6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday, January 10, 2005 Blue opens new year with win By H. Jose Bosch Daily Sports Writer Crisler Arena had a different kind of crowd Friday night. Instead of the goofy antics of the raucous A. Maize Rage, the gym was !1111AN'I."" filled with young girls. The typical fan seemed to be a young gymnast hoping to one day wear the block 'M.' But it was in front of this atypical crowd that the Michigan women's gymnastics team opened its 2005 campaign with a win over No. 10 Nebraska. Despite a few mental errors and the partial absence of its star gymnast - senior Elise Ray - in three events, the women's gymnastics team leaped out to a good start by defeating the Corn- huskers, 195.900-194.200. Nebraska sophomore Kristi Esposito took first place overall, with a score of 39.075. "I'm really excited because usually at a first meet there are a lot of nerves," senior Chelsea Kroll said. "And there are some mistakes ( a team) has just because of that. It was really important we came out with a win, and I'm excited for the rest of the season." Michigan appeared to be in cruise control for much of the meet but hit a roadblock during its last event - the floor exercise. Junior Jen- nifer Deiley and sophomore Lindsey Bruck fell during their last passes - a rare occurrence for the two. Their scores dropped dramatically as a result. "We had a couple of mental mistakes that were pretty fluky, and I don't think we'll see them again," coach Bev Plocki said. "That being said, I think it's exciting to know that we did as well as we did, and we still have a lot of room 0il MEN'S GYMNASTICS Corrigan leads 'M' to third in the Windy City MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Michigan's Jennifer Deiley scored a 9.90 on vault to help lead the Wolverines over the Cornhuskers. for improvement." The minor technical aspects of a routine, as well as the more noticeable slips and falls that can cost a team crucial tenths of a point are two of the areas that could use work. Plocki mentioned that the team looked a little nervous on the beam, which she believed may have contributed to the occa- sional wobbles that disrupted the flow of a good routine. She also stated that the team needs to work on skills such as dismounts and landings. At the beginning of the season, Plocki's main concerns were with the vault and uneven bars - the events she said the team has the least depth in. She believed the team's performance in these events would be tantamount to the out- come of the meet. But on Friday night, the Wol- verines posted their two highest overall scores in those events: 49.200 in the vault and 49.150 in the uneven bars. "We did a team bar set Monday in the gym and we struggled," Kroll said. "To come out of it today and everyone hit their bar set, that was a really big victory." The Wolverines got things started on the vault and dominated the event, taking first, sec- ond and third. Deiley led Michigan by posting an impressive 9.90 score on her vault. "Vault really relaxes me because it is one of my better events," Deiley said. "After doing well, it builds the momentum for the rest of the meet." During the second rotation, Michigan out- scored Nebraska in the uneven bars. Ray made her only appearance of the night on the uneven bars and scored an impressive 9.925 - the highest individual score of the evening. The former Olympian appeared in just the uneven bars because she is nursing two sore shoulders - a result of previously dislocat- ing both shoulders. Plocki hopes to add Ray to one more event each week, but she pointed out that the season is still young and there is no hurry to rush Ray back into the full slate of events. The Wolverines also took two individual first- place honors on floor and beam. Bruck recorded a 9.900 on the balance beam to take first on her way to a second-place finish over- all in the meet with a score of 38.800. Kroll finished first in the floor exercise bringing the crowd of 3,366 to its feet. "I was really excited," Kroll said. "The crowd was really interactive with me, and I love that. It just made everything flow a lot easier." By Sara Livingston Daily Sports Writer Floor exercise and pommel horse proved to be the Achilles heel for the No. 7 Mich- igan men's gymnastics team as it placed third at this weekend's Windy City Invita- tional in Chicago. No. 2 Illinois won the event with a score of 221.800, while No. 4 Ohio State came in second, beating the Wolverines by 1.875 points - 220.130 to 218.225. Senior captain Geoff Corrigan led the Wolverines, taking first place in the all- around competition and setting a new school all-around record with a score of 55.400. Corrigan placed in the top five in horizontal bar, parallel bars, vault and still rings. "Any time you can break a school record it's a milestone because there have been many great athletes that have gone before you," Coach Kurt Golder said of Corrigan. "We have a pretty strong tradition. Also, going into this competition, we aren't in our best performance shape and not near our peak, and it's great to start off the sea- son that way." But Corrigan would have much pre- ferred a team victory in Chicago than the individual accomplishment. "It's nice, but it doesn't mean anything unless you win the meet," Corrigan said. "It's nice to get a record, but I would much rather win as a team." Despite being considered the best floor exercise team in the country coming in first place both days at last year's NCAA Tournament, Michigan struggled in the event. Just one gymnast - senior Eddie Umphrey - ranked in the top 10 with a score of 9.35. The team attributed these shortcomings to early-season jitters and is confident that it will be back on track in no time. "We just need more time and a few more routines under our belt in practice," Golder