February 20, 2006 SOFTBALL: The defending national champions drop two in their opening road trip. PAGE 2B THE SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN: Sharad Mattu guarantees that Michigan will make the Big Dance. PAGE 3B MEN's GYMNASTICS: Against two other top-10 teams, the Wolverines come up short. PAGE 6B SPORTS NDAY ---------- ---------- -- ------- ---- 1B RENEE= No. 16 MICHIGAN STATE 90, Michigan 71 WOMEN'S SWIMMING&DIVING 'M' 'hapy' with third place at Big Tens By Amber Colvin Daily Sports Writer Scoreboards can't tell stories. And although a third place finish (43 points behind first-place Penn State) at the Big Ten Championships may seem ho-hum for the women's swimming and diving team, it really is a tale of triumph for a team that has overcome a myriad of obstacles. The four-day meet in Columbus was littered with new records, personal bests and NCAA qualifying times for the 22nd-ranked Wolverines. Michigan's brightest star, junior Katilyn Brady, was named the 2006 Big Ten Conference Swimmer of the Year after notching three individual and two relay wins. Brady set conference and school records in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly and also claimed first in the 200-yard backstroke, 400- yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays. "I was just happy I was able to lead and help out the team the best I could," Brady said. "Everyone's happy with how the team finished." Going into the final day of competition, the Wol- verines were just two points behind the first-place Nittany Lions. By the end of the day, Michigan's 509 points fell short of Minnesota's 536.5 and Penn State's 552. "We knew that the first and second days would be really strong days for us," Michigan coach Jim Rich- ardson said. "But we only have two distance swim- mers. Our lack of distance swimmers in the program has really hurt us. The ones we have did very well, but there's no doubt that when you looked at the events, on the last day we were going to be in somewhat of a disadvantage. We knew that going in." The absence of distance swimmers stems from one of the many adversities the team has had to face this season. In January, junior distance swimmer Susan Gilliam's father passed away. Gilliam then left the team to be with her mother. "Losing one of the top distance swimmers in the United States was a difficult thing, but in no way did it compare to the loss of her father" Richardson said. "That hit all of us hard." In that same month, former Michigan swimmer and assistant men's coach Eric Namesnik died from injuries sustained in a serious car accident - a loss that struck a chord with every Michigan swimmer and coach. "For about two weeks there, we just kind of put one foot in front of the other," Richardson said. "A lot of the excitement and the anticipation and the focus were lost there. But I think in the long run, it caused all of us to reevaluate our priorities and to value the opportunities we do have while we're here. I think that they've matured in so many ways as a result of those things this year." That maturity shone in the success of the Wolver- ine relay teams at the Big Ten Championships. After a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (senior Carolina Sierra, sophomore Valeria Silva, Brady and senior Abby Seskevics) the first day of competition, things got even better. On day two of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay team (Brady, freshman Hannah Smith, junior Lindsey Smith and Seskevics) set a Big Ten record with its first-place time of 1:30.02. Seeded third overall, the 400-yard medley relay (Brady, sophomore Justine Mueller, freshman Pay- ton Johnson and Lindsey Smith) team also exceeded expectations by taking first with a time of 3:38.45. "Those four got up there and just decided they were going to win it," Richardson said. "Our little freshman, Payton Johnson, just swam a lights-out leg of the race. That was exciting." See BIG TENS, page 3B ALEX DZIADOS Seniors Daniel Horton (left) and Graham Brown (right) couldn't handle Michigan State's offensive onslaught. The Wolverines have given up 90 or more points in three of their last five games. Izz Sweep dreams fall apart in E East Lansing IW ea Michigan left looking up at spe supenorilparty By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Editor EAST LANSING - Mich- igan's luck seemed to bounce along with the ball. With just over 15 minutes left in the game, the Wolverines had a chance to cut Michigan State's lead under 10. As senior Graham Brown drove to the basket, he drib- bled the ball off his foot, and it skipped to the top of the key. Brown dove to corral it, but it squirted furthertowardhalfcourt. There, senior Daniel Horton had a chance to save the Michigan possession. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, Spartan Paul Davis reached the ball first. He tossed it ahead to Maurice Ager, who slammed home an easy dunk. Following that sequence, Michigan never came within striking distance of Michigan State and eventually fell to the Spartans, 90-71, at the Breslin Center on Saturday afternoon. "There's not a lot of margin for error there for us," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "I thought some second-chance points and loose balls they were able to get. They get one, and it's a leak out. They get some dunks, and the crowd gets involved. Certainly, those kinds of plays hurt us." See SPARTANS, page 5B EAST LANSING - A fter Michigan beat rival Michigan State last month, Mich- igan fans knew the Spartans would be even hungrier when the Wolverines had to travel to the Bre- slin Center for the rematch. Michigan would have to prepare for a team with Final Four-caliber talent ready to fight to defend its home court. And that's exactly what the Wolver- ines ran into: a team willing to fight.s For the past decade, the "rivalry" had looked more like a mismatch. A SCOTT heavyweight matched up against a mid- BELL dleweight. A squad of five-star recruits pitted against walk-ons. A varsity team Too Soon? playing against its JV counterparts. But when Michigan toppled the mighty Spartans last month, it looked like the tide might finally be changing. See BELL, page 5B ALEX DZIADOSZ/Daily Michigan State wing Shannon Brown caught fire against Michigan on Saturday. He scored 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Blue Blue captures Big Ten By David VandeVusse Daily Sports Writer Winless weekend stuns Icers By Mark Giannotto Daily Sports Writer OMAHA - As he waited for the bus heading back to the team hotel on Saturday night, Michigan senior goalten- der Noah Ruden gazed up at the Omaha Civic Auditorium scoreboard and saw the 4-4 tie Michi- gan and Nebraska-Omaha skated to an hour earlier. When he looked at that score he could only shake his head and wonder. What happened to the two-goal third-period lead? What happened to second place in the CCHA? And what happened to the team that began the season 9- 1-1 and at one point held the No. 1 ranking in the country? In a scene that has become typical of Michigan's late-sea- i * ,: The atmosphere at sold-out Cliff Keen Arena was electric. And Mich- igan wres- tling fans had everv EMMA NuLAN-AMBAMM IAN/ Uaily Senior Ryan Churella's win over Minnesota's Matt Nagel helped propel Michigan to an upset victory over the top-ranked Gophers. - ~L~L ~ U ~NW~f~ ..A~