2B - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 7, 2005
CMssPORTSWEEKLY
Men's water polo swims under radar
By Billy Hisier
For the Daily
The Michigan men's water polo team often fades behind the hype and mar-
keting of the University's major sports. Yet this group of poised individuals
has tales of camaraderie, commitment and accomplishment that equal those
that are constantly in the spotlight.
In late August of 2003, a group of players assembled, immediately forming
a balanced, focused and cohesive unit. All but the incoming freshman expe-
rienced a bitter end to their previous season. The Wolverines were denied a
spot in the National Championship by Michigan State, losing by one goal in
the qualifying round. But the team had every reason to be confident about its
chances of taking home a national title. With their final season approaching,
senior star goalie Jeff Bronson and coach Vaughn Cooper wanted to leave it
all in the pool, harboring no regrets. The rest of the team shared this vision,
practicing hard and playing each game as if it were its last.
After finishing the regular season with a strong 18-4 record, the polo play-
ers ferociously awaited a possible rematch with the Spartans in the qualifying
tournament, the Big Ten Championship. This tournament included nine of the
eleven Big Ten schools, each team jockeying for the single open spot in the
National Championship tournament in Texas. As fate would have it, Michi-
gan State was the only team that stood in Michigan's way of a trip to Texas.
But this time, the Wolverines reigned supreme.
Michigan arrived at Nationals with a high level of confidence.
"We knew we were going to take it the second we got there," senior Patrick
Emaus said.
Michigan defeated Dartmouth, Georgia Tech and Yale in the first three
rounds, blowing each of them out of the water. When the finals came rolling
around, the polo players went on a tear, sinking California Polytechnic Uni-
versity and claiming the National Championship as their own.
In 2004, the Wolverines - with extra efforts from new coach Alex Zim-
mer and core seniors and captains Brad Gregorka, Rob Palmerlee and Ryan
Wyatt - had another outstanding season, finishing third in the nation at
Notre Dame.
Despite the loss of many star players due to graduation, Michigan believes
that its tradition of excellence and sportsmanship will prevail. Prot6ges of
this past season's departing stars have stepped up to take on the formidable
challenge. Sophomore Dan Kurdys will serve as the team's president and
co-captain.
"My goals for this coming season are to focus more on professionalism
and organization, to uphold the competitive standards set by the seniors
and to maintain a good combination of academic and playing ability,"
Kurdys said.
He also hopes to reach out to the community by volunteering at local high
schools to teach the sport to the younger players, something that the team has
done over the past few off-seasons.
ElbeAItciltmx aUg
Athlete of the Week
Name: Lindsey Gallo Team: Women's Track
Hometown: Freehold, N.J. Class: Senior
Why: Gallo achieved an NCAA automatic qualifying time
of4:37.97 on her way to winning the mile at yesterday's Meyo
Invitational. Just a day earlier, Gallo anchored Michigan's first
place distance medley team that set a Loftus Indoor Track
Record and ran the second fastest time in Michigan history.
M' SCH EDULE
Date Event
Location
2/8
M Basketball vs. Illinois
2/10 W Basketball at Ohio State
2/11
2/11
2/11
2/11
2/11-13
2/12
2/12
2/12
2/12
2/13
2/13
2/13
W Track/Field at Sykes-Sabok
Challenge Cup
M Track/Field at Sykes-Sabok
Challenge Cup
Wrestling vs. Ohio State
Ice Hockey at Nebraska-Omaha
Softball at Las Vegas Tournament
M Gymnastics at Minnesota
M Basketball vs. Michigan State
W Gymnastics at New Hampshire
Ice Hockey at Nebraska-Omaha
M Tennis at Vanderbilt
W Tennis at Tennessee
Wrestling at Iowa
Ann Arbor
Columbus
State College
State College
Ann Arbor
Omaha
Las Vegas
Minneapolis
Ann Arbor
Durham, N.H.
Omaha
Nashville
Knoxville, Tenn.
Iowa City
Time
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
5 p.m.
5 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
TBA
2 p.m.
4 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:05 p.m.
12 p.m.
