2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 29, 2004
0
CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY
Michigan snowboarder climbing U.S. rankings
By Ellen McGarrity
Daily Sports Writer
On March 5, senior Brittany Kennedy became
the No. 2 female collegiate snowboarder for par-
allel giant slalom in the U.S. - not bad for
someone who only began snowboarding compet-
itively in January of this year.
Kennedy is part of Michigan's 67-member ski
and snowboard club team. Although the team
only competes at the club level, it has held its
own this year among varsity teams. At the U.S.
Collegiate Skiing Association regionals in Mar-
quette last month - where both club and varsity
programs competed - the women placed ninth
overall out of 18 teams, while the men finished
sixth out of 19 teams.
To qualify for nationals, you either must be on
one of the top three teams in your region or have
the best time of a non-team qualifier in an indi-
vidual event. So it's impressive that two Michi-
gan athletes - Kennedy and senior Oliver
Stauffer - qualified. A third club member,
sophomore Kris Janssen, came in eighth out of
125 in the slalom at regionals, missing the cut
for nationals by just one skier.
Stauffer placed eighth last year in the parallel
giant slalom, but it was Kennedy's first time at
nationals. She has skied for the club all four
years, but this was her first year competing in
snowboarding events. This year, the national
competition was held the first week of March at
Maine's Sugarloaf/U.S.A. ski resort. The 4,237-
foot Sugarloaf Mountain was the site of
Kennedy's races in the slalom and giant slalom.
Kennedy snowboarded down trails on the moun-
tain approximately 1,000 ft. in length.
Perhaps the fact that she'd never been to
nationals before helped her to stave off any
nerves in the early days of the competition -
she was first going into the final event.
"I just had no idea going out there," Kennedy
said. "On the first day in the qualifying runs, I
did really well - I was in first. I was seven sec-
onds ahead of everybody, which is huge. Usually
(a lead is) like one second or one-hundredth of a
second."
Her time of 49.61 seconds in the final race
gave her the second-place title.
Kennedy reflected that she initially thought
that this year would be her last in terms of snow-
boarding or skiing competitively, but with her
national second-place finish, the senior has real-
ized that there could be more possibilities for
her in these sports.
"I would love to do the X Games or be on the
Olympic B team," Kennedy said. "I was thinking
about going to Mt. Hood over the summer and
just running with it now."
One skier on the team who did not make it to
nationals was senior Jacqui Buda, club president
and co-captain of the team.
On the second day of regional competition,
Buda hit a compression in the course that threw
her off balance. The spill that followed left her
with a blown-out knee, a gash on her head that
had to be stitched up in the emergency room and
the likelihood of not being able to ski competi-
tively ever again.
"It's funny; right as I was getting in the gate and
it being my last day of competition, I was thinking
about how it's weird that I'd been skiing for about
17 years and had never hurt myself," Buda said.
"Now I look back and think 'Why was I even
thinking about that?' - clearly it didn't help."
Even though her season didn't end on the high
note that Kennedy's did, Buda said she has no
regrets about devoting so much time to the club
over the past four years.
She explained that the team - even though
fairly large - is a close-knit group.
Every weekend in January and February, the
team travels north to various ski resorts to either
practice or compete.
Last year, the club almost doubled in size, and
Buda said she hopes it will continue to grow
even after she has gone.
SJbz l{idgigan Bfailu
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Who: Peter Vanderkaay Sport: Swimming
Hometown: Rochester Year: Sophomore
Why: Vanderkaay finished first in the 1,500-freestyle on Saturday at the NCAA
Championships at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in Meadow, N.Y. The
sophomore led throughout the entire race. The Wolverines finished in fifth
place with 271 points.
Vanderkaay
a6
MONDAY, MARCH 29
W Golf Saluki Invitational, Carbondale, Ill.
TUESDAY, MARCH 30
M Basketball vs. Oregon in N.I.T., New York City
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31
M Tennis vs. Michigan State
THURSDAY, APRIL I
No events scheduled
FRIDAY, APRIL 2
M Gymnastics NCAA Championship Qualifier
Softball at Indiana
Baseball vs. Minnesota
M Track/Field Georgia Tech Invitational
W Track/Field South Florida Invitational
TBA
9 p.m.
6 p.m.
1 p.m.
3 p.m.
3 p.m.
TBA
TBA
SATURDAY, APRIL 3
0 ROWING
Blue hoping to set
pace with early wn
W Rowing
W Tennis
M Tennis
Softball
Baseball
Water Polo
M Track/Field
W Track/Field
M Gymnastics
at Ohio State
at Iowa
vs. Minnesota
at Indiana
vs. Minnesota
Indiana Invite
Georgia Tech Invitational
South Florida Invitational
NCAA Championships Finals
TBA
10 a.m.
12 p.m.
12 p.m.
1 p.m.
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
12 p.m.
12 p.m.
11 a.m.
1 p.m.
