN 39 39 27 26 21 W 40 34 31 23 22 W 36 34 29 29 18 L T 16 7 17 7 29 6 30 8 31 7 L T RT Pts GF GA 12 9 3 92213149 21 5 5 78.,204 190 249 2 73 183 177 25 124 62 158 181 309 3 56 135 158 RT Pts GF GA 4 89 214 154 4 89 202 171 3 63 178 188 2 62 153 168 6 55 151 189 L T RT Pts 22 5 2 79 21100 78 21132 73 269 1 68 358 5 49 GF GA @ 177 150 171 164 209 194 152 203 NBA SCOREBOARD Yesterday's games Charlotte 116. Boston 97 Detroit 93. Orlando 84 New Jersey 120. Indiana 96 Utah 118. Washington 98 Minnesota 119. Seattle 111 (OT) Toronto 98. New York 88 Miami 91. Cleveland 79 LA Lakers 110. Golden State 95 Today's games Milwaukee at New Jersey. 7:30 p.m. Utah at Atlanta. 7:30 p.m. Detroit at Miami, 7:30 p.m. Dallas at Orlando. 7:30 p.m. San Antonio at Vancouver, 10 p.m. Denver at LA Clippers. 10:30 p.m. NHL SCOREBOARD Yesterday's games Carolina 6. Chicago 3 Dallas 4. Buffalo 1 Nashville 5. NY Rangers 2 New Jersey 6. Tampa Bay 0 / Anaheim 4. Los Angeles 0 Colorado 5. Phoenix 't Minnesota at Vancouver. Inc. Today's games NY Islanders at NY Rangers. 7 p.m. Boston at Philadelphia. 7 p.m. 4 you know that little voice inside that says "I can't"? this summer, [Crs - ,r