said. "We have already established ourselves as a good floor team, and I think our timing was just off a little bit. But I'm pretty confident we will get those scores up quickly." Pommel horse also proved to be a thorn in the team's side on Saturday, with just one gymnast scoring above 9.0 points and ranking in the top 10. Junior Andrew DiGiore placed sixth with a score of 9.15, but the team's best gymnast in this event, junior Justin Laury, ran into some prob- lems and finished with a score of 8.35. To add to the pommel horse problems, sopho- more Aaron Rakes scored a team-low 7.70, while Corrigan slid in with an 8.55. "We're not the No. 1 pommel horse team in the county, but I think we can be a good team," Golder said. "We did have a nice performance from DiGiore. I thought Laury, our anchor guy, would come through for us and possibly he could win the event. He had some trouble, but he is a very steady performer." Michigan finished off with a final score just .925 points ahead of No. 8 Iowa, which came in fourth. Michigan will face off against the Hawkeyes this Saturday at Cliff Keen Arena. "I think next week we are going to focus on really trying to get better on floor and horse," Umphrey said. "We are the best floor team in the country. We really didn't show that, but I think we are going to be better next week, and we can take it to Iowa." Host school No. 11 Illinois-Chicago fin- ished sixth place out of six, rounding out the field with 205.325 points, and No. 9 Minnesota came in fifth, beating Illinois- Chicago by 7.425 points. 0 0 0 0 Upsets aplenty for Michigan in Texas 0 MENS TRACK & FIELD Peterson takes top spot in pole vault By Seth Gordon Daily Sports Writer Unranked Willie Breyer produced the upset that begot the upset. Having dropped consecutive matches at 174 and 184 pounds to No. 4 Nebraska, the No. 5 Michi- gan wrestling team was hanging on to a 15-12 lead when Breyer faced No. 13 B.J. Padden. Breyer stepped up and pinned Padden to increase Michigan's lead to 21-12 and insure the win. The 25-12 upset in Dallas on Saturday catapulted the Wolver- ines to a second straight 3-0 mark at the Lone Star Duals. Breyer and five other Wolverines recorded per- fect 3-0 individual records as well. "It was huge," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "(Breyer) real- ly had a great day, and it just does wonders for his confidence. For the most part, we had wrestled well (as a team) and were in control of the match, but Willie came away with a big pin for us. That not only helped us out in that match, but also going into the other matches as well." No. 2 heavyweight Greg Wagner followed Breyer with an impres- sive 8-0 major decision over No. 18 Mitch Mandstedt to close out the match. Drawing the highly-ranked Corn- huskers as their first opponent turned out to be a blessing for the EXON Continued from page 3B revenge yesterday as she teamed up with Lyndsay Sosho to defeat Exon Wolverines, as Michigan cruised to a 35-9 win over No. 23 Army and finished the weekend with a 32-10 drubbing of unranked Stanford. Michigan joined No. 10 Oklahoma as the only unbeaten teams in the 22-team field and now turns toward the Big Ten dual season. The five Wolverines other than Breyer who also earned perfect 3- 0 records at the meet were senior Mark Moos at 133 pounds, sopho- more Josh Churella at 141 pounds, sophomore Eric Tannebaum at 149 pounds, senior Ryan Churella at 165 pounds and Wagner at heavy- weight. Josh Churella and Wagner main- tained undefeated records for the season, as did senior captain Ryan Bertin, who went 2-0 at 157 pounds before sitting out his last match against Stanford. Before the match, Bertin expected to get a rematch of last year's NCAA semifinal against Stanford's No. 1 Matt Gentry, who bested Bertin 6-4 in overtime. But Gentry did not make the trip with the Cardinal, so McFarland used the opportunity to rest Bertin and give senior Charles Kalil a chance to get on the mat. Kalil lost a 10-0 major decision to Stanford's Ray Blake. The meet was a breakout for the younger Churella brother, Josh, who upset No. 6 Matt Murray of Nebraska to open the tournament. TOMMASO GOMEZ/Daily Michigan senior Ryan Churella was one of five Wolverines to earn a perfect 3-0 record this weekend at the Lone Star Duals. Churella, who was ranked No. 19, was able to score two takedowns and hold Murray to three escapes for a 4-3 win. "It just shows you what type of competitor he is," McFarland said. "It was his third match of the sea- son and his first of the day, at 10 a.m., and (Murray) was second last year in the NCAAs. Josh came away with a good win, and it has to be a big confidence builder for him." Churella went on to earn another 4-3 decision over Army's Patrick Simpson before winning an I1- 3 major decision over Stanford's Chris Hayworth. The sophomore improved his overall record this season to 5-0. With three victories in the meet, Wagner now has a pristine 16-0 record for the season. After his opening 8-0 major decision, Wag- ner won on an injury default by Army's Joe Forsman and registered another major decision, 12-4, over Stanford's Shawn Ritzenthaler. Michigan will host a dual meet against No. 16 Penn State at Crisler Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m. "I think (our confidence level) is right where we need it," McFar- land said. "The guys are wrestling well, and we're making those little adjustments from match to match and meet to meet." Coast combo rolled to an 8-1 victory over Eastern Michigan's Catherina Bestahorn and Flavia Micati. On Saturday morning the tandem again combined for victory, overpow- ering LSU's Camila Caliari and Mari- na Chiarelli, 8-0. Overall, the Wolverines finished the weekend 12-9 in singles matches (5-2 against LSU, 2-7 against Georgia Tech and 5-0 against Eastern Michi- gan), and 6-3 in doubles