The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 5E Grapplers return two 2002 All-Americans By Eric Chan Daily Sports Writer ALBANY, N.Y. - Going into last season's NCAA Wrestling Championships, Michigan had the highest of expectations. After a disappointing third-place finish at Big Ten Championships, the Wolverines were hoping to rebound with a strong showing at nationals. It wasn't to be though, as Michigan finished in ninth after coming in as the No. 3 team in the nation. Top-ranked Minnesota captured the NCAA title for the second straight year. "Obviously I'm disappointed. We came in with high expectations, and we did- "K n't meet them," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "We didn't wrestle the kind of NCAA Tournament we wanted." Michigan's downfall came on the second day of the tournament. With five wrestlers in the quarterfinals, it looked as though the Wolverines would be con- O tending for a top-three finish. But everything came apart as Michigan lost nine of the 12 matches wrestled on the second day. The Wolverines didn't send a single wrestler to the finals or even the consola- tion finals. The highest finish came from 174-pound graduated senior Otto Olson, who ended in fifth-place. Olson entered the tournament undefeated as the No. 1lseed, but he failed to come through for the national title in his last season at Michigan. The now three-time All-American advanced to the semi-finals but was upset by the No. 4 seed, Princeton's Greg Parker, 12-8. Parker, who became the first All-American from Princeton since 142-pounder John Orr in 1985, looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the match and looked shocked that he had just upset the top-seeded Olson. - -f "I was the underdog out there, and the crowd was really behind me," Parker said. "I just wrestled as hard as I could, and it worked out for me. To beat a guy BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily from a Big Ten school like Michigan really gives our small program some credi- Kyle Smith (left) is one of two 2002 All-Americans - Ryan Bertin is the other - bility. The competition level in our wrestling room just gets better every day." returning to Michigan's wrestling team. In the consolation bracket, Olson lost to defending national champion Josh Blue makes it to FF, but can't beat West teams Koscheck of Edinboro, who Olson had beaten before. Olson rebounded in the fifth-place match against Rick Springman of Penn. In the final match of his illustrious college wrestling career, Olson pulled off a close 5-4 victory over Springman. None of the nine Michigan wrestlers who qualified for the NCAA Tournament finished at or above his seed except for sixth-seeded 157-pound Ryan Bertin, who finished sixth. The sophomore claimed his All-America status by mechani- cally wrestling through the tournament, not upsetting any higher seeds or being upset in the process. "It felt good, but I knew I just had to keep wrestling to go after third place," Bertin said of his win over Ohio State's Josh Janson to become an All-American. Graduate Andy Hrovat and senior Kyle Smith each finished in seventh-place to claim All-America status. For both wrestlers though, the All-America title was no consolation prize for the team's poor finish. "Yeah sure, maybe when I'm old and I look back on it, (being an All-Ameri- can) will be nice, but not now, "Hrovat said. "Right now, I'm just disappointed in how I finished." A.J. Grant and Mike Kulczycki - both All-Americans last year - were unable to make it past the second day of competition. In an ironic twist of fate, Grant wrestled former Michigan wrestler and current North Carolina standout Chris Rodrigues. Rodrigues, the nation's top recruit in 2000, came to Michigan with hopes of starting for the Wolverines in his first year. But Grant had different ideas as he beat out Rodrigues for the 125-pound spot. Realizing he wouldn't be able to compete at Michigan for the next two years, Rodrigues transferred to North Carolina, where he immediately became the team's star wrestler. Grant jumped out on Rodrigues early in the match and was winning in the sec- ond period, but Rodrigues caught him on his back and pinned him. The loss elim- inated Grant from the tournament and prevented the senior from improving on his fourth-place finish at last year's NCAA Tournament. Rodrigues went on to become an All-American by finishing in eighth place. By J. Brady McCollough Daily Sports Writer Michigan utility player Delia Sonda couldn't resist the temptation. As the rest of her teammates were unsure of whether to jump into the DeNunzio Pool in Prince- ton, N.J. and celebrate their victory over Hartwick in the Eastern Championships on April 