6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 4, 2005 M' thrives with new mentality By Ian Robinson Daily Sports Writer In track and field, the competitors often lose sight of beating their fellow competi- tors and focus on posting a personal best or qualifying time. But the essence of col- legiate sports is to compete against athletes that represent other schools. Temperatures below 50 degrees and winds gusting at 25 miles per hour at the Yellow Jacket Invi- tational in Atlanta on Saturday forced the men's track and field team to focus on beat- ing the competition instead of the clock. "If the weather is bad, you have to go back to the basics and compete," coach Ron Warhurst said. Running in his first outdoor meet of the year and competing for the first time since winning the distance medley relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships, senior Ron- dell Ruff was one of the Wolverines that competed well and ran strategically strong races. "The wind made all of the races very tac- tical," Ruff said. In the 1,500-meter run, nobody wanted to push the pace because of the wind, and Ruff stayed near the back of the pack for the opening kilometer. After William Emase of South Carolina made a move to the front of the field 500 meters from the finish, Ruff responded with a big push and overtook Emase. Ruff held on to the lead and fin- ished with a time of 3:53.99, beating Emase by .95 seconds. Ruff's teammate - fresh- man Mike Woods - took fourth-place in the race. Two and a half hours after the 1,500- meter run, Ruff earned a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:51.62, three seconds behind the winner, 2004 Olympian Sheridan Kirk of Auburn. Three hundred meters from the finish, Ruff made a big push to move into third place but fell to fourth at the finish. "We have not been working on speed much, so I'm happy to be able to close like I did," Ruff said. Two hours after the 800-meter run, Ruff's 4x400-meter relay team, which included freshman Chris Stowe, senior David Bat- tani and senior Nick Meter, finished in third place. Ruff ran a personal-best time of 48.9 seconds on the closing leg. "We want kids that want to compete, even when the weather is bad," Warhurst said. Despite the weather, a few Wolverines posted regional qualifying times and mul- tiple runners hit personal-bests. In the 400-meter hurdles, Stowe posted a regional qualifying time of 52.29, shaving 2.07 seconds from his previous personal- best. Sophomore Michael Whitehead won the triple jump title and earned an NCAA regional qualifying score with a jump of 49- 11 in his first outdoor event of the year. In the 110-meter hurdles, sophomore Jeff Porter posted his second NCAA regional qualifying score in as many weeks with an eighth-place time of 14.20 seconds. Senior Joey Sarantos improved his previ- ous personal-best by 10 feet in the discus with a seventh-place throw of 162-4. In the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Ethan Brown ran a personal-best time of 14:48.95 en route to a fifth-place finish. "When the weather gets better, then you can go for the qualifying times," Warhurst said. The team hopes for better weather and lower times at the Sun Devil Invitational at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily Junior Rondell Ruff won the 1,500-meter run at Saturday's Yellow Jacket invitational In Atlanta. Ruff also ran a personal-best as the anchor of Michigan's 4x400-meter relay team that placed third. Tough trip, easy win for netters By Randy Ip Daily Sports Writer Apparently someone forgot the memo that April Fool's Day was on a Friday and not Saturday this year, and the Michigan men's tennis team experienced an unex- pected bump in the road. On Saturday, the Wolverines were en route to Iowa when their plane caught on fire on the runway. The team was then moved to another flight, which ulti- mately got delayed and was finally canceled. Despite all the problems getting to Iowa, Michigan had no trouble leaving Iowa with a 6-1 victory yesterday. "It was a nightmare of a travel day for us because we didn't get a chance to practice," coach Bruce Berque said. "We were at the air- port for 12 hours. It turned out to be a really long day. We got in late and had to play in the morn- ing, so, with all those things in mind, I'm just pleased that the guys came out and competed hard with a lot of enthusiasm." The Wolverines (11-7 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) finally touched down in Iowa Saturday night and played early yesterday morning. Michigan swept all the doubles matches, with senior Vinny Gossain and sophomore Steve Peretz winning their sixth match of the year together in a hard-fought 8-6 vic- tory over Iowa's duo of J.P. Richie and Aaron Schaechterele. "I was just pleased with the way we bounced back after a disappointing loss to Minnesota," Berque said. "We felt confident that we had a good shot at winning, and we were disappointed with the way that one came through." In singles action, Michigan pulled out a win in five of the