Tuesday November 22, 2005 sports. michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily. com OeRlTSiganBaill '4 8 Back home, Sims eager to terrorize Terriers By Scott Bell Daily Sports Writer With five minutes left and the Wolverines up by 20 points, Courtney Sims was just looking to put an exclamation point on the season opener against Cen- tral Michigan. What he got was a reason to get ribbed in the locker TONIGHT room - and an incentive to make up for it. Michigan at The junior was the bene- factor of Michigan's sev- Tune: 7:05 p.m. enth steal of the game. As he received the pass, there Agganis Arena was nothing but open hard- wood between him and the hoop. But as he went up to emphatically dunk the ball in hopes of igniting the Crisler Arena crowd, the ball slipped out of his hand, over the backboard and struck the shot clock. "I was trying to do a LeBron James breakaway dunk, but it kind of slipped," Sims said. "Next time, I'm just going to go up and dunk it with two hands." The gaffe was one of the few mistakes Sims Made during Friday's 87-60 victory. His embarrassment fueled him to close the game strong, which is exactly what he did. After Eddie Spencer converted on a three-point play for the Chippewas, Michigan tried getting the ball down low to their 6-foot-1l center. Sims capi- talized on his size advantage and quickly made an inside shot before the final media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Sims converted a Jerret Smith steal and subsequent pass into a dunk - this time with two hands. Following a Dion Har- ris 3-pointer, Sims connected on two more straight trips. He received another pass deep in the paint, and after faking to his right, he turned to his left and put in a jumpshot. Sims's contribution to the 11-0 Michi- gan run in the two-minute span culminated with his last bucket, another wide-open shot under the hoop following a Smith pass. When the reserves came in following the dead ball, the crowd's attention had shifted from Sims's missed dunk to his 4-for-4 shooting tirade that put the game out of reach. He ended the game as the team's leading scorer, scoring 20 points on a 9-for- 10 performance from the field. "The confidence is always there," Sims said. "I was just anxious to play this first regular-season game and get off to a good start after last year." Today, Sims and his teammates hope to react sim- ilarly from another embarrassing incident. The Wol- verines have the opportunity to bounce back after IICHOCKEY Fardig friends foresee feast on fierce foes By Mark Giannotto Daily Sports Writer Thanksgiving break presents an interesting predicament for the No. 1 Michigan hockey team. On the one hand, it's a time when players on the team can enjoy the company of their respective families, just like any other student. On the other hand, the Wolverines will face the stiffest test of their young season this weekend in the College Hockey Showcase. How can a player relax when No. 6 Minnesota and No. 2 Wisconsin loom on the horizon? Add in the fact that nine Michigan players are from outside the state of Michigan, and you have a precarious situation that could make or break the weekend. Freshman goalie Billy Sauer's family is bringing Thanksgiving to him because he can't go home to upstate New York. "I'm having dinner with the rest of my family over at a family friend's house," Sauer said. "My family is going to be in Ann Arbor for the two games this weekend." Many of the Wolverines from out of state hail from Canada. North of the border, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October, so the Canadian players on the team don't have the same scheduling conflict as their American teammates. "I'm going home with my roommate (freshman Tim Miller) on Thanksgiving night," freshman Andrew Cogliano said. "I'm not paying too much attention to the holiday because I'm not American. It's going to be a good time because you get a good meal before the game." The coaching staff makes sure that each player on the team is with someone on Thanksgiving. "We're lucky that we have so many players from Michigan on our team," assistant coach Billy Powers said. "What ends up happening is that our kids and our local parents are really nice and take one or two of the guys back with them to their house. We don't have to make outside arrangements because the families around here are willing to open their doors to our kids." The players embrace the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving any way they can. Even if it isn't with their families, they make due with what they have. "A bunch of us are going to a friend's house," junior Tim Cook said. "He puts dinner out for us, and we're going to watch some football and just hang out." There is a concern throughout the locker room about the intensity level the team will come out with on Friday night against Minnesota. The relaxing Thanksgiving mood threatens to have some effect on the skaters. "We might be real good or real rusty when the puck drops on Fri- day," coach Red Berenson said. "I really don't know." To combat the sluggishness that might occur after a night of feast- ing, the coaching staff has planned a practice for Thursday morning, in addition to a morning skate on Friday. "The good thing is that the other teams are going through the holiday thing, too," Powers said. "But we're used to it. This isn't the first time we've played in this tournament. Thursday is the one day where most people are spending time with their families, and these kids will get the opportunity to be in that environment. The Friday skate is a way to get the food out of their system from Thursday afternoon." I 0 DAVID TUMAN/Daily Junior Courtney Sims put up 20 points In Friday's win over Central Michigan at Crisier Arena. home losses to mid-major Boston University in each of the last two years. After a 61-60 win over Michi- gan during the 2003 season, the Terriers proved their first victory wasn't a fluke when they picked up a 63-52 victory last December. "They're a good team," Sims said. "They're well coached - they played Duke well (a 64-47 loss on the road), so they're a tough team. It's going to be tough to beat them at home." Boston will be christening its new basketball arena tonight. Although a sea of red and white will be visible as the Terrier fanbase tries to propel its team to a home opening victory, Agannis Arena will not only be filled with Boston fans. That's because today will not just be a statement game for Sims, but it will also be a