Men's best score not enough against France The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 18, 2002 - 3B RAPHAEL GOODSTEIN By Evan Brown Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's gymnastics team faced one of the world's finest teams on Friday, as the French National Team defeated the Wolver- ines 220.725 to 216.8. The exhibition match with France gave Michigan an opportunity to compete against the best before it faces America's collegiate elite in - the upcoming Big Ten and NCAA championships. The Wolverines have been on an upswing lately, but nerves played a factor early. "I was disappointed with our floor exercise and (pommel) horse, which were our first two events," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "We had too much adrenaline early in this match." That shouldn't take away from Michigan's best score of the year, which was just 0.05 away from breaking the school record. The Wolverines were able to shake off a slower start and played even with France for the last four events. They also beat France by nearly two points in the still rings after they were outscored by over three points in pommel horse. "France is the strongest pommel horse team in the world," Golder said. "We were able to blow them p away in the next event, still rings." In the still rings, Michigan's Conan Parzuchowski was first with a 9.475 and Justin Toman was sec- ond with a 9.3, as Michigan held four of the top five scores in the event. Kris Zimmerman scored a 9.575 on the high bar but placed third, while Brad Kenna won the floor exercise with a 9.2. Michigan competed with its strongest lineup of the year by allowing its best players to partici- pate in more events. Key perform- ers Kenna and Daniel Diaz-Luongo were able to compete in four or more events. This has been the plan that Golder has preached all year: Let the best gymnasts take it easy early, especially those with injuries, then try for their best performances in the end. "Everyone's feeling optimistic and confident (at this point)," Gold- er said. "I feel very good and opti- mistic with how things are going. We need to hit the peak in our per- formance at this time. We didn't know if it would happen, but it did." Michigan is going to prepare this week for the Big Ten Champi- onships, which are next weekend in Minneapolis. The meet will include the six teams from the Big Ten that are ranked in the top 10 nationally. After that, they will travel to Nor- man, Okla. for the NCAA Champi- onships. Michigan State s streak ends with first-round loss LSLIE MWAD/Dily Michigan's strong showing in the final four events, including parallel bars, helped produce a season-best score of 216.8. Women's gymnastics rolls in season finale Was Michigan State's 69-58 first round NCAA Tour- nament loss to North Car- olina State the end of the Spartans' run as one of the premier programs in the country? Probably. For the first time in five years Michigan State was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament before the Sweet Sixteen. But don't mis- take Friday afternoon's loss for an upset. It wasn't. The Spartans were beaten by a better, more talented team that, sur- prisingly, was more prepared and better coached. Even more surprising, though, is that the Wolfpack achieved the win with their best player having to sit on the bench due to foul trouble. Michigan State allowed North Carolina State to win because the Spartans consistently committed stupid fouls 30 feet from the bas- ket. And they also committed sev- eral fouls while a North Carolina State player was converting a layup, especially in the second half. Even rebounding, which has been a staple of Michigan State's success during the last five years was absent Friday, as the Wolfpack outrebounded Michigan State, 33- 28. Even had the 10th-seeded Spar- tans' found a way to get past No. 7 seed North Carolina State, there is little doubt that No. 2 seed Con- necticut would have ended the Spartans season yesterday. After the loss, even Izzo conceded that the loss might have marked the end of Michigan State's run. While the Spartans have another highly-touted recruiting class com- ing in next year, continuing to bring in such classes will only get tougher for Izzo now that Michigan coach Tommy Amaker is success- fully contending for the same play- ers. Amaker's class next year is right on par with the Spartans' class. Both classes have one con- sensus top 20 player, and two other top 100 players. But more importantly, Amaker has made a point of re-establishing Michigan's presence in Michigan, something former coach Brian Ellerbe never did. While Ellerbe was a good recruiter, most of his talent was from outside the state. This allowed Michigan State to snatch up most of the in-state talent and build a contender around that. If Michigan State only gets half of the in-state talent, it's doubtful that it'll contin- ue to succeed at that level. Now that Michigan State has lost, and Izzo was outcoached, it's likely that the perception that the Spartans are one of the premier programs in the country will change. Michigan State has never consis- tently been a premier program for an extended period of time. For the most part, it has been a good pro- gram which consistently contended for an NCAA Tournament bid, like it did this year. But Michigan State is by no means a program on par with Kansas, Duke or Kentucky - programs that will almost annually contend for the title. After their first-round loss, the Spartans talked about the year with a positive tone. This year wasn't a bad one for Michigan State. For premier programs, if a season ends in the first round, the season was a failure - just like if Michigan's football team doesn't win the Big Ten or play in a BCS game. That's life at a premier program. That isn't life at Michigan State. What's more, the same problem that has plagued many of schools (Michigan included) the last 10 years has hit Michigan State - the best players leave school before their four years of eligibility are up. Last year, Spartans Zach Ran- dolph and Jason Richardson left before their eligibility was up, and there is talk that point guard Mar- cus Taylor will