six matches, with senior David Anving losing a tough three-set match against Brett Taylor. Michigan's No. 81-ranked freshman, Matko Maravic, was able to give the Wolverines an early 2-0 lead after soundly defeating Kyle Markham 6-0, 6-0. For Maravic, it was his fourth victory at No. 2 singles, improving to 4-2 at that spot. Sophomore Ryan Heller and Gossain soon followed Maravic with victories of their own. Heller defeated Iowa's J.P. Ritchie at No. 3 singles in straight sets as did Gos- sain .at sixth singles. Gossain's win clinched the victory for Michigan. Sophomore Brian Hung netted his first win in his first match at No. 1 singles against Chaitu Malempati, 7-5, 7-5. Michigan is currently sitting in fourth place in the Big Ten Standings. For the Wolverines, it was a much needed lift, as they continue their season without star Michael Rubin, who suffered a fractured left wrist in practice back on March 30. It was the first match that Michigan has won without Rubin. It had lost its first two con- tests without the prized singles player to the hands of Notre Dame and Minnesota. Mara- vic and Brian Hung have split their time at first and second singles in Rubin's absence. With the win over Iowa, both Maravic and Hung seem to have little difficulty playing higher up on the ladder. "Matko Maravic and Brian Hung have been doing a great job in singles and dou- bles," Berque said. "I think for two guys, one's a freshman and one's a sophomore, it's not always an easy task to fill in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the lineup. I think they definitely have answered the challenge very well." On Friday, the Wolverines suffered a 5-2 setback to the hands of No. 60 Minne- sota. Michigan took the first match of the day, thanks to an 8-1 victory from the No. 2 doubles team of Heller and senior Josef Fischer. But Michigan couldn't earn the doubles point, losing back-to-back matches at No.1 and No.3 doubles. The Wolverines were poised to take a 1-0 lead when Hung and Maravic were up 5-2 in the final doubles match of the day. But the Gophers tandem of Adrien Debreyne and Avery Ticer sent the match into a tie breaker and won 9-8(8). The finish to the doubles matches proved to be the momentum shifter as Minnesota rallied to take the next four matches against the Wolverines in singles competition. Min- nesota had already won the contest by the time Michigan recorded its first point. Fisch- er got that elusive point for the Wolverines, winning his match at No. 6 singles. In the last match of the day, Hung won his second singles match for the Wolverines, defeating Nic Edlefsen 7-5, 7-5. I I I PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily Michigan senior David Anving fell to Iowa's Brett Taylor in three sets on Saturday, but the Wolverines still managed to improve to 4-1 in the Big Ten with their 6-1 victory over the Hawkeyes in Iowa City. Big Unit lead Yanks to win NEW YORK (AP) - The tallest Yan- kee ever began the big task of putting the Boston Red Sox back in their place. Randy Johnson shut down Boston in his New York debut, dominating his new team's old rival. He outpitched David Wells, got help from Hideki Mat- sui and, a rejuvenated Jason Giambi and led the Yankees over the World Series champions 9-2 last night in the major league opener. "It was pretty excited to go out there," said Johnson, who remembered how fans cheered him when he walked out to the bullpen to warm up. Already, there were bad omens for the Red Sox: Matsui leaped in left to rob Kevin Millar of a two-run homer in the third, Giambi stretched to reel in two bad throws by shortstop Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez made a diving stop at third on Edgar Renteria and Tino Martinez made a backhand dive at first to prevent an extra-base hit by Johnny Damon. By the time Matsui hit a two-run homer off Matt Mantei for a 8-1 lead in the eighth, it was almost piling on. "We're not disappointed," Damon said. "We accept the fact that we really weren't that good tonight, We'll get bet- ter." With Boston taking the field as cham- pions for the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox returned to the scene of their improbable triumph staring directly at the 6-foot-10 Big Unit, brought to the Bronx to help the Yankees win their first title since 2000. Giambi, back at first base following injury, illness and a reported admission of steroid use, received a pair of stand- ing ovations from the sellout crowd of 54,818 and went 1-for-2 with a single and two hit-by-pitches. "I had a calm feeling because I knew I did everything I could to get to this point," he said. "They respect a guy who worked hard to get back to where he was." Gary Sheffield, back from offseason shoulder surgery, hit a go-ahead sin- gle in a three-run third inning against Wells, and Martinez received two huge ovations in his first game in pinstripes since 2001. "Who wouldn't like this?" he said. Since New York moved within three outs of sweeping the Red Sox in the AL championship series last October, the Red Sox