6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - January 20, 2004
44
Swimmers get on track
with Hoosier State sweep
Ring snap starts fall to
defeat for 'M' tumblers
By Gabe Edelson
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - After dropping its last four
dual meets, the ninth-ranked Michigan men's swim-
ming and diving team was in need of a turnaround
this past weekend. Even though all the losses came
against top-10 teams, the trip to West Lafayette to
face Purdue on Friday, followed by a meet against
No. 25 Indiana in Bloomington on Saturday, present-
ed an opportunity to right the ship.
After defeating Purdue, 129-114, and thrashing
Indiana, 183-111, in its first two conference duals of
the season, the team was optimistic about the
remainder of the year.
"We haven't won in a while, so it's good to get
back in the win column," assistant coach Eric
Namesnik said after the victory over Indiana. "Some-
times when you lose a few too many times, you for-
get how to win. So it was good to beat two Big Ten
teams. We can continue to say that we're one of the
best teams in the conference."
Perhaps the story of the weekend was sophomore
Davis Tarwater's successful conversion from
freestyle to butterfly events, highlighted by his indi-
vidual titles in the 100- and 200-yard races in
Bloomington. Against Purdue, Tarwater also won the
200-yard individual medley.
"(Tarwater) has a great attitude," coach Jon
Urbanchek said. "He's handling the success away
from freestyle really well."
"I've trained for a lot of different things, and I'm
doing a lot of different things in meets," Tarwater
Tankers recovei
to defeat Illinois
By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
said. "I think that really keeps me well-balanced.
Versatility is a gift I can give to this team."
Sophomores Peter Vanderkaay and Chris DeJong
also came away with two event titles each on Satur-
day, with Vanderkaay taking the 100- and 500-yard
freestyle races and DeJong winning the 100- and
200-yard backstroke events.
Despite the seemingly easy triumph against Indi-
ana, the swimmers still felt a sense of relief after-
wards.
"It's been such a long weekend, after a long week
of training," junior Brendan Neligan said. "We didn't
really rest much for this meet, and it's tough to swim
tired. We just want to get out of here with a victory,
then get on the bus and go home."
Indiana coach Ray Looze, Jr. was proud of his
team's effort, taking into account Michigan's lop-
sided 174.5-122.5 victory in last year's meet. Last
year both teams were fully accounted for. This time,
however, Looze was without his divers, who were
participating in the World Cup Diving trials in North
Carolina. As a consequence, Michigan won the
uncontested diving events by default.
"It's just nice to have it be more competitive this
year," said Looze. "We're just trying to rebuild the
program here."
Looze maintains he and his swimmers have nothing
but the utmost respect for Michigan swimming.
"We know what Michigan has been," Looze said.
"A lot of Olympians, many Big Ten titles, numerous
top-10 finishes and the national title (in 1995). It's a
great challenge to swim against Michigan, and we
value the opportunity, but I will not rest until we
TONY DING/Daily
The Wolverines lost four straight dual meets against
top competition going Into the weekend.
take a win."
Michigan, with a 35-29-1 record against Indiana,
has not lost to the Hoosiers since the 1998-99 season.
Neligan, who won the 1,000-yard freestyle against
Purdue, attributes the team's success to a long history
of dedication and hard work.
"I've said since I've been here that it's not one
person," Neligan said. "(Individual) success all
depends on everyone else. Day-in and day-out, just
training hard. That's been the key to the dominance
at Michigan."
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
It happens only once every two or
three years.
So when one of the rings snapped
during the men's gymnastics meet at
Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday, every-
thing was put on hold. No. 4 Michigan,
which was supposed to perform next on
still rings, was forced to sit out for a
rotation while assistant coach Mike
Burns stood on top of a 25 foot ladder,
trying to fix the rings. When the
Wolverines came back from the hiatus,
and went to the vault competition, they
looked like a different team and they
were edged out by No. 9 Stanford.
"It was definitely a change in momen-
tum," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said.
"The guys who were doing easier vaults
handled it, but the guys who had to be
right on top of their game, doing real dif-
ficult vaults, didn't hit."