12 p.m.
6 p.m.
A e
leads 'M
to victory
By Jamie Josephson
Daily Sports Writer
After taking the first set with relative ease, senior cap-
tain David Anving suddenly found himself in a do-or-die
situation. Up 6-5 in a second-set tiebreaker, Anving was
serving not only to win the match, but also to secure vic-
tory for the No. 49 Michigan men's tennis team against
Ball State yesterday at the Varsity Tennis Center.
"It was a very important point," Anving said. "It's
very important to stay aggressive. I hadn't served and
volleyed at all in the match, so I decided to (do that),
and it went well."
Anving won the point and the match against Ball
State's Patrick Thompson, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), securing Mich-
igan's second home victory and improving its overall
record to 3-1.
Michigan would roll to a 6-1 victory after sweeping
Ball State in every match of the singles competition.
"Obviously, the score indicates a pretty dominating
victory," Michigan assistant coach Michael Kosta said.
"But every match was very close. I was happy with the
way everyone competed. But I do think they could've
executed better and played at a higher level."
At the beginning of yesterday's competition, it
seemed like the match was going to be anything but
a smooth ride for Michigan. In three tough doubles
matches, the Wolverines picked up just a single win,
giving Ball State the doubles point and an early lead.
At No. 3 doubles, sophomore Steve Peretz and senior
captain Vinny Gossain teamed up for an overpowering
defeat of Cardinals' Paul Newman and Klint Knable
(8-3). But Michigan could not hold on at either the No.
1 or No. 2 doubles slots.
"It's easy to kind of panic a little after you lose (the
doubles point)," Kosta said. "But we knew that, if we
continued to do the right things and stay calm, that-we
probably would have the edge in singles."
Freshman Matko Maravic was one player who had to
bounce back from a disappointing doubles loss. In his
U MEN'S GYMNASTICS
Tumblers come up
short in Las Vegas
By Sara Livingston
Daily Sports Writer
Senior David Anving overcame a strong challenge from Ball State's Patrick Thompson and won 63, 7-6 (7-5).
No. 3 singles match against Ball State's Anthony Epkey,
Maravic found himself down a set but certainly not out
of the match. In nearly flawless fashion, Maravic took six
straight games from Epkey to win the second set. With
several timely aces and a surge of energy, Maravic rode
his newfound momentum to seal the comeback victory,
3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
"I think I played pretty badly in the first set of sin-
gles," Maravic said. "(But then) I put more topspin on
the ball and put more balls in to get more confidence. I
found my rhythm."
Maravic's impressive come-from-behind victories
in his first season at Michigan have not gone unnoticed
by Kosta.
"Matko is a remarkable talent and hits the ball so
well," Kosta said. "We're just feeling like he's this great
player and trying to do everything right with him. It's
going to take some time to iron everything out, but he's
got great talent."
At No. 1 singles, senior Michael Rubin also found stiff
competition. Against the Cardinals' Matthew Baccarani,
Rubin's transition game enabled him to take the first set
of the match. But after losing the second set, the match
came down to a 10-point tiebreaker. Rubin was able to
halt Baccarani's comeback attempt, winning the match,
6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8), and securing his 60th collegiate sin-
gles victory.
Almost as soon as Rubin's match had ended, Peretz
found himself in an almost identical situation. After win-
ning the first set but dropping the second, Peretz' match
was to be decided by a tiebreaker. Once again, Michigan
came out on top. Having faced his opponent in doubles
earlier in the day, Peretz stuck a nail in Paul Newman's
coffin for good, 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6).
Though sophomores Brian Hung and Ryan Heller
struggled in their doubles match earlier in the day, both
players came away with singles victories. At the No. 2
position, Hung broke his two-match losing streak with
a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Matt Laramore. Following in
his partner's footsteps, Heller put on a serving spectacle,
defeating Jan Polhamus, 6-3, 6-2.
After Virginia Commonwealth swept Michigan last
weekend, 7-0, for the Wolverines' first loss of the season,
Michigan bounced back yesterday with fire in its eyes.
