8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 22, 2004 Helvey and 'crew' bring life to Blue' Gajic now cooking on and off the ice By Ellen McGarrity Daily Sports Writer When Michigan coach Cheryl Bur- nett inserted freshman Kelly Helvey into Sunday's women's basketball game against Michigan State, it was like a firecracker had been set off. Before the substitution, the scoreboard displayed the result of the Spartans' domination in the first half M - a 20-point deficit - and the Michigan players on the court already 1 looked helpless. Many players were hesitant to shoot, passing the ball - until the shot clock had nearly run out. Consequently, Michi- gan was forced into difficult shots from the field. Enter Helvey. The forward's energy showed immediately as she came into the game with a fearless attitude. Every time the ball made it into her hands, she either put up a shot or pen- etrated the Spartans' defense for a basket. Although Helvey shot just 1- for-9 in the game, Burnett credited her with bringing confidence to the court when no one else could. Helvey has been a spark off the bench for much of the season, and one reason for her self-assurance could be her strong support struc- ture. At nearly every game this year have been 15 equally energetic Helvey fanatics. °,; is : W i3>3i }f The freshman's family, which hails from Toledo, Ohio, contributes five of the 15. The rest are friends of Helvey's and their parents. They sport bright maize-colored T- shirts with "Helvey's Crew" and her number, 32, across the back in blue. Daniel Helvey, Kelly's father, explained that the family designed the shirts when Helvey started playing basketball for Michigan this season, but the Helvey fan club began long ago. "I think Kelly (had the idea)," Daniel said. "It goes back to high school. Kids would paint their faces and wear white T- shirts with 'Helvey' on the back." Helvey averaged 13 points and five rebounds for Toledo Catholic Central High School last year as a senior. She was named a McDonald's All Ameri- can, as well as Toledo's city player of the year, so it's no wonder the forward had so many vigorous fans in the bleachers. Now that she's at Michigan, Daniel said that family and friends like to be at Crisler Arena whenever they can to emulate the supportive atmosphere Kelly had in high school. "We're trying to make her feel more at home," Daniel said. Despite her family's support, Helvey admitted that she'd like to see even more of her friends make it to DOY G"NS/Daiy Freshman Kelly Helvey has provided Michigan with a spark off the bench this season. The Toledo, Ohio, native leads Michigan with 26 steals. By Gennaro Filice Daily Sports Writer the games. "I just like to have people that I know here to cheer for me no matter what happens," Helvey said. Even her boyfriend has donned a "Helvey's Crew" shirt a few times, although Kelly said he usually "likes to dress nice." Helvey has already started half of Michigan's 18 games this season as a Wolverine and has been working hard to make an impact. Although she has scored just three points per game on 25 percent shooting, she leads the team in steals with 26. Helvey's confidence and her 'crew' ensure that Michigan fans will see more from this feisty freshman when Michigan takes on Wisconsin tonight at 8 p.m. Known as the University's elite fans, the Michigan hockey faithful have always kept a simple dress code. Whether maize, blue or white, an authentic team sweater is found on many of the 6,600-plus that fill Yost Ice Arena every game. Since early this season, though, a group of students has chosen to mix it up a bit, sporting bright yellow "Gajic is Majic" T-shirts. "That's cool - it's fun," said Milan Gajic when informed of the fan club. "I'm kind of blushing now." At the beginning of the season, Gajic was far from magical. Through Michigan's first 17 games of the year, Gajic tallied just two goals. The junior - who was thought to be one of Michigan's most promis- ing offensive threats entering this season - had thrown up 36 shots, but struggled to light the lamp. But, in his last five contests, Gajic has scored four goals - proving why he is Michigan's only player with a personalized fan club. Gajic is just beginning to make some noise with his stick, but he's never had trouble making his pres- ence felt with his mouth. "He's extremely loud," teammate and housemate Jason Ryznar said. "In any part of the house, his door will be closed and you can hear him through five doors." Gajic lives with teammates Jeff Tambellini, Michael Woodford, Eric Nystrom, Brandon Rogers, Andy Burnes and Ryznar. Every house- mate conveys Gajic's overwhelming boisterousness. "(He's) loud," Nystrom said. "He claims he has an inner-ear problem, but I just think he likes to be the center of attention." Said Burnes: "He's quite a charac- ter and anybody that knows him will tell you that he's got about 800 per- sonalities." Gajic's energy isn't short-lived, either. The Burnaby, British