0 2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 16, 2002 CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY National success gives lacrosse financial woes 6MNOTES By Rob Dean For the Daily For Michigan women's lacrosse, suc- cess has not come cheap. As one of sev- ,eral organized sports on campus with club status, the members of the team bear the burden of paying dues for the year that may escalate into the hundreds. In the past, women's lacrosse has not been competitive enough to worry about travel expenses or salaries for top coach- es. But with an unexpected fourth-place national finish coming from an extreme- ly young squad (over three-fourths of last year's team were underclassmen), team president Jane Friend is looking for more recognition from the Athletic Department. "Whether or not we get varsity status is completely out of our control," says Friend. "But we have applied and appealed a decision that would make us a varsity club team," Friend said. "Varsity club status would give us a booster in terms of securing facilities, of which there is only one right now shared by several teams, and in support- ing more travel." Women's lacrosse is looking to capi- talize on this past spring's success with a return to St. Louis, the site of the nation- al tournament. First, the team must fin- ish atop a field of 37 teams in March at a regional tournament hosted by the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League. This team had no trouble last year beat- ing other club teams from New England and the Midwest. Friend said that their own division includes Calvin, Albion, Michigan State, Western Michigan, Oakland and Men's gf S app's first By Matt Kramer Daily Sports Writer This wasn't exactly the start that first-year men's golf coach Andrew Sapp was looking for. But for now, it will have to do. The Wolverines opened their 2002 season this past weekend, fir- ing a two-day team total of 913 at the 54-hole Ridges Intercollegiate in Johnson City, Tenn. Michigan finished in 14th place out of 14 teams. "We struggled this weekend, espe- cially (yesterday)," Sapp said. "We played well, but this was a difficult golf course with difficult condi- tions." The Wolverines dug themselves into a deep hole on Saturday when they could only muster rounds of 12- over 300 and 16-over 304. Saturday's 604 put Michigan 23 shots behind eventual winner Wake Forest before the final round. But while Sapp wasn't necessarily pleased with the way the Wolverines played, by no means was he disap- pointed. Unlike previous seasons, when the Wolverines started the year against smaller schools that they could easily handle, the field at The Ridges con- sisted of seven of the top 25 teams in the country and a plethora of individ- ual All-Americans. "This was a good experience for us to be playing with the best teams," Sapp said. "It was a great growing experience for us as a team." Hope College. "But with the exception of MSU, those have all been easy wins for us," Friend said. The team coasted through the WCLL, earning a birth to the national finals and finishing among the semifi- nalists, despite starting the year ranked 19th. The team's unprecedented success has also drawn the attention of one of the area's top coaches. "One of the prerequisites of creating a varsity team includes attracting a good coaching staff, which obviously we have," Friend said. Mary Ann Meltzer joined the team as head coach after guiding the Birming- ham Unified club to three Michigan state championships in the' past five years. Meltzer herself is no stranger to national competition. She starred at the Universi- ty of Maryland as an All-American in the late 1980's and competed for the United States Lacrosse team from 1989 to 1992. Also joining the team from Birming- ham Unified is Meltzer's assistant coach, John Sung, hiiself an accom- plished competitive player. Michigan begins its six-week tune up for the spring season on September 23. According to Friend, "these games will not count against our official record." Instead, the team will be evaluating new players while hoping to fundraise enough money to support the team's growing needs. Efforts to raise cash have intensified this year with candy bar sales