2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 16, 2004 4 CLUBSPORTsWEEKLY Late nights no sweat for women's rugby team By Richie Jain For The Daily Thursday night, 11:30 p.m. As most of Ann Arbor starts to head toward the bars, members of the women's rugby team begin to trickle into practice at Oosterbaan Field- house. The team practices four nights a week, with all of its practices beginning late at night. Currently the players are focusing on athleticism, speed, and agility under the direction of their coach Jamie Frech, a mem- ber of the 1998 Michigan Women's Rugby Football Club. Frech enjoys coaching the team she once played for. "I can't get away from rugby," Frech said. "It's the greatest sport, and it offers a different community than other sports, in which you can really bond with teammates." In practice, the team works on 8- on-8 scrimmages, passing drills and tackling skills, according to junior Laura Wolfe. Frech also added that they break the game into components and then put them all together in scrimmages. "We have a 50/50 breakup between experienced players and rookies," Frech said. "But the rookies have very good athletic talent, and many have come from other sports, such as soccer." "We have no major injuries, just a bunch of people with sprains," cap- tain Kelly Swarts added. The team plays in a lot of tourna- ments during the winter semester, with upcoming tournaments in Nashville, Washington and Virginia. As many as 50 teams participate at each event. "Because there is no end-of-the- season championship, each tourna- ment is like a championship for us," Frech said. Michigan competes in the Mid- west division, which includes Michi- gan State, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, and Marquette. Last weekend in Kalamazoo, the Wolverines won the 10th annual Sno-ball Tournament, in which teams from as far as Iowa came to partici- pate. This was their second champi- onship in the past three years at this tournament. In the final game of the championship, Michigan defeated Michigan State in double overtime. This was its second win over the Spartans in the tournament. The win was especially rewarding because of an earlier, regular-season loss to Michigan State. Frech felt that Rebecca Wines was the best per- former in the tournament, as she scored the winning try that beat Michigan State in double overtime. The playing conditions were very difficult as "there was a foot of snow on the ground," according to captain Yee Chen. Besides playing rugby, the team is involved in other activities. Players have volunteered their time to teach middle school girls to play rugby, and also look to get involved with a Habitat for Humanity project. To get pumped up for games, they sing "Saturday is Rugby Day" and also have team dinners the night before the game. Because rugby is not a varsity sport, the players also spend a lot of time and effort fundraising. When fundraising isn't enough, each member pays dues. The team also gets funding from RecSports and the Michigan Student Assembly to cover travel and lodging expenses for its tournaments. Currently there are 30 members, but players can join at any time dur- ing the season. eJb Afidiigan BaiU ATLETE OF TE W Who: Foley Dowd Sport:Wrestling Hometown: Howell, NJ Year: Senior Why: In his final meet at Cliff Keen Arena, Dowd, ranked second nationally, defeated No. 18 Ed Gutnik of Penn State 10-1. With the major decision, the 133-pounder is now 14-0 this season Dowd Blue works out kinks, finishes third 6M9 NOTES By Matt Venegoni Daily Sports Writer A dress rehearsal is the last chance to work out kinks before the big show. This past weekend's Sykes-Sabok Challenge Cup was a dress rehearsal for the women's indoor track team before the Big Ten Championships. Michigan's third-place finish shows that there are still are a few things for the team to work on before the cham- pionships in two weeks. Michigan ended the two-day meet with 74 points. Host Penn State captured the team title with a score of 158.33, and showed they will be a team to be reck- oned with at the Big Ten Tournament. Ohio State took second with 105.33 points. "This was a chance for the team to get any butterflies or kinks out of their system before the Big Ten's," coach John Henry said. "There were substan- tial performances on the positive side and on the negative side, but for the most part it was positives." Once again, sophomore Katie Erd- man paced the Wolverines with a first- place finish in