homecoming for the Boston native. Sims expects a lot of family and friends to come and support him in his cause to topple the Terriers. "I have about 30 tickets, and my cousin bought about 40," Sims said. "There's going to be a lot of people, and I'm going to have a lot of support." But the Wolverines will need more than just fan support to topple the pesky Boston University squad. While the Terriers' American East conference is nothing like the Big Ten, Boston has had a knack for being a strong test for larger schools. The Ter- riers qualified for last year's NIT before falling to Georgetown in the opening round. Along with their recent upsets over Michigan, Boston has also man- aged to test other big conference teams. The Ter- riers' quick and scrappy play allowed them to take Boston College to the limit on the road last year, faltering late in the game and losing 80-74. "Their press messes up peoples' tempo," Sims said. "We're just going to have to fight through it, though. We're going to have a battle on our hands," The Wolverines know what is in store for them this year, and overlooking the Terriers seems like an impos- sibility considering the history of this matchup. But if they need any more inspiration, the team needs to look no further than Sims and his personal dilemma. "I can't go back home and tell them I lost to BU for three straight years," he said. 'M' relives Terre Haute memories* By Ian Robinson Daily Sports Writer TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Higher expectations but the same result. The Michigan women's cross country team came out of yesterday's national championship meet at LaVern Gibson Championship Course with the same accolades it garnered last year - one national honor and a sixth-place overall finish. But this year's squad entered the champion- ship unbeaten in team scoring meets and ranked third in the country, while last year's squad was ranked 10th. Last year, Rebecca Walter earned All-America honorable mention, and the Wolverines received 246 points. "I know this team is better than that and the team knows that," Mike McGuire said. "If you are going to measure it by one day, we are the same as we were last year." Yesterday, Michigan's sixth-place total of 250 points was 102 behind national champion Stanford. In her final cross country meet for Michigan, senior co-captain Rebecca Walter earned All- America honors for the second time in her career with a 27th-place time of 26:20. "In my 16 years here and knowledge of the program before that, I can say we have never had anyone that impacted this program as much as (Walter) has," McGuire said. In addition to her All-America honors, the Beverly Hills, Mich., product has been Michi- gan's top finisher at the last four NCAA Cham- pionships and has been named all-Big Ten first team three times, 2002 Big Ten Athlete of the Year and two-time team captain. McGuire's plan going into the 6-kilometer race was to have his seven runners start in contention so that they would not have too much ground to make up later in the race. "We were not out high enough to start," McGuire said. After three kilometers, the Wolverines were staggered in bunches. Walter and sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier passed the mark together in about 10:11, while redshirt freshman Nicole Edwards, redshirt sophomore Erin Webster, senior Ana Gjesdal and junior Jessie Stewart were within four seconds of each other between 10:21 and 10:25. The runners could not make up the ground as they spread out over the final three kilometers. Walter ran the final three kilometers in 10:13 and out-kicked a group of three runners to earn her final position. "(Walter) did a good job of moving through (the field)," McGuire said. Michigan's other scorers were Kohlmeier in 59th place, Edwards in 72nd, Gjesdal in 82nd and Stewart in 97th. On Oct. 15, Michigan competed in the NCAA Pre-National meet on the same course and won the White division - beating three teams that beat them yesterday. The Wolverines were paced at Pre-Nationals by Kohlmeier who ran 16 seconds faster than yesterday. Michigan also missed out on the contributions of Webster, who failed to place for the first time all season. Michigan's total of 250 was 38 points worse than fifth-place Illinois, who the Wolverines dominated at the Big Ten Championships by 18 points. "It was not a horrendous race, but it was off our standard from what we have done this year," McGuire said. After winning every meet leading up to the nationals, Walter would not allow yesterday's finish to ruin her team's season. "This season was the best season I have had with the team," Walter said. The only other Michigan team during McGuire's tenure that won every meet before Nationals was the 1994 squad that finished sec- ond to Villanova. CAITLIINKLEIBOER/ y Dily Senior Rebecca Walter finished 27th at the National Championships yesterday in Terre Haute, Ind. Woods makes lone run at NCAAs By David VandeVusse Daily Sports Writer TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Mike Woods went for it. He aimed high, set- ting aside his youth and his fear, and he competed. The sophomore was the lone rep- resentative for the Maize and Blue at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Cham- pionships at Indiana State yesterday. He qualified as an individual when he took fourth at last week's Great Lakes Regional meet. The young Michigan men's team- hmnwver fa in le ,o i ifv ing tirelessly from one side of the park to the other to catch each new piece of action. Emotions ran high both on and off the course. Woods responded well to the atmo- sphere and came out flying. Under an overcast sky and amidst a cutting wind, he looked resolved and confident for the first half of the 10-kilometer race. His five-kilometer split of 14:58 placed him near the front of the pack and just three seconds behind eventual individu- al champion Simon Bairu of Wisconsin, whose team took first with an astound- inrl lo w 3 7 noints hurting so much," Woods said. "I just couldn't hold on." Woods's goal was to be an All-Ameri- can, but he came up about 20 seconds short. Still, his improvement from his showing at last year's NCAA Champi- onships was clear. He jumped up 119 spots and shaved nearly three minutes off his time. "I'm very happy that I proved I can run at a high level," Woods said. "It's pretty special, and it's pretty neat to be amongst such great runners and have such a great crowd cheering you on." Though Woods left the champion- a -- ,;: