2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 9, 2006
CLUBSPORTSWEEKLY
Boxing gives student chance to compete
By Eileen Hengel
Daily Sports Writer
First, left foot forward and left punch across body to contact right side
of opponent. Then, transfer weight to front leg and wait for opponent to
answer.
All of these thoughts race through sophomore Lauren Lobert's mind when
she enters the ring. She tries to keep her mind clear and retrace the drills
she practices day-in and day-out as a member and president of the women's
club boxing team. Still, the fact remains that she is trapped in a 16x16-foot
boxing ring with an opponent whose sole purpose is to beat her up.
Lobert often runs into inquiries - most significantly, why?
Similar to many club sports members, Lobert played varsity sports
throughout high school, and the thought of no competition or physical
activity in college seemed almost frightening. So much so that immediately
following her graduation from high school, Lobert enrolled in a kickboxing
club down the road from her home in Walled Lake.
"I loved the classes from the beginning," Lobert said. "And after a while,
I was asked to go into the (boxing ring) and fight. From then on, I've just
loved it."
Lobert cites her history in the hockey rink for igniting her interest in
boxing. As a forward for the women's club hockey team, she often finds the
rink lacking physical contact. Unlike the men's game, fighting in women's
hockey is strictly forbidden.
"I used to watch hockey with my dad, especially the fights," Lobert said.
"And I was always very intrigued by the idea."
To Lobert, fighting offered the opportunity to compete alone - no team
member to pass to and no relying on a goalie to stop a shot.
"Boxing has a mental aspect to it that I haven't found in other sports,"
Lobert said. "I always have to be reading my opponent and looking for
openings. It is just me and one other person in the ring. I have to react to
her moves and her punches."
Still, during the first semester of her freshman year, the women's club
boxing team did not exist. Organized by a pair of Law students who have
since graduated, the team faced stiff resistance in becoming a club sport.
At the beginning, they had no equipment, and the men's team did not allow
the women to practice with them. Through persistence, the group became a
club sport during the 2005 winter semester. Since then, the team has grown
from two quick-fisted Law students to more than 25 women, ranging from
freshmen to the GSIs that teach them.
With the help of the men's team, the women now have equipment and
coaches. Still, even with the newfound professionalism, the team maintains
a level of familiarity and ease during practices.
"Most girls come to the practices in order to stay in shape," junior Krys-
tal Kuczmera said. "Some want to compete outside of the club eventually,
but most of us just spar against each other during practice."
Lobert, in fact, confessed to looking for opponents outside of the club but
recognized that she would need to devote more time to training if she were
to enter amateur tournaments.
For now, though, she will just stay on her toes, with her fists up.
Tilt firtrbg Bad,,
Athlete of the Week
Name:Matt Gutierrez Team:Football
Hometown: Concord, Calif. Class: Senior
Why: He may not have gotten a chance to start in front of a
packed Michigan Stadium, but Gutierrez's hard work and patience
off the field was commendable. He was the epitome of taking life's
hardships in stride. We wish him the best of luck in Idaho State.
Go Bengals!
'M' SCHEDULE
l
Date Event Location
1/13 W Track/Field Lexington, Kent.
at Kentucky Invitational
1/13 M Swimming/Diving at Purdue West Lafayette
1/13-14 W Swimming/Diving Ann Arbor
at Michigan Invitational
1/13 W Gymnastics at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb.
1/13 Ice Hockey vs. NTDP Under-18 Team Ann Arbor
1/13 W Tennis Ann Arbor
at Michigan Invitational
1/14 M Swimming/Diving at Indiana Bloomington
1/14 M Basketball at Illinois Champaign
1/14 M Gymnastics Chicago
at Windy City Invitational
1/14 Wrestling Cedar Falls, Iowa
at Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duels
1/14 M Track/Field at Eastern Michigan Ypsilanti
1/14 M Tennis Coral Gables, Fla.
at Miami Invitational
1/15 W Basketball at Ohio State Columbus
Time
9:00 a.m.
6:00 p.m
6:00 p.m
8:00 p.m
7:35 p.m.
TBA
1:00 P.M.
1:00 P.M.
8:00 p.m.
TBA
TBA
2:00 p.m.
12:00 p.m.
NFL PLAYOFFS
Home
isn't sweet
for Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)
- The Carolina Panthers beat the
New York Giants at their own game,
in their own place.
Steve Smith A A
scored a pair of
touchdowns, and
Carolina rattled Eli Manning into four
turnovers to lead the Panthers to a 23-
0 win over New York in the first round
of the NFC playoffs yesterday.
