8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - January 22, 2002


Phillips breaks own
record in home meet

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By David Oxfeld
Daily Sports Writer
For the third straight week, April .
Phillips starred for the Michigan
women's track team, this time at the
non-scoring Red Simmons Invitational.
Phillips bettered her own school record
in the weight throw, posting 55 feet and
almost 10 inches for an easy first-place
finish.
The celebrated throw not only set a
school record, but also broke the
Michigan Indoor Track Building
record mark by almost an inch-and-a-
half. The record had been held by Cen-
tral Michigan's Summer Beydoun,
who set it in 1999. Phillips' monstrous
throw was close to four feet farther
than the best effort by the second place
finisher, teammate Melissa Bickett,
who also bettered her personal best in
the event. Phillips continued her stand-
out day by taking second place in the
shotput.
After their close loss to conference
rival Indiana two weekends ago, the

Wolverines headed into this weekend
looking to regain some confidence. The
non-scoring meet allowed most mem-
bers of the team to work on bettering
their performances in specific events,
without the added stress of competing as
a whole team against an opponent.
"A non-scoring meet allows the
team's athletes to work on their individ-
ual performances more specifically,"
Bickett said.
Most team members did improve.
Along with Phillips, TaNisha Williams
had a strong outing, continuing what has
been a good season for her so far. The
junior won a pair of events for the
Wolverines, as she took first place in
both the long jump and the 60-meter
hurdles. She won the same two events
two weeks ago when the Wolverines
hosted the Jack Harvey Invitational. The
win in the hurdles was a good sign for
Williams, who bettered her personal
best time in the event by six-hundredths
of a second and will be counted on by
the Michigan coaches as the season con-
tinues.

DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Michigan sophomore Kim Plaushines was a key to the Wolverines' early success in this weekend's doubles matches.
Dual meet equal sweep for 'M' tennis

By Brian Schick
Daily Sports Writer
A new dual match season for the
Michigan women's tennis team has
produced a recurring theme.
The Wolverines had little trouble
extending their winning streak on
opening day with a pair of 6-1 victo-
ries against Western Michigan and
DePaul over the weekend.
Coming into the opening of the
dual match season, Michigan had won
11 of its last 12 season openers, and
held a perfect 5-0 record in home
openers at the Varsity Tennis Center.
In Saturday's action against the
Broncos, the Wolverines quickly
seized the doubles point by winning
two of the three matches and rolled on

to win five of the six singles matches.
Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt was
pleased with a strong showing against
a ranked opponent.
"I think (our performance) was a
great start to our dual season," Ritt
said. "We showed some nerves out
there. Western Michigan was ranked,
and it was good start a win over
them:'
DePaul met a similar fate as West-
ern Michigan on Sunday. Michigan
won all three doubles matches this
time and only lost the hard-fought,
No. I singles match.
Sophomore Kavitha Tipirneni faced
the Blue Demon's Szilvia Keleman in
that match, with the first set ending in
a tie-breaker, which Tipirneni lost 7-6.
The second set was equally challeng-

ing, as Tipirneni saw a 5-2 lead in the
second set turn into a 7-5 loss. This
match featured many lengthy rallies,
and as a result, some Michigan play-
ers had won their respective matches
by the time the first set was complet-
ed.
"I was happy about the way I
fought, but I really think that when I
had the opportunity up 5-2, I definite-
ly should have pulled it out," Tipir-
neni said of her match. "I definitely
think we're evenly matched. But it's
always fun to play her because we
always have some good points."
Over the weekend, four singles
players and two doubles teams went
2-0, a sign that the team is strong at
all those positions. Freshmen Leanne
Rutherford and Michelle DaCosta,

and juniors Jen Duprez and Joanne
Musgrove won all their matches in
straight sets against the two teams,
and all those sets were won with
bcores of 6-3 or better.
"It was a good team effort," Ritt
said. "We looked solid throughout the
whole lineup.",
On the doubles side, the team of
sophomores Lisa So and Kim
Plaushines and the freshman tandem
of DaCosta and Rutherford were the
key to winning the early point for
doubles.
"I think the freshmen did great,"
Ritt said. "It's nerve-wracking, since
they've played tennis for a long time,
but this is a different format. They're
playing at home, and they want to do
well. I think they did outstanding."