at football games and a "Lax-a-thon" to be held tentatively in the Diag from October 21-25. struggles in tournament The individual medallist honors came down to a five-way tie at one- under par 215. Among the five were U.S. Amateur semi-finalist Bill Haas from Wake Forest, North Carolina All-American Dustin Brey and Duke All-American Leif Olsen. "There was not much of a surprise with the competition," Sapp said. "These are some of the best golfers in college. We're not far off." To make matters tougher, three Wolverines - redshirt freshmen Mark McIntosh and Jimmy Wisinski, and true freshman Bruce Svechota- Kingsbury - were making their first collegiate starts. McIntosh led the new Wolverines with rounds of 75- 75-80-230. Sophomore Rob Tighe led all Wolverines with rounds of 73-77-73- 223. "I was really pleased with the way Rob played," Sapp said. "He had it 3- under par today before the weather got bad." Michigan returns to Big Ten terri- tory in two weeks when it travels to Indiana to compete in the Northern Intercollegiate. "We may see some new faces in a few weeks," said Sapp. "We have 12 days to go before the tournament. That means there will be a lot of time for other guys to get in through qual- ifying." The Wolverines last played in the Northern Intercollegiate in 2000, fir- ing a team total of 33-over par 897, finishing third out of 18 teams. Alum, ex- ast goes after Miss America crown Former All-American women's gymnast Sarah-Elizabeth Langford will represent the District of Columbia next Saturday night at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. Langford, a 2000 graduate, was a member of arguably Michigan's best' squad ever in 2000. Ranked No. 1 as a team through- out the 2000 season, Langford aver- aged 9.832 on the vault competing in all 15 meets. As a vault specialist, she helped Michigan to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 1999, still the Wolverines' best per- formance. Langford's career best on the vault was a perfect 10 on March, 11, 2000 in a duel meet against Florida and Bowling Green. An LSA graduate in French, Lang- ford now attends law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The Miss America pageant will be televised on ABC next Saturday at 8 p.m. Who: Erin Moore Hometown: Tiffin, Ohio Position: Middle backer Sport: Volleyball Year: Junior ATleE OFtg THE WEE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 0 Bloody mess Why: Moore helped Michigan (5-3) to its only victory Friday night when she recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs against Alabama. She also added nine blocks to barely miss a triple-double. Against No. 4 Nebraska on Saturday she had 11 kills in the loss 'SCHEDULE Thursday. Sept.19 Volleyball vs. Toledo, 7 p.m. Friday. Sept. 20 M Cross Country at Michigan State Open, 2 p.m. W Soccer vs. Iowa, 4 p.m. M Soccer vs. Oakland (Elbel Field), 6 p.m. M Tennis at Tom Fallon Invitational (South Bend) Saturday. Sept. 21 Field Hockey vs. Temple, 10 a.m. Football vs. Utah, 12:05 p.m. W Cross Country at Sundodger Invitational (Seattle), 1:15 p.m. Volleyball at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. W Golf at Mary Fossum Invitational (East Lansing) M Tennis at Tom Fallon Invitational (South Bend) Sunday. Sept. 22 W Soccer vs. Illinois, 11:30 a.m. M Soccer vs. Penn State (Varsity Field), 2 p.m. Field Hockey vs. Northeastern, 2 p.m. W Golf at Mary Fossum Invitational (East Lansing) M Tennis at Tom Fallon Invitational (South Bend) Sponn BRIEFS 0 0 AP rPHOu United States Postal's Michael Barry rides on despite crashing during the eighth stage of the Tour of Spain. Former Piston missing, may ave been killed Anna wins! Although Koum ikova still loses SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Anna Kournikova is still seeking her first WTA singles title. Anna Smashnova dashed Kourniko- va's hopes with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final of the Shanghai Open yesterday. The 21-year-old Russian, better known for her glamour and lucrative commercial endorsements, has lost all four finals she has played in her career. "I am quite disappointed. She played. her game, and I didn't play the right way," Kournikova said. "I tried to mix it up. I should have