28, Sonda immediately dove into the water and began "hug- ging and kicking" with her teammates. "It was a very hard-fought game, so the antici- pation was building," said Sonda, who played for the Wolverines when they were just a club water polo team two years ago. "The whole time I was waiting for someone to score, and as soon as Jen (Crisman) scored, I jumped in, and I looked behind me and everyone was still standing there. Some people were just shocked." The Wolverines are not alone in their shocked state. There are many people in the water polo community who are trying to figure out how Michigan jumped to the NCAA Championships in just its- second varsity season. But Michigan coach Amber Drury-Pinto knew it wouldn't take long for this program to compete with the nation's elite. "Coming into Michigan, I knew it wouldn't take long because they had a strong club team," Drury- Pinto said. "It was definitely a perk when I was looking at this position. So many things con- tributed to it. All the players stepped up and rose to the occasion." The Wolverines were defeated by No. 1 Stanford 13-3, getting goals from Jen Crisman, Stephanie Rupp and Julie Nisbet. Goalie Betsey Armstrong made 16 saves in the losing effort. In the third place game, the Wolverines played a much tighter game against Loyala Marymount. Crisman had two goals and Armstrong had 10 saves. Both were given second-team All-Tournament honors though the team was 0-2. But before the tournament began, Michigan wasn't backing down from the Western power- house as Stanford hadn't seen the Wolverines play in over a year. "We've kind of got an edge," Drury-Pinto said before the Final Four. "(Stanford) hasn't seen us. We think that Stanford might not be as prepared for us as they might think." "When you read the message board about this tournament, most people are disregarding us and saying that we're going to get completely destroyed," Sonda said before the tournament. "We are very much wanting to prove that we deserve a seat at NCAAs. Some people say that they should take the top four in the country and not out of regionals. I think we can give Stanford a good game and we can beat Loyola Marymount." Drury-Pinto is trying her best to convince her team that there is nothing different about playing against the traditional powerhouses like the Cardi- nal and the Bruins. "They could be called Podunk University," Drury-Pinto said. "It doesn't matter. They're human, and we've beaten a lot of good teams. We can match up with those teams. Yeah, they've got some experience on us, but we're fighters." The Wolverines had to claw their way into the NCAA Championships, beating Indiana in the semifinafs in four overtimes and Hartwick in the first sudden-death frame. Michigan has a 5-0 record in overtime this season. "We have a lot of heart," Sonda said. "If we go into overtime, I'll be confident. I think that we will win if we get to overtime." Whether the Wolverines make a national cham- pionship run or not, the experience and the expo- sure that the program will receive will be more than worth the trip to Los Angeles. "When any team makes it and can say it's been to the 'Final Four, that's huge," Drury- Pinto said. "We'll probably get some looks from (recruits) who weren't so interested before." NCAA runners-up in 2001, the Michigan women's crew team placed eighth place last season thanks to the fourth place finish by the first varsity boat. 'M' eighthplace finish lower than expectations By Albert Kim Daily Sports Writer First trip to NCAA finals a 'stepping stone' By Chis Burke Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's golf team spent all last year surprising people. The Wolverines won all four of their fall tournaments, captured two more victories late in the spring season and made a solid showing at the Big Ten Championships. Things reached their peak for the Wolverines when a tremendous last-day rally at the NCAA Regionals secured Michigan a spot in the NCAA Championships. For the icing on the cake of this year, Michigan wanted to complete its successful sea- son by proving that it belonged at the finals in May in Auburn, Wash. Mission accomplished. The Wolverines, in Michigan's first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships, fired a four-day, 72-hole team total of 1199, which was good enough for a 17th-place fin- ish nationally, :32 shots behind national champion Duke. "There really weren't a lot of people who thought we would be here (in Auburn)," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "They said, 'It's just a fluke, they aren't playing against anybody, the competition isn't very good.' But when you fin- ish 17th in the country, we have played enough people." "We