TBA
Senior Peter Vanderkaay won the NCAA in the
TANKERS
Continued from Page1B
real choppy because we were behind, so
we had to eat quite a few waves."
The second day was a special one for
Ketchum. In his final career attempt to
win his first NCAA title, the captain
anchored the victorious 800-meter
freestyle relay and showed uncharacter-
istic emotion afterwards.
"I'm very happy for Dan Ketchum,"
Urbanchek said. "(But) it was a team
effort. I think everybody stepped it up
and put in their best effort."
When Vanderkaay won the 1,500-
meter freestyle on the final day of com-
petition, Urbanchek was allowed to
1,500 freestyle Saturday.
present the awards for the race. After
handing out the hardware, all in atten-
dance rose and cheered Urbanchek and
his career accomplishments for three
solid minutes.
On Sunday evening, Urbanchek
reflected on the ovation he received
in his last meet donning the maize
and blue.
"That was a perfect closing for my
NCAA career,"he said.
But personal acclaim has never been
the most important thing for the depart-
ing coach.
"I'm always worried about the team,"
Urbanchek said. "It's not that important
for me. I'm leaving the program in better
shape than when I found it."
By Chastity Rolling
Daily Sports Writer
There are thirty minutes of
curves and straight-aways on I-94
between Ann Arbor and Belleville
Lake - the largest lake in Wayne
County.
These are the waters that the
Michigan rowing team calls home.
This year, Michigan is hoping to
dominate the league from the start,
rather then play catch-up as it did
last year.
Taking first place in four of five
varsity races, No. 2 Michigan domi-
nated in its first regatta of the sea-
son on Saturday, handling the
competition of No. 8 Michigan
State, Notre Dame, Clemson and
Eastern Michigan.
"We had good competition out
there today," Michigan coach Mark
Rothstein said. "This is the start of
a long season, but we need to set
the bar high for where we're start-
ing, so we can build off of it."
The Wolverines did set the bar
high, as the varsity eights finished
their sprints by open water and the
second and third varsity four won
their heat with time to burn. Michi-
gan's resounding victory could be a
result of the support of alumni and
teammates.
As each heat began, the boats
were cheered on by the team's ren-
dition of 'The Victors.' But despite
the impressive victory, there is still
room to soar.
"We need to get better," Roth-
stein said. "We're at maybe 85 per-
cent of where we need to be. We
need to keep bumping that up a lit-
tle bit each week."
Michigan hopes to keep up its
high standards.
Although every win is a celebra-
tion, Michigan has its eyes on trying
to transform itself into a better team.
"I'm more concerned with our
development than I am with the
results right now," Rothstein said.
"These results, in the long run,
really aren't that meaningful."
The results, impressive as they
are, serve as a starting point for
Michigan.
It hopes to grow in both speed
and synchronization in the upcom-
ing competitions.
The next chance will come when
the Wolverines head to Columbus
Saturday to test themselves in a
dual event with No. 9 Ohio State.
"Ohio State is outstanding," Roth-
stein said. "They may be the best
team in the country right now."
Ohio State claimed victories over
both No. 1 Brown and No. 3
Princeton on Saturday. The Buck-
eyes are proving they are a force to
be reckoned with. Next Saturday
will be the first of three regattas
between Ohio State and Michigan.
"Whether we beat them or they
beat us, it's not the end of the story
either way," Rothstein said. -
SUNDAY, APRIL 4
M Tennis vs. Iowa
Softball at Purdue
W Tennis at Minnesota
Baseball vs. Minnesota
W Golf Indiana Invite
Bagy's KH16 Power Ranldngs Dady"s NBA Power Ranldngs
3. Minnesota . 50-24
' Wolves may be the deepest
team in the NBA, but if Kandi contin-
ues to sour, so will team in playoffs.
4. Sacramento 5241
* don' seany'thingthat mad
Allen akL. Ray ,1hesgt ame.
5. San Antonio 48-25
*Texas Gov. Perry names Admi-
ral "Texan of the Year" for "public
activities." What about those rings?
6l
7. Detroit 47-27
' Yes, defense wins champi-
onships. Yes, 'Sheed is the real deal.
Yes, Pacers will be East champs.
i
II
E
8. Montreal 91 pts.
" Fourth place in their division is
good enough to get the Canadiens
eighth overall here.
9. Houston 42-30
'Franchise should watch his
tongue when talking with Jim Gray.
Seriously, isn't Gray so irritating?
Attention: Pre-Med/Pre-Nursing Students
Excellent opportunity to work with doctors in a camp
infirmary setting, as a Camp Health Officer.We
will pay for the short certification course.
Enjoy working in a beautiful Northern
Michigan setting.
Master of Business Administration
Accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (www.aacsb.edu)
" International Business
" International Finance
" Marketing Management
Master of Arts in Government and Politics
Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (www.msache.org)
* International Relations
I v n 1 SOI