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