The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 4, 2002 - 7B
Blue teeter-totters during tough
road performances in Big Ten I_ '> 4
By Evan Brown
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's gymnastics
team spent the last week facing two
of the five best teams in the coun-
try. When comparing the two
matches, the Wolverines perform-
ances could be described as night
and day.
One week ago No, 8 Michigan
traveled to No. 4 Iowa in a big
match for the Wolverines, who
appeared to be turning their season
around. The match didn't go as
planned, though, as Iowa prevailed
in what coach Golder called a score
"closer than how the match really
went." The Hawkeyes won 212 to
208.25.
Senior captain Justin Toman led
the Wolverines by winning the still
rings and horizontal bar, while jun-
ior Kris Zimmerman won the paral-
lel bars.
Michigan went from Iowa to
sunny California to train with No. 5
California all of last week. The
warm weather didn't stop the team
from being hit by the flu bug as
Golder and many gymnasts fell ill.
"We practiced with (California)
three days, we went to Stanford one
day," said Golder. "We helped each
other out a lot by sharing workouts,
it was a great exchange."
Michigan met California in a
match yesterday, and was able to
give a much better effort than at
Iowa. The Wolverines led off the
match with a strong pommel horse,
which set the tone for Michigan to
cruise to a 212.9 to 208.85 victory.
"It was nice to pull an upset on
the road, we had a pretty good
meet," Golder said.
Michigan was led again my
Toman, who won the still rings and
tied for first with Brad Kenna on
the vault. Kenna also won the paral-
lel bars.
Golder's measuring stick all year
has been hit percentage, which is
the number of events with a level of
performance over the total number
of events. Michigan hit a season-
low 47 percent at Iowa, while its
percentage in the first match of the
year was 57 percent. The Wolver-
ines completely turned that around
against California with a high hit
percentage.
"At Iowa, we had a really bad
meet," Golder said. "We'd like to
sweep it under the mat."
The Wolverines will try and add
more people to the lineup before
looking to add more difficulty to
their routines.
As injuries heal, Michigan will
still look to add the "big guns" such
as Daniel Diaz-Luong, Kris Zim-
merman and Geoff Corrigan to
more events.
Despite a letdown against Iowa,
DAVID KATZ/Daily
The Michigan men's gymnastics team, still recovering from injuries, split two meets over break against top teams.
Golder gave the performance of the
meet to Kenna, and Jamie Hertza
got the honor for the California
meet.
Michigan will get a week off
from competing until it hosts the
French National Team - the best
team France has to offer and the No.
4 team in the world - on March 15.
Bruins ruin 'M' gymnasts west coast trip
Michigan strong, but
By Matt Kramer
Daily Sports Writer
After going nearly two months
without suffering a loss, the Michi-
gan women's gymnastics team ran
into a buzzsaw yesterday at the
UCLA Invitational. The host Bru-
ins reeled off the highest score by
any team this year - 198.350 -
and soundly won their own tourna-
ment.
No. 3 Michigan's 196.775 was
good enough for second place,
more than half a point ahead of
third-place Minnesota and fourth -
place Cal-State Fullerton.
"Overall, I'm pleased because
it's the highest road score of the
season for us," Michigan coach
Bev Plocki said.
Jamie Dantzscher's all-around
effort was primarily responsible for
No. 6 UCLA's high score.
Dantzscher, a former teammate of
current Wolverine Elise Ray on the
2000 U.S. Summer Olympic team,
scored three 10's - on the vault,
uneven bars and floor exercise -
and a 9.9 on the balance beam en
route to first place in the all-around
can't overcome nearly
with a score of 39.9. Dantzscher
now has 12 perfect 10's this season.
Leading the Wolverines were
Calli Ryals, who finished third in
the all-around with a score of 39.6,
and Ray, who finished sixth with
39.2.
Ray's score included. a 10 on the
vault and would have been consid-
erably higher had she not uncharac-
teristically slipped on the balance
beam and scored a 9.375.
"That kind of stuff happens,"
said Plocki. "We can't expect Elise
to be perfect every single time
out."
Little miscues such as these
ended up biting the Wolverines all
afternoon.
After a solid uneven bar routine
in which Michigan (4-0 Big Ten,
12-3 overall) scored 49.225, the
Wolverines went to the balance
beam.
