6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 18, 2002
NCAAs are next for second-place Harriers
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY WEST LAFAYETTE
Blue stops three-game
skid with Iowa sweep
By Megan Kolodgy
Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - The race had been run,
and the cool-down was completed - Now all the
Michigan's women's cross country team could do
was wait for the results. The Wolverines stood
huddled together at Purdue's Varsity Cross Coun-
try Course, shivering not only from the cold, but
also in anticipation. When Michigan coach Mike
McGuire strode over to his runners and joined
their circle, there was a moment of silence, fol-
lowed by a shrieks ofjoy.
"It wasn't a fluke!" junior Andrea Parker
exclaimed.
The "fluke" that Parker was referring to was
the huge Big Ten Championship victory two
weekends ago on that same course, when Michi-
gan defeated teams such as then-No. 9 Wiscon-
sin and then-No. 23 Michigan State. Last Satur-
day, riding the confidence that accompanies
such a huge win, the Wolverines finished sec-
ond out of 31 teams at the Great Lakes Regional
Championship, falling short only to Notre
Dame. This place automatically qualified them
for the NCAA Championships, which will be
held a week from today in Terre Haute, Ind.
. "We handled our success at the Big Ten's appro-
priately; we celebrated, and got back to work,"
McGuire said.
The Wolverines' hard work has certainly paid
off. At the beginning of the season, Michigan was
not even ranked. Currently, it is No. 12 in the
country.
"Our ranking is a testament to the fact that the
team really steoned up. and was willing to work
hard," McGuire said.
The team was aware of the mindset that would
be necessary in order to emerge triumphantly at
this meet.
"We knew we needed a Big Ten type of per-
formance," McGuire said.
In order to get into this frame of mind,
Michigan attempted to duplicate its training
for Big Tens.
"We tried to do everything the same," freshman
Rebecca Walter said. "Down to what we ate."
The Wolverines' outstanding finish was due to a
strong effort from each runner. Walter lead the
Wolverines' pack, placing 11th.
"I was confident coming off of Big Tens,"
Walter said. "But I was still a little nervous.
Since I am a freshman, every race is a new
experience for me."
McGuire was impressed with Walter's success.
"Rebecca is outstanding for a freshman," he
said. "And it is impressive that she has been able
to step up for the last couple meets. She's been our
most consistent runner."
Next in line for the Wolverines was senior Jane
Martineau, who placed 13th, followed closely by
junior Lindsay Gallo, who was 17th. Parker and
captain Jeanne Spink rounded out the top five for
the Wolverines.
"As far as place improvements from Big Ten's
are concerned, I'd say that Jane Martineau really
stepped up," McGuire said. "Gallo did a great job,
and Parker and Spink did really well in the fourth
and fifth spots."
McGuire was pleased with his team's results,
and is now ready for NCAAs.
"It's great that our best two meets have been our
biggest ones," McGuire said. "It bodes well for us
going into nationals. We'll take a break tomorrow,
and have a couple of good workouts this week."
As for the Wolverines' chances of performing
well at Nationals, McGuire is optimistic.
"If we could hold our national rankings, that'd
be good," he said.
If Michigan is able to do that, it won't be a
fluke either.
By Nazeema Alli
Daily Sports Writer
On Saturday night, the Michigan
volleyball team was able to stop the
bleeding with a three-game sweep of
the Iowa Hawkeyes at Cliff Keen
Arena. The win was the Wolverines'
first in four games after getting swept
by Minnesota on Friday.
"This game depends a whole lot on
momentum," Michigan coach Mark
Rosen said. "We were able to regain
that tonight."
The Wolverines (9-7 Big Ten, 15-11
overall) won 30-23, 30-23, 30-25 to
take all three games, regaining their
composure and finding their usual bal-
anced attack, which seemed to be lack-
ing against Minnesota.
Iowa opened up the first game with a
service error, which Lisa Gamalski
immediately followed with an ace, put-
ting Michigan ahead 2-0. After that, the
game belonged to Jennifer Gandolph,
who hit .545 with seven kills and one
error in 11 attempts. This quieted any
concerns that her shoulder wasn't 100
percent after she hurt it while training
during intermission the night before.
In the second game, all the offensive
components fell into place for the
Wolverines as Gamalski spread the
ball around well, displaying the bal-
anced offense that has characterized
the Michigan team all season.
