12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday - November 18, 2004

Problems
abound for
Ohio State
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Editor
In normal years, "Michigan week" is the highlight
of the year in Columbus. Following his hire in the win-
ter of 2001, Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel even
gave a speech at a Buckeye basketball game saying
that in 310 days his team would be successful in Ann
Arbor against the Wolverines.
But the reasons the national media are focusing on
Columbus this week have little to do with the annual
battle against Michigan this Saturday.
In a group of ESPN the Magazine stories released
on Nov. 9, former players made allegations of wrong-
doing against the Ohio State football program, which
have led to a host of problems for Ohio State athletic
director Andy Geiger.
After former running back Maurice Clarett claimed
that he was given cars and bogus gardening jobs by
Ohio State, the.school declared that the popular ESPN
program "College GameDay" was not welcome in
Columbus on Saturday. Also, former Buckeye bas-
ketball coach Jim O'Brien sued Ohio State last week
because he feels the school owes him millions from
the remainder of his contract. Earlier this season,
Lydell Ross, the Buckeyes' leading rusher, was sus-
pended for one game and kept out of another for an
incident at a local strip club. This is all in the middle of
a disappointing 6-4 season for the Buckeyes.
The various problems have caused Geiger to con-
duct long press conferences after Tressel met with the
media at Ohio State's weekly press luncheon the past
two Thesdays. Tressel started his press conference this
week saying that he feels "very good about how we do

Churella moves
up weight classes

By Mark Giannotto
Daily Sports Writer

Ordinarily, a wrestler who quali-
fied for the NCAA Championships as a
redshirt freshman and placed third as a
sophomore would stay in his weight class
rather than mess with success.
But junior Ryan Churella has decided
to go against conventional wisdom. This
season, he will attempt to move up two

cific exercises that would ultimately help
him once the season came around.
"I did a lot of core workouts, and
improved my strength in a lot of exercis-
es," Churella said. "I did a lot of Olym-
pic-style lifts, like bench press, squats
and cleans. Sometimes I would do circuit
workouts, so we would do our bench first
and then add in other stuff. It was almost
like getting a wrestling workout."
Although Churella has altered his


weight classes and be as
successful as in previous
seasons. During the 2002-
03 and 2003-04 seasons,
Churella wrestled in the
149-pound weight class,
but this year he will make
the jump to the 165-pound
weight class.
"Last year I weighed
about 170 (pounds) before

TONIGHT
Michigan at
Lehigh
Time: 7 p.m
eema-Turner Arena

training techniques, he
will not have to change his
wrestling style to adapt to
the new weight class.
"I'm not wrestling any
differently," Churella said.
"Last year, in the middle
of the season, I had a ten-
dency to get a little sloppy
because I was cutting so

TONY DING/Daily
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has a lot more on his mind than just Saturday's game against Michigan.

things at Ohio State" before answering any questions
regarding his team's biggest game of the year.
Geiger then had to attend to a number of other
issues. One of which was his disdain toward ESPN.
Earlier this week, ESPN had preliminary discus-
sions with Ohio State about coming to Columbus on
Saturday. Although the show appeared at Ohio State
the last time Michigan played in Columbus, the Buck-
eyes said that they would have declined if they had
been formally asked.
"Given some of the emotion around ESPN in this
community, and given the required security, it prob-.
ably would have been our judgment - had we been
asked - to ask them to go someplace else on this par-
ticular day," Geiger said.
Geiger didn't comment on the likely upcoming legal
battle between the school and O'Brien. According to
an Associated Press report, O'Brien was fired in June
after Geiger said O'Brien admitted paying $6,000 to

a recruit. O'Brien is suing for damages because he
and the school are under disagreement as to whether
O'Brien should have been fired without pay.
"I can't comment on pending litigation, OK?" Gei-
ger said. "If I could, I would."
Geiger also defended a number of Ohio State poli-
cies including giving credit to players for simply play-
ing football. Geiger added that Ohio State gives credit
to students in a number of activities including musi-
cal organizations, theatre groups and student publica-
tions.
"We think intercollegiate activities is an important
part of a person's education and to not value them in
some way, given the time and effort that students put
into it and the role that it plays in their lives, I think,
would be too bad," Geiger said.
For now, the Buckeyes are preparing to ruin the Wol-
verines' dream of a trip to Pasadena. But with the mul-
tiple allegations they're facing, it's just a little bit harder.

