14-The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Gymnast reflects on triumphant career for Blue By Matt Kramer Daily Sports Writer Four years ago, Shannon MacKenzie was planning on becoming just another freshman at Michigan State. A solid club gymnast, MacKenzie didn't really consid- er competing in college, and since most of her family had gone to school at Michigan State, it just seemed natural that the Midland native would become a Spar- tan too. But during her senior year of high school, a judge at one of MacKenzie's club competitions told MacKenzie to think about walking on at Michigan. "I had been to one college competition in my life before I came to school," MacKenzie said. "I went down to Ann Arbor, took one look at it, and decided that this was the place for me." MacKenzie couldn't have made a better choice. The senior has gone from a walk-on to becoming a significant contributor on one of the nation's perennial powers. During Mackenzie's career, the Wolverines have taken home four straight Big Ten Championships and qualified for four straight NCAA Championships. Individually, MacKenzie has been a two-time All American, a three-time All-Big Ten honoree and a three-time scholastic All-American. Michigan coach Bev Plocki provided MacKenzie with the ultimate compliment earlier this year when she said that "Shannon was the most improved gym- nast" in her 13-year career as a coach. In her first three years in Ann Arbor, MacKenzie was penciled in only as a beam specialist, but after numerous injuries hit the Wolverines early this year the senior stepped up in January and competed in the all-around competition for Michigan. MacKenzie's career almost came to an abrupt end last Saturday at the NCAA Northeast Regional Cham- pionships at State College. Trailing Iowa going into the last rotation, the vault, Michigan needed to score .2 higher on the vault than whatever Iowa scored on its last rotation, the floor exercise. MacKenzie once again stepped up for Michigan, as she scored a clutch 9.8 on the vault to propel the Wolverines past Iowa and into the NCAA Champi- onship field. Webb loses Sullivan Award to Kwan NEW YORK (AP) - Michelle Kwan had a different reason to cry this time. Kwan, the most accomplished figure skater of her generation, won the 2001 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete last night. "I'm already a little teary-eyed," Kwan said. "I always wanted to be a legend. ... It feels like a dream come true." Kwan said she was humbled to have won the same award as Dick Button, who took the Sullivan in 1949 - the only other figure skater to win the award. Despite her four world championships and six U.S. titles, Kwan might be best known for finishing second behind Tara Lipinski in the 1998 Winter Olympics and third behind Sarah Hughes in the 2002 Games. Michigan middle distance runner Alan Webb was also a finalist for the award. "I don't plan on getting to legend status for a while," Webb said. "I'm at the beginning of my career." Webb first made a splash on the national scene this past summer, when he surpassed the American high school record in the mile (3:53.43), breaking Jim Ryan's 36-year-old mark of 3:55.3. As a Wolverine this fall, Webb was named an All- American after he led Michigan's cross country team to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Michigan's freshmen sensation has not participated in a collegiate track meet because of tendonitis in his Achilles, but he is expected to make his debut in the next two weeks. Besides Webb, Kwan beat three other finalists for the Sullivan: Swimmer and Olympic hopeful Natalie Coughlin of California; Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Mark Prior; and gymnast Sean Townsend. All five finalists attended the ceremony, which was held at the New York Athletic Club. Coughlin narrowly missed going to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and hopes to represent the United States in Athens. Prior was the Cubs' second pick in last June's amateur draft. Townsend won the first indi- vidual gold at the world championships for an Ameri- can man since 1979, when Bart Conner won the parallel bars and Kurt Thomas won the floor exercise and high bar. But Kwan has all of those prestigious titles to her name, as well as millions of dollars in endorsements. The only gap in her skating resume is that elusive Olympic gold medal. She has not decided yet whether she will try for gold in 2006 in Turin, Italy. But it's a question she can't avoid. "I got that four years ago, and I'm getting it now," Kwan said. "A lot of people think I'm older than I am." She would be 25 then - old by women's figure skat- ing standards - and at her fourth Olympics. 