Michigan (211.300), which led Stan-
ford up until that point, had three gym-
nasts fall on the vault. The Wolverines
continued their woes in the next rotation
on the parallel bars, scoring a meet-low
33.400, and they fell to Stanford
(211.375) by .075 of a point.
"If you have mistakes in a meet and
you disperse them over all six events, it
doesn't hurt your team total that much
because you are able to drop your two
lowest scores," Golder said. "But to
stack them all up on two events like we
did tonight can kill your team total."
When the Wolverines finally did get
their heads back into the game it was
too late. The team responded on the
high bar with five hits, including a
meet-high 9.550 by sophomore Justin
Laury. Laury also placed first on the
floor exercise, but struggled on the
pommel horse and parallel bars.
"On high bar, it was really an aggres-
sion thing," Laury said. "I was really
upset after parallel bars and pommel
horse after falling. And when I get mad,
it gets me focused and into the game.
So I had no worries about high bar."
After the meet Laury stood next to
the pommel horse and mentally went
over his whole routine. He then went
over to the parallel bars and did the
same thing. He explained that his goal
was to get his mind clear before he left
Cliff Keen. He said that he wanted to
eliminate the mental mistakes for the
future. Even though Michigan scored
pretty high, both Laury and Golder
were disappointed with the loss.
"A loss hurts no matter what," Gold-
er said. "Right now I am hurting. If we
had won by .075 of a point, I would be
feeling a lot different. I can guarantee
you that."
I
'U
New doubles tandems lead Michigan
past DePaul and Western Michigan
4
In the first event of the weekend, Illinois made its presence
felt at the Michigan Invitational by claiming an upset victory
over the 16th-ranked Michigan women's swimming and div-
ing team in the 200-meter freestyle relay. The Illini beat the
Wolverines by .39 seconds.
Prior to this loss, Michigan's relay, consisting of senior cap-
tain Anne Weilbacher, junior Tracy Egnatuk, junior Amy
McCullough and sophomore Abby Seskevics, had been unde-
feated this season. The defeat forced Michigan to generate
some fast races to make up the point deficit. And despite the
event loss, the Wolverines were able to win the meet title.
"It was a tough race," freshman Susan Gilliam said. "But
our team has been doing some intense training, and people
handle it differently and sometimes it affects their races."
After the rocky start to the meet, the Wolverines were able to
bounce back against Illinois and gain a comfortable 30-point
lead by the end of Friday night. Saturday, Michigan continued
its success with six event wins, and at the conclusion of the sec-
ond day, Michigan won the meet title with a score of 243-127.
With a 6-1 overall record, the Wolverines remain unbeaten in
Big Ten competition with a conference record of 3-0.
"We were definitely a stronger team than Illinois," Gilliam
said. "But we got to have some tough competition, which is
always good."
No. 21 Notre Dame swam at the meet, but its events were
not scored against Michigan due to the upcoming dual meet
between the Wolverines and Fighting Irish in South Bend in
two weeks. But the Irish managed to slightly outscore the
Fighting Illini 197-193.
"It was nice being able to see how Notre Dame swam,"
Gilliam said. "Now we have a better sense of what we are
going into when we race them next time"
In one of the most powerful finishes of the weekend, Michi-
TONY UINU,~aflY
Michigan's victory over Illinois put the Wolverines at 3-0 in
the Big Ten and 6-1 overall.
gan swimmers Gilliam, Emily-Clare Fenn and McCullough
scored 16 points for the team by finishing first, second and
third, respectively, in the 400-meter freestyle. Gilliam finished
in 4:14.24, an NCAA consideration time.
Along with winning the 400-meter free, Gilliam took home
the titles in the 200-meter freestyle and 1,500-meter freestyle.
All of her times in each race were within NCAA considera-
tion. Her three wins this weekend brought Gilliam's season
total to a team-high I1 individual titles. Yesterday, she was
named Big Ten Swimmer the Week.
"I was pretty happy with my races," Gilliam said. "I wasn't
too concerned with my times because we are in the middle of
the season, and we're still increasing our training. But the
times were about where I want to be."