"I think (the win) is really important because last week
we lost pretty badly," Maravic said. "We needed some
confidence. I think this six-point win is going to help us
a lot."
Gallo leads Wolverines in South Bend
What happens in Vegas stays in
Vegas. After this weekend's disap-
pointing performance at the Winter
Cup, the No. 3 Michigan men's gym-
nastics team hopes this saying will
ring true. Seven Wolverines made
the trip to Sin City along with Coach
Kurt Golder. They competed for the
remaining six of the 14 slots on the
U.S. National Team and to gain valu-
able tournament experience The other
eight slots are filled by the six Olym-
pians and the two Olympic back-ups.
The two-day competition came
to an end late Saturday night, when
senior captain Geoff Corrigan came
in sixth - out of a seven-person
field - on the parallel bars with a
score of 7.7. Corrigan was the only.
Wolverine to advance to the event
finals, making the cut by scoring an
8.73 on the event a day earlier.
"Corrigan needed to be at his best
here," Golder said. "He was pretty
well prepared, but he just didn't
come out at his best."
All five gymnasts that competed
in the all-around competition, which
took place Friday night, finished in
the top-25. Junior Justin Laury led
the way in ninth place with a score
of 50.848. David Durante of the U.S.
Olympic Training Center came in
first with a score of 53.815. Durante
won the all-around silver medal at
the 2003 Pan American Games and
competed at the 2004 U.S. Olympic
Team Trials.
Senior Eddie Umphrey followed
Laury, coming in 11th place with a
score of 49.614. He also scored an
8.966 on the vault which was good
enough for ninth place. Corrigan
finished in 14th, and it was his par-
allel bars routine from this competi-
tion that qualified him for the event
finals. Juniors Gerry Signorelli
and Andre Hernandez rounded out
Michigan's all-around competition
with finishes of 17th and 21st place,
respectively.
The results disappointed the Wol-
verines, who had hoped their suc-
cess during collegiate competitions
would transfer into strong routines
at the Winter Cup.
"Their preparation and competi-
tions leading up to this were very
good and they needed to have a
good meet, and unfortunately they
didn't," Golder said. "We didn't
have a bad meet, but we weren't at
our best, and, in a competition like
this - a championship competition
- you have to be at your best to fin-
ish at the top. And we just weren't
quite there."
Juniors Andrew DiGiore and Luke
Bottke were sent to the Winter Cup
as specialists, with hopes of reach-
ing the podium and returning to
Ann Arbor with hardware for indi-
vidual event competitions. DiGiore,
who competed in pommel horse and
vault, was projected to perform well
in both events, but he came up short.
He scored an 8.233 on the pommel
horse and an 8.9 on vault, finishing
in 25th and 35th place, respectively.
Bottke struggled during his floor
exercise, finishing tied for 54th
place with a score of 7.466.
Golder attributed these shortcom-
ings to the revised scoring stan-
dards, which are due to a change in
Federation of International Gym-
nastics rules. The new rules altered
gymnasts' start values, causing them
to drop by four-tenths of a point
regardless of the routine. Because
these rulings went into effect after
the start of the NCAA season, it's
not followed in collegiate competi-
tions. But Golder was also quick to
acknowledge that the Wolverines
have performed much better and
have to learn how to adapt to dif-
ferent environments in the future
in order to succeed outside of Cliff
Keen Arena.
"They are not in this environment
very frequently, and they have to
learn how to become better competi-
tors," Golder said. "They are good
at competing at home and at away
meets and collegiate meets, but they
all have to become better at stepping
into an arena like this and being able
to compete at the very best. This
weekend, none of our guys were at
their best."
Many top gymnasts throughout
the country and worldwide came to
the event. Some notable competitors
that the Wolverines faced were for-
mer 2004 Olympians Jason Gatson
and Brett McClure. The field also
featured an abundance of Big Ten
athletes - 11 finished in the top-
20 in the all-around competition -
which Golder feels shows just how
strong Big Ten gymnastics is.
