6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 15, 2004
01
h !
Mi,,cfrgan
places
first at
regionals
By Katie Niemeyer
Daily Sports Writer
Ooing into the final bend, Michi-
gan junior runner Rebecca Walter
was just two steps behind Michi-
gan State star freshman Danette
Doetzel. As they headed into the
blind turn, an announcement came
over the public address system that
Walter was back in the race. The
flustered crowd looked up in amaze-
ment just in time to see Walter com-
ing towards the finish line almost a
second ahead of Doetzel.
"I saved up my energy and ran
smarter this race," Walter said. "I
was running with her until about 150
(meters) to go and I felt like I was pret-
ty, strong then. Coming off the final
turn is where I made my final move."
.Walter and Doetzel have been
going head-to-head all season,
including last weekend when Doet-
Zel stole the Big Ten individual
crown from Walter, who won it last
year. On Saturday at Eagle Crest
Golf Course in Ypsilanti, Walter
rallied back and beat Doetzel out to
win the NCAA Great Lakes Region-.
al meet in 20:01.4 minutes.
"It didn't surprise me that she
bounced back," McGuire said.
"Rebecca's done some amazing
things and will continue to do amaz-
ing things for us. She's as amazing a
competitor as we've ever had in our
program. A great competitor gets
back up off the deck and goes out
and does what she did today."
Walter is not the only Wolverine
who stepped it up on Saturday. Less
than 45 seconds separated Walter
from Michigan's fifth runner, junior
Katie Erdman (20:43.7).'
Erdman placed 15th, giving Mich-
igan five top-15 scores to count for
40 points and a first place regional
finish. Notre Dame finished second
with 79 points, and Michigan State
earned 85 points to finish third.
McGuire was overjoyed with the
team, which will compete in the
NCAA Championships next Mon-
day in Terre Haute, Ind.
"That was as good a performance
for seven people as we've ever
Maravic steps up for Blue
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Writer
Without its two most success-
ful players of the fall season in the
lineup, the Michigan's men's tennis
team knew it needed someone else
to step up. Freshman Matko Mara-
vic answered that challenge, filling
the void left by sophomores Brian
Hung and Ryan Heller.
Maravic saved what was other-
wise a disappointing weekend for the
Wolverines at the Big Ten Singles
Championships in Madison, Wis.
The Croatian native advanced all
the way to the quarterfinals before
bowing out in a three-set thriller.
Maravic took advantage of open
spots left by Hung and Heller.
Because of NCAA limitations on
participation in the fall, Michigan
coach Bruce Berque decided to sit
the duo out for this tournament. Had
they played, they would have been
forced to sit two - they already
must miss one - dual meets in the
spring season. Berque decided that
their contributions would be more
valuable in the spring than this past
weekend, and hoped that he could
rely on younger players, such as
Maravic.
But Maravic almost didn't make it
out of the first round - struggling
his way to a tight 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory
against Minnesota's D.J. Gaetz.
"The first match of the tourna-
ment, (Matko) played very poor-
ly," assistant coach Michael Kosta
said. "But he kept his composure
and had a great attitude, and I
think that helped him in the long
run."
Maravic's run ended yesterday
against the tournament's No. 12
seed, Mark Barry of Penn State.
After Barry grabbed the first set
6-4, Maravic stormed back in the
second, taking it with relative ease
at 6-1. As today's final four looked
like more and more of a possibil-
ity, Maravic lost a few key points
and eventually dropped the decisive
third set 6-3.
Prior to his quarterfinal match,
Maravic dismissed three opponents
en route to his best performance
of the fall season. After advanc-
ing past Gaetz, he then survived a
tough three-set match versus David
Bubenichek of Indiana, winning 6-
3, 4-6, 6-2. And, in his most impres-
sive showing of the weekend, he beat
No. 7-seeded Chris Klingemann of
Ohio State with relative ease, win-
ning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
The rest of the Wolverines strug-
gled in their respective matches. Of
the six Michigan players who par-
ticipated in the 64-man tournament,
only Maravic won his first match.
