2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 7, 2005
Gallo paces 'M' for first-place finish
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
The final scores were announced over the loud speaker at the Indoor Track
Building on Feb. 27. "In second place with 117.5 points ... Illinois. In first place
with 130 points... Michigan." Players hugged, screamed, slapped high-fives and
raised one finger to the air. Chants of 'The Victors' resonated throughout the
building. The Wolverines had regained the championship they lost last year,
and, for the third time in four years, the Michigan women's track and field team
had won the Big Ten indoor title.
"I was very happy that the strategy our coaches and I came up with worked
this weekend," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We put together a winning
team, and I am very proud of our results."
Senior Lindsay Gallo propelled this return to the top with an impressive
weekend. On Saturday, she took the track to compete in the 3,000-meter
run. For most of the race, she hung with the pack. Gallo - along with Jaime
Turilli and Cassie Hunt of Illinois - separated from the rest of the field,
and, with 400 meters left, Gallo switched into high gear and pulled away for
the victory.
With one individual title already in hand, Gallo prepared for the mile run
on Sunday. The race was no contest. Gallo again set the pace with Hunt and
,"the two pulled comfortably into the lead. Then, with 600 meters left, Gallo
took off. With 400 ieters remaining, she appeared to be running in her
own race as she extended the lead and kicked her way to another individual
title.
To cap off a remarkable weekend, Gallo was at it again in the 5,000-meter run
just an hour later. Following her usual pattern of staying near the lead and then
streaking to a late victory, Gallo again turned on the jets with 400 meters left and
beat out Turilli and Hunt en route to her third individual title of the weekend.
"My training is geared towards kicking at the end," Gallo said. "We work
very hard so that I have that extra burst at the end of the race. I prepared hard
and it worked out well this weekend"
That may be the understatement of the year. Gallo's three titles contributed 30
of Michigan's 130 total team points. Adding to the accomplishment was the fact
that it was her first time competing in the 5000-meter run all year.
"I wasn't even sure that I would run the 5,000-meter," Gallo said. "We needed
the points, so I ran the race. But I wasn't sure I could win until I got out there."
Senior Sierra Hauser-Price had a stellar weekend as well. Hauser-Price pow-
ered past the rest of the field in the 200-meter dash to edge out Penn State's
Shana Cox for the title.
Even more determination poured out in the 60-meter dash, where HauserPrice
sprinted stride for stride with Ohio State's Jenna Harris. As they crossed the fin-
ish line, each runner leaned their bodies forward and fell flat on their stomachs.
Although Hauser-Price got the short end of the final results, her sprawling sec-
ond place effort was an inspiring site to behold.
"It was a great race, and I wanted to win very badly," Hauser-Price said. "It
was very close, and I give lots of respect to Jenna Harris."
Also turning in strong performances for the Wolverines were freshman Nich-
ole Edwards and seniors Theresa Feldkamp and Stephanie Linz. Edwards ran
'a solid 600-meter dash, making a late push to win her heat, but ended up com-
ing in second overall. Feldkamp ran second in the 800-meter run from start to
finish and was never quite able to overtake Illinois' Carlene Robinson. In the
high jump, Linz's height of 5-9 1/4 earned the Wolverines another second-place
Athlete of the Week
Name: Lindsay Gallo Team: Women's Track
Hometown: Freehold, N.J. Class: Senior
Why: Gallo led Michigan to a first-place finish in the Big Ten
Championships two weekends ago. She raced past Jamie Turilli
and Cassie Hunt of Illinois in the final 400 meters of the 3,000-
meter run to take the victory. Gallo then took first place in the
mile run but still was not finished. With the two individual titles
in hand, Gallo finished the afternoon with another first-place fin-
ish - in the 5,000-meter run.
'M' SCHEDULE
Date Event
3/7
3/10
M Tennis vs. Rice
M Basketballvs. Northwestern
Big Ten Tournament
3/11 W Track/Field at the
NCAA Championships
3/11 Baseball vs. New York Tech.
3/11 W Gymnastics at Georgia
3/11 Hockey vs. Notre Dame
3/11 M Track/Field at the
NCAA Championships
3/11 W Swim/Diving at the
NCAA Diving Zones
3/11 M Swim/Diving at the
NCAA Diving Zones
3/11 M Golf at Conrad Rehling Invit.
Location
Ann Arbor
Chicago
Fayetteville, Ark.
