6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 30, 2006 Wolverines overmatched by No. 2-ranked Sooners By Colt Rosensweig Daily Sports Writer For the No. 6 Michigan men's gymnastics team, Friday's meet against No. 2 Oklahoma was like a spring training game. The team took a beating a but key players experimenting with their routines may have finally found the form that will carry them to a championship. "1 wasn't (satisfied with the performance), but there were a lot of things that I was real pleased with," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "We did a lot of work on individual goal-setting this week. A lot of those were accomplished, a lot of little details important to the athlete:' Oklahoma beat Michigan (2-3 Big Ten, 3-4 overall) convincingly, 216.2-203.9. The Sooners never trailed in the meet, and the Wolverines came close to match- ing Oklahoma's score in only the vault (36.55-36.4). Michigan's percentage of clean routines, already low after the tense Penn State meet, dropped further. But many Wolverines accomplished individual goals. Sophomore Paul Woodward won the pommel horse competition with one of Michigan's four clean routines, scoring 8.45. "It was nice to go against the defending national champions on their ground and have us win (the pommel horse)," Golder said. "For the last four years or so. that's been kind of a weakness:' Senior Andrew DiGiore won Golder's unofficial Newt Loken award - given for the best individual performance on a single event - for his showing on vault. "The highlight of the meet for us was Drew DiGiore winning the vault," Golder said. "He blew the field away (with a 9.55 score):' Freshman Joe Catrambone gave Michigan yet another solid performance, even though he competed in just three events because of the meet's non-target status. Catrambone notched the highest Michigan score on the high bar and still rings, and the second highest on the parallel bars. Though disappointed with his team's overallperformance, Golder found many positive points. Despite the low number of clean routines, he felt that his gymnasts were in a much better frame of mind than in the previous meet against Penn State.ttaa "a think their focus was a lot better, and they were all very sincere about the goals we had set and wanted to reach Golder said. A lot of times, we met a specific goal on the routine, but then we made a mistake somewhere else. So there's something to be pleased about, and at the same time something to be displeased about:' Although many of the Wolverine regulars competed in fewer events than usual, others participated for the first time this season. On the parallel bars, redshirt sophomore Arren Yoshimura led all the Wolverines with an 8.4 score. Next week's meet - the Winter Cup in Las Vegas - will also be a non-target meet, and Michigan will again emphasize individual improvement and goals rather than all-out attempting to win. After that meet, the Wolverines should be ready for target matchup at home EUGENE ROBERTSON/Daily against No. 8 Minnesota. Freshman Ralph Rosso and the Wolverines came up short against No. 2 Oklahoma this weekend. IBuckeyes bested bBlue 's balance By Katie Field work on landings to try and capture bigger leads Daily Sports Writer earlier in the meet. Once they made it to the uneven bars, the Wol- It's a rare occurrence when Michigan fans verines took command of the meet. Senior Lau- applaud Ohio State. ren Mirkovich scored a 9.900, and senior Jenny But on Friday, fans at the women's gymnas- Deiley and freshman Tatjana Thuener-Rego each tics home opener were seemingly unaware of this grabbed scores of 9.800. The trio's performance fact. The excited crowd at Crisler Arena cheered helped push Michigan to a 2.025 point lead over both teams alike as the fourth-ranked Wolver- the Buckeyes. ines captured a decisive 195.900-192.000 victory Next up for Michigan was the beam. Deiley, the over 36th-ranked Buckeyes. The extra enthusi- night's all-around winner, registered a solid score asm boosted the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 4-0-1 of 9.850, which proved impossible to top. Michi- overall) to some of their best performances of the gan sophomore Nellie Kippley came close with season. her 9.825, as did junior Carol McNamara with a Michigan coach Bev Plocki noted how the 9.800. Kippley and McNamara finished second team's preparation and the atmosphere each fac- and third, respectively, on beam. The Buckeyes' tored into her squad success. highest beam score was 9.650./ "We've been working on the things we knew Leading Ohio State by 2.475 entering the final we needed to work on," Plocki said. "The extra rotation, Michigan carried its momentum through excitement and adrenaline of this being our first the floor routine for a combined floor score of home meet and the great crowd. It was a combi- 49.225, a season best. Solid performances from nation of things, but we still certainly have room Deiley (9.875), Thuener-Rego (9.875) and senior to improve." Becca Clauson (9.850) greatly contributed to One event Plocki wants her team to work on is Michigan's victory with hefty scores. the vault - where the Wolverines started on Fri- Although it was not the first time the Wolver- day. Although vault is Michigan's lowest-ranked ines beat the Buckeyes - Friday was Michigan's event, the team still managed to gain a 0.225 26th consecutive victory - it was an important advantage over the Buckeyes (0-2, 3-2) to lead night for Thuener-Rego, who earned the first 48.775- 48.550 heading into the second rotation. floor title of her collegiate career. But she had For future competitions, 'the'' Wolverines" will * heffocus on afother event. "I really wanted to do good, solid beam," she said. "I have been in the last two meets, so I'm really happy about that." Perhaps the star of the evening was Deiley, who had one of her best meets ever. For her, it was a matter of having everything come together in every event during the meet. "I have been making my routines, but not nec- essarily hitting them," Deiley said. "I needed to have a meet like this personally so I can start back on the right track. I was kind of in a rut, and I needed to get out of that. I was really focused today and really confident." The Wolverines seem to be on the right track so far. The crowd at Crisler was excited to see them looking sharp and solid in all events. Mich- igan made it through the night with just one fall and consistently built upon its early lead, ending with the stellar floor rotation. Deiley knows her team's win will motivate them to improve for the rest of the season. "We're ranked high, but not No. 1," Deiley said. "We have room for improvement, and we have a lot of potential this year." The Wolverines hope to keep up their winning ways next week at the State of Michigan Classic. The tournament takes place in Mount Pleasant. The team dominated the field last year, besting a field consisting of the four other Division I schools in the state. 0 Becca Clauson was one of the many Wolverines who helped top the Buckeyes. Her beam performance added to the 195.900-192.00 victory against Ohio State. NU Ry 30r" , RU RY 1YN I True Bronze. Stars of the bronzing season. Free! 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