had won eight straight, becoming the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 postseason deficit, then blowing out St. Louis in the World Series. But following an offseason of joy in New England, the Red Sox started with a thud, pitching poorly, making a pair of errors and losing their fifth straight season opener. New York had 15 hits off Wells and six relievers. "It's the first game we won since Game 3," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It was a long winter waiting to get on the field again." The usual swells and celebrities were on hand to watch the Yankees extend their winning streak in home openers to eight. A sign in left field expressed the hope of New York fans - "1918-2004- 2090" - referring to the years of Bos- ton's last two Series titles and projected date of its next. "The crowd was ready," Damon said. Johnson was a model of quiet focus hours before the game, putting on a black undershirt, then a gray sweat shirt before sitting in front of his new locker near Torre's office and looking ahead, gathering his thoughts. Hitting Johnson is, well, a tall order - the New Yorker's playful front-page cartoon of him on the mound cut off at the neck. He opened with a 93 miles per hour pitch to Damon and struck out Rente- ria and Manny Ramirez looking in the first, the latter on a smoking 97 miles per hour heater. He got in trouble in the second, when Matsui grabbed Millar's fly ball and Jay Payton singled in the season's first run. Johnson and Red Sox manager Terry Francona called Matsui's catch the turning point. "They don't play much basketball in Japan," Jeter said playfully. "I didn't know he could jump that high." Bernie Williams's sacrifice fly tied the score in the bottom half, and New York took a 4-1 lead in the third on Sheffield's double, Matsui's RBI single and a bases-loaded balk by Wells, who stepped back to start his windup and then stopped. Rodriguez, vilified by Boston dur- ing the offseason and spring training, added a run-scoring single in the sixth off Blaine Neal and scored on Ruben Sierra's double. Johnson allowed the one run and five hits in six innings and struck out six. Tanyon Sturtze and Tom Gordon with one hit relief. Wells, who pitched a perfect game for New York in 1998 and helped the Yankees win the World Series that year, was starting in place of Curt Schilling, his bloody sock in the Hall of Fame and the ankle it surrounded still recovering from surgery that followed the title. Signed to fill the gap created by the departures of Pedro Martinez and Matt Clement, Wells made a shaky debut, allowing four runs and 10 hits in 4 1- 3 innings. With the temperature 43 degrees, he had trouble gripping the ball. Fans gave him the loudest boos. "Out in the bullpen, they rode me pretty good," Wells said. "That's all right." It was a night of milestones - the first night opener at Yankee Stadium and the first time the Red Sox played as defending champions since 1919,.when they opened with a 10-0 win over New York at the Polo Grounds behind a Babe Ruth home run. Johnson made his 13th opening-day start, tying Roger Clemens for the lead among active pitchers. New York, with the first $200 million payroll in baseball history, had a for- mer All-Star in every spot in its start- ing lineup, the first time that happened in the major leagues since the Yankees did it on July, 24, 2003, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. In all, it added up to 53 All-Star appearances. NOTES: Flags were at half-staff and a moment of silence was observed one day after the death of Pope John Paul II, who celebrated mass at Yankee Stadium in 1979. FILE PHOTO Rebecca Godek and the Michigan water polo team won two of their three matches at this weekend's Indiana Invitational. The Wolverines defeated Colorado State and UC Davis before losing to San Jose State in overtime. Spartans' late comeback sinks Blue in overtime By Danielle Ravich Daily Sports Writer It was a big weekend for the Michigan water polo team. Playing three games in one weekend at the Indiana Invitational, the No. 13 Wolver- ines defeated Colorado State and No. 14 UC Davis but lost to No. 10 San Jose State in sudden death. On Saturday, the Wolverines kicked off the invitational by defeating Colorado State, 9-5. The Wolverines began by leading 4-0. Michigan held a 6-2 lead at halftime. Sophomore Shana Welch scored three goals and, in the process, State was a "barn burner," according to Ander- son. The Spartans took an early 1-0 lead in the game, but senior Meg Knudtsen managed to tie it before the end of the first period. By the middle of the second quarter, the game was still tied at three until Welsh scored to give the Wol- verines a 4-3 advantage. San Jose State managed to score two more goals and led 5-4 at the half. With only 34 seconds left in the third period, San Jose squeezed in three more goals, leav- ing it at 8-5 in the final period. The Wolverines finally answered back, scoring three times with only 4:14 left and tied the game and sending the game into overtime.