Beaumont, Texas
Athens, Ga.
Ann Arbor
Fayetteville, Ark.
West Lafayette"
West Lafayette
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Beaumont, Texas
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Beaumont, Texas
Columbus.
Time
9 a.m.
12 p.m.
11 a.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7:35 p.m.
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
10 a.m.
1 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
7:35 p.m.
11:30 a.m.
1 p.m:
3/12
3/12
3/12
3/12
3/12
M Tennis vs. Butler
W Tennis vs. Marquette
Baseball at Lamar
M Tennisvs. Indiana State
Hockey vs. Notre Dame
3/13 Baseball vs. Central Conn. State
3/13 M Gymnastics
TONY DING/Daily
Senior Undsay Gallo took home three individual titles and helped Michigan take first place.
showing.
Then, this Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational, fifth-year senior Andrea
Parker failed to qualify for the mile, despite running the second best time of
her career. No other Wolverine competed in the meet, which serves as one last
chance at qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Gallo heads a list of six Wolverines headed for the NCAA Indoor Champi-
onships. She will be a favorite in the mile run as well as an anchor to a strong
distance medley relay team that also features Edwards, Feldkamp and Hauser-
Price. Linz will be competing in the high jump while freshman Alyson Kohl-
meier will join Gallo in the mile run. The championships will be held on March
11-12 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Blue posts season-
high, downs Iowa
By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Writer
Despite late run, tankers finish third
By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes the satisfaction resides
not in how you finished but in how you
got there.
The same is true for No. 5 Michi-
gan men's swimming and diving team.
The Wolverines finished third in the
Big Ten Championships last weekend
behind Indiana and Minnesota at the
University Aquatic Center in Minne-
apolis. Minnesota took the Big Ten
Championships for the.second consec-
utive year with an overall team score
of 720 while Michigan tallied a total
of 482 points.
After a slow start on Thursday, the
Wolverines fell to sixth place overall
in the standings, but, on Friday, they
came back to the pool with a driven
mindset to climb in the standings in
order to make a push for the crown on
Saturday.
Junior Peter Vanderkaay started
strong for the Wolverines with a vic-
tory in the 400-yard individual med-
ley. Junior Davis Tarwater also helped
Michigan, finishing second in the 100-
yard butterfly. After falling into sixth
place after the initial 25 seconds, he
rallied to touch the wall two-tenths of
a second behind Northwestern's Kyle
Bubolz.
In Friday's last event, the Wolver-
ines came through with a critical win
in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The
team of Peter Vanderkaay, Tarwa-
ter, junior Chris DeJong and senior
Andrew Hurd finished in 6:21.77, tak-
ing first and propelling the Wolverines
into fourth place to end the day.
As competition on Saturday began,
Michigan coach Bob Bowman felt con-
fident in his team's ability to continue
to climb in the standings and make a
run at an overall team championship.
"We woke up and knew that we had
a chance to move into third-place in the
standings, which is something that we
really set as goal for the meet," Bow-
man said. "And everyone came in pret-
ty optimistic and focused,"
DeJong started the day off with his first
individual victory of the weekend - in
the 200-yard backstroke. Also placing in
the 200-yard backstroke, freshman Dane
Grenda took eighth place with a time of
1:47.01 to give the Wolverines a boost in
their point total.
While the day progressed, the
Wolverines enjoyed excellent per-
formances from their top swimmers.
Peter Vanderkaay continued his strong
swimming with a victory in the 1,650-
yard freestyle and a time of 14:42.52.
Then in the 200-yard butterfly, Tar-
water won in 1:44.03 - a pool record
- and freshman Alex Vanderkaay took
third.
However, the Wolverines' improved
performance as the weekend winded
down could not propel Michigan to
an overall team championship. While
dominating most of the long-distance
events, the Wolverines struggled to
place swimmers in the finals of the
50-yard freestyle and other sprinting
events. Also, Michigan did not score
any points in the 3-meter, 5-meter, 7-
meter or 10-meter diving finals, which
hurt its chances to overcome Indiana
and Minnesota.
Although third place may seem like
a disappointment, Bowman - partici-
pating in his first Big Ten Champion-
ships - was pleased with his team's
improvement performance from
Thursday to Saturday.
"We started off with some adver-
sity on Thursday, but we were able to
bounce back and finish really strongly,"
Bowman said. "We made a huge rise in
the team scores, and I felt that we swam
about as well as we could swim."