B roe beats the field,
puts name i*n the books

Cal's Lumsden throws tantrum; Michigan wins

By Brian Steer.
Daily Sports Writer

After a relatively easy 5-2 victory over Depaul
on Saturday, the men's tennis team destroyed Cali-
fornia-Irvine 6-1 on the following afternoon, but
not before a vintage McEnroe-esque tantrum took
the spotlight.
At No. 2 singles, senior Ben Cox outlasted Cal-
ifornias Carl Lumsden 6-7, 7-6, 6-0. Up one set
to love and needing to win the second set
tiebreaker to claim the match, Lumsden called a
forehand winner by Cox out, which was subse-
quently overruled by the chair umpire. Since this
was the third time that a call by Lumsden had
been overturned, according to collegiate rules, the
player must suffer a point penalty. Lumsden
became enraged at the official, accosting him and
shouting profanities. This prompted the umpire to
assess a game penalty, which gave Cox the

tiebreaker and the second set. Mentally flustered,
it did not take Lumsden long to unravel in the
third set.
"We had a couple of close games in the begin-
ning," Cox said. "But after he got down by a few
games, he just tanked it."
With the home win, Michigan improved to 2-0
on the year and gave coach Mark Mees his 30th
career victory.
"It's nice'to get a couple of wins under your belt
to start the year," Mees said. "I thought we did a
better job today against California; I liked the
overall persona that we showed in each of the
matches."
After a tough three-set loss against DePaul,
No.1 Henry Beam came back with a vengeance
against the Anteaters, thrashing John Endrikat 6-1,
6-1.
"I thought I played just as well against DePaul
as I did today," Beam said. "I just faced a much

better opponent when I lost."
Executing his patented serve and volley game
to perfection, Beam continuously put Endrikat on
the defensive by firing up prodigious blasts to all
corners of the court.
"I just kept putting pressure on John and forced
him to make a lot of unforced errors," Beam said.
"This is the best that I've felt in five months."
Michigan secured the victory with quick two-
set wins at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots. Freshman
Matt Lockin steamrolled past Brian Morton 6-3,
6-1 in the No. 4 match, and senior Greg Novak
trounced Renouk Wijemanne 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5.
After struggling in the first set against Wkwesi
Williams, mid-semester transfer David Anving
caught fire in the second and cruised to a 7-5, 6-0
win to preserve the victory.
Next up for Michigan is intrastate foe Western
Michigan, on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Cen-
ter.

By Kareem Copeland
Daily Sports Writer
Saturday, the Michigan men's indoor
track and field team continued its devel-
opment as a major contender for the Big
Ten championship. Michigan hosted the
Red Simmons Invitational, and Jeremy
Schneider and Tim Broe put on a show
for the raucous crowd of 1,363.
The marquee race of the day was the
3,000 meters. The event showcased
Broe, the No. 1 ranked American in the
event, and Olympian Kevin Sullivan.
Sullivan is currently an assistant coach
for Michigan. Before Saturday, he had
held the Michigan Indoor Track Build-
ing record for the race since 1998.
But now, the name Tim Broe will be
etched in the books with the time of
7:49.21 beside it. Broe blew away the
field while running the fastest time in
the world this year. Sullivan paced the
rest of the runners and finished second
with a time of 8:07.17.
Two Wolverines crossed the line next
and both qualified provisionally for the
NCAA Championships. Freshman
Nathan Brannen displayed his enormous
potential by taking third with a time of
8:09.06. Mike Wisniewski's 8:10.48 was
a great sign for the tri-captain who sat
out last week with nagging injuries.
Another freshman phenom, Alan
Webb, failed to make his debut due to
hamstring problems.
"We've got plenty of time for him to
run," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst
said. "I know the crowd was disappoint-

ed, but I'm sure there were a lot of other
people that gave them a big show."
Schneider also put the crowd on its
feet with his comeback in the 800-meter
run. When the pistol sounded to start the
race, Schneider immediately fell to the
back of the pack. But 700 meters later
he was still trailing every other runner.
"The first 50 meters I dropped into
last place, and I was trying hard to hold
on," Schneider said. "At the last 100 it
made me a little nervous - I've never
finished last place in a race before."
Going into the final stretch it seemed
as if his streak of wins would come to an
end. He had won his last two events in
consecutive weeks at the Harold Silver-
stein Invitational and against Indiana.
But coming out of the final turn Schnei-
der threw it in overdrive. The crowd
erupted in disbelief as he streaked past
the field to win the race in 1:53.85.
Teammate Phil Stead came in second
posting a time of 1:54.13.
"A lot of people don't know about
times and distance, but they understand
competition," Warhurst said of Schneider.
"They didn't know what the time was,
but they know that was one hell of a run."'
Ike Okenwa won his first race of the
year in the 200 meters. After getting
blown away in the 60-meter dash earlier,
he wore a scowl until his next event.
"He had a real bad start and he got
angry, and that's what he needs to do,"
Warhurst said.
The Wolverines now have a week off
to prepare for the George Mason Patriot
Games in Fairfax, Va. on February 1-2.

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