The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2003 - 3E The Victors 'Four Wolverines zvhzNCAA am zonsh is Champion! Bertin is the one By Eric Chan Daily Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFarland couldn't have been more excited to see tears stream- ing from the eyes of his 157-pounder, Ryan Bertin. On Saturday, Bertin became Michi- gan's first NCAA Champion since current assistant coach Kirk Trost accomplished the feat in 1986. "I was in a rhythm all weekend," Bertin said. "Things were flowing - I can't really explain it. Everything just fell into place." The redshirt sophomore, seeded sixth in the tournament, upset the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds to reach No. 9 Alex Tirapelle from Illinois in the finals. The Fighting Illini freshman had upset defending national champion Luke Becker of Minnesota in the semifinals. "I knew (Tirapelle) was having a good tournament, but I felt like I was really in a good rhythm," Bertin said. "I've wrestled him before, so I was confident that if I wrestled seven minutes the way I wanted to, that I would win, and that's what happened." Tirapelle beat Bertin earlier in the season, but the Wolverine avenged that loss at the Big Ten Championships. This time around, their match-up would be in a larger venue, with much more on the line. In front of 16,436 fans at Kemper Arena, the two unlikely national finalists stepped out on the mat. Seconds into the match, Bertin made the first move, attacking with a single leg. Tirapelle quickly countered with a whizzer, tying up Bertin's arm. The referee called a stalemate, and both wrestlers walked back to the center of the mat. Tirapelle attacked with a single leg and Bertin sprawled on top of him. The Michigan 157-pounder spun behind and scored the first takedown of the national final match. Bertin added a second takedown in the middle of the second period, firing a double leg that the Illini wrestler couldn't defend. Bertin secured the match in the third peri- od, with a quick single-leg takedown. When the buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read 7-3 in favor of Bertin. Normally a quiet and reserved young man, Bertin couldn't con- tain his emotions, falling to the mat and breaking down in tears. "Ryan's a great a kid. He's a great stu- dent-athlete" McFarland said. "He was real- ly focused all weekend. He battled back this year from a foot injury. This kid deserves everything he got tonight because he works so hard." After shaking hands with Tirapelle, the first person Bertin ran over to hug was assistant coach Tony Robie. "Coach Robie has worked really hard with him," McFarland said. "He's spent a lot of time with him, drilling with him, so he's the guy who's done a great job." Bertin finished third at Big Ten Champi- onships after losing to Becker in the semi- finals. With a six-seed in the bracket, McFarland noted before the tournament that he "liked where Bertin was in the bracket." McFarland knew what he was talking about. Drew Digiore's NCAA championship vault scores set a new Michigan record, and helped lead the Wolverines to a fouth-place finish at the event. DiGiore sticks vault to win By Julie Master Daily Sports Writer Michigan has another national champion on its hands, and this time it's men's gymnastics freshman Drew DiGiore. Previously, DiGiore broke the vault record at the prelims and finals of the Big Ten Championships. Yesterday, the Buffalo, N.Y. native broke the record once again while sticking his best vault of the season, a two-and-a-half twisting vault, at the Individual Event Finals of the NCAA Cham- pionships in Philadelphia. "It felt amazing," DiGiore said. "I never really thought it would happen. But as the year went by, I started getting more and more confidence and having Big Tens under my belt definitely helped." With this confidence, the No. 5 Wolverines clinched a fourth-place finish for the third straight year on their three-day quest for the NCAA Cham- pionship title. Michigan recorded their season high two best team scores by more than 2.5 points; a 217.950 the first day and a 217.850 the second. "This is what we were gearing for, a peak per- .formance," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "To have a season high is a big jump in our sport and to come back the next day and be within a tenth of that score is great." The Wolverines competed in the National Quali- fier, which consisted of two groups of six teams that 'needed to finish in the top three of their respective groups to move on to the final. Fifth-year senior and captain Scott Vetere led the Wolverines by placing in the top 10 in three events on the way to his run- 'ner-up all-around finish. On pommel horse, Vetere raked in the highest score of the night and a Michi- gan season best with a 9.500. He also had a top 'individual performance for the season with a 9.175 ,on the parallel bars. "I was happy about my performance," Vetere said. "I live just about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia so I had a lot of family there. Hearing people cheer for me brought up my confidence." Other standout performances of the night came from sophomore Geoff Corrigan and freshman Gerry Signorelli. The pair posted Michigan's best score on the horizontal bar with a 9.300. This was good enough for a fifth-place tie and matched the season high for the team. Senior Brian Peterson also posted his highest score of the season on pommel horse with a 9.300. With these combined efforts, the Wolverines advanced to the finals in second place out of six teams. On Saturday, Michigan was the only school that had three people in the top ten of the all-around event. Vetere placed