Katrina Lehman, Chantel Reedus
and Nicole Poquette each had three
kills, while Gandolph and Erin Moore
contributed four. Poquette ended the
second game with a monster kill that
gave the Wolverines a 30-23 win, send-
ing them to the locker room with the
momentum in their favor.
"Iowa always has its own tempo,"
Moore said. "We thought that we'd be
okay if we just played our game."
But game three did not have the
same consistency as the second, and
was plagued with numerous errors by
both teams. The Wolverines hit a dis-
mal .111, but that was enough to sur-
pass the Hawkeyes, who hit just .050
with 12 errors in 40 attack attempts.
With so many errors it seemed as
though each team was scoring for the
other, and it was only fitting that the
game ended on an attack error by
Iowa, concluding the Wolverine's
three-game sweep in front of a home
crowd of 1,005.
As the regular season winds down,
the Wolverines hope the win will help
them regain their mid-October confi-
dence with four games left. The upper-
classmen have been holding the team
together as they attempt to emerge
from their recent struggles.
"Gamalski ran the offense," Rosen
said. "Poquette and Moore really
stepped up and carried as much of a
load as possible this weekend."
Moore hit a team leading .500
against Iowa, with 12 kills and eight
digs. Jennifer Gandolph turned in an
impressive performance as well with a
team high 14 kills. She also tied Carrie
Ritchie to lead the team with 10 digs.
"We turned around from (Friday)
night," Moore said. "We came right
back. Last night we were all scattered,
but tonight we came together."
The Wolverines will try to continue
to play with the same balance and
coherence when they visit Purdue for
yet another important conference
match on their final road trip of the
season this weekend.
*1'
TONY DING/Daily
Finishing in 11th place, freshmanc Rebecca Walter (right) helped Michigan advance to the NCAA
Championship with a second place finish at the NCAA regional competition ion Saturday.
'M' gets better in return to Purdue
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY WEST LAFAYETTE
By Ellen McGarrity
For the Daily
WEST LAFAYETTE - Returning
to Purdue's campus for the second
time in two weeks, the Wolverines
were no strangers to the Boilermak-
ers' hilly course. In West Lafayette,
the Michigan men's cross country
team clocked in with a strong sixth
place finish at the NCAA Great
Lakes Regional.
Up against such strong teams as No.
4 Wisconsin and No. 7 Eastern Michi-
gan, the Wolverines did not win an
automatic berth to the NCAA Champi-
onships scheduled for next Monday in
Terre Haute, Ind. However, Michigan
coach Ron Warhurst is confident that
his team will win one of the 13
remaining at-large bids for the Finals.
"Our region is one of the strongest
in the nation and I'm expecting six or
seven of the 13 bids will go to teams
in the Great Lakes," Warhurst said.
Central Michigan, Indiana, Ohio
State and Michigan are each hoping
to win one of those bids.
Sophomore Nate Brannen and
freshman Nick Willis led the Wolver-
ines to a total of 143. Brannen, who
has been the team's top finisher this
season, had a time of 30:44.2, a per-
sonal best for the Canadian native.
"I was pretty confident in my race,
but I didn't push myself too hard," Bran-
nen said, "I wanted to save my energy
for next week (at the championships)."
He finished fifth overall, quite a
feat considering there were 31 other
teams running the course.
Despite this being Willis' first
10,000-meter race in his career, he
had an excellent run that secured him
sixth place overall, just behind his
teammate ,Brannen.
"Even though I would have liked
the team to have done better, I was
very happy with my race," Willis said.
Two weeks ago, the course
spanned just 8,000 meters. But this
week 2,000 meters were added, cre-
ating a need for more endurance
from the runners.
"I really didn't mind the longer
course, the extra time gave me a
breather in the middle to pace
myself," Willis said.
Team captain Nick Stanko and
junior Tom Greenless also completed
powerful races for the Wolverines.
Stanko with a time of 31:31.9 came
in 32nd, and Greenless came in 40th
place at 31:40.9.
Following them were sophomores
Sean Moore and Tarn Leach and
senior Ryan Hesselink, who stayed
strong until the end by running
together in a pack.
Because the team was in Boiler-
maker territory just two weeks ago
for the Big Ten Championships, the
course was nothing new to the
Wolverines.
