2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 4, 2004 p CLUB P. TSWEEKLY Youngs leads on and off the water Athlete of the Week By John LaFrance For the Daily At 7 a.m., floating down the Huron River on the outskirts of downtown Ann Arbor, the Michigan men's rowing team goes through its morning drills. The Wolverines dodge fishing boats and patches of seaweed as they prepare for the upcoming season. Michigan is coming off of a break- through sixth-place NCAA finish in 2002 and a seventh-place finish in 2003, and it is fully expecting to be just as suc- cessful this season. This year's squad is comprised of 33 varsity members along with 34 novice rowers, making it one of the largest teams at Michigan. But what sets this team apart from the many other successful squads at Michigan is that the rowing team is a club sport and excels on a national level without the aid of University funding. Without a budget for recruiting, the Wolverines have only walk-ons, most of whom had little or no experience in crew competition prior to college. In fact, the majority of the 77 crew members on this year's team had never picked up an oar or heard of a coxswain before joining the rowing team. "We teach them everything from how to carry a boat to how to put it in the water." coach Gregg Hartsuff said. To maintain the level of success that this current group of Wolverines has become accustomed to, a great com- mitment of time and energy is required. One rower who has accepted this responsibility and become a leader on the team is senior Christian Youngs, who is fourth seat on the varsity eight. Youngs, like his fellow teammates, wakes up before the sun rises to get himself out to the water for morning practice. By 6:10 a.m., he is at the river and ready to go. His pre-practice routine often includes carrying boats and oars down to the river, meeting with coaches to plan the day's workout and warming up on rowing machines to stretch out. Once practice starts, the team takes a few warm -up lengths that measure just over two miles each, then it's on to the real practice, which involves another 45 minutes of vigorous rowing. But this is just the start of Youngs's day. He has a heaping plateful of obliga- tions to fill the rest of his day. Youngs is majoring in aerospace engineering and is scheduled to graduate this year. He is also a member of the Air Force ROTC, which requires him to run a 12k once a week in addition to his other ROTC obligations. If that wasn't enough, Youngs donates his extra time to the rowing team by assisting with the after- noon practices. Youngs mostly helps the novice team by giving advice and helping the coaching staff teach rowing techniques. With all that Youngs has on his plate, he still manages to save some time for himself. Youngs recently got a puppy named Daisy from the local Humane Society to keep him company when he is bored. He and Daisy like to go for walks and hang out with his roommates at the "Fast Packard" house where many of the Michigan Crew members reside. "Living with my teammates helps to build a sort of camaraderie between us that can translate into how we work as a team." Youngs said. "It helps because we share rides to practice together, and the roommates are understanding about the crazy schedules we have." With varsity leadership from rowers such as Youngs, the Wolverines look to start off their season with a big win at The Head Of The Rock Competition on Oct. 10. Name: Jennifer Gandoiph Hometown: Greenwood, Ind. Team: Volleyball Class: Senior Why: Gandolph broke the school record for career kills in a 3-1 win against Purdue on Friday night. The senior added 16 additional kills on Saturday night in a 3-2 win over Indiana. Gandolph has 1,423 kills in her Michigan career, and has led the Wolverines to a 13-2 record this year. Gandolph 'M' SCHEDULE Date Event 10/4 10/4 10/5 10/5 10/5 10/6 10/6 10/6 10/7 10/7 W Golf Shootout at the Legend M Tennis ITA All-American Champ. W Golf M Tennis W Tennis ITA All-American Champ. M Tennis W Tennis Volleyball vs. Michigan State W Tennis M Tennis Netters battle each other at Invitational Location Time s Franklin, Ind. All day Chattanooga, Tenn. TBA Franklin, Ind. All day Chattanooga, Tenn. TBA Pacific Palisades, Calif. TBA Chattanooga, Tenn. TBA Pacific Palisades, Calif. TBA Ann