Of the five who after their initial
loss participated in the consolation
draw, only one player - sopho-
more Steven Peretz - won his first
match.
Peretz did more than just win his
first match, though, and remains
the lone Wolverine in Madison,
where he will participate today in
the consolation semifinals. Like
Maravic's main draw run, Peretz
strung together three straight wins
to salvage some positives in the
weekend for the Wolverines.
After losing his opening match
in straight sets, Peretz returned the
favor to his opponents in the con-
solation bracket. He defeated Brett
Taylor of Iowa, 6-3, 6-3, and then
Mark Weinig and Lachezar Kasarov
of Wisconsin with scores of 6-3, 6-
1, and 6-3, 6-4, respectively.
He will face the winner of Wis-
consin's Alex Kasarov versus
Indiana's John Stone today in the
semifinals.
Berque had hoped for better
results from his team as a whole this
weekend.
"Despite a few bright spots, I was
generally disappointed with our per-
formance," he said. "It wasn't based
on a lack of trying, it just wasn't our
week."
But Berque seems optimistic for
his Team once dual-season begins in
January.
"We're continuing to get better
and better," he said. "Without Brian
(Hung) or Ryan (Heller), we weren't
going to advance a whole lot of peo-
ple in the main draw.
"But we know what we have to
work on for our dual season."
The team now breaks from orga-
nized competition until mid-Janu-
ary, when the dual season begins
against Western Michigan.
R
With a time of 20:43.7, junior Katie Erdman placed 15th at the NCAA Great Lakes
Regionals meet. Michigan took first at the meet with five top-15 scorers.
had since I've been at Michigan,"
McGuire said. "I could tell that we
were in control of what we were
doing. All seven of them had a very,
very good day. I'm very, very fired
up about them."
The biggest surprise for many was
the third-place finish for freshman
Alyson Kohlmeier. Kohlmeier -
who finished seventh at the Big Ten
Championships - has shown steady
improvement all season and, accord-
ing to McGuire, Saturday was the
best he'd seen her run all season.
"(At the end) I was waiting for the
pace to pick up and for them to go
flying by, but I just hung on," Kohl-
meier said. "We did run a really fast
time, but I felt good and it was excit-
ing just to be up there. That's what.
kept me going."
Fifth-year senior Andrea Parker
(20:20.9) placed eighth and senior
Theresa Feldkamp (20:41.6) placed
13th to round out Michigan's, top-
five finishers.
"Andrea has just been steady in
there all year competing hard and
she had another great day," McGuire
said. "Feldkamp and Erdman were
running really fast and solid togeth-
er and picked some people off com-
ing home."
Michigan felt that everything
came together on Saturday. On a
team with incredible talent and
depth, everybody ran just a little bit
faster and smarter.
"Being able to fight the battle
inside your head, if you're able to
win, that than your race is going to
be amazing," Parker said. "By stay-
ing with these girls and not giving
up, you're putting yourself in that
much better of a position when
you're tired."
Senior Josef Fischer lost in the consolation semifinals at the Big Ten Singles
Championships, but freshman Matko Maravic and sophomore Stephen Peretz moved on.
Make a Statement on campus.
The Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) has proposed 18 amendments to the Statement of Student
Rights and Responsibilities.The Student Relations Advisory Committee (SRAC) reviews the proposals
and advises the President. Representatives from MSA, SRAC, and the Office of Student Conflict
Resolution (OSCR, a Unit of the Division of Student Affairs) will be on hand to answer
your questions about the proposals.
Open Forum
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
4:00-6:00 pm
Michigan Union - Anderson Rooms C&D
You can also read and submit feedback about the proposed amendments ONLINE:
www.studentpolicies.dsa.umich.edu/review/
Co-sponsored by:
Michigan Student Assembly
Student Relations Advisory Committee
Office of Student Conflict Resolution
NCAA.....