"It's always an advantage to know
the course," Brannen said.
The course, which had many hills
and switchbacks, was even more of a
challenge Saturday because of the
muddy ground and cold temperatures.
"My hands were frozen for the
first half of the race," Willis said.
The announcement of the 13
remaining teams that will go the
NCAAs is scheduled for today.
Assuming that the team wins a bid,
Warhurst will be pushing his team
hard this week for the culmination of
the cross country season.
"I think the team ran a bit conserv-
atively (at the Great Lakes Region-
als) so I'd like to see them give it all
they've got next week at the champi-
[UNY- I"G/aily
Michigan sophomore led the Wolverines
with a fifth-place regional finish.
onships," Warhurst said. "It would be
great to see the middle of the pack
runners tough it out to have an even
better finish in Terre Haute."
On the whole, the men's cross coun-
try team had an improved showing at
the Great Lakes Regionals, and is
expecting to be competing next week
in Terre Haute for the NCAA title.
"Our strategy (for the Great Lakes
Regionals) was to run comfortably
and to get in the running for an
NCAA bid, and I think we did just
that," Warhurst said.
FRANK PAYNE/Daily
Michigan's Katrina Lehman (left) and Chantel Reedus go up for a block against Minnesota.
The Wolverines lost 3-0 to the Golden Gophers on Friday, but beat Iowa 3-0 on Saturday.
Grapplers open their season with intrasquad
Michigan's All-American Kulczycki (157 lb.) injures knee and is out of comission for until Christmas
0
By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team, cur-
rently ranked No. 5 by the National
Wrestling Coaches Association, held
their Maize and Blue Intrasquad
meet yesterday at Cliff Keen Arena.
Every year the intrasquad wrestle-
offs determine the starters at each
weight to begin the season. But
because of a knee injury to All-
American Mike Kulczycki, the most
intriguing wrestle-offs will have to
take place later in the season.
After having a difficult time making
weight last year at 149 pounds, Kul-
czycki was set to wrestle sophomore
Ryan Bertin at 157 pounds yesterday
with the loser to challenge senior Pat
Owen at 165 pounds.
"He has been fitted with a brace
for that knee and this afternoon he
was drilling," Michigan coach Joe
McFarland said. "He is feeling bet-
ter every day but it will definitely
be a couple weeks before we get
him back on the mat.
"He and Ryan are going to wres-
tle off at 157. When that is going to
be I have no idea. I want to give
Mike adequate time to get that knee
back where he needs to have it. That
will be sometime right around
Christmas I imagine."
With the season set to begin, McFar-
land wanted to see a high level of
intensity from the wrestlers.
"I want to make sure we are
wrestling a certain style," McFarland
said. "I want to make sure we are
aggressive and getting after those
guys. One person in particular who did
a really good job of that tonight was
Ryan Bertin. He was changing off
from one thing to another and con-
stantly being the aggressor. In a dual
meet, I want all 10 of my guys going
out and wrestling that style."
McFarland's other concern is condi-
tioning, which is often the case early in
the season.
Kyle Smith, currently ranked fifth in
the InterMat and Amateur Wrestling
News polls, had a surprisingly difficult
time with freshman Chase Verdoorn at
197 pounds. In their first match Smith
earned a close 5-2 victory. The second
match was also a tough battle, but
Smith won by a more decisive 13-4
margin. Smith was clearly fatigued in
the third round of both matches.
"I think Kyle needs to do a better job
of getting his weight down and then he
needs to get in better shape," McFar-
land said. "He's not the only one. A
few guys need to continue to work on
conditioning. This is the first time a lot
of the guys have been in competition,
and it showed."
The Wolverines' season begins Fri-
day with a dual meet at No. 8 Lehigh;
they will be without redshirt freshman
Ryan Churella in addition to Kul-
cyzucki. Churella injured his knee in
practice last Wednesday and Jeremiah
Tobias will fill in at 149 pounds.
Starting off
The Wolverines got ready for their
regular season with their
intrasquad scrimmage yesterday.
The winners at each flight were:
125 - A.J. Grant
133 - Foley Dowd
141 - Clark Forward
149 - Jeremiah Tobias
157 - Ryan Bertin
165 - Pat Owen
174 - R.J. Boudro
184 - Willie Breyer
197 - Kyle Smith
Hwt. - Greg Wagner
01
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