The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 10, 2003 - 7B Luck aplenty for gymnasts 'M' gains mental toughness By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's gymnastics team got a gift this weekend, and the card that came along with it had an interesting mes- sage: Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The gift was given by some higher power to the Wolverines (6-4) on Saturday. Michi- gan eked out a victory in a tri-meet against West Virginia (5-2) and Kent State (6-4), scoring a 195.4. The Mountaineers record- ed a 195.225, while the Golden Flashes posted a 194.925. As the second rotation came around, Michigan looked to be in good position, having already scored a 49.35 on vault. But the uneven bars had a nasty surprise wait- ing for the home team. In something almost unheard of in collegiate gymnastics (espe- cially at Michigan), the Wolverines fell not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. The result was the Wolverines had to count two falls, and this led to a putrid 47.35 composite score. Fortunately, both Kent State and West Virginia would falter down the road, allowing the Wolverines to win in the fourth rotation. "You've got to try and look at the posi- tive in a situation," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "Am I disappointed with bars? Absolutely. "But what I think overshadows that is the fact that we probably had three events that were our season high, and even more important than that, the fact that we recov- ered from such a devastating event and came back on beam and floor and rocked the way that we did in the last two events and were able to pull it out." The beam breathed some life into the Wolverines. Senior captain Janessa Grieco led the way with a 9.925, good enough to win the individual beam title. Sophomore Chelsea Kroll also chipped in with a 9.9. Michigan then brought the floor routine to its knees, with three gymnasts scoring 9.9 or higher. Had the Wolverines not won, it would have marked the second meet in the span of six days that they were not on the top of the podium. Last Sunday, the Wolverines fin- ished third out of five teams in the State of Michigan Classic, an event that they have always dominated. "Sunday we got in a hole, and we contin- ued to spiral downward," Plocki said. "That's why I was so consumed with trying to talk to them ... (and tell them that) every event you go to is new life. "If you have a problem on bars, you have to be able to put that behind you and go to beam and be just as aggressive and just as confident (as if everything had gone well on bars)." One bright spot for the Wolverines was the performance of the two freshmen in the lineup, Jenny Deiley and Becca Clauson. Deiley took the all-around title with a career high 39.525, and also won the bar title with a 9.9. Clauson and Deiley split the vault title by scoring a pair of 9.9's. "The freshmen absolutely have come to our rescue all season long," Plocki said. "We knew they were capable of this, but as freshmen, you never know if they're going to come in and do what they're capable of right away, or if it is going to take them a By Albert Kim Daily Sports Writer A remarkably different Michigan gymnastics team took to the beam in the third rotation Satur- day. How else could you explain the Wolverines' amazing turnaround? Disaster was knocking on Michigan's door. The Wolverines were coming off their worst uneven bar routine of the year, with four out of six gymnasts falling, leading to a dismal 47.350. A repeat of last week's debacle at Michigan State, where Michigan scored a 47.850 on the bars and followed it up with three falls on the beam, didn't seem out of the realm of possibility. But the Wolverines had something they didn't have last week - mental toughness. "The sign of a true team is really when they can come back and put something behind them and go on," senior captain Janessa Grieco said. The young Michigan team, with the confidence of seasoned veterans, brushed off its falls on the bars and hit on its first five beam routines to post a season-high score. Then, the team nailed a sea- son-high score on the floor to pull off the tri-meet victory over Kent State and West Virginia. "We rebounded from a very bad event and came back and hit two season-high event totals," Plocki said. "So there's a lot to take out of this meet to be very excited about." It's fair to say that every single gymnast on the roster made strides Saturday night, starting with junior Chelsea Kroll. She had perhaps the worst time of all of the gymnasts at Michigan State, falling twice on the bars and once on the beam. Kroll fell on her bars routine again, and it looked like it might be a repeat. But she came back and nailed a career high on the beam, a remarkable turnaround, and followed it up with a strong floor routine. "We were so excited for her," junior Calli Ryals said. "She has been really struggling in practice with her injuries. For her to come out here just showed her mental strength and confidence." For Kroll, believing was the key. "I was pretty confident about my beam rou- tine," Kroll said. "I knew I could do it." Grieco, as she often has done this year, led by example also, coming back strong after a fall on bars. She posted a 9.925 on both beam and floor, winning the beam title and a share of the floor title. Grieco listened to what the coaches had been preaching all week. "I said to myself, 'That event's over, leave that behind, let's start again,"' Grieco said. Despite the team's show of mental strength, Ploc- ki and assistant coach Scott Sherman are still wor- ried about the Wolverines' struggles on the bars. "It's hard to say," Plocki said. "Scott and I pull our hair out about that question." Depth may be part of the problem, since some gymnasts are competing out of position. "Because of the injuries that we've had, it has affected our bar lineup more than any other event; Plocki said. But every team has injuries, and Michigan will need to fix its bar problems quickly. That being said, Michigan may be showing the first glimpses of championship character. "Every meet is not going to be perfect, and if something like that happened at regionals or nationals, we've got to be able to put it behind us and keep on going" Grieco said. "So I was really impressed." With half of the season left to go, the new Wolverines can be content in overcoming a large hurdle. "That's the one mental thing