Gymnasts who qualified for the
U.S. Championships - which took
place over the summer - were auto-
matically invited to the Winter Cup,
while the other gymnasts punched
their tickets by submitting videos,
which were analyzed and then hand
selected by the U.S. Gymnastics
Committee. While Laury, Corrigan
and Signorelli all pre qualified for
the competition, Umphrey, Hernan-
dez and DiGiore were selected based
on the videos that Golder sent in for
review.
While the Wolverines fell far short
of their expectations for the week-
end, they will be taking away the
experience of competing in a nation-
al competition. Michigan hopes this
will come in handy when it faces No.
9 Minnesota on Saturday.
"It's a really tough competition,"
Golder said. "You're going against
Olympians out there. W8 have to
analyze the situation and try to learn
from it, and, hopefully, it will help
us. That's what experience does; it
helps you prepare for the next time
around."
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
Fifth-year senior Lindsey Gallo
kicked as hard as she could to hold off
a Georgetown runner as she crossed
the finish line in the distance medley
relay on Friday at the Meyo Invitational
in South Bend. To everyone watching,
a first place finish for Michigan was
obvious. But the more important num-
ber for the relay team was 11:05.33. It
is the fastest time any distance medley
relay team has posted all season, and
it gives the team of Gallo, freshman
Nicole Edwards and seniors Sierra
Hauser-Price and Theresa Feldkamp
an automatic invitation to the NCAA
championships at season's end.
Michigan set the Loftus Indoor
Track record and posted one of the
fastest times in school history - sec-
ond only to the 1998 team, which
posted a time of 11:03.28 and went on
to win the NCAA title.
"We knew we had a shot at it," dis-
tance coach Mike McGuire said. "Our
team put in a great effort, and we had
good competition to push us during
the entire race."
Edwards got things going in the
distance medley relay. She pushed
through the 1,200-meter leg and hand-
ed off to Hauser-Price who torched
the 400-meter portion. Next, Feld-
kamp steamed through the 800-meter
leg before handing off to Gallo, who
closed out the race.
"Our goal was to get the qualifier
time," Gallo said. "We trained really
hard as a team and focused on this
meet in particular to get it done."
While the relay team's collective
effort was the highlight of the week-
end, the individual performances also
made a big impact.
On Saturday, Gallo blazed the track
with a first-place finish in the mile.
Her time of 4:37.97 automatically
qualified her for the NCAA champi-
onships.
"Lindsey had a hell of a weekend,"
McGuire said. "She has been training
very well, and it showed in her break-
through in the mile, which was about
eight seconds better than her previous
runs."
In the 800-meter run, Edwards and
Feldkamp both ran steady races and
hit provisional marks with times of
2:07.48 and 2:08.19, respectively, to
finish third and fourth overall.
Hauser-Price had a consistent Sat-
urday, finishing fourth in the 60-meter
and 200-meter dash with times of 7.54
and 24.26.
Gallo was not the only Wolverine
to run a strong mile. Freshman Aly-
son Kohlmeier's time of 4:43.87 was
enough to reach the NCAA provision-
al mark.
Also giving strong performances
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The Vietnam Protestors
Yung Krall was a spy for both
for the Wolverines on the weekend
were seniors Ashley Eckel, Anna
Jones and Jennifer Williams. Eckel
won the weight throw with a distance
of 56-6 3/4. Jones finished second in
the 1,000-meter run, and 'Williams
finished third in the high jump.
ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily
Freshman Nicole Edwards helped
Michigan's distance medley relay team to
an NCAA-best time of 11:05.33.
No TALKING
ANIMALS.
Nn rnmufCiw
BRU INS
Continued from page 1B
Everything seemed to be going
perfectly for the Wolverines - that
is, until the third rotation. Even
Olympian Ray, who fell, and All-
American Bruck had trouble with
the balance beam.
"(I was) a little disappointed with
and kind of get people involved in
their routines ... So they did."
UCLA senior Kristen Maloney
won the all-around with a 39.575
and UCLA freshman Tasha Shwik-
ert tied Deiley for second place
(39.325).
Michigan (196.750) also com-
peted in the Michigan Classic
yesterday beating in-state rivals