the season,

and cut down because I knew it would
be better for the team," Churella said.
"I think I am going to compete better at
(the 165-pound weight class) because it's
more of my natural weight class."
Churella's primary reason to move up
two weight classes was his displeasure
with the weight cutting he had to do in
previous seasons.
"When you only have an hour after
weigh-ins, its hard to wrestle well when
you are cutting a lot of weight," Churella
said.
To get ready for the rigors of wrestling
in a bigger weight class, Churella had to
change his offseason training approach.
He spent a lot of time in the weight room
in order to get the proper strength nec-
essary for competition with bigger wres-
tlers.
"Right after the season ended, I took
a week off, and then just lifted all sum-
mer," Churella said. "My brother and I
lifted with this trainer all summer and it
really helped."
His lifting program focused on spe-

much weight, and I wasn't focusing on
my wrestling and technique. I had to
think too much about keeping my weight
down."
The coaches have noticed all the hard
work Churella has put in. Recently, he
was named a co-captain alongside 2003
NCAA Champion Ryan Bertin.
"(Churella) has turned himself into
a nice-sized 165-pounder," Michigan
coach Joe McFarland said. "He's much
stronger this year and he'll be able to be
more physical in his matches."
McFarland believes that Churella's
experience in the fast-paced 149-pound
weight class will give him an advantage
in his new class.
"(Churella) is going to find out that
(wrestlers) in the 165-pound weight class
are not as quick as him," said McFarland.
"They may be a little stronger, but Ryan
has gotten his body to the point where
that won't make much of a difference."
Churella's first test in his new weight
class comes today, as the Wolverines
face perennial wrestling power Lehigh
in Bethlehem, Pa.

M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Buretts players excel in the classroom

By Matt Singer
Daily Sports Writer

Nabbing seven freshmen to fill out a
roster with just three returning players
- not easy.
Finding seven players ready to step
in and play at the Big Ten level - even
harder.
Signing seven Big Ten-caliber players
who all earned academic awards in high
school - nearly impossible.
But Michigan women's basketball
coach Cheryl Burnett managed to beat
the odds with her first recruiting class at
Michigan. In addition to their prowess
on the court, these freshmen have what it
takes to succeed off of it.
"We look for special people, players
and academicians," Burnett said. "Every

member of our incoming class was a
straight-A student in high school."
The players' academic credentials back
up their coach's claims. Krista Clement
was the valedictorian of LaSalle High
School in St. Ignace, while Ta'Shia Walk-
er earned the same honor at Sexton High
School in Lansing. Clement was elected
student council president and Katie Dier-
dorf was class president at Visitation
Academy in Missouri. Meanwhile, the
rest of the class racked up a litany of aca-
demic awards, such as the "Superinten-
dent Excellence Award" (Janelle Cooper),
"CIF Scholar Athlete" (Sierrah Moore),
"Board of Education Honors Diploma"
(Becky Flippin) and "Who's Who in
America for Academics/Athletics" (Jes-
sica Starling).
But even the brightest students go

through an adjustment period when they
venture off to college. To ease the transi-
tion, the freshmen arrived in Ann Arbor
early to take classes over the summer.
Getting used to the academic rigors of
college life before the basketball season
proved to be helpful.
"I think everyone's adjusted pretty
well," Clement said. "I think the first
couple of tests were pretty hard - getting
used to what the professors wanted from
you. But since then, it's been good."
For these student-athletes, the Universi-
ty's athletic tradition and its wide-ranging,
well-regarded academic programs proved
attractive. Walker, for example, hopes to
take advantage of the University's sports
management program in order to fulfill
her goal of becoming a marketing execu-
tive. Cooper was impressed by Michigan's

