10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 17, 2005 Fast start surprises Findlay* By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Writer If you had told freshman first baseman Samantha Findlay at the beginning of the season that she would have seven home runs after 22 games for the Michigan softball team, she would have been surprised. "I didn't expect (this kind of success) right away," Findlay said. "I just know that every year I try to become better as a player and (help the team improve). If we work hard and together as a team, then usually our success will be greater." Last year, then-senior Jennifer Olds played first base for the Wolverines. She batted .295 with 51 hits during the season. And in a loss to Stanford at the Women's College World Series, she hit a monster home run. This year, the stability that Olds brought to the team is gone, but Michigan coach Carol Hutchins knows that the team wouldn't miss a beat with the addition of Findlay. "She's good," Hutchins said. "She was good when we got her. We expected her to step in and help us right away. We knew that she could step in and fit in." During her senior year at Lockport East High School in Lockport, Ill., Findlay showed the hitting ability that she has used this season to start strong. She hit over .500 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI while leading her team to the state championship. In the state championship game, Findlay hit a solo home run and a game-winning three-run double. As a Wolverine, Findlay has taken advantage of her opportunity to start as a freshman. She is batting .296 with 21 runs, 16 hits and 19 RBI. Findlay has also proved her ability to field first base with 130 putouts and a .979 fielding percentage. While Findlay has provided a spark for the team with her power, she incorporates a simpler approach in the Mueller, tankers improve times MIKE HUSELBUS/Daily Former first basemen Jennifer Olds, who graduated last year, swings during a game last season. Freshman Samantha Findlay has taken over Olds's position this year and is hitting .296 on the season. batter's box. "(I try to) relax, see the ball, hit the ball and just have fun," Findlay said. "(The ball) will come to you. You can't go out there swinging for it; you have to let it come to you. I go for good solid contact, and, if it goes, it goes. And if it doesn't, oh well." Findlay also attributes her early success to her team- mates for helping and encouraging her as she adjusted to life at college. "They let you know how the program works and what it is to be part of the team and the pride that goes into it," Findlay said. "Once the game starts, everything falls into place." While playing at a program like Michigan, some might feel the pressure of trying to perform day in and day out, but Findlay is only looking to do her part. "I'm not putting any pressure on myself," Findlay, said. "I know that, each day, (I need to keep) practicing to get better." Not only do Findlay's teammates help her feel comfortable as a Wolverine, but Findlay also credits Hutchins's guidance in improving her overall play on the field. "She's there to help you become better every day," Findlay said. "She wants you to learn the fundamentals of the game before you break down and go to the full game. She's definitely helped me become a better player in a mental sense." And even though snow is still covering Alumni Field, Findlay can't wait for her chance to sprint out to first base for the home opener. "Our home field is amazing," Findlay said. "It's an awesome atmosphere. When I came here on my trips, it was great to see the team play. Being (at Alumni Field) and playing is a whole different thing, but it's exciting." But Findlay will have to wait, because Michigan will be on the road again. The Wolverines travel to Fuller- ton, Calif. This weekend to play in the Kia Classic. By Lindsey Ungar For the Daily A year ago, it crossed her mind. After the first meet this season, she thought she actually had a chance to get there. Now after being named Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships, Michigan freshman Justine Muel- ler is on her way to the women's swimming NCAA Championships with seven of her teammates. The tournament is March 17-19 in West Lafayette. "This is where I was hoping to be," Mueller said. While another freshman might buckle under the pressure of going up against the best at the NCAA Championships, Mueller thrives on that nervous energy. "That's what makes me swim fast - being nervous and excited and pressured," Mueller said. "Those are all things that I somehow handle very well, and they make me swim fast every time. Standing on the block, shaking, I pull out my best time and surprise and shock people." Mueller will try to break through to the finals in three individual events - the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys and the 200- yard breaststroke - and also help the team's 800-yard freestyle relay. She is ranked second and seventh in the 200- and 400-yard individu- al medleys respectively. And she's only getting better, according to Michigan coach Jim Richardson. "Her training times have been faster than going into Big Tens," Richardson said. "She's definitely ahead of where she was four weeks ago." Mueller isn't the only swimmer who has been working on improving her times since the Big Ten Cham- pionships, where the Wolverines finished fourth. Juniors Abby Ses- kevics and Carolina Sierra, sopho- mores Kaitlyn Brady, Susan Gilliam and Lindsey Smith and freshman Valeria Silva also made the NCAA Championship roster. "I've watched the training pret- ty carefully the last three weeks," Richardson said. "We've done some things actually better than we did them and faster than we did them in our preparation for Big Tens." Richardson partially credits a new training model implemented this season that allowed the women to keep getting stronger all year. Richardson increased the volume of training by 16 percent in the middle of the season, added gymnastics rings to their dry-land program and adopted some new training guide- lines that called for more anaerobic workouts. "For those people that did adapt, the results speak for themselves," Richardson said. It doesn't hurt that the team is back to almost 100 percent health, either. Senior Amy McCullough battled mononucleosis