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 SPRING TERM IN MAINE writing, camping, reading, hiking, music, canoeing, art NeFn-rrhnd L iteratrure Pro-'rarn 0,7- LS GRATLa-. ai