dentistry program.
"There were a lot of steps that went into
my decision making," Clement said. "But
I wanted the best of both worlds - athlet-
ics and academics."
Burnett understands that a school's aca-
demic standing can be a deciding factor in
landing some of the best ballplayers in the
country. That's why Michigan's impres-
sive academic offerings go hand-in-hand
with Burnett's plans to bring the Wolver-
ines to new heights on the court.
"That's one of the things I feel so priv-
ileged about," Burnett said. "To be able
to walk into these players' homes with
their families, and show them how we're
academically ranked. To be able to truth-
fully say that the quality of education is
second to none - it's immeasurable in
recruiting."
The result: A nucleus of seven freshmen
who are serious about hitting the books as
well as the hardwood.
"Not only do they play basketball at
a high level," Burnett said. "They over-
achieve in other aspects of life as well."


THIS IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT

ISRAEL IS THE
CANARY IN THE MINE
The war between Arabs and Jews
is not the cause of the war on terror,
as apologists for Muslim radicals
claim; it is the war on terror.
Twenty-five years ago, there were two non-Islamic democracies in the Arab
Middle East, Israel and Lebanon. This was too much for Islamic radicals and Syrian
irredentists and Palestinians who joined forces to destroy Lebanon and make it a base
for terror.
The goal of the post-Oslo Intifada is not to establish a Palestinian state alongside a
Jewish state. Its goal is an Islamic umma extending "from the Jordan to the sea." That
is why Oslo was rejected by Arafat even though Barak and Clinton offered him an
independent state on virtually all of the land Palestinians claimed in the West Bank of
the Jordan. That is why the very birth of Israel is referred to by all the present
Palestinian leadership as the "Naqba" - the "catastrophe." To Islamic radicals at war
with the West, the very creation of Israel is a catastrophe.

Junior Ryan Churella worked out all summer so that he could move up to the 165-
pound weight class.


Charges
against
Anthony
dropped
DENVER (AP) - Prosecutors
dropped a marijuana possession
charge against Denver Nuggets star
Carmelo Anthony yesterday, saying
it would be tough to get a conviction
after a friend claimed the drug was
his, not Anthony's.
Anthony was charged with possess-
ing less than 1 ounce of marijuana on
Oct. 15 after a bag with the drug was
found in his backpack as the team
waited to board a flight to Milwau-
kee, Wisc., for a preseason game.
Anthony said the drug belonged to
a friend, James Cunningham. Cun-
ningham signed an affidavit saying
it was his.
Anthony faced a fine of $100 and
no jail time for the petty offense, but
the hit to his image would have been
much more difficult to take.
With a charismatic smile and a
superb all-around game, Anthony
was an instant star in Denver after
the Nuggets took him with the third
overall pick in the 2003 draft. After
leading Syracuse to the national
championship as a freshman, he
helped Denver to one of the biggest
turnarounds in league history and
reach the playoffs for the first time
since 1995 as a rookie last season.

O


American apologists for Arab aggression are also
aggression. In their eyes, Islamic terror in the Middle East
policies of Israel, whom terrorists refer to as the "little
Satan." For apologists of the Islamic terror of 9/11 and the

apologists
has a root

for Islamic
cause in the

Zarqawi terror in Iraq, jihad is not a self-generating creed
but has a "root cause" in the policies of "the Great Sitan,"
which is us.
Peace in the Middle East and peace in the war with
al-Qaeda and Zarqawi will come only when the terrorists
surrender or are defeated.
~ David Horowitz

Headaches?.
Michigan IeadoPain & Neurological
Institute is conducting an in-clinic researchK
study evaluating an investigational
medication for migraine.
Participants must be 18 to 75 years old and
suffer no more than 2-8 headaches per month. A total of three
clinic visits are required. Visit 2 is a three to four hour
treatment visit while having an acute headache, Participants
must be available to come to the clinic during normal business
hours (8 a.m.to 5 p-m).

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