64 ALYSSA WOOD/Daily As a walk-on, gymnast Shannon MacKenzie did not envision helping lead Michigan to four NCAA championship berths. "I knew we were close to Iowa, and I think I knew more than I was supposed to," said MacKenzie, whose teammates said after the meet that they didn't know how close the meet was. "We all needed to hit, and we did it. That's what counts." MacKenzie and the Wolverines have one more chance to hit their routines two weeks from now at the NCAA Championships. Michigan finished second in the nation when MacKenzie was a freshman, sixth when she was a sophomore and third last year. "I've been preparing for next week to be the end of my career for some time, so I want to go out and hit my routines. But more importantly, I want the team to do well." MacKenzie said. Even if MacKenzie and the Wolverines don't accom- plish their goal of winning a national championship, the senior has been able to do something that she never imagined possible. "I got my mom, a Michigan State alum, to sing 'The Victors' at our meets," MacKenzie said. "That's saying something." 4 DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan track star Alan Webb set a new record for the high school mile and was named an All-American in cross country. In 1994, she was an alternate to the U.S. team as skating officials pondered barring Tonya Harding from going to Lillehammer. Kwan went to Norway and trained for an Olympic appearance that never came when Harding was allowed to compete. "Who cares? Give it one more shot. I'm not over the hill. If you have the desire, go for it," Kwan said. "I don't think it's necessary for me to make a decision right now." CHIPPEWAS Continued from Page 12 plate, other bats in the dugout will begin to warm up. Confidence is paramount when hitting is con- cerned. "These guys are capable and they know it," Harrison said. "A lot of times it takes one or two guys to get hot and the other guys relax. One or two guys start picking up those big RBIs, and then it gets contagious throughout the team." One of those bats could be Fox's. Last year, Fox led the team in bat- ting with a .395 average in confer- ence play. He proved his prowess at the plate over the duration of the Big Ten season, but this year his average is down to .245, and he is struggling to find his swing. But after a near-.400 season last year, Fox is confident that he can get back to where he was before. His early season struggles have not deterred him from approaching the game he loves with confidence. "I just haven't found my groove yet," Fox said. "You go out every day and you go play a game you love to play and have fun at it. Sometimes things just don't fall your way. I think that at times,when things aren't going your way, you still gotta go out and approach a game like it was going your way. Sooner or later, they are going to fall for me." CENTRAL Continued from Page 12 one of the top 10 teams in the Mideast region as part of the NCAA's bi-weekly poll. So even with a huge four-game weekend (with two games each against Minnesota and Wisconsin) on the horizon, a letdown that might be expected in a mid-week game such as today's contests is unlikely. Today's "game will be easier to get up for than some of the weaker opponents in the Big Ten that we know of," Kollen said. Facing Stephens again will be a good challenge for the Wolverines, as they have been working on becoming more aggressive at the plate. Too often this season, Michi- gan hitters have let good pitches go by early in the count, forcing them to swing at questionable pitches with two strikes. That got Michigan into trouble two weeks ago against Penn State, when it left eight run- ners on base en route to a 1-0 loss, and last weekend against Indiana, when it did not get a hit until the fifth inning. In practice this week, coach Carol Hutchins has talked about tactics like hitting one of the first three pitches or taking the first pitch and then being aggressive. "We get too picky and too selec- tive, and we fall behind 0-and-the count," Kollen said. "We have to swing at anything close, as opposed to hitting something that we want to hit." 9 Need an apartment in NYC? WE SOLD BACK ALL OUR BOOKS IN COLLEGE. AND NOW WE OWN A BOOKSTORE. * SELL BACK YOUR BOOKS * up to 67 PERCENT cash NOW PAYING TOP DOLLAR back GREAT PRIZES ON GOTUSED.COM EXPERIENCED CUSTOMER SERVICE SHOP OFF CAMPUS AND SAVE SELL YOUR BOOKS AND SPIN THE WHEEL FOR: free food & drinks extra cash free t-shirts free underwear BOOKSTORE I You worry about graduating, we'll worry about your apartment. 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