2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - Monday, January 24, 2005 CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY Dancers claim 10th in Florida tournament Athlete of the Week By Billy Heisler For the Daily They had each gone through it over and over again in the hundreds of hours spent rehears- ing. Every beat and every step was memorized and programmed into their minds and bodies. Yet their hearts were pounding, their breath was quick, and beads of sweat dotted their foreheads. The members of the Michigan Dance Team were huddled up backstage, keeping loose and sup- porting each other in every way possible. They awaited their turn in the UDA College Cheer and Dance National Championship in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 15. "This is the year that we are dancing from our hearts and dancing how we want to dance," senior co-captain Katie Russell said to the team as they waited. When "The Victors" began to blast out of the arena's speakers, signifying their turn to per- form, it was time for the team to bring down the house. Up on stage, the worries of rankings and numbers simply evaporated into the heat of the lights. The dancers were there to prove that the years of undying devotion to their passion had empowered them to improve as individuals and as a team. They were there to embody Michigan spirit and pride. But most of all, they were there for each other. In the middle of the performance, with their bodies in elegant and perfectly in-sync motion, Russell shouted, "I love you guys!" This love was shared by every member of the team, along with coach Valerie Stead Potsos. The Michigan Dancers placed 10th, finishing above140 of the 150 teams competing, most var- sity level. Name: Justin Laury Hometown: Marietta, GA Team: Gymnastics Class: Junior Senior dancer Rebecca O'Brien had no regrets. "We danced the best we could dance and (wanted) to give the program a good name," O'Brien said. In all, the National Championship competi- tion pushed each member to smash personal and team goals and to showcase the class and profes- sionalism of the Michigan program. "We cried tons of happy tears," Russell said. The dancers are still red-hot. Stead Potsos has been taking innovative steps to ensure that the team remains on the cutting edge, and the danc- ers have been putting in hours of hard work to stay on top. They perform at every men's home basketball game and will be performing their award-winning halftime show when the Wolver- ines take on Michigan State at Crisler Arena on Feb. 12. Why: Laury set a new Michigan all-around record with a score of 56.050 against No. 7 Oklahoma on Saturday. Laury came in first on the vault and second on both still rings and high bar. The Wolverines also set a school record for most points scored in a meet with 222.275. ,wr 'M' SCHEDULE Date Event 1/26 W Tennis at Notre Dame I- Location South Bend East Lansing Iowa City 1/27 1/27 1/28 1/28 1/28 1/28 M Basketball at Michigan State W Basketball at Iowa W Swim/Diving vs. Notre Dame Ann Arbor Wrestling at Wisconsin Madison W Gymnastics at Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Ice Hockey vs. Northern Michigan Ann Arbor Tanlkers suffer rare loss to Wilcats By Dan Ketchel Daily Sports Writer Down but not out. That is where the Michigan women's swimming and diving team sunk to over the week- end. Visiting No. 23 Northwestern, the Wolverines traveled all the way to Evanston and then came out flat, los- ing 168-132 - the first time they've lost there since Jan. 27, 2001. The Wildcats clawed their way to victory on their senior night. The win was long overdue for the team's seniors who hadn't solved the Michi- gan puzzle in more than four years. For the No. 13 Wolverines, the loss dims their chances of taking first in the Big Ten for the second consecu- tive year. In Michigan Jim Richard- son's 20-year tenure, only once has he led the team to a conference title in a season with more than one loss. Regardless, the Wolverines (3-1 Big Ten, 3-2 overall) are still hopeful that they can claim coach Richardson his 15th Big Ten championship. "We're trying to focus on Big Tens," senior Amy McCullough said. "That's our big meet that we put everything into. We're hoping that pays off in the end and that we'll be able to swim a lot faster then. It's going to be inter- esting to see how the team steps up 1/29 Water Polo vs. Colorado State 1/29 W Track/Field at Michigan Intercollegiate 1/29 W Tennis vs. Alabama 1/29 M Swim/Diving at Ohio State 1/29 M Tennis at William and Mary 1/29 Water Polo vs. Indiana 1/29 Ice Hockey vs. Northern Michigan 1/29 M Track/Field at Boston Indoor Games Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Columbus Williamsburg, Va Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Boston Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Richmond, Va