that we've been struggling with, and we proved ourselves today," Ryals said. REBECCA SAHN/Daily Calli Ryals finished second in the all-around to help Michigan to a win Saturday. little bit of time to transition to college." On a day of highs and lows, the Wolver- ines showed what they are made of by claw- ing their way back to defend their home territory. "Every meet is not going to be perfect," Grieco said. Polo uses West Coast as measuring stick By Ellen McGarrlty Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's water polo team packed up their swimsuits and flew to San Diego Fri- day- but not for the purpose of laying out on the beach. No, the fun in the sun had to wait until after the team had completed five crucial games, including four in the California-San Diego Arena Invitational. Sunday, the team faced No. 13 California-Santa Barbara, losing 6-5. The game against No. 17 Hartwick was cancelled. On Saturday, the first day of the invitational, No. 10 Michigan (3-4) knocked off No. 16 Cali- fornia-Davis 8-6, breaking the Wolverines 16- game losing streak against West Coast teams. The Wolverines got off to a shaky start - the Aggies led 2-1 in the first quarter - but sopho- more Casey Kerney and freshman Megan Haus- mann cleaned up with hat tricks in the final qgarters. Success at Mey Before the weekend's games, the players and their coach, Matt Anderson, believed that Michi- gan needed to finally establish itself in the West as a competitive team. "We need the attitude that we're going to win these games and that we can win the games - then we will win these games," said junior Julie Nisbet. "If we could treat other teams like (we do) Indiana, I think we could improve out West." Nisbet was referring to the team's intense rivalry with Indiana. "We're going to the West Coast where every team is either on par or better than the teams on the East Coast, so we have to raise our game a level," Anderson said. At least in their game against California-Davis, the Wolverines did rise to that level. However, the Maize and Blue were no match for the 49ers of No. 4 Long Beach State, losing 13-8. The first quarter of the game was what set back the Wolverines. They scored just two goals, com- pared to the 49ers' five. The Wolverines were con- sistent with two goals in each remaining quarter, but Long Beach still outscored them. "We played a favorite to win the national cham- pionship, and it was a 9-6 game after three quar- ters," Anderson said. "The difference in (Long Beach's) maturity and athletic ability separated them in the fourth, but the fact that we were.in the game shows that we are slowly getting where we want to be." Considering the ranking of Long Beach State,j losing by five points isn't something Michigan was ashamed about. To start off the weekend, Michigan lost 3-2 in a close game to No. 8 California-San Diego. Despite goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong's 14 saves, and Hausmann and Nisbet's two goals apiece, the Tri- tons could not be stopped. "I am disappointed, but extremely happy about giving up just three goals to the No. 8 (team)," Anderson said, "We play with a lot of confidence defensively. As soon as our offense gets hammered down we are going tohe a very strongteam," The University of Michigan Department of Dermatology is currently offering research study for facial acne. If you are over the age of 12 and are in good general health, you may be eligible to participate in a research program for facial acne. Office visits and study agent are provided free of charge to eligible participants. You may also receive compensation for your participation! For more information, please call: (734) 764-DERM University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers o may send harriers to NCAAs By Mustaflzur Choudhury Daily Sports Writer With just a few meets left until the NCAA Championships March 14-15, the Michigan women's indoor track and field team headed into the Meyo Invitational in South Bend determined to qualify its top athletes for the post- season meet. Keeping that goal in focus, the Wolverines walked away with six indi- vidual event victories and an NCAA automatic bid for the distance medley relay team. Freshman Katie Erdman, junior Vera Simms, junior Lindsey Gallo and senior tri-captain Rachel Sturtz - members of the distance medley relay - placed second in the event behind Arkansas with a time of 11:21.09. The team improved its previous season- best time (11:50.35) by nearly half a minute. Four athletes earned an NCAA pro- visional qualifying mark, which does- n't guarantee them a spot, but will allow them to be considered for the championships. Gallo won the mile run with a career-best and NCAA provisional time of 4:44.52. "I had the opportunity to run against some really good athletes, and that helps you prepare for the Big Ten (Championships)" Gallo said. "This year, I'm confident. I would definitely like to run harder and qualify for the Nationals." Her time put her atop the Big Ten and earned her a spot in the top 10 in the country. Continuing the winning stride were Erdman and sophomore Theresa Feld- kamp. The duo led the Wolverines to a 1-2 finish in the 800-meter run, with provisional times of 2:08.04 and 2:08:32, respectively. Robin Landfair won the 60-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 8.51. The senior missed Tania Longe's 1998 school record by one-tenth of a second. Senior tri-captain April Phillips con- tinued to dominate in the shot put, winning the event with a season-best throw of 51'-4 1/2" to remain unde- feated in the 2003 season. Phillips was also victorious in the weight throw with a season-best throw of 60'-3 1/4". "It's the best I've done this year, but not my personal best, so I'm definitely looking to improve," Phillips said. "I'm looking forward to the meet next weekend. I'll have a lot more competi- tion and hopefully that'll make me rise to the occasion and perform better." With the Big Ten Championships just two meets away, Michigan will be looking to make some final adjust- ments in order to defend its Big Ten title. underside of U of M www.universitysecrets.com 'Do>n't aNiCO'! 'If you think you re pregnant... call ors--we Istfla wecare. PROBLEM PREGNANCY HELD - '975-4357. ,Any time, any day 24 hors. "~IycFol.-.- nti C~UIPA £*ia d-4 94ui~1,T VolleyballOficiTals Needed!. Why officiate Volleyball??? 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