2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 19, 2004
CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY
'Small athlete? Try Michigan Sailing'
Despite frozen lakes and inexperience, Blue navigates way toward top of Midwest
pib Aeirbiguu adi
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Who: Elise Ray Sport Women's gymnastics
Hometown: Columbia, Md. Year: senior/junior (elig).
Why: The Michigan All-American scored an almost-perfect 9.975 on the
uneven bars on Saturday to claim the third national championship of her
career. Ray tied for third on the balance beam with a score of 9.9. The
Wolverines finished eighth overall at the NCAA Championships. Ray
MONDAY, APRIL 19
No Events Scheduled.
By Ellen McGarrity
Daily Sports Writer
You may have seen him at the last
Festifall.
No, it wasn't the guy with the
Michigan crew shirt on, holding up a
huge oar and a sign saying, "Big,
strong athletes wanted here."
It was the other guy. The one with
the 5-foot sailing boom - quite a
bit smaller than a crew oar - and a
sign reading, "Small athlete? Try
Michigan Sailing."
This was the tactic of fifth-year
senior Craig Capilla, along with
other members of the Michigan sail-
ing team, used last September to reel
in new recruits.
"We've noticed (the crew team)
out there for years," Capilla said.
"And (their message) is great, but
we're looking for the exact opposite
end of the spectrum."
The two-person boats that the
team races can only hold up to 330
pounds, so "big, strong athletes"
would likely just tip them over.
Capilla remembers following the
crew members around with his sign
and serving interested students from
the team's "keg-o-root beer."
"We go out on the Diag and are
just dumb," Capilla said. "But we
recruited 140 people."
Of those 140, Capilla admitted
that they only retained about 15 of
them, but that's pretty good consid-
ering the team has, and can only rea-
sonably accommodate, about 30
members.
But don't get the wrong idea. You
won't find this group goofing off all
the time. The team races competi-
tively throughout the country, and
was ranked No. 3 out of more than
30 teams in the Midwest District
last fall.
Sailing in Michigan is trying
because the team's season is broken
in half by the cold winters. Baseline
Lake - where the team practices -
is located near Dexter and always
freezes from December through
February.
"Ours is a tough sport because we
sail from the minute we get back in
the fall right until Thanksgiving,"
Capilla said. "And then as soon as
the ice thaws, we're back out there."
To keep members in contact dur-
ing the off season, the team plans
many group activities - everything
from inner-tube water polo to bowl-
ing nights to its recent craze over
karaoke.
During the season, between six
and 12 members are sent about
every other weekend to regattas
across the country. Members race in
either dinghies or J-24s against both
club and varsity teams.
That may sound intimidating, but
Capilla stressed that because the
team is not varsity, it has the luxury
of welcoming anybody who wants
to sail.
"We're not all from sailing back-
grounds," Capilla said. "There are a
number of people on the team who
had never been out on a sailboat
before they came out with us."
If a perspective member it, the
team can send you to beginner
races. If you get better, you'll start
racing intermediately and eventually
may be competing at the top colle-
giate level.
"They're going to be knowledge-
able sailors by the time they leave
the program," said Capilla about
first-timers. "They're going to be
able to make their way around the
race course and be moderately com-
petitive."
For the more experienced team
members, this spring's focus is on
getting to the Inter-collegiate Sail-
ing Association (ICSA) Nationals,
which are being held in Oregon in
June. If the team ranks No. 1 or
No. 2 in the district, it will qualify
for a spot.
But sailing at that level is tough,
even though to bystanders the sport
may just look like a relaxing time on
the water.
"Sailing is a very mental sport," co-
captain Matt Vanderpool said. "You're
multitasking a lot. You have to worry
about making sure your sails are up
correctly, your weight is placed in the
correct spot in the boat ... then you
have to worry about what's going on
around the course - your position in
relation to other boats."
Currently, two Michigan graduate
students - who as undergrads were
three-time All-American sailors at
Tufts University - are coaching the
team to help it improve.
In just three weeks - on May 8
and 9 - Michigan hosts the Michi-
gan Collegiate Sailing Association
Championships.
For Capilla, this will be one of his
last races as a Wolverine, but
according to this fifth-year senior,
his love for sailing will remain.
"I've never, ever seen someone get
sailing removed from their life once
they've started doing it," Catilla said.
TUESDAY, APRIL 20
Softball vs. Central Michigan
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21
Baseball vs. Cleveland State
THURSDAY, APRIL 22
W Track/Field at Drake Relays
W Track/Field at Penn Relays
M Track/Field at Penn Relays
FRIDAY, APRIL
Softball
Baseball
W Golf
Water Polo
23
vs. Minnesota
at Ohio State
at Big Ten Tournament
at Eastern Championship
4 p.m.
3 p.m.
TBA
TBA
TBA
6pam
TBA
TBA
TBA
11 a.m.
12 p.m.