leave school after this year. Without Taylor, the Spartans once again will be left without the necessary talent to contend. And with Michigan hot on the Spartans' heels for talent, it appears as thought it will be some time before they once again have the talent to contend for a national title. Raphael Goodstein can be reached at raphaelg@umich.edu. By Matt Kramer Daily Sports Writer - The No. 5 Michigan women's gymnastics team ended its regular season in style Saturday night, scoring a 196.7 at the Shanico Inn-vitational in Corvallis, Ore. en route to defeating host Oregon State (196.675), Seattle Pacific (192) and fellow Big Ten competitor Michigan State (195). The Wolverines finished 19-3 overall and will head to Columbus this Saturday looking for their 10th Big Ten Championship title in 11 years. "We did pretty well overall," freshman Chelsea Kroll said. "We had a good bar set and stumbled a little on the beam, but we picked it up on the floor as a team and were able to score really well in the end." Michigan's 196.7, the second-highest road score of the year for the Wolverines, was so high because of scores of 49.3 on the vault and uneven bars and a score of 49.475 on the floor exercise. Opening up the meet on the uneven bars, the Wolverines got a solid 9.775 from bars-special- ist Christine Mantilia and didn't have to count anything lower than that, as Cami Singer (9.85), Amy Kuczera (9.825) Calli Ryals (9.9) and Elise Ray (9.95) swung Michigan to an early lead a Michigan found itself uncharacteristically out of the top spot early in the second rotation, how- ever, after two miscues on the balance beam forced the Wolverines to count a 9.35 among their top five of six scores, leaving them with just a 48.635. But Michigan was able to take the lead for good on the floor exercise as Ryals' 9.95, Ray's 9.875, and an unexpected 9.9 from Kroll - who was competing in her first floor routine of the year - helped Michigan score a 49.475. "Scoring the 9.9 was really exciting," said Kroll, who came to Michigan as an all-arounder but has been hampered by injuries and had only been able to compete on the vault. "The floor exercise is my favorite event and now I'm able to make my own routines." Ryals' 9.95 was good enough for second place in the event, and Kroll's 9.9 placed her fourth individually. Leading Oregon State by three-hundredths of a point going into its final rotation (the vault), Michigan relied on experience to lead it, as senior Shannon MacKenzie and Ray, the NCAA individ- ual co-champion last year, each tallied 9.9s. The score was good enough for the duo to share second place and enabled Michigan to score a meet-high 49.3 on the event. Ray's 39.650 was good enough for her fifth overall title in Michigan's last six meets and Ryals, the No. 1 all-around gymnast, placed fifth overall with a 39.05. While the Wolverines have been able to consis- tently put up scores above 197 at home this sea- son, it hadn't been able to earn equally high scores on the road until recently. But for Michigan, it's better late than never. "We beat some tough teams in Georgia and Utah at home (in February)," Kroll said. "And that has really helped build our confidence when we travel now." Home sweet home With a 196.7 Saturday in Oregon, the Michigan women's gymnastics team scored its second highest road score of the season. However, that score would be Michigan's second lowest score at home this year. Here is a list of how the Wolverines do at Crisler compared to how they do on the road: Home: 197.775 (Mar. 9) 197.175 (Feb. 10) 197.025 (Feb. 22) 197.000 (Feb. 1) 94.900 (Jan. 13) Road: 196.775 (Mar. 3) 196.700 (Mar. 16) 196.750 (Jan. 26) 196.300 (Feb. 3) 196.100 (Feb. 17) 195.125 (Jan. 19) 193.625 (Jan. 4) The College of Engineering of the University of Michigan invites you to the Goff Smith Lecture with Orofessor Oer0ert Oroemer Oecilient of the 0000 Qoel Ori~e in Ohysics Wednesday, March 20, 2002, 4p.m. Johnson Rooms Robert H. Lurie Engineering Center, North Campus, Ann Arbor For more information, visit www.engin.umich.edu Michigan Engineering _~ JESSICA YURASEK/Daily Della Sonda (left), fends off a Michigan State player in the Wolverines' 11-4 victory. All five seniors scored in their final game at Canham Natatorium. Polo beats State in seniors' home finale By Doiel Bremmer Daily Sports Writer It was a fairy tale finish for the Michigan water polo team on Friday night, as Michigan defeated Michigan State's club team 11-4 in an exhibition match in Canham Natatorium. Certainly, any win over the Spartans is exciting for the Wolverines. But on Friday, senior night became even more special, as each of the team's five sen- iors scored goals in their last home game. Leading the scoring attack for the Wolverines were seniors Jen Crisman, Maribeth Sitowski and Sara Kowal, with two goals a piece. Seniors Delia Sonda and Mandi Hagedorn also chipped in with a goal each, and Hagedorn's goal with 11 sec- onds left in the game completed the scoring cycle for the seniors. Overall, Michigan's seniors account- ed for eight of the team's 11 goals. Following a short ceremony to honor the seniors before the game, Crisman felt that the team had an extra lift. "Right from the start, because of sen- ior night, we had a lot of momentum going. But we also had some nerves," Crisman said. "It was a really good game overall, and everyone worked together." Michigan opened up quickly, scoring four goals in the opening quarter, including one on a penalty shot by freshman Jo Antonsen. The Wolverines outscored the Spar- tans 3-1 in the second quarter, taking a 7-1 lead into the half. Michigan State was able to create some scoring chances with four power- plays in the third quarter, but the strong Michigan defense allowed just one goal. In the final quarter, a quick Michigan score was followed by two Michigan State tallies. But the Wolverines netted the final two goals to close the game out. Michigan freshman Betsey Arm- f HEY MICHIGAN WOLVERINES, MAKE YOUR CLIMB TO THE TOP A WHOLE LOT SHORTER. START YOUR CAREER OFF AT A HIGHER LEVEL. Mar mir nttiflae. revolutionizina the industrv Were Quicken Loans. owered by Intuit, maker of Quicken and