During the one-meter diving event, Michigan divers Tealin
Kelemen, Alexis Goolik and Ellen Van Cleve took the top
three spots to conclude the weekend's competition. Kelemen,
a senior, won the event by scoring 303.30 points, which also
qualified her for NCAA consideration. The win marked Kele-
men's fifth individual diving title. The performance earned her
Big Ten Diver of Week for the third time this season.
By Ryan Sosin
Daily Sports Writer
With a little hop and a short walk to the net, senior
Anthony Jackson's final opening week in college tennis
was over. His straight-sets win over DePaul's Robert
Kotroczo was one of four straight-set wins for the
Michigan men's tennis team en route to a 7-0 blanking
of the Blue Demons.
"The idea coming into the match was (that) we can't
take these guys lightly," Jackson said. "(We wanted to)
show them that we are the better team and have the bet-
ter players."
Michigan swept the doubles competition on the
shoulders of two new pairs. Freshman Ryan Heller
joined junior Michael Rubin, while freshman Brian
Hung paired up with Jackson. Despite playing
together for the first and second times during the
weekend, the pairs looked like they had been together
for years.
"We found that giving one of the freshmen to an
older teammate as a partner really helps," coach Mark
Mees said. "I think we've got two really good doubles
teams right there, and we have the potential for a
third.'
Heller's big weekend extended beyond doubles. He
put on a show with some acrobatic play. He spent the
afternoon frustrating DePaul's Radek Guzik in a spirit-
ed 6-1, 6-2 win.
"(Heller's) a pretty explosive guy," Mees said. "He's
got that linebacker mentality."
As the dual drew near a close, and Michigan's win
was secured, the focus turned to court six where
Michael Rubin was locked in a tie-breaker set with
DePaul's Mark Henderson. When Rubin finally
clinched the victory, he turned to the crowd and let
out a scream of relief. The win wasn't pretty, but it
will still be marked down as the 50th of his singles
career.
On Saturday, the Wolverines righted a wrong from
last season, beating Western Michigan in a decisive 6-1
victory. During the 2003 season, the Broncos dealt
Michigan a 4-3 blow in the opener and the Wolverines
never recovered, going 9-13 on the season.
"I know (losing last year) left a bitter taste in every-
body's mouth," Rubin said. "We were kind of stressing
upon the issue that we were going to come out and real-
ly go after these guys.'
Hung also exacted some revenge on the Broncos,
beating Jose Orozco in a super-tie-breaker, come-from-
behind victory. The Wolverines continue their home
stand with a contest against Butler on Sunday.
I
I
Netters claim win in first dual match
By Waldemar Centeno
Daily Sports Writer
Track depth shows off in Ypsilanti
By Phil Kofahl
Daily Sports Writer
Eastern Michigan may be smaller
than its neighboring state school, but it
was home to some big-time talent on
the track this weekend. Eastern Michi-
gan hosted runners from colleges all
over Michigan, Canada and even a
handful of post-collegiate runners dur-
ing the annual Eastern Michigan Invita-
tional last Saturday at Bob Parks Indoor
Track Building.
The Michigan men's track team took
advantage of the broad range of compe-
tition and sent several athletes to com-
pete. Freshmen John D'Arcy and Stann
Waite highlighted the day on the track,
as the duo placed first and third in the
400-meter dash with times of 49.25 and
49.35, respectively. Junior Seth Waits
was only one-hundredth of a second
behind Waithe to finish in fourth place.
The other Michigan victory came from
the 4x400 meter relay "A" team, which
finished with a fast 3.18.04, more than
a second faster than runner-up Eastern
Michigan.
Coach Ron Warhurst was pleased with
how his small group faired on Saturday,
and looked ahead to next weekend.
"We had some great performances on
the track today, definitely in the 400 by
D'Arcy and Waithe finishing one-two
in the their heat," Warhurst said.
"Everyone is training very hard, and
they're a little fatigued. They'll need to
come through and compete against
whoever is there that day."