1 p.m.
4 p.m.
11 a.m.
12 p.m.
12 p.m.
1 P.M.
SATURDAY, APRIL 24
M Gymnastics vs. USAG Qualifier
W Tennis vs. Northwestern
M Tennis at Northwestern
Softball vs. Minnesota
Baseball at Ohio State
SUNDAY,a
W Tennis
Softball
M Tennis
Baseball
APRIL 25
vs. Wisconsin
vs. Wisconsin
at Wisconsin
at Ohio State
NBA frstR oundRe dts
NH16 rust Bound Residts
Eastern Conference
2I
Game I
Indiana leads 1-0
(8) Boston
88
NN
Western Conference
Game I
San Antonio leads 1-0
(6) Memphis
74
rL
(1) Indiana
104
OR
(3) San Antonio
98
Game I
N.J. leads 1-0
(7) New York
83
(2) New Jersey
107
Same I
Los Angeles leads 1 -
t(7) Hous
Eastern Conference
Game 5 -
Phiadelphia wins 4-1
(3) New Jersey
1
(6) Philadelphia
3
Game 6
Series tied 3-3
(2) Boston
2
(7) Montreal
5
Game 5
Tampa Bay wins 4-1
(1) Tampa Bay
3
Western Conference
Game 6
Detrait wins 4-2
(1) Detroit Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3
"""* Last season, the Dodgers went 14-24 against the Giants and Padres.
2®? This season, they have a 7-2 record against their N.L West rivals.
10
(8) Nashville
0
ton
oo" V"m
71
(2) Los Angeles
72
Game 6
Series fled 3-3
(3) Vancouver
5
(6) Calgary
4
3
Chicago White Sox 8-4
*"This is going to be my last contract, and I have to take advantage of
that." - Ordonez justifying his five-year, $70 million contract proposal.
4
r
Cas I
Debil leads 1-0
Game I
Sacramento leads 1-0
Game 5
Avalanche wins 4-I
(4) Colorado
51
New York Yankees 6-6
m i t doesn't matter how good you are. There's always a period of adjust-
ment A-Rod is having jitters just like Giambi did last season.
(6) Milwaukee
82
(3) Detroit
108
(5) Dallas
105
(4) Sacramento
116
-ailk
s
. f
ame I
Miami leads 1.-0
(5) New Orleans
79
(4) Miami
ta 81
Same 1
Minnesota leads 1-0
(8) Denver
(8) N.Y. Islanders
2
Game i 6
Series tied 3-3
(4) Toronto
1
(5) Ottawa
2
,f
o a t s s
5
(5) Dallas
1,
AnaheimAngels 7
* Vladimir Guerrero might have been the best offseason pick-up of the
season. 5-foot-7 Eckstein is one of the most underrated SS in the league.
'N
ka
92
(1) Minnesota
106
Game 5
San lose wins 4-1
(2) San Jose
3
(8) St. Louis
1
Detroit Tigers 7-5
' Tigers GM Dombrowski on free agency: "Did we overpay in certain cases?
Probably. But we had to give our fans something that they can root for."
I
Morr-playoffs
for Canucks
4
Graduation gift.
Apple PowerBook G4.
Minnesota Twins 8-4
*The Twins continue to over-achieve. Center fielder Lew Ford is batting
.417 with eight RBI's in just seven games this season. Who is Lew Ford?
Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5
* One of the worst teams in the past decade continues to win. The Pirates
blasted the Mets 8-1 yesterday behind seven solid innings from Kris Benson.
St. Louis Cadnl 6-7
* Ths 2test fans irtbsbirhvd bnt hpwth thstcppy
EmNew York Mets 5-7
- Piaza has just one error in forgamesat first bae this season, Wilson
:::..::.. .........e...::..v.: Wth ..a~e;?::.........5:4ge.5
Texas Rangers 64
S San Francisco Giants 5-7
1 7 * 'Giants fans are jealous of the Dodgers' fast start. Barry Bonds's back
must be hurting - he's carrying the entire team.
Vancouver Canuck and former Michigan Wolverine Brendan Morrison scores the
game-winning goal in the third overtime of game six of the Western Conference
Quarterfinals by beating Calgary's Milkka Kiprusoff.
Super light 5 lb.s and only 1 inch thick/thin
loaded with advanced capabilities like
the turbo-charged Power PC G4 processor,
DVD burning SuperDrive, the fastest speed in
wireless networking and cutting edge graphics.
1.25GHz G4, 512MB RAM (333MHz DDR, 2-DIMM)
15.2" Display, 80GB HD, DVD-RW/CD-RW SuperDrive,
Integrated GigaBit Ethernet/56K Modem, Airport
Extreme wireless card, Mac OS X (10.3 Panther),
AppleCare 3-Year Warranty.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-6
'Former Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer watched the April 14th Yan-
kees-Devil Rays game from the bleachers at Yankee Stadium.
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4