Colum- bia, enjoys his night life. "I'm an insomniac - I've always been," Gajic said. "I don't get to bed until 2, 2:30." Although his housemates spend much of their free time on the Playstation 2, Gajic likes to frequent Eva the kitchen, claiming to be an excel- lent chef. "I know how to burn stuff pretty good," Gajic said. "I can make a mean stir-fry." But housemates are quick to ques- tion Gajic's culinary expertise. "Marginal cook. Marginal at best," Ryznar said. "He says he's a cook," Burnes said with a smile. "He can cook bacon and Top Ramen." While Gajic's abilities in the kitchen are questionable, he's cur- rently sizzling on the ice. "The beginning of the year was kind of rough," Gajic said. "When you start thinking too much, things will go wrong. Coach (Red Beren- son) pulled me aside and said, 'Don't even think - just do what you do.' So I've kind of started that." Burnes, the team captain, attrib- utes Gajic's recent offensive surge to his effort on the other end of the ice. "Why he's successful lately is because he's been working well on defense," Burnes said. "He's created his own chances and made opportu- nities for himself. That's what we're seeing right now. Milan Gajic is playing two-way hockey and playing hard on both sides of the puck. "It's never been a question of his talent - we know he's got great hands, we know all the offensive accolades, but it's really been the defense that I think he's learned since he's got here." Golder hopes roster changes fuel team By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Writer Facing a loaded schedule is a tough way to start off the season. The Michigan men's gymnastics team has already squared off against three of the top six teams in the nation, and is preparing to face No. 1 Penn State this weekend at Cliff Keen Arena. Despite the tough schedule, Michigan head coach Kurt Golder is not worried. "My philosophy is that it doesn't matter where you are ranked at the beginning of the season or the middle of the season," Golder said. "It's where you are at the very end. But I just don't want to lose to (Penn State TOM at home). I don't care where they are ranked, I want to beat them." Mict Michigan has made a handful of Per changes to its roster. During lastT week's meet against No. 6 Stanford, Michigan lost by .075 in part because CliffK of a weakened lineup. Junior Geoff Corrigan competed through an illness, while junior Eddie Umphrey and sophomore Justin Laury were both held out of the rings competition because of a coach's decision. Umphrey is returning from, injury and expects to present a ring routine for this weekend. "Michigan traditionally has the strongest ring team in the country, but we are ranked No. 11 right now," Golder said. "But that's alright - let them think that we are real bad. That's what I have been telling everybody: 'We're real bad.' It's a little psy- chological game I play with the other coaches. But it kind of backfired because we are the ones that took Stanford too lightly. "(Against Penn State we'll have) our strongest ring lineup, and it is a very substantial improve- ment over what we've been putting up," Golder V nn said. "Any time you take three of your top four guys out of an event, that's going to hurt you, but I felt that was what I needed to do." Those additions should make Michigan a signifi- cantly stronger team, but some of the gymnasts are doing extra work in practice to improve the team's performance. Freshman Aaron Rakes is working on adding a couple of RROW aspects to his high bar routine, includ- ing a twist to his dismount. Rakes is ran VS.excited to make the additions, but he State admits that it's a lot of work. Even 7pni after the daily two-and-a-half hour practice and leg circuit training, n Arena Rakes stayed late on Tuesday to work on his new routine. "After a workout and then leg cir- cuit, I feel pretty tired," Rakes said. "A circuit is a lot of quick rebounding and making sure that we can move around for 10 straight min- utes. If we can move around for that long, then a routine should be easy. "It's a lot of quick jumping and rebounding simi- lar to floor to make sure that we are still moving quickly. Gymnastics is a lot of quick reactions and sometimes you have to adjust quickly. So it's a lot of the plyometrics. It's a pretty long day." Rakes admits that, no matter how hard it is, it's worth the work if it translates into a win. "We are really trying to get our hours in this week because (Penn State) might be the best team in the country," Rakes said. "It would be nice to show them up in our hometown. I'm real excited." JEFF LEHNERT/Daily Michigan's Milan Gajic has netted four goals in his team's last five games. [s retirement Gable puts Iowa on map TONY DING/Daily Freshman Aaron Rakes competes for Michigan. By Eric Chan Daily Sports Writer Some would say that Dan Gable, Iowa's legendary wrestling coach, is the greatest coach in the history of sports. A bold statement. But here are