This week in practice and in the com-
ing meets, athletes will begin to settle
into the event they'll concentrate on for
the rest of season. The team will be
back in action when it hosts the Red
Simmons invitational this Saturday at
the Indoor Track Building.
In the distance races, Michigan was
led by freshman Brian Les's fourth
place finish in the mile. Also, senior
Dan Cooke and freshmen Sebastian
Lounis, finished fifth and sixth respec-
tively in the 800-meter run.
Michigan displayed some of its new
depth with some respectable efforts in
the jumps. Junior Darren Adams and
sophomore Brad Miller tied for third
place in the high jump, with leaps of 6-
7 1/2". Sophomore Adam Kring also
placed with a leap of 6-5 1/2". Michi-
gan also got a boost from sophomore
Spencer Dowdall and senior Craig
Theissen as they tied for fifth place in
the pole vault, clearing 15 feet even.
Consistently attacking the net,
Michigan's doubles tandem of fresh-
man Kara Delicata and senior
Kavitha Tipirneni was a key factor
in the Wolverines' first dual match
of the season at the Varsity Tennis
Center. The match also served as
DePaul's first dual match of 2004.
With Michigan juniors Michelle
DaCosta and Leanne Rutherford
losing 9-7 in a close doubles match
against DePaul's No. 1 doubles tan-
dem of Marina Parashkevova and
Gergana Ganeva, Delicata and Tipir-
neni needed to win their match to
gain the doubles point.
"I thought we played well at No. 2
and No. 3, and No. 1 doubles got off
to a good start but did not stay
aggressive enough to keep the
momentum going," Michigan coach
Bitsy Ritt said. "It was definitely a
good effort."
On one crucial game point, Tipir-
neni attacked the net and fired a
bullet straight at DePaul's Brenda
Leung. Leung unsuccessfully tried
to move away from the tennis ball,
but was hit directly in the back.
Tipirneni and Delicata used this
momentum and notched a 8-3 dou-
bles victory. This win propelled
34th-ranked Wolverines to their
first win of the season, 6-1. Senior
Kim Plaushines and sophomore
Debra Streifler also won their
match 8-5 against DePaul's
Stephanie Matko and Melanee
Allego.
"It was definitely good for us to
come out with that doubles point,"
Tipirneni said. "We lost the doubles
point with them last year, so it
would have been awesome to sweep
all three matches, but one of them
just didn't go our way. Kara and I
just worked really hard to get the
job done."
Despite losing their doubles
match, DaCosta and Rutherford
both went on to win their respective
singles matches. Both finished off
their opponents in straight sets.
DaCosta defeated Parashkevova 6-2,
6-1 and Rutherford beat Matko 6-2,
6-1. Senior Chrissie Nolan also had
a short day on the court, winning
over DePaul's Karen Falduto in
straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
"To have Chrissie Nolan get off
the court so quickly at No. 4 and
Rutherford as well, allowed us to be
up three (points), forcing DePaul up
against the wall," Ritt said.
Ritt added that DaCosta's singles
win propelled Michigan to a deci-
sive 4-0 lead, allowing the Wolver-
ines to gain momentum going into
the final three single matches.
Tipirneni and Delicata once again
supplied excitement in their respec-
tive singles matches.
"I'm not going to say it was nice
to have a close match like that, but
it is nice to win close matches, and
having your teammates supporting
you really helps," Delicata said.
Tipirneni defeated DePaul's
Petra Rehusova 7-6 (3), 6-4 and
Delicata won over Leung 6-4, 6-7
(5), 1-0 (6).
Freshman Elizabeth Exon also
played a close, tough match against
Ganeva, but lost late in an exciting
third set 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (9).
Michigan will face Notre Dame
on Jan. 29 in its second of five
straight home dual matches. The
Wolverines lost their past five meet-
ings against the Irish and are excited
for the upcoming matchup.
"We are really pumped for Notre
Dame," Tipirneni said.
2002-2003 Michigan Reach Out! Mentors
During National Mentoring Month, we gratefully recognize our volunteer math and science mentors.
Newaj Abdullah
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Addae
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Al:nlo n ( rnn
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firntt I ittlafild
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