The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 21, 2002 - 9A Men shake off NCAAs, T enter outdoor season By Jacob Leonhardt For the Daily After freshman Nathan Brannen failed to qualify for the finals in the mile two weeks ago at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Michi- gan men's track team plans to make a fresh start in the first meet of the outdoor track season. They Wolver- A ines start the outdoor season today in Tallahassee, Fla. against Florida State and 29 other teams. None of the distance runners will be in attendance this weekend. After competing every week during the F. indoor season from early January to early February, the distance runners h . are training hard this week instead. The Wolverines are focusing more on the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. and the Penn Relays late in April for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships later in the season. After endless weeks of training while waiting for their outdoor sea- TOM FELDKAMP/Daily son to begin this week, the relay run- After a sub-par indoor season, the men's track team gets a fresh start as ners and hurdlers hope to shake the it begins the outdoor season in Talahassee, Fla. rust off their heels and get a top fin- Blue's enry ways on call Blue continues marathon of season and moves outdoors ish against strong national competi- tion in Florida. "I think we have a good chance to get a school record in the 4x100 meter relay this year," assistant coach Fred LaPlante said. "We are capable of being Big Ten champs in the 4x100 and becoming a national quali- fier." The 4x100 meter relay for this weekend will feature Ike Okenwa, Kevin Lamb, Nathan Taylor and Brent Cummings. "With two returning guys on the relay, and two new runners, it will take a while for them to gel and get their baton passes down," LaPlante said. Most of the team has not competed since mid-February, and only a third of the squad is traveling to compete this weekend. With a depleted squad this weekend, the relay teams and hurdlers will need to stack up points for the Wolverines to have a chance at finishing near the top. "No matter what teams will be at the meet, we'll most definitely be in the hunt to win the 4x 100 meter relay this weekend," LaPlant said. LESLIE WARD/Daily The Wolverines finished ninth in the Big Ten this season, but coach Kurt Golder says they have as good a chance as any in making a title run in Minneapolis. Titlerunsti i cartds for Mi'chi~gan GYMNASTICS MINNEAPOLIS CHAMPIONSHIPS By Melanie Kebler Daily Sports Writer Michigan women's track coach James Henry's work is never done. Starting with the cross country season in the fall, then the indoor season through- out the winter and finally finishing with the spring outdoor season, the coach certainly has a year- round job. "I'm pretty sure that we're the only sport that has three full seasons in one year," Henry said. There also isn't much time in between the differ- ent seasons that comprise one year of track compe- tition; either. At the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 8-9, senior Katie Jazwinski was the Wolverines' lone representative. Now, just two weeks later, the entire team heads to Tallahassee, Fla. to open its outdoor season at the Florida State Relays. Although the recent schedule has been gru- eling, Henry plans to use the trip as a substitute for the spring trip that many other sports programs get to take. "The meet will give the team a chance to recover from the entire indoor season," Henry said. "We're expecting predictably warm weather, and it will be sort of like a vacation meet." The Wolverines will compete against several Florida schools at the non-scoring meet, and while they don't plan on rolling over to the competition, Henry says there will be less of an emphasis on the team's score. "Yes, we want to win, but we aren't going to go crazy over it, he said. "The kids are going to per- form under the parameters of our training." While the team is taking a laid-back approach to this meet, the importance of the opening meet of the outdoor season remains' intact. Henry expects his top performers in the indoor season to, continue their excellence this season as well. Jazwinski - winner of the Athlete of the Cham- pionship award at the recent Big Ten Indoor Cham- pionships - is expected to continue her success in the distance events, while junior April Phillips and sophomore Melissa Bickett will lead the Wolver- ines in the throwing events. Both throwers broke school records during the indoor season. "I would say those three ladies are going to lead the team," Henry said. Michigan enters the outdoor season with an overall goal of achieving balance. The team has already proved itself successful in the previous two sections of the track year, taking second at the Big Ten cross country championships and first at the conference indoor championships. By Evan Brown Daily Sports Writer The No. 9 Michigan men's gymnas- tics team should compete for a Big Ten Championship despite the fact that it is tied for last in the Big Ten rankings. "Every team this year has a chance to win the Big Ten," senior Justin Toman said. "The best is yet to come for us." While the rankings don't show it, Michigan has as good a shot as any school to win. It boasts a renewed confi- dence and a stronger, veteran-laden line- up. The Wolverines came off their best performance of the year last week, scor- ing 216.8 points against France - a team highly touted throughout the world. That type of match "helps you from getting nervous," Toman said. "If you see one of the best in the world go up and nail a set, you have to perform. And that puts you in a different mindset. When we go to Big Tens this weekend, we're not going to see the level of gym- nastics (that we saw against France)." The Big Ten has six of the top 11 teams in the country, including the top three. No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Iowa and No. 9 Illinois will join Michigan in Minneapolis this weekend. Michigan is 1-2 in dual matches against Big Ten opponents and 3-4 overall, including the Windy City Championship. The Golden Gophers weren't ranked early in the year and even took an eight- point beating earlier this year at the hands of the Wolverines. This is a sign that everyone in the Big Ten has a chance. "I think there's more parody in the Big Ten this year," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "Any one of those teams could finish either first or last." The Big Ten will show off some very talented gymnasts who are among the country's best. Penn State's Kevin Donohue is one of the best in the paral- lel bars, floor exercise and high bars. Minnesota's Clay Strother is an All- American in the pommel horse and vault. Illinois' Bob Rogers is the best in the high bar in the country. Michigan doesn't have any gymnasts in the top five of any individual events this year, but it has many talented athletes that have been injured. Daniel Diaz-Luong and Geoff Corrigan, among other veter- an gymnasts, will be added to more events to create depth. "We can still strengthen our lineup with the possibility of strengthening some routines," Golder said. "We made a few mistakes that we can clean up. If that doesn't give (the guys) a lot of con- fidence, I don't know what will." Michigan has a renewed confidence and doesn't have to look back very far to their last Big Ten Championship. The Wolverines won in 1999 and 2000, while finishing second last year. "The mindset going into this meet is really just to compete like last week and not to hold back," Toman said. TOM FELDKAMP/Daily After a capturing a Big Ten Championship during the indoor season, Michigan is heading outdoors. This weekend, however, the Wolverines are look- ing to take it easy and unwind before the outdoor season gets in full swing. A m VA m