been more aggres- sive,, gone to the net more." Kournikova was slowed by unforced errors, repeatedly hitting balls too long from the baseline and missing key shots at the net. Smashnova, ranked No. 19, was pre- cise and controlled throughout the match, hitting perfect winners in stride. Kournikova didn't score a point until the third game of the first set when Smashnova hit a shot wide. "She was like a wall today, hitting everything back," Kournikova said. Kournikova, playing in her first sin- gles final since 2000, was looking for her first singles title in 115 WTA tour- naments. This final appeared to be one of Kournikova's best chances at a title. She beat Smashnova in their last two matchups, most recently in August in the Acura Classic in California. "Not only did the fans here wish me to win, but so did the fans all over the world," Kournikova said. Twins stick it to Selig with AL Central title CLEVELAND (AP) - The Min- nesota Twins, the small-market sur- vivors baseball couldn't eliminate, will be hanging around a little longer than anyone could have imagined. The Twins, targeted for contrac- tion last November, clinched the AL Central yesterday with a 5-0 win over the defending champion Cleve- land Indians. "Bud Selig couldn't get rid of us," Jacque Jones said. "The White Sox couldn't get rid of us. The Cleveland Indians couldn't get rid of us. Here we are, and we're staying." Kyle Lohse (13-8) pitched six shutout innings as the Twins secured their first playoff appearance since 1991. "It's been a long haul," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It started this winter when they tried to kick us out and take away our team. There's been a lot of buildup here, and we're going to let it all out today." PHOENIX (AP) - FBI investigators and French police have gathered on the island of Tahiti, possibly on the verge of opening a formal murder investigation into the disappearance of former NBA player Bison Dele and two others, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday. 4 The chief suspect at this time is Dele's brother, Miles x Dabord, who wit- .. nesses have said left New Zealand on a sailboat with Dele, Dele Dele's girlfriend Serena Karlan, and the boat's captain, Bertrand Saldo. Witness- es also have said, according to the Times, that a person fitting Dabord's description brought the boat into Tahiti alone. Dabord already is being sought in Mexico on an unlawful flight warrant issued by the FBI bureau in Phoenix, where he is suspected of trying to steal his brother's identity. The FBI and the French police are expected to do a formal search of the boat, a 55-foot catamaran, today. The boat, which Dele named the Hakuna Matata, was found docked in the Tahit- ian town of Taravao on Thursday. No one was on board, but the boat had been repainted and renamed Arabella, accord- ing to Andrew Black of the San Francis- co office of the FBI. A French police official told the Los Angeles Times that a public prosecutor in Tahiti is expected to declare an open murder investigation today. The official said his office has gathered "plenty" of information from 20 witnesses to for- ward suspicions that Dabord was involved in the disappearances. According to the Times, several witnesses in Taravao reported seeing a man they have identified as the 6- foot-8, 270-pound Dabord stepping alone off the boat before registering it. The official said the man believed to be the 35-year-old Dabord, former- ly known as Kevin Eugene Williams, signed the registration slip with an alias that was not either of his two names or that of Dele, 33, or his for- mer name, Brian Williams. Two Tahitian residents told the French police they drove Dabord 60 miles from Taravao so he could board an airplane departing Papeete, Tahiti, on July 20, the police official told the Times. The police official told the Times there were no signs of foul play, blood- stains or damage, seen by inspecting the boat from the dock. He also said he would be surprised if any bodies are found on the boat. "My personal opinion is that the bod- ies are in the sea," the official told the Times. "The waters off our coast are very deep - planes have crashed and remain missing - so if the bodies have been (dumped) it will be impossible to find them." Police in Phoenix detained Dabord on Sept. 5 after he allegedly said he was Brian Williams and signed receipts with that name while trying to buy $152,000 in gold. He showed his younger broth- er's passport as identification before he was taken into custody by police, Black, of the FBI's San Francisco office, said. Dabord then was released without being arrested, which was before it was known that Dele was missing. Dele, a member of the Chicago Bulls' NBA championship team in 1997, changed his name in 1998 to honor his American Indian ancestry. Averaging 11.0 points and 6.2 rebounds in 413 reg- ular-season games, he last played in 1999 with the Pistons. Patricia Phillips, the mother of Dabord and Dele, told the Chicago Tri- bune she had received anguished calls from Dabord on Tuesday and Wednes- day of last week. In those calls, Phillips told the Tri- bune, '(Dabord) said, 'Mom, I just need you to believe me. I wouldn't hurt my brother. I need to know that you love me before I die. I can't go to prison. You know my personality is the type that I can't survive in prison. Nobody will believe my story."' DAMY SCOREBOARD MLB STANDINGS NFL STANDINGS AMERICAN CONFERENCE East 0 AMERICAN LEAGUE Eastern Division New York Boston Toronto Baltimore Tampa Bay Central Division Minnesota Chicago Cieveland Kansas City Detroit West Division Anaheim Oakland Seattle Tex as NATIONAL LEAGUE Eastern Division x-Atlanta Montreal Philadelphia Florida New York ;Central Division St. Louis Houston Cincinnati Pittsburgh Chicago Milwaukee West Division Arizona San Francisco Los Angeles Colorado San Diego L 55 64 81 82 100 L 63 76 83 91 95 L 55 55 64 79 L, 53 76 76 77 79 L 63 70 76 84: 86 97 L 57 64 65 81 87 Pct .631 .568 .456 .446 .329 Pct .580 .493 .443 .385 .358 Pot .628 .628 .568 .466 Pct .639 .493 .493 .483 .470 Pct .577 .533 .490 .436 .427 .349 Pct .617 .570 .564 .460 .420 GB 9.5 26 27.5 45 GB, 13 20.5 29 33 GB 9 24 GB 21.5 21.5 23 25 GB 6.5 13 21 22.5 34 GB 7 8 23.5 29.5 Miami New England Buffalo N.Y. Jets South Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Tennessee North Cleveland Pittsburgh Baltimore Cincinnati West Denver San Diego Oakland Kansas City W 2 2 1 1 W 1 1 -1 1 W 1 0 0 0 W 2 2 1 1 The Michigan Athletic Department would like to thank all students for their cooperation with the new .0. card policy at Michigan Stadium. Take a break & join us for an evening of fun at Lanes 2985 Washtenawx Corner of Golfside _ 734-434-1110 _ NATIONAL CONFEREN4CE East PA 34 21 76 75 PA 34 46 44 45 PA 47 30 35 54 PA 30 9 17 62 PA 23 32 37 27 PA 14 40 26 51 PA 36 69 80 72 PA 44 37 55 49 .0 Washington Dallas N.Y. Giants Philadelphia South Carolina New Orlns Tampa Bay Atlanta North Chicago Green Bay Detroit Minnesota W 1 1 1 0 W 2 2 1 0 W 2 1 0 0 W 1 1 0 0 -ARoller Hockey Team 2002-2003 Tryouts Monday: Sept. 23 7:40-9:20 pm Tuesday: Sept.24 7:40-9:20 pm Wednesday: Sept. 25 7:40-9:20pm Location: WdeWorld Sports Center ARE YOU- BILINGUAL? Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michigan is looking for individuals who speak more than 1 language, have no history of head injury, neurological disease. or MLB SCORES Yesterday's games Baltimore 8, Boston 3 Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 4 Minnesota 5, Cleveland 0 N.Y. Yankees 8, Chicago White Sox 4 Kansas City 9, Detroit 3 Seattle 6, Oakland 3 Atlanta 6, Florida 4 Chicago Cubs 6, Cincinnati 0 Montreal 10, N.Y. Mets 1 Philadelphia 1, Pittsburgh 0.10 innings Houston 8, St. Louis 0 Colorado 5, Los Angeles 4 Arizona 6, Milwaukee 5, 13 innings San Diego 4, San Francisco 1 Texas at Anaheim, inc. Today's games Cleveland at BOSTON, 1:05 p.m. Toronto at BALTIMORE, 7:05 p.m. Kansas city at DETROIT, 7:05 p.m. Cincinnati at PITTSBURGH, 7:05 p.m. West Arizona San Francisco Seattle St. Louis 40 NFL GAMES Yesterday'sgames 'Chicago 14, Atlanta 13 Miami21,'Indianapolis13 Dallas 21, Tennessee 13 Carolina 31, Detroit 7 New England 44, N.Y. Jets 7 New Orleans 35, Green Bay 20 Cleveland 20, Cincinnati 7 Jacksonville 23, Kansas City 16 Tampa Bay 25, Baltimore 0 Arizona 24, Seattle 13 N.Y. -Giants 26, St. Louis 21 San Diego 24, Houston 3 Buffalo 45, Minnesota 39, OT Deonver 24.San Frmniscon14 i AMin.m U U m