The Panthers did it with a stout
defense and a strong running game
- the same principles the Giants used
this season to win their first divisional
title in five years.
Playing nearly as well as they
did in their Super Bowl season two
years ago, the Panthers (12-5) hand-
ed New York its first playoff shutout
in 20 years.
"Everybody may say we're a Super
Bowl team - we're not," Smith cau-
tioned. "All we are is a one-win play-
off team."
Manning threw three interceptions,
then fumbled late in the game in front
of a nearly empty Giants Stadium.
Tiki Barber was held to a season-low
41 yards rushing, while the Giants
managed just 109 yards total offense.
New York became the. first home
playoff team to be shut out since 1980,
when the Los Angeles Rams blanked
Tampa Bay.
It was exactly the performance
expected from a John Fox-coached
team. He and the Panthers seemed
to be ahead of the Giants on almost
every play in his return to the Mead-
owlands, where Fox spent five years
as defensive coordinator before taking
over Carolina in 2002.
"It was strange," Barber said. "They
were in our huddle a little bit. They
kind of had us dissected and figured
Palmer
injury sinks
Bengals
CINCINNATI (AP) - A low hit on
Carson Palmer changed everything.
Steelers nose tackle Kimo von
Oelhoffen dived
into Cincinnati's TTRGH 31
Pro Bowl quarter-17
back at the knee
on his first pass yesterday, knock-
ing him out of the game with a torn
ligament, and Pittsburgh rolled to a
31-17 victory that set up a rematch
with the AFC's top team.
Pittsburgh (12-5) will play in
Indianapolis next Sunday, a chance
to show how far it has come in the
past month.
Defending Super Bowl champion
New England will play in Denver on
Saturday night.
The Bengals (11-6) had boasted
after winning in Pittsburgh that they
were now the team to beat in the divi-
sion. Given a chance to prove it with
their first playoff appearance in 15
years, they lapsed into some old-style
bungling with their leader gone.
In his second playoff go-round,
Steelers quarterback Ben Roeth-
lisberger was coolly efficient -
AP PHOTO 14-of-19 for 208 yards and three
touchdowns without an interception.
The crowd of 65,870 erupted, then
rolina's. went sickeningly silent on the Ben-
arlier in gals' first pass play - one that went
enyiora down as the longest in Cincinnati
nd-best playoff history, and the costliest.
he shot Palmer held onto the ball a second
Rucker longer than usual, allowing rookie
onded. Chris Henry to get open down the
Michael right sideline for a 66-yard recep-
acks of tion. As the ball left Palmer's hand,
ker are von Oelhoffen drove his shoulder
into the quarterback's left knee.
he thing Jon Kitna replaced Palmer and
rs said. kept the Bengals in it until their
him, we inexperience and lack of a Pro Bowl
I think quarterback started to show in the
third quarter.
AARON SWICK/Daily
Senior captain Greg Wagner is one of three undefeated Wolverines this season.
Trailing big, grapler
look to captain for spark
By Amber Colvin
Daily Sports Writer
Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey hangs his head as New York falls to Carolina.
out, and we couldn't get anything
going consistently."
DeShaun Foster ran for 151 yards
by going straight at the Giants'
depleted linebacker corps, kick-start-
ing a running game that has been
spotty all year.
"We wanted to get out there and
establish the run early," Foster said.
"That's how you keep their players off
the field. We were just able to do that
and it worked out for us."
Smith had 10 catches for 84 yards.
He scored once on a 22-yard catch from
Jake Delhomme, then ran a reverse in
12 yards for a second score.
But the game belonged to Ca
defense, which was insulted ez
the week when Giant Osi Um
said the Panthers had the seco
defensive ends in the NFL. T
at Julius Peppers and Mike
stung, and the entire unit resp
Although Umenyiora and T
Strahan combined for three s
Delhomme, Peppers and Ruc
the ones still playing.
"Taking away Tiki - he's tl
that makes them go," Peppe
"We had to get a handle on h
got a couple hits on Eli early.
that kind of rattled him."
M COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Young bolts for NFL
As the No. 5 Michigan wrestling
team headed into intermission trailing
12-3, the struggling Wolverines were
waiting for something big.
The 11th-ranked Lehigh Mountain
Hawks (5-4-1) had taken down four
of the Wolverines' first five wrestlers
in close matches. The roaring home
crowd at Cliff Keen Arena didn't
seem to help. It was the perfect time
for a team leader to step in and drum
up some energy. Sparking a comeback
for the 20-15 win over Lehigh, senior
captain Ryan Churella delivered what
Michigan was begging for.