play (2-1, 2-2 and 2-0 respectively). The invitational featured what is known as a hidden dual match format, which means that matches count for individual records but team records are not kept. The Wolverines face the DePaul Blue Demons on Jan. 15. By Pete Sneider Daily Sports Writer Senior pole vaulter Kevin Peterman waited three years before officially join- ing the men's track team. He was certainly well worth the wait, claiming the top spot in the pole vault with a height of 15-11 at the Jack Harvey Invitational in Ann Arbor on Saturday. The non-scoring meet - the first meet of the season for the Wolverines - fea- tured the local colleges of Eastern Michi- gan, Findlay, Hillsdale, Detroit and Siena Heights. Despite a lineup without Mich- igan's top runners, the Wolverines were still competitive, dominating the one-mile, 600-meter and4x400-meter relay runs. But Peterman's pole vault of nearly 16 feet was arguably the highlight of the day. Peterman has had an interesting career at Michigan, competing for the first time ever with the Wolverines this year. He was recruited for track coming out of high school but left the team shortly after the start of his freshman year because classes interfered with the team. He competed unattached at various meets in the last two years, but finally decided to join the team this year. "Last year, I competed unattached and I set a personal best of 15-feet, 3- inches," Peterman said. "That got me excited about it. I have a little bit lighter schedule this year, and I have more time available (for track). I didn't expect to go quite as high, but I've been work- ing out and got some good tips from (Michigan assistant coach David Kai- ser). I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the season." Peterman hopes to get up to 16 feet by the end of the season. His performance cer- tainly caught the eye of his coach. "He's a great story because he's been in school for four years and this is the first TRACK Continued from page 3B with a jump of 5-8. But Linz was not satis- fied with her performance. "I was really nervous coming back after taking a year off, a lot more nervous than I expected to be," Linz said. "That's prob- ably the main reason I didn't jump so well, just because I was nervous. But I'm sure I'll be able to knock the kinks out soon and return to where I want to be." Gallo didn't seem to have many kinks to knock out, as she dominated the 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.72. The fifth-year time he's really competed for Michigan," coach Ron Warhurst said. "It appears that he handles the competition well, and it's just great." On the track, senior Rondell Ruff earned first place in the mile with a time of 4:20.95, followed by fellow Wolverines James Riechart and Dan Murray. Ruff, who excelled in the 800-meter in previous years, said he was pleased with his per- formance and hopes to make the mile his main event. He said he wants to be around the 4:10 range as the season progresses, but is aware that it is still early in the season. "This year I feel a little stronger, and I'm able to compete better in the mile than in previous years, Ruff said. "It was a slow mile, but it helps my legs to get going a little faster. After cross country season, we haven't raced for a long time. The purpose of this meet is to just get us used to racing again." In the 800-meter run, redshirt freshman Brian Les took first place with a time of 1:57.58. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Gall, who was running neck-and-neck with teammate Les the entire race, was a tenth of a second behind him. Warhurst was pleased with the team's overall performance on Saturday and felt it was a good warm-up for the rest of the season. "Coming off the holidays, they've been gone a few weeks, and they don't have access to a lot of train- ing facilities when they're gone," Warhurst said. "This is kind of like a 'Let's-not-kill-each-other-(meet). Lets just get comfortable and get into the competition, and, the next two to three weeks, we'll really start lighting it up." Michigan will travel to Ypsilanti next weekend for the Eastern Michigan Invita- tional. senior, whose best race is actually the mile, gained strength as the race went on, finish- ing her last 400 meters faster than her first. While many of the runners on Saturday ran different races than usual, this is not something that they will continue to do. "We had most of our runners running under their primary," assistant coach Mike McGuire said. "These aren't their top events, but they can use this to train and get better in those events." Henry said that many of the runners would back in their familiar place at the next meet, which will be the Kentucky Invitational next weekend in Lexington. and junior Nina Yaftali, 8-6, in a hotly contested doubles match for Exon's only blemish on the weekend. Exon, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., entered the weekend having I finished the 2004 season ranked 10th in the ITA Midwest regional. She started Friday morning with a solid victory over LSU's Lauren Seaman. Exon took the first set 6-3 and headed into the second set with the momen- tum. Seaman put up a great fight in the second set and pushed it to a tie- breaker. But Exon only got better as the pressure mounted. Confident in her abilities, she won the second set tiebreaker, 7-4. "Tiebreakers are so decisive," Exon said. "I just tried to stay relaxed and be aggressive at the same time. I didn't want to sit back and hope (Sea- man) would make a mistake." Later that day Exon teamed with Yaftali, another Californian. The West No I i* FOOD FOR THOUGHT The Vietnam Protestors "Anti-war" protestors claim they ended the Vietnam Healthy, medication- free volunteers, ages 18-45, are needed for a research study inunhUUU.3BUElhEidn fn 0 :y':::::' ..