some numbers to back it up: In his 21 years of coaching the Hawkeyes, Gable captured 21 Big Ten titles, 15 NCAA Champi- The lower weight classes will be key for Michigan -- especially at 125, 141 and 149 pounds. Michigan's Mark Moos, coming off a brilliant 5- 0 performance at the National Duals this past weekend, will square off against 2002 NCAA finalist Luke Eustice at 125 pounds. Michigan's 141-pounder, Clark Forward, has fall- en out of several college wrestling polls and hopes to reestablish himself Quad-captains provide cohesion for M' By Matt Singer come up with," Knazze said.1 Daily Sports Writer These team-building efforts Are four captains too many? The Michigan women's track and field team doesn't think so. Leading a huge 2004 squad, sen- iors Melissa Bickett, Carly Knazze, Doris Simmons and Vera SAN Simms relish the oppor- tunity to leave their mark on the Wolverines.nSnma "We have such a large squad, and we just T, e:93 thought it could be anf exceptional year," Michigan coach James Henry said. "Because we had so much suc- cess, and we wanted to continue that success, we got a few more captains, a few more chiefs to look over the group." The four captains take the leading roles in planning activities to build team chemistry. "A lot of things that (Henry) wants done in terms of team-build- ing, he gives us the responsibility to include designing motivational team T-shirts and planning outings. But on such a large team, building camaraderie can be difficult. That's where "Fun Fridays" come in. .d: sk Buidlng born. "Pretty "Fun Fridays - They are hilarious," Simmons said. The team gathers on Fridays to participate in some activity away from the track. Often, the competi- tions would pit the upperclassmen against the underclassmen. A friendly rivalry was much every Fun Friday is builders, the captains serve as important intermediaries between the athletes and the coaching staff. Often, it is the captains who voice concerns on behalf of the athletes. "If any of our girls have problems with anything, we take them to coach Henry," Simmons said. "We're like a spokesperson to coach Henry." In a sport like track and field, with many different events and divi- sions, having multiple captains can be an advantage. In this way, run- ners, jumpers and throwers each have someone in their own disci- pline that they can talk to. "We have captains in each of the areas," Knazze said. "We get input from each of the areas, and we come together with a lot of different ideas." With such a strong network of leadership, it is no wonder the Wolverines are in the running for an indoor Big Ten title. Michigan's four captains have fos- tered a spirit of trust and together- ness amongst the Wolverines. "I think this team is more cohe- * onships, completed seven perfect seasons and had a winning percentage of .932. "The Big Ten is the premier wrestling conference, and Gable probably has more to do with that than any- one," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "He really raised the bar." TOMOHROw No.10 Iowa at No.6 Michigan ~flme~ 7~30 p.ri~ Cti~let Arena against Iowa's Cliff Moore, the 2003 Big Ten Champi- on. At 149 pounds, Michi- gan's fifth-ranked Ryan Churella will face Ty Eustice - Luke's younger brother - who was a Big Ten finalist in 2003. "We really need to get off to a good start against Iowa," McFarland said. "Those early matches different in its own way," Bickett said. The bowling trip proved to be par- ticularly memorable. "Whoever lost had to go on a body pyramid, where you go on your hands and knees and build on top of each other," Bickett said. "We took pictures." In addition to their role as team- Gable retired in 1997, but the Iowa wrestling program still remains a powerhouse. "People get excited when a pro- gram like that comes into town," McFarland said. "It's going to be some great wrestling." One would expect the Hawkeyes to be ranked in the top 5, but they have stumbled to a No. 10 ranking, falling to No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Iowa State. Despite its low ranking, Iowa matches up extremely well with No. 5 Michigan, having its best wrestlers in the same weight classes as the Wolverines' top wrestlers. will be key." The Michigan-Iowa match on Fri- day, along with the Michigan-Min- nesota match on Saturday will be moved from the wrestling team's usual venue of Cliff Keen Arena to Crisler Arena. "You can really pack Cliff Keen, and the fans are right over the mat. I think we'll miss that at Crisler," McFarland said. "But over at Crisler, you can fit more people in to see our program compete." Amateur wrestling will meet pro- fessional wrestling as former Michi- gan wrestler and current WWE superstar Scott Steiner will be appearing to sign autographs. RYAN WEINER/Daily As one of four team captains, Doris Simmons helps boost Michigan's morale. sive than it was before," Knazze said. "It's built around friendships." 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