all season long but is ready to race in her final NCAA Championship. "What Amy has done this year is just remarkable," Richardson said. "She is coming off a pretty bad case of mono, not being able to train effectively from about the middle of October to January." McCullough, a three-time NCAA All-American, will swim the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events in addition to anchoring the free- style relays. The 17th-ranked Wol- verines captured first, in all three of the freestyle relays at the Big Ten Championships. "I think we've got the opportunity in all three freestyle relays to final and finish in the top eight," Rich- ardson said. After finishing 13th in the NCAA Championship last season, Richard- son sees no reason why the Wolver- ines can't improve on that mark. "We're a better team this year than we were last year," Richardson said. "We're faster, and we're fitter. It just depends on whether we can take advantage of the opportunities or not. That remains to be seen, but I think we have the potential to fin- ish higher than we did last year." For Muller and the other swim- mers, it's just a matter of having their best races of the season. "I just hope to swim to the best of my abilities this weekend," Mueller said. "We'll see what happens." WOMEN'S TRACK & FELD M' gafis momientum from Indoor finish By Chastity L. Rolling Daily Sports Writer Claiming first place in the Big Ten conference and 13th in the NCAA Indoor Championship was "great" for the Michi- gan women's track and field team, junior Katie Erdman said. With the beginning of the outdoor season on the horizon in addition to Michigan's victory in the Big Ten cross country and indoor champions, the Wolverines are on the verge of earn- ing a triple crown this year. "We are definitely on the right path," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We are two-thirds of the way there. We just need to win outdoor." Henry earned his sixth Big Ten Coach of the Year honor this season. This is his 11th time winning the award in 21 years at the helm of the Michigan women's track and field team. Henry has won seven of the last eight Big Ten Coach of the Year awards, leading Michigan to three of the last four indoor titles and three straight outdoor crowns. The Wolverines have proven they're capable of winning another outdoor crown with their indoor performance. But with Illinois, Minnesota and Penn State on its tail, Michigan needs to finish strong. "A triple crown this year will be hard to do, especially with this season," Erd- man said. "The Big Ten is a good confer- ence this year. To get a triple crown while the other Big Ten teams are doing well - it'll be great." Erdman gained a unique perspective of her team since she sat out the indoor season because of a stress fracture in her foot. She's been watching and supporting her teammates and feels that the runners have proven themselves an immense force - both collectively and individually. "I am impressed with the good team we have," Erdman said. "I see my teammates in practice and I think they are great. But seeing them run against other great teams and win - it means so much more." Watching her team do so well moti- vates Erdman to continue her recovery. She is excited to conclude her recupera- tion and get back on the track. "I know I will not get to run in these first meets, but I am working hard to get better so that I can help my teammates in outdoor," Erdman said. "I should be out there by midseason." Recuperation for the 2004 Two-time NCAA Indoor All-America runner is more than building up the muscle strength in her foot to train. Erdman said she has to get her body back in to shape. And her healing depends solely on personal ath- letic recovery. "The unique aspects of track is the uninhibitedly of the sport. It is an individ- ual sport," Erdman said. "But at the same time, your times are affected by others' performance as well." In relays, for example, improving one's team performance sometimes requires humbling your individual performance to improve the overall team effect. As Erd- man said, "balance is the key." Fifth-year senior Lindsay Gallo pro- vides balance to the team. This weekend, rather than resting up for her mile race, Gallo was dedicated to running in the dis- tance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor Championship. "Relays are very unique," Gallo said. "I wanted to run the medley because I'll never get a chance to do it again in the indoor season." Shortly after running in the mile pre- liminaries, Gallo ran anchor in the med- ley, which won first place. Less than 24 hours later, she was back on the track running the mile, and she fin- ished third. She finished the 2005 indoor season with two All-America honors, giving her four career All-America track citations for the indoor season and one for outdoor. Regardless of Gallo's performance, Henry said the team as a whole could have accumulated more points. "We did sacrifice points overall in the NCAA Championships," Henry said. "For example, Edwards could've run the half-mile, which would've given us more points, and Gallo could've been fresher in the mile. But she wanted to be there for her team. "Overall, I am happy with the group performance," Henry said. "This has been a long season. It has been full of physical and emotional downs. "We need to rest and get healthy really early in the outdoor season." But the Wolverines won't have much time to rest. Their outdoor season begins this weekend at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. 01 i Z % take a course or two at Cleveland State University and transfer those credits back to the college you're attending. * More than 900 courses * Accelerate your degree program ... or get back on schedule * Complete general education courses * Complete a two-semester science course sequence in just 12 weeks! Biology, Chemistry or Physics * Affordable tuition * Day and evening classes " Easy admission and registration Check out our course schedule and download a visiting student application at www.csuohio.edu OMMASO GOMEZ/Daily Freshman Justine Mueller is prepared for the NCAA Championships this weekend. lei AOL FOR BROADBAND Presents I 01 Universityof Miehigan 2005 Leader$hp May 9-1 or August 22-27 At LeaderShape you will.... I E lwLfwl _1 iiw w - "sww/M 4 +M wly s sa" ... .. ..., ...