Arbor 7 p.m. TBA TBA TBA TBA Hudsonville, Mich. 3 p.m. West Lafayette 3 p.m. Allendale, Mich. 4 p.m. Ann Arbor 5 p.m. Urbana-Champaign 7 p.m. Ann Arbor 10 a.m. Ann Arbor noon Ann Arbor 1:30 p.m. Ann Arbor 4:30 p.m. Iowa City 11 a.m. Bloomington noon Bloomington 2:30 p.m. S S By Jack Herman For the Daily Playing against a teammate is never easy. But with a strong Michigan team heading up a small field of opponents at the Wolverine Invitational this weekend, it was bound to happen to the Michigan women's tennis team. And it did happen - in two of four semifinals matches - for the Wolver- ines on their way to a singles title and a doubles title in their season opener. The first of the Wolverines squared off in the doubles semifinals. Senior Leanne Rutherford and junior Debra Streifler, the top-seeded duo in the tournament, faced off against sopho- more Lindsey Goldstein and freshman Monica Sly. Rutherford and Streifler prevailed with an 8-1 victory in front of a very quiet Michigan crowd, which was torn about who to root for. "It's always tough to play team- mates," Streifler said. "But you always have to go out there to win." Rutherford and Streifler went on to the finals, where they met Western Michigan's team of Carrie Jeanmarie and Reedhina Parekh. After falling behind 5-1, the Wolverines battled back and won four straight games to tie the match. Rutherford and Streifler then took three out of the next four games to come away with an 8-6 victory and the championship at the Wolverine Invita- tional. "We got off to a rough start but we kept trying different things and pretty soon everything just came together," Rutherford said. "It was the first time we played together in a tournament, so it was exciting for us to get that win." Streifler was also involved in the other Wolverine vs. Wolverine match. She played freshman Allie Shafner in the singles semifinals. Shafner had knocked off No. I seed Lauren Claury from Xavier in the quarterfinals. In what was probably the best match of the tournament, the women split the first two sets to bring the match into a 10- point, third-set tie-breaker. Shafner won in a hard-fought 10-7 battle. "It was a really great match," Shaf- ner said. "Obviously, both of us really wanted a win." Shafner went onto to the finals of the "Blue" bracket - which contained many of the top players in the tourna- ment - where she lost to Keri Thomp- son of Michigan State in two sets. In the "Maize" tournament bracket, the Wolverines avoided playing each other - taking both first and third place. Michigan Junior Nina Yaftali, 10/8 M Cross Country Michigan Intercollegiate 10/8 W Soccer at Purdue 10/8 W Cross Country Michigan Intercollegiate 10/8 Hockey vs. Northeastern 10/8 Volleyball at Illinois 10/9 10/9 10/9 10/9 10/10 10/10 10/10 W Swimming/Diving Intrasquad Scrimmage Football vs. Minnesota Field Hockey vs. Pacific Hockey vs. Boston University Field Hockey at Iowa W Soccer at Indiana M Soccer at Indiana d, - a transfer from UCLA, won the title after defeating Kristen Clary of Xavier. Clary took the first set 6-3; which was also the first singles set Yaftali lost all tournament. Yaftali came back strong and took the second set before winning the third set tiebreaker 10-3. "I was surprised," Yaftali said. "I pulled my groin and had a limited practice schedule last week. I was just happy to be playing. It was nice to start off my career at Michigan with a win." Sophomore Lindsey Goldstein, who was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, also performed well in the Maize brack- et, defeating Michigan State's Sarah Andrews 6-3, 6-1 to take third place.' Three girls were competing as Wol- verines for the first time. Yaftali was playing in her first match after trans- ferring, and both Shafner and Sly won both their first singles and doubles intercollegiate matches on the opening day of the tournament. "I was a bit nervous. It was nice to get it out of the way," Sly said. Coach Bitsy Ritt was generally happy with the team's performance this weekend. "Solid performances across the board," Ritt said. "It's nice to start playing because it becomes so much more clear with what you need to work on." ALEX DZIADOuSZ/Daiy Senior Leanne Rutherford took the doubles title at the Wolverine Invitational with her partner Debra Streifler. a 0 m