As the Wolverines improved, Peter
Vanderkaay remained a solid contribu-
tor with three individual titles and one
relay victory. With his impressive per-
formance, Vanderkaay was named Big
Ten Swimmer of the Year and made
the All-Big Ten first team along with
teammates DeJong, Hurd and Tarwa-
ter.
After Peter Vanderkaay, Bowman
believed that Grenda had the best over-
all performance during the weekend. He
posted a career-best time in the prelimi-
naries and a NCAA-consideration time
in the finals of the 200-yard backstroke.
Shadowing the team's progression
over the Big Ten Championships, Hurd
swam better in the latter part of the
weekend. After a slow start on Thurs-
day, Hurd swam well Friday with a
sixth-place finish in the 200-yard free-
style and a win in the 800-yard free-
style relay. On Saturday, he placed fifth
in the 1,650-yard freestyle and fourth
in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
While the Wolverines improved
during the Big Ten Championships,
Bowman knows that the true Cham-
pionships are yet to come: the NCAA
Championships on March 24-26.
"We're happy with what we did (in
the Big Ten Championships), but one
of things that we have to remember
is that for us, and particularly our top
performers, this is the meet to qualify
for the NCAA Championships," Bow-
man said. "That's what we've been
focused on and that's what our main
focus is going to be."
Emotions weren't the only thing
running high during Friday night's
final home women's gymnastics
meet.
The scores were sky high as Mich-
igan defeated Iowa 197.800-194.275
- the highest team score posted by
any team in the nation this year.
Michigan also tied or broke season
or career records in 14 straight rou-
tines through the first three events.
The final home meet of the season
started out on a teary-eyed note as
fans and teammates bid farewell to
the five departing seniors - Shan-
na Duggan, Chelsea Kroll, Lau-
ren Mirkovich, Elise Ray and Kara
Rosella.
But the tearful reflection soon
turned into tenacity from the very
first vault.
"Senior night always seems to be
just an emotional high for us," Mich-
igan coach Bev Plocki said. "And I
hope.that tradition continues because
it's just fantastic."
The events started out with a bang,
as the vaulters had their best night of
the season. Led by junior Jenny Dei-
ley (9.95), Michigan compiled a team
score of 49.475.
But Mirkovich's vault - the first
routine of the evening - set the tone
for the rotation and the entire meet.
When the senior finished her vault
with a perfect landing, the crowd
went wild and many fans stood up to
cheer the California-native.
"The way Lauren Mirkovich start-
ed us out on vault - That was the
best vault I have seen her do in her
whole Michigan career," Plocki said.
And to start the meet with that, I
think was outstanding."
The Wolverines controlled the
meet from start to finish, not giving
the Hawkeyes any room for error. In
a complete sweep, Michigan placed
in every single event and had the top-
three all-around winners - Deiley
(39.625), sophomore Lindsey Bruck
(39.550) and Ray (39.525).
The Wolverines had to calm down
for the balance beam, an event that
requires careful concentration and
not reckless intensity.
But Michigan's intensity went right
back up during their floor routines.
Each gymnast's routine was spirited
and full of life - five of the six rou-
tines scored a 9.90 or higher.
And each performance by an
underclassman seemed to be an extra
special salute to their departing
teammates.
"Do it for the seniors," Deiley said
of the night's theme. "If anything
else do it for the seniors. This is their
.last meet here."
For Ray, the week leading up to
the meet was a rollercoaster ride of
emotions.
"It was really tough," Ray said.
"I'm really good at controlling my
mind for competition. But I was a
little bit all over the place mentally
just because of a lot of nostalgia. I
kept thinking, 'This is my last this
and this is my last that,' and that
wasn't helping. But I had fun times.
Sad but fun."
Before the meet, the Crisler Arena
crowd watched a video montage on
the scoreboard while the song "Time
of Your Life" played on the stadium
speakers,.
On Friday night, the Wolver-
ines made sure the five departing
seniors would have the time of their
lives in the final home meet of their
careers.
TONY DING/Daily
Despite Junior Peter Vanderkaay's three individual titles and contributing to one relay
victory, Michigan finished third in the Big Ten Championships.
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MIKE HUI.SEBUS/Daily
Senior Elise Ray helped Michigan notch a season-high total In its final home meet
Friday against Iowa.
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