When senior Melissa Peterson,
who had been feeling sick before
the meet started, missed her jump
and scored just an 8.9, the Wolver-
ines were forced to count Ray's
9.375 as one of the five best out of
six and could only muster a team
perfect meet from UCLA's Dantzscher
score of 48.75
Trailing UCLA 99.150-97.975
the Wolverines needed to be noth-
ing less than perfect if they wanted
to win the tournament.
They came close, but not close
enough.
Michigan scored a solid 49.3 on
the floor, but once again a slight
miscue cost it points.
On her first tumbling pass, co-
captain Janessa Grieco stepped out
of bounds and lost .1 on her overall
score.
Grieco finished strong and was
able to score a 9.775 but it was
those kind of slip-ups that Plocki
said Michigan just can't afford
later in the year, especially if the
Wolverines want to hang with the
best teams at NCAAs.
"When Nationals come (in April)
we have to be able to hit everything
and not make those little mistakes
because they are very costly," she
said.
Michigan was able to recover on
the floor thanks in part to a season
-high 9.8 from Cami Singer and a
9.85 from Ray.
But the most important to Plocki
may have been the atmosphere cre-
ated by the nearly 4,000 fans at
Pauley Pavilion, serving as a quali-
ty example of what her team might
see later on in the postseason
matches.
"It was a very pro-UCLA crowd
and that was great practice for us
because that's what the atmosphere
is going to be like at Nationals (in
Alabama)."
The Wolverines then closed out
the Invitational with what Plocki
called the best vaulting so far this
season by her team. Chelsea Kroll
and Shannon McKenzie scored
9.9's for Michigan and Ray closed
it with her 10.
Ray was the fifth and final gym-.
nast to score a perfect 10 on the'
vault yesterday. Dantzscher, fellow
Bruin Onnie Wells, and two Min-
nesota gymnasts were the other
four to score 10's.
"I guess the judges on the vault
were in a pretty good mood today,"
Plocki said.
The Wolverines return home to
Crisler this weekend to face No. 14
Denver and Washington on Satur-
day.
TOM FELDKAMP/Daily
Michigan sophomore Elise Ray nailed a perfect 10 on the vault, but it wasn't
enough for the Wolverines to top the Bruins.
Goodwin hopes NFL draft will reunite him with other 'M' linemen
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Jonathan
Goodwin is used to changing roles.
Two years ago, Goodwin was the
only underclassman on one of the
greatest offensive lines in college
football history. This past season,
Goodwin was one of the leaders on a
young offensive unit. And now, he is
trying to take his game to the next
level.
Goodwin took a major step toward
becoming a player in the National
Football League this weekend at the
NFL Combine, at which NFL hope-
fuls attempt to strut their stuff in
front of scouts, coaches and execu-
tives from the league's 32 teams. He
went through just about everything
from running speed and agility drills
to going through detailed medical
examinations.
"It's been a good experience, but
strange," Goodwin said. "You are
basically getting probed by a whole
bunch of doctors and all eyes are on
you."
Since the Columbia, S.C. native
graduated in January, he has been
working out in Houston twice a day,
doing agility drills in the morning and
lifting weights in the afternoon. The
experience has helped him get an expe-
rience for what life in the league is like,
but Goodwin has caught glimpses of
the pros for quite some time.
Two years ago Goodwin started at
right guard on the offensive line with
Steve Hutchinson, Jeff Backus, David
Brandt and Maurice Williams, each
of whom started in the NFL this past
season. Because of the NFL success-
es of his former teammates, the line
has been regarded by some as one of
the best in college football history.
"I was telling a scout earlier that it
felt like anything we wanted done
that year, we got it done," Goodwin
said. "We thought we couldn't do
anything wrong."
Playing with such great players
also helped Williams get noticed by
scouts.
"A lot of scouts told me they
noticed me last year watching those
guys," Goodwin said.
During the 2000-01 season, Good-
win roomed with Williams, who
started at right tackle for the Jack-
sonville Jaguars. Goodwin still keeps
in touch with Williams quite a bit, as
Williams has told him all about mov-
ing into the NFL after playing in Ann
Arbor.
"He told me it wasn't as tough as
he thought it was going to be," Good-
win said. "The competition was
tough, a lot better, but the transition
for him wasn't as tough as he thought
it was going to be."
The experience of playing with
those guys helped Goodwin this sea-
son as he was the line's only return- .
ing starter. Goodwin had to become
the teacher rather than being the
pupil. But in that role he excelled in
his new leadership role, giving up
just three sacks the whole season.