Continued from page 1B
team did well.
"It's nice to win," Brannen said.
"But much more so to make nationals
as a team."
Although only the two top teams
from each region automatically qualify
for the NCAA Championships in Terre
Haute, Ind., Nov. 22, the Wolverines'
performance this season has earned
them an at-large bid.
Michigan's solid finish was a sur-
prise to many. After a disappointing
fifth-place finish at the Big Ten Cham-
pionship last week, the team rebounded
back, finishing second out of five Big
Ten teams at regionals, behind Wis-
consin.
"(The Big Ten Championship) is
behind us now," Coach Ron Warhurst
said. "We made nationals and that's
always our goal."
Warhurst was pleased with how his
entire team ran in the race. He noted
that Michigan scored 111 points in a
race with 29 teams at this meet, where-
as a week earlier the Wolverines scored
125 points against just 10 teams.
"We ran our best race of the year,"
Warhurst said. "From top to bottom,
the whole team ran well."
All five scoring Wolverines placed
in the top-35. The second Michigan
runner to cross the finish line was
freshman Mike Woods, whose 16th
place finish placed him - along with
Brannen - on the Great Lakes All-
Regional team.
"I'm ecstatic," Woods said. "We put
it together and really stepped it up. I'm
really proud of the team."
Now the team will be readying itself
for the NCAA Championship. Despite
the up-and-down season Michigan has
had so far, Warhurst is confident that
his team can perform well in Terre
Haute.
"No more flops for us, we have just
one more race," Warhurst said. "I would
like to see Brannen make the top-10.
As for everybody else, we'll throw the
cards out there and see how they fall.
S
6MD
NOTE
An Open Letter to the University Community
November 2004
Friends,
As we begin another basketball season, I want to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for all of your past support and to ask that
you once again this year make CRISLER ARENA A MAJOR HOME COURT ADVANTAGE FOR OUR TEAM. Thanks to you, last
year we had a home record of 16-3. This season, our goal is to be undefeated at home.
We are very proud that, each year, our basketball program has grown and made strides on the court, off the court- AND IN THE
STANDS. The Maize Rage has been an invaluable catalyst in this last area. They have helped to make Crisler a loud, intimidating
place for opponents to play-and more importantly, a place where out players feed off the tremendous support and energy from
our fans. This was never more true than during our NIT Championship run last season. We truly believe that all of our fans were a
difference-making factor in that success.
Now, we are excited and energized for a new season. Tonight, we will begin our quest to accomplish something that no team ever
has -to follow up a Post-Season NIT Championship with a Pre-Season NIT Championship in the same calendar year. We open with
a home NIT game at Crisler Arena TONIGHT at 7:00pm, and if we're successful, we play again on Wednesday (11/17) at 7:00pm.
We need to win two games here to qualify for the Pre-Season NIT Final Four in New York City, over the Thanksgiving holiday.
I ask you to continue to grow the enthusiasm, energy and passion for Michigan Basketball in the stands, as our players do the same
on the court. I hope to see you in Crisler Arena tonight and all season long!
Wrestlers duel in
Intrasquad meet
The men's wrestling team
engaged in its annual Maize and
Blue Intrasquad yesterday. The
winners helpedadetermine who will
compete in the starting lineup this
season.
In the heavyweight division,
freshman Greg Wagner defeated
senior Tony Grygrzky. Juniors J.R.
Muldoon and Brian Ong competed
at the 141-pound division, and Mul-
don defeated Ong 6-5. Freshman
Crain Gillison squared off against
sophomore Jim Shutich in the 133-
pound division, and Gillison took
the matchup 5-2.
Senior Willie Breyer defeated
fifth-year senior Steve Heleniak
7-0 to win the starting position at
the 197-pound division. In the 174-
pound division, junior Nick Roy
forfeited, leaving freshman Tyrel
Todd with a victory. Senior Ryan
Churella defeated freshman Steve
Luke 5-0 in the 157-pound posi-
al
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