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