Minneapolis Ann Arbor Madison Time 4 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 6 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7:35 p.m. 9 a.m. 9 a.m. 11 a.m. 1 p.m. 4 p.m. 5 p.m. 7:35 p.m. TBA 9:45 a.m. 11:15 a.m. 12 p.m. 1 p.m. 1:30 p.m 2 p.m. 1/30 1/30 1/30 1/30 1/30 1/30 Water Polo vs. UCLA Water Polo vs. Slippery Rock M Tennis at Virginia Commonwealth Wrestling at Minnesota M Basketball vs. Purdue W Basketball at Wisconsin 01 McFarland not too Keen on outcome TOMMASO GOMEZ/Daily Sophomore Kaitlyn Brady captured the 50-yard freestyle title for the fifth consecutive meet in a loss to the Wildcats on Saturday. at the end and how we come together. It's going to be fun though. A good hard-fought battle regardless of how well it goes." Most of Michigan's usual top per- formers persistently attempted to push their team past Northwestern. Michigan sophomore Kaitlyn Brady had a pair of first-place finishes, tak- ing the 50-yard freestyle and the 200- yard backstroke. Freshman Justine Mueller continued her dominance of the individual medley, taking first in t. , " ' . . . .. . . . . . the 200-yard event as well as the 100- yard backstroke. But Mueller, couldn't quite overcome Wildcat sophomore Brielle Bovee, who beat Mueller out in the 200-yard breaststroke and was nearly uncontested in the 100-yard breaststroke. Michigan sophomore Lindsey Smith had a rough day in the pool, coming up just short in both her two individual events and the two relays she competed in. Smith was bested in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyles. 'Each time she came in a disappoint- ing second to Northwestern freshman Andrea Hupman, who held more than a one-second margin in both races. Hupman's relay teams also got the best of Michigan, taking both the 400-yard freestyle and medley relays. The Wildcats, winning by nearly two seconds, defeated the freestyle team of Smith, senior Abby Seskevics, McCullough and senior Tracy Egnatuk. The medley team of Mueller, freshman Valeria Silva, Brady and Smith made more of a stand. However, they were bested by just .22 seconds. McCullough, who had a dominant year in her junior campaign, has been nearly silent. McCullough showed some life for the first time this season after missing the first three meets with mononucleosis. Gilliam, who planned on flying out to Evanston separately from the team, could not make it due to the inclement weather. The veter- an McCullough did her best to keep Michigan afloat with convincing wins in both the 500- and 1000-yard free- styles, recording almost four-second margins in each. "Swim meets don't always go as planned," McCullough said. "Last minute, we had to change the lineup around a lot, and I got moved around. I was a little nervous, but I stepped in anyway, and I did what I needed to do to win the two events. It ended up working out all right." The backbreaker for the Wolverines came in the butterfly events. North- western took first and second place in the 100-yard race and swept the top three in the 200-yard race. Senior Christy Olin and freshman Katie Braun orchestrated the control over the two flies. Braun stole the 100-yard and Olin romped five seconds ahead of the nearest Michigan finisher in the 200-yard. The victory was the Wildcats' third win this season over a ranked opponent. Meanwhile the Wol- verines have lost two to ranked opponents. They hope to get some revenge against Northwestern at the Big Ten Tournament starting Feb. 16. In the meantime, Michigan will have another shot at a ranked oppo- nent when they take on No. 21 Notre Dame at home in Canham Natato- rium this Friday at 6 p.m. By Mark Giannotto Daily Sports Writer "It was a .tough weekend for us," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said about his team's struggles at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals in Cleve- land this weekend. After the Wolverines started off the dual season winning six of their first seven meets, they hit a collective bump in the road this weekend. No. 4 Michigan went 3-2 in the dual meet tournament, with wins over Arizona State, Hofstra and Penn State and losses to Minnesota and Oklahoma. The Wol- verines finished a disappointing seventh place in the 16-team field. Throughout the tournament, Michigan was forced to forfeit the opening 125- pound weight class due to sophomore Jim Shutich's inability to wrestle according to NCAA rules governing weight loss. Unlike in their opening match against Arizona State, where Michigan was able to dig itself out of the hole created by the loss in the opening bout, the Wolverines could not come back against Big Ten rival Minnesota. Michigan's dual meet against the No. 8 Gophers started on a sour note for the Wolverines. Not only did they give up a forfeit at the 125-pound