"We didn't have as much talent this
year but the guys worked pretty
hard," Goodwin said. "I love those
guys just as much as I love those
guys from last season."
Helping Goodwin through the
line's rebuilding process was offen-
sive line coach Terry Malone.
"I think he made me into the work-
er I am," Williams said. "He taught
me how to work at all times."
Goodwin believes that Malone
would fit in well at the offensive
coordinator position vacated by Stan
Parrish - a move that has been
rumored for some time.
"Coach Malone is a great coach,
and I think he would have no problem
adjusting to that role," Goodwin said.
"Coach Malone is a real smart coach,
and I think he is going to surprise a
lot of people."
As for his role at the next level,
Goodwin is slated to be either a center
or guard. He was measured this week-
end at 6-foot-3 and 318 pounds - the.
heaviest he has ever been. He was list-
ed at 299 on last season's roster.
Goodwin has aspirations of being
drafted in the first few rounds, but would
be thilled to get picked by anybody.
"Every now and then people tell
me (that I'll get picked on the) first
day," Goodwin said. "But I'm just
one of those guys that just wants to
get an opportunity."
But Goodwin often thinks about
how fun it would be to play in Jack-
sonville with Williams or with any of
the other guys from his junior season.
"It would probably be a great feel-
ing," Goodwin said. "Me and Mo talk
about it a lot, and I wouldn't mind
being in Jacksonville with him or
Seattle with Hutchinson or Detroit
with Backus. In a situation like that I
would have someone there to help me
out."
Genuine classic: Els holds off Woods' charge
MIAMI (AP) - A duel that Ernie
Els never wanted turned into a victory
he desperately needed yesterday in the
Genuity Championship.
Tiger Woods made Els' eight-stroke
lead nearly disappear before the magic
ran out on the Blue Monster at Doral,
but not before he made the Big Easy
sweat out a two-stroke victory, his first
on the PGA Tour in 18 months.
"I made him work for it" Woods said.
Els closed with an even-par 72, and
adding to the struggle was watching
Woods in the group ahead put on a daz-
zling show of big drives and key putts.
The comeback was so swift and shock-
ing that Woods had a 40-foot eagle putt
on the 12th hole to tie for the lead.
He settled for birdie and the 32-year-
old South African finally answered,
making a 12-foot birdie after him to
restore his two-shot cushion.
Woods never made another birdie,
although he had three chances inside 15
feet down the stretch. He had a 14-foot
birdie putt on the 18th that would have
put enormous pressure on Els, but it
stayed high of the hole.
na le- rlcilxit 6 lnia hi
such as Kapalua two years ago when
they matched eagles on the 18th hole to
get into a playoff, which Woods won
with a 40-foot birdie putt. There have
been blowouts, too, such as Woods win-
ning the U.S. Open by 15 shots and the
British Open by eight shots during his
record-setting year in 2000.
But the one duel that came to mind
yesterday was when Woods made up an
eight-stroke deficit in the final round and
beat Els in a playoff at the Johnnie Walk-
er Classic in Thailand four years ago.
Els, however, didn't buckle this time.
He made a terrific par save from 50
feet off the 14th green, and his swing
held up just fine under the pressure of
the final four holes, all of them two-putt
pars.
"I made it interesting," Woods said.
"I didn't give him the tournament. He
Food for Thought
Manipulating Opinion
Commentina on the PRG. the
had to earn it."
Els was trying to avoid a dubious
record on the PGA Tour - no one had
ever led by eight strokes going into the
final round without winning. Woods
never gave up, putting relentless pres-
sure on Els from the start.
"I wanted to cut the lead in half after
nine holes," Woods said.
He did one better, with a 12-foot
birdie putt on No. 9 getting him within
three strokes. When Els putted out for
par and saw a backup on the par-5 10th,
he elected to sit on his golf bag just off
the ninth green rather than wait with
Woods on the tee box.
The delay was 20 minutes, which
didn't slow Woods' momentum at all.
He pitched to three feet for another
birdie, and Els was met with more bad
luck.
His second shot into the par-5 was in
perfect shape until it took one more hop
into gnarly rough, and Els had virtually
no chance to get it close to a pin that
was downgrain and downhill. His chip
didn't reach the green, and he had to
settle for par.
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