third, and freshmen Justin Laury and Gerry Signorelli grabbed top ten finish- es as well, making them the two highest placing freshmen. At the end of the night the Wolverines walked away with their fourth-place finish behind repeat champion Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Big Ten champion Penn State. After the night's events, the Wolverines were able to send top-eight finishers Vetere (on the pommel horse), freshman Andrew DiGiore (on vault), and senior Conan Parzuchows- ki (on the still rings) to the Individual Event Finals on Sunday. Even though only one national champion came out of the event finals, Vetere and Parzuchowski showed strong performances and finished in fifth- place on their events. It was an amazing weekend for the Wolverines and they were proud to finish on a strong note. "This season was a lot better than last year," Golder said. "Although we placed the same, we had a better and smoother championship. Now there's just a release that the seasons over." Brannen races to finish first in 800 By Nicole Stanton Daily Sports Writer About 20 members of the Michigan men's track and field team made the 870-mile trip to Fayetteville, Ark. for the NCAA Champi- onships. None of them were even compet- ing. But there was definitely something to watch. At least according to freshman Joe Schramski. "We're taking four cars and about 20 guys - it's going to be awesome," Schramski said earlier last week. "We're going to be national champions and definitely bring back some good stuff." Michigan track runners seem to be on the ball when it comes to predictions, because Schramski was right - they definitely brought back some good stuff. On Friday in the 800-meter run preliminar- ies, sophomore Nate Brannen earned fourth place behind an Arkansas rival, with times of 1:47.98 and 1:47.90, respectively - but that was not enough for Brannen. On Saturday, Brannen won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:47.79, nearly blowing Auburn University senior Fred Sharpe off the track. "It was awesome," Schramski said. "He just killed guys on the last 75 yards. We went nuts." Michigan has not seen a national champi- onship in indoor track since 1998 when Kevin Sullivan won the indoor mile. And now Bran- nen holds the 800-meter run school indoor and outdoor records. "It's an amazing feeling," Brannen said. "Two of my goals have been to make the Olympics and win a championship - to win as a sophomore is more than I have asked for. I cried with my parents" Not only did Brannen win it, but he left Otukile Lekote of South Carolina - the two year reigning national champion - dangling in seventh place. "It is amazing to see one of your team- mates win something so great," sophomore Seth Waits said. "We were jumping up and down." Brannen has had an amazing indoor sea- son, and when asked to reflect on how he felt about it, he expressed how happy it went. He had several small, nagging injuries that put a slight hamper on his training, but managed to keep his strength and confidence up. In addition, Brannen put high praise on his teammates' encouragement and camaraderie. "The unique thing about our team is how close we all are -sas a whole we are pretty tight, and that has helped us perform well. Also, I think real highly of Ron as a person and a coach." Nate Brannen became the NCAA indoor champion in the 800-meter run this past March. Coben wins NCAA title in a squeaker By Waldemar Centeno Following his first three dives, Coben sat in sec- Daily Sports Writer ond place behind Garcia, who scored very high in earlier rounds Junior diver Jason Coben's performance helped But Garcia's substandard third dive left the cham- push the Michigan men's swimming and diving team pionship open for Coben to seize. Under pressure, to a ninth-place finish in the NCAA Championships Coben took over the lead on his fourth dive. in Austin, Texas. "I guess I like the pressure," Coben said. "When I Coben became the first Wolverine to capture a was up there for the last dive, I knew I needed national title on platform diving by scoring a total of eight's and eight-and-a-half's to win all the way 575.8, tying him with Auburn's Caesar Garcia. The through. Coming into the meet, I didn't think I had a last time a Michigan diver won an NCAA title was chance to win, I just knew those were the scores I in 1984, when Kent Ferguson scored a 560.85 to was going to need. In the finals, everything just win the three-meter springboard. started to click. When Caesar (Garcia) missed his "His performance was really good," first-year back, I knew all I needed to do was hit my dive and Michigan diving coach Chris Bergere said. "I knew I had a shot, and I did it." he could do it, and he just needed chance to break Coben proceeded to nail his final dive, which put through. Competing with the best people in the him 76.5 points up on Garcia. However, Garcia country is an excellent way to raise the bar. Coben scored exactly a 76.5 to place both him and Coben was nice and consistent." as national champions. After scoring 500.00 during the preliminary TONY DING/Daily "It was amazing," Coben said. "I was sweating rounds, Coben was faced with an eighth-place start. Jason Coben, 2003 NCAA platform diving champion. bullets the whole time." 0 1 AOT F)- s - LIKE DREAMING WHILE YOU'RE AWAKE. THE 2003 LEXUS SC. The Lexus SC. With smooth, sexy styling, an unparalleled, nine-speaker Mark Levinson, premium sound system, a 4.3-liter, 300-hp V8 engine and a retractable hardtop roof that disappears at the press of a button, you'll have to pinch yourself to believe it. O#= Ar=n =REBOR - r1A .- l AI 1 -- Tradition. Quality. 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