played well enough to get here. We did it. For that fact alone, I am proud of the program. We've come a long way." Departed senior Bess Bowers was without question the Wolverines best golfer over the four days of the tournament. After solid rounds of 75 and 76 in her first 36 holes, Bowers scorched the par-72 course on the final two days, posting a 3-under par 69 on the third day and then fol- lowing up with a 1-under 71 on tie tournament's final day. The scores were good enough to pull Bowers up into a tie for 13th-place individually with a score of 291. Virada Nirapathpongporn of Duke took individual honors with a 279 (9-under par). "I came out and had a great senior year, played some good golf and now I am ready to move on with my life," Bowers said. "But this is something I will never forget. "(Making the finals) sets a standard. I would be very disappointed if the girls didn't make it back next year, if they didn't continue this tradition. We didn't work so hard to build a program that would draw recruits in and start this tradition of going to the regional each year and' now nationals for it to stop after we graduate." Said Teichert: "I think Bess had an absolutely outstanding tournament. I mean, two rounds under par :.. that is just fantastic." Sophomore Laura Olin and graduate Misia Lemanski also turned in solid weeks for the Wolverines, carding scores of 300 and 301, respectively, while grad LeAnna Wicks posted a 310. Senior Kim Benedict had three solid rounds of 77, 78 and 78, but was disqualified from the second round for signing an incorrect scorecard. . Regardless, the Wolverines have to hope that the program's first trip to the finals will serve as a major stepping stone for future teams. "You have to remember that the fact we actually got here is amazing," Olin said. "We worked so hard all season long and we kept pushing each tourna- ment. We just have to continue with what we left off and there should be no reason why we couldn't get back here next year. "This year has taken us to a whole new level and to stay at this level, every- one has to want it." Being in the city that hosts the Indy 500 didn't seem to be enough for the Michigan women's rowing team to start its engines, as it finished eighth in the nation at the NCAA Championships on June 2. It was the lowest finish ever for the Wolverines at the Championships, and was especially surprising after being runner-up last year. "I think that we certainly had chal- lenges this year. Of course our expecta- tions are much higher," Michigan coach Mark Rothstein said. "I don't think it's a step back for the program. We're going to come back next year even better." All three boats for Michigan strug- gled on the first day, putting Michigan in a difficult position. The first varsity eight boat was forced to row in the repechage heat after failing to qualify directly for the semifinals, while the second varsity eight and first varsity four boats failed to qualify directly for the finals and were forced to row in repechage heats as well. The first varsi- ty eight boat was able to pull off a thrilling photo finish by edging Wash- ington State to advance to the semifi- nals on day two. On day two, Michigan's second varsi- ty eight boat and varsity four' boat fought to the finals with strong finishes in their repechage heats, but the'first varsity eight was unable to advance to their Grande Final, and instead had to row in the Petite Final. The second varsity boat was happy with its performance though. "I think we rowed great, and executed the race plan," Liz Nelson said. "We put together the best race we had in us." Going into the final day, it was still anybody's title, and Michigan still had hope with two boats in the Grande Finals. But it was not meant to be. The first varsity eight finished third in the Petite Final to finish ninth overall, while the second varsity eight finished fifth, and the varsity four finished fourth with a huge push in their sprint. Michigan finished with 40 points, 27 points behind Brown, the NCAA Champions. www.umich.edu/yost HOME O1111E r~oolpfin201 C AC MPM os-r764-4600 . M CH AN WO.VERE8 YOST0764-4600 EH~!~~ 1000 S. State St. ubi ktAdinl PUBLIC SKATING Beining Sept.8, 2002 Weekdays 12-12:50 pm Thursday 8-9:50 pm Saturday 2-3:50 pm 7-8:50 pm Sunday 2-3:50 pm Some Saturday sessions cancelled during home Michigan football & hockey games. Students: $3 Skate Rental: $2 Weekday Noon Skate: $2 Noon Skate Rental: $1 Discount Coupons Available! LESLIE WARD/Daily Led by a strong senior class, Michigan's women's golf team placed 17th at NCAAs. The Wolverines return two stars in senior Kim Benedict and sophomore Laura Olin. 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