the 600-meter run, set- ting her second school record in two weeks when she posted a blazing 1:29.70. The Wolverines earned 21 of their 74 points in the 600, as senior quad-captain Vera Simms and redshirt junior Mora Arnold placed third and fourth, respectively. "I was happy with my race. We have been logging some high miles and run- ning some tough workouts, and my race reflected a bit of fatigue," Erdman said. "Fortunately, I know those tough days are going to pay off in a couple of weeks at Big Ten's." Redshirt junior Lindsay Gallo also contributed for the Wolverines this weekend, as she took first place in the 3,000-meter run. Gallo's time earned her NCAA-provisional-qualifying sta- tus and marked the fastest time in the Big Ten this season. "Gallo's NCAA-provisional-qualify- ing time in the 3,000 impressed me the most," senior Robin Landfair said. Senior Robin Landfair led the Wolverines on Friday as she took sec- ond place in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 8.55. While the Wolverines are happy with the solid scores this weekend, they also know that they need to do more if they want to repeat as Big Ten Champions. "After the meet, I do not think any- one is satisfied with where they cur- rently are - now we have some more motivation to work hard until Big Ten's," Erdman said. Finishing third behind two Big Ten teams should be ample motivation for the team. "We saw what are probably the two toughest teams, and they did not disap- point," Erdman said. "We will have our work cut out for us." One thing the team does know is that, to beat Penn State, it will have to log the best times of the season. "It's going to take a substantial majority of positive performances to beat Penn State," Henry said. A concern the team has is being prepared mentally for the Big Ten Championships. "One thing to work on is making sure we still perform well under pres- sure," Landfair said. Next week's Harold Silverston Invi- tational is not team scored, but individ- uals have one last chance to improve their times before the main show at the Big Ten Championships. Hutchins earns 800th win as Blue's coach The No. 10 Michigan softball team won three of five games this past weekend at the UNLV Desert Classic. On Sunday, the Wolverines were shut out 3-0 by defending national champion UCLA. Michigan batters out-hit the Bruins seven to two, but the team left nine runners on base in the disappointing loss. In Saturday's action, the Wolver- ines split back-to-back one-run games, losing 5-4 to No. 8 Nebras- ka before rebounding to beat UNLV 2-1. Michigan started the weekend with a bang, sweeping Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and No. 23 Oregon State to give coach Carol Hutchins her 800th victory as Wolverine coach. Michigan powered past Cal Poly 9-0 behind junior pitcher Nicole Motycka's one-hitter. The Wolverines used a two-run. fifth inning to edge the Beavers 2-1 in their second game of the tourna- ment. Hutchins is the first Michigan coach in any sport to surpass the 800-victory barrier and is only the 14th coach in softball history to reach that number. - Seth Gordon Daily's stpwrRankings Daily's BPo r Ranikings 1.Clorado 78 pts. . Saramento . 37143 * The Avs winover Detroit was "Mike Bibby for threeeeeee much more decisive than Detroit's CfvlO M the o krtl '" .2. Detroit 74 pts. 2. New Jersey 31-20 " Viva Dominator ... wait, Viva " Lawrence Frank, take a bow. Cujo! No, no, Viva Legace! It does- The Nets have been unstoppable n't matter, Viva the cup! since Frank took over. Philadelphia 78 pts. 3.l Minnesota 3745 *Roeiknlgi1tdw makes k: It was the best first halffofa them les enteraining but they can season for the T Walvel In rs still win a ltaofgame&' Go celebrate, buy some new 4. Toronto 74 pts. 4. San Antonio 35-18 * Not a great week for the Leafs. * Tim Duncan is on a roll, but the T- With Boston and Ottawa within a Wolves are within striking distance. It point, they can't afford to slip up. could get interesting in the Midwest. 5. Vancsuver 72 pts. 5. Indiana 3 4 G oatendingwill foreverdoom Iversonum ored to DetroPIlnd theauCls from retuming to thea agthat tey dorop S.taley Cup finat aldw &esrth t 6. Tampa Bay 70 pts. 6. Dallas 33-19 <"The Lightning are pulling away * The Mavs have taken 13 of their with the division. Don't get in the last 16 and Dirk Nowitzki has redis- way when the storm rolls by. covered his shooting touch. RYAN wEINER/Daily Katie Erdman finished first in the 600- meters this weekend. I.