Notching his 100th career victory,
Churella pinned Lehigh's Dave Naka-
sone and gave the Wolverines the crucial
momentum needed to carry out the win.
Michigan (5-1) won three of the final
four bouts that followed Churella's,
including an overtime victory by 174-
pound wrestler Nick Roy.
"I just went out there and did what I
usually try to do, get as many points as I
can, and, fortunately, I was able to get a
fall," Churella said. "Everyone that fol-
lowed me wrestled really well, so I give
them a lot of credit. They were in a hard
position with the scoring coming down
to 12-12, and they really had to come
through with wins."
Roy was forced into overtime after
Mountain Hawk wrestler Travis Frick
squeezed out an escape to tie the match
at 4-4. A takedown in the sudden vic-
tory overtime round gave Roy the win
and evened the team score at 12-12.
"In overtime, when he got the leg, I
just thought to myself, 'Don't give this
up, the team needs it,' " Roy said. "And
I needed it, because it was a big win for
me. So I defended it, slipped out of it
and got the takedown."
Resounding wins from 184-pound
Tyrel Todd and heavyweight Greg
Wagner sealed the victory for the Wol-
verines. Both wrestlers, along with
Churella, are undefeated this season.
Churella joined his fellow captain
Wagner on the list of 27 Wolverines
past and present who have hit the cen-
tury mark in victories. But to Churel-
la, the milestone was insignificant.
"It's not really something I look at
right now," Churella said. "It's some-
thing I'll look back on and appreciate a
little more then. Right now, I'm just try-
ing to get these wins in, stay healthy and
be ready for Big Tens and Nationals."
Michigan and Lehigh each won five
of the bouts, but it was bonus points that
put the Wolverines five points ahead of
the Mountain Hawks in the end.
Michigan's slow start made the vic-
tory seem unlikely at first. Three of
Michigan's first four losses were decid-
ed by a single point.
"We lost some tough matches," Roy
said. "(Weight classes) 141 through 157
all lost, and those are guys we usually
count on. We had to rely on the upper
weights."
Michigan coach Joe McFarland was
frustrated with his team's start - espe-
cially because it wasn't the first time this
happened in the past week.'Tuesday, the
Wolverines had to overcome an early
deficit in their victory over Cornell.
"These guys need to understand
that they're going to have to wrestle
harder," McFarland said. "We need
to put some things together and stay
on these guys. We had a few of these
guys on the ropes, and we didn't take
advantage of that. We let them get back
into certain positions and let time slip
away on us."
One Mountain Hawk who proved to
be a problem for 141-pound Wolverine
wrestler Josh Churella may have looked
familiar to fans. Cory Cooperman, who
defeated the younger Churella 5-3, was
featured in an episode of the MTV real-
ity show "True Life: I'm on a Diet." The
show documented Cooperman's trials
in making weight for competition.
But even with a TV star on their
team and a nine-point lead, the Moun-
tain Hawks could not compete with the
comeback efforts of the Wolverines
- who continue to dominate the series
between the two teams, 21-11.
AUSTIN (AP) - Vince Young is
headed to the NFL.
The Texas quarterback, who led the
Longhorns to their first national cham-
pionship in 36 years, announced Sunday
he would make himself eligible for the
April draft.
Young maintained during the season
that he would to return for his senior
year, but said his Rose Bowl perfor-
mance put him "over the top."
"Hard work has paid off a whole lot,"
he said.
Young was spectacular in Texas' 41-38
Rose Bowl win over top-ranked South-
ern California on Jan. 4, and he would
have been a favorite to win the Heisman
Trophy had he decided to return.
The versatile quarterback accounted
for 467 yards against Southern Cal -
200 running and 267 passing - and ran
eight yards for the winning touchdown
with 19 seconds left.
Young thanked many people, includ-
ing his family and coach Mack Brown,
who was at the American Football
Coaches Association Convention and
could not attend Sunday's news confer-
ence. He specifically thanked Brown for
"helping me become a better man:'
In a statement, Brown said he met with
Young and his family Sunday morning
and fully supports Young's decision.
"We love Vince and appreciate all
the great things he's done for the Uni-
versity of Texas on and off the field,"
Brown said. "We'll miss him, but want
him to do as well in the NFL as he did
in college."
In his eight seasons at Texas, Brown
never before has had a player leave early
for the NFL.
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