weight class, but usual standout Mark Moos was pinned in the 133-pound bout. "After 133, we put ourselves in a huge hole, being down 12-0," McFarland said. "We fought back though, to the point where it came down to that last match". That last match pitted No. 2 ranked heavyweight Greg Wagner of Michigan against No. 3 ranked Cole Konrad of Minnesota. With Michigan down 18-16, a win by Wagner would have given Michi- gan the dual meet win. The match was low scoring, with Kon- rad picking up just two takedowns. Wag- ner was unable to score many points from the bottom position, which eventually led to Konrad's 4-1 victory. The loss was Wagner's first of the 2004-2005 season. "Greg just didn't wrestle his kind of match against (Konrad),"McFarland said. "Greg is a real athletic guy, and he needs to do things on the mat that will take advantage of that athleticism. (Konrad) is more of a push and shove kind of wrestler, and he was able to get Greg to wrestle his style. Greg just wasn't aggressive enough @ out there." With the loss to Minnesota, Michi- gan fell to the consolation bracket of the tournament, where it seemed to turn its fortunes around with a 19-18 victory over No. 6 Hofstra. Unlike in the Minnesota match, Wag- ner was able to deliver in the final match against Hofstra. Michigan was down 18-13 going into the heavyweight bout, and another loss would have eliminated them from the tournament. But Wagner put an end to those thoughts with a pin over Hofstra's Billy Simmons. This gave the Wolverines the six team points necessary for a win. Michigan's hopes of placing in the top four of the tournament ended with a 24- 13 loss against No. 10 Oklahoma. Red- shirt freshmen Josh Churella and Eric Tannenbaum lost close matches to Teyon Ware and Matt Storniolo,"respectively. Churella was unable to get any points from the top position, which is usually his strength, while Tannenbaum could not convert consistently from the neutral 0 position. "Individually, each person has certain things that they need to improve upon as well," McFarland said. On a bright note, co-captains and 2004 All-Americans Ryan Bertin and Ryan Churella finished the tournament with perfect 4-0 records. The Wolverines lineup was also miss- ing a key cog this weekend - Willie Brey- er was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Breyer had been coming on strong as of late with two victories over ranked oppo- nents in the past two weeks. "We're a little banged up, and we didn't have a full lineup this weekend," McFar-0 land said. "The bottom line is that you can't go into a national dual tournament giving up weight classes. We need to get healthy for next week, and, hopefully we'll be at full strength." Luckily for Michigan, it will have an opportunity to avenge one of its losses from this tournament next weekend when it travels to Minnesota to face the Gophers in a regular Big Ten dual meet. The Wol- verines also face No. 13 Wisconsin on Fri- day night in Madison. TOM MASO GOMEZ/Daily Senior Amy McCullough finished first In the 500-yard freestyle event this weekend. Co O'~ 'A' ~ A"' 4"' 4/ '9'... "9' 449' ,.9. *9 ''9'.. $10 Rush Tickets on sale 9 am - 5 pm the day of the performance or the Friday before for weekend events at the UMS Ticket Office, located in the Michigan League. 50% Rush Tickets on sale for 50% off the original ticket price- beginning 90 minutes before the event at the performance hall Ticket Office. Eating Disorder Treatment Participants Needed for Research Study You may be eligible if you are: - A woman between the ages of 18 and 35 years - Currently experiencing any of the following symptoms: - Binge eating - Vomiting or using laxatives or water pills to get rid of food eaten or to control weight - Excessive exercising to control your weight - Fasting - Underweight because of dieting - Missing your menstrual period Participants will receive 20 weeks of psychotherapy and nutritional counseling at no cost. Compensation up to $200 for participation. The Possibilities Project at the University of Michigan School of Nursing Professor Karen Stein, Ph.D., RN For more information: 1-800-742-2300, #2200 or E-mail: possibilities(aumich.edu URL: www.umich.edu/-possibil Lahti Symphony with [ouis [ortie, piano WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 8 PM Hill Auditorium PROGRAM Kokkonen Tchaikovsky Prokofiev Sibelius g BdCWII UMMA DU UIL k.Uy Michigan All-American Ryan Bertin finished 4-0 at the Cliff Keen/N WCA National Duals. Interludes from The Last Temptations Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 75 Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major, Op. 10 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 * --UU Healthy, medication- free volunteers, ages 18-45, are needed for a research study Audra McDonald and Trio 01 _>