The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 8, 2005 - 9A ' Three new faces make * debut fc By Katie Niemeyer Daily Sports Writer At the start of the season the Michigan women's gymnas- tics team finds itself in the same place as it was at the Tk end of last season - No. 5 in the country. Mic Led by senior Elise Ray, r1 the Wolverines placed fifth > at the NCAA Championships Ti in April, but this is a new : year for Michigan. Now the Wolverines aim to improve on the No. 5 ranking. Michigan lost substantial contributors in former Olympian Ray and seniors Chelsea Kroll,+ Shanna Duggan and Kara Rosella. But with three new faces - fresh-] men Becky Bernard, Huneth Lor and Tatjana Thuener-Rego - + Michigan has high hopes for thisI season.1 "Obviously, (we lost a lot) every-I where - Elise was a great all-1 arounder, the other kids that we lost were more specialists," Michiganj coach Bev Plocki said. "But I thinkj that, between these three freshmen, we've got people with strengths in every event, and I think that ouri r Tumblers incoming freshmen are going to help us a great deal this season.... As a group, this freshmen class has made a great impact on our pro- gram. They have fit in so incred- S ibly well and have worked so very, very hard Sd this whole fall." Saturday's e 4Maize and Blue Crs r enIntrasquad will be the first opportunity for the new Wolver- ines to compete under the collegiate format in front of a home crowd in Crisler Arena. "I just hope that they all stay healthy and they can show to the Michigan fans what they're capable of doing," Plocki said. "Because they will have a great four years here if they are able to perform up to the potential that I think they have." The intrasquad will be important for the Wolverines because they will face top competition right off the bat at No. 8 Nebraska on Jan. 13. "We always have a tough sched- ule because that's what I believe in," Plocki said. "The only way you prepare yourself for the postsea- son is by competing against those teams throughout the year." Michigan will face the No. 12 Nittany Lions in its second meet at Penn State. But the Wolverines' biggest tests will come later in the season against No. 2 Utah and No. 1 Georgia. "It's hard to pick one or two highlights because I really do think that we have a lot of great compe- tition this year," Plocki said. "But obviously with Georgia and Utah coming into Crisler Arena, those are definitely going to be highlight meets for us in terms of our home competition." With the return of fifth-year senior Lauren Mirkovich and all-around competitors senior Jenny Deiley and junior Lindsey Bruck, Plocki antici- pates a successful season. "I think there's no doubt that Lauren Mirkovich, who is coming back for her fifth year, will definite- ly be an inspirational leader of our team," Plocki said. "Our leadership this year is really going to be more spread out. I think we have a lot of people who are showing a lot of leadership-type qualities." MIKE HUU Fifth-year senior Lauren Mirkovich returns to lead the Wolverines against a tough schedule, including defending national champion Georgia. M WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Gall outpaces elder at intrasquad By Chris Herring Daily Sports Writer Normally, it would be safe to assume that most freshmen don't immediately impact their teams at the collegiate level. But this year, there's no way this assumption is fair to make of the freshmen on the women's track team - especially freshman Geena Gall. "She's coring in at a higher level than any middle-distance runner we've ever had," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. * Gall won three national championships in high school, including one outdoor and two indoor titles. Her indoor 800-meter run time of 2:08.77 stands as the best in Michigan high school history. After redshirting during the fall cross country season, she now has the chance to show off her capabilities at Michigan. "I've been waiting all fall to be able to run indoor, and I've been putting a lot of training in just to get to this point," Gall said. "I knew I was going to get redshirted this fall (for cross country), so I'm very eager." Last Saturday, she impressed at the Maize and Blue Intrasquad meet by holding off teammate and reigning Big Ten Champion Theresa Feldkamp in the 800-meter run. Gall was pleased with her time of 2:11.91. "I was definitely satisfied," Gall said. "I didn't think I would run that fast of a time. I've been sick lately and my shins have been bothering me a little bit. It took me about half the season last year to get that time." Her achievements in high school, coupled with her win on Saturday, seemingly create huge expec- tations for the upcoming season. But Gall's goals may be even more ambitious than those other peo- ple are setting for her. "There is some pressure because there are a lot of good 800-meter girls on our team," Gall said. "Some of it goes away because people say the things you do in high school don't really matter once you get to college - because you end up hav- ing to prove yourself again." She added that she would like to be Big Ten Freshman of the Year and win an individual event at the Big Ten Championships. McGuire thinks that there are things Gall can do to improve her chances at reaching those goals. "It will be a combination of several things," McGuire said. "Obviously, staying healthy, but also refining her speed. I think that getting her stronger within the framework of how we do things here will help ... but she's got a lot of good basic tools to start with." Gall also has a lot of support, ranging from her coaches to her teammates, and her roommate, Tif- fany Ofili. Ofili - also a freshman - won three events in Saturday's intrasquad. Gall and Ofili ran with each other on a club team prior to coming to Michigan. Gall could be seen rooting for her roommate along- side the track prior to Ofili's 60-meter race on Sat- urday. She explained that the support is mutual. "We don't run the same events, but we definitely cheer each other on," Gall said. Gall is a high school national champion who comes in with a good work ethic, high goals and moral support. Only time will tell what she can accomplish this season, but it seems as if every intangible is on her side for now. M NOTES 70 Wolverines named Academic All-Big Ten The women's cross country team frequently outperforms the rest of the Big Ten. Now - for the third consecu- tive year - the team has led the rest of Michigan's fall sports in Academic All- Big Ten Honors. Sixteen runners who are varsity letter winners have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above. Football and women's soccer were a close second, with fifteen honors each. Overall, there were 70 Aca- demic All-Big Ten Wolverines, placing them at third in the conference behind Penn State and Indiana, who each took home 71 honors. Wide receiver and football co-captain Jason Avant, field hockey captain Lori Hill- man and cross country captain Rebecca Walter are a few of the notable three-time recipients. Avant was also a second-team pick for ESPN The Magazine's 2005 Aca- demic All American. HORNETS Continued from page 8A The Wolverines need to recover quickly before traveling to South Florida on Satur- day, where they will try to maintain their perfect record "Any road win you can get in the course of season in college basketball is a monumental victory, and I'm not saying that for 'coach speak,' " Amaker said. "If we can somehow muster up enough to win that game at South Florida, that will be a tremendous accomplishment to get three road wins." SINGER Continued from page 8A Amaker gameplanned effectively and exploited the Hornets' obvious height dis- advantage. Early in the game, Amaker told Sims that he could drop 40 points if he wanted to. And even though Sims fell short of that lofty goal, there's no doubt that it was the best game I've ever seen him play. - Matt Singer has lots offunny dreams. If you want to hear about more of them, he can be reached at mattsing@umich.edu.