2B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 27, 2006
Trendy sport sweeps across campus
Athlete of the Week
By Robert Kaitz
Daily Sports Writer
Ann Arbor, just like the rest of the country, is
susceptible to America's fastest-growing sport.
No, not NASCAR, although that would make
walking around campus a little more interesting.
Instead, this sport's recipe for success is tak-
ing the strength and skill of hockey, the quick-
ness of basketball, the stamina of soccer and the
intensity of football. Once considered the sport
of East Coast prep schools, lacrosse now has
mainstream appeal.
Just ask the men's club-varsity team.
In 2000, the team, along with men's crew, was
moved up to club-varsity status by the Michi-
gan athletic department, it is next in line to be
upgraded to varsity.
The switch allows the team to wear Nike-
brand clothing and also receive better funding.
But, considering the drive and talent of the team,
its perception as merely a club team is unfair.
The squad got a chance to showcase its pro-
gram this weekend by hosting the Michigan
Invitational. Oosterbaan Fieldhouse was the site
for four top club-varsity teams as Arizona, Lin-
denwood and Boston College all traveled to Ann
Arbor.
"Three tough games in a row is a great way
to prepare for the postseason, and it allows us to
draw great teams nationally, especially from the
West Coast," Michigan coach John Paul said of
the Michigan Invitational.
Behind strong goaltending and a balanced
offensive attack, Michigan showed it will be
ready come postseason. The Wolverines won all
three games over the weekend.
After a 19-8 drubbing of No. 15 Arizona on
Friday night, Michigan continued strong play
with a hard-fought 14-10 victory over No. 10
Lindenwood.
Looking for the sweep, Michigan struggled
early against Boston College. The Eagles jumped
out to a 5-2, second-quarter lead before the Wol-
verines awoke for six of the next seven goals.
Senior co-captain Jim Constantine led the
team with 11 goals over the weekend, includ-
ing a double hat trick against Lindenwood. Bos-
ton College transfer Mark Hammitt added nine
goals, burning his former team for two. On the
defensive end, junior goalie Ryan Kaufman stood
tough in net, making 12 saves apiece against Ari-
zona and Boston College.
Hammitt also provided the most exciting goals
of the weekend on identical plays. Against both
Lindenwood and Boston College, he and sopho-
more Bobby Morales executed a "fake shot and
pass" play to perfection. On the man-advantage,
Hammitt positioned himself on the right side
and faked a pass to Morales on the wing. After
Morales drew the goalie toward him with a fake
shot, Hammitt easily deposited the ball into an
empty net.
As the marquee home event of the season, the
tournament provided an opportunity for the play-
ers to get a little more deserved attention around
campus.
"It's always great to have a good crowd when
we play," senior co-captain middie Eric Rimmke
said. "It means a lot to get to play in front of
friends and family."
This weekend was just one instance of the on-
field success of the team. Michigan has dominat-
ed its conference, the Central Collegiate Lacrosse
Association (CCLA), winning six of seven con-
ference championships since joining. It has also
qualified for the national tournament every year.
Last year, it reached the national semifinals for
its best finish ever.
Paul has a simple explanation for the success.
"We have talent," Paul said. "Michigan is able to
draw great student athletes, and we do it all-out."
Despite losing five All-Americans to gradua-
tion last year, Michigan has gotten out to a great
start this season. Its 7-3 record is misleading,
since two losses were against varsity programs,
and the team played its first five games on the
road against ranked opponents.
"Losing (the All-Americans) has given the
younger guys more playing time, and we play a
more 'run-and-gun' style this year, which is fun,"
sophomore attack Peter Krauss said.
Currently ranked No. 3 in the USL-MDIA poll,
the team has set lofty goals for the season.
"It is absolutely within our reach to win the
national championship, but we have to play with
urgency every game," Rimmke said
Paul's coaching philosophy has registered with
the team. He urges the Wolverines to focus on
what's within their own hands, instead of worry-
ing about issues out of their control.
Even though the team clearly has the competi-
tiveness of a varsity squad, it has succeeded in
creating a club atmosphere of making bonds and
friendships.
"I've played team sports all my life and I've
never seen a group as close as we are," Rimmke
said. "We are pretty much family now."
Friendship has turned the team into a great
social outlet. Most of the upperclassmen live
together, including Rimmke, Constantine, and
Joe Stelmark - the three captains.
"Everybody on the team basically becomes
your best friend, and we definitely hang out a lot
together outside of team stuff," Krauss said.
These student athletes remain true to the term,
going against the stereotype. The team boasts an
average GPA of 3.4 and numerous academic All-
Americans. The players are as willing to work
hard in the classroom as they are on the lacrosse
field.
"I love this level of student athlete because at
this level they are dedicated to everything even
though they don't get the recognition for it that
others do," Paul said.
With that subject comes the inevitable ques-
tion of when men's lacrosse will be elevated to
varsity status at Michigan. It is not clear when
that will happen, but regardless, the squad will
be ready to make the move. But for now, these
players will continue to succeed in all facets.
Michigan continues its homestand next week-
end, hosting No. 11 Minnesota-Duluth and
Central Michigan on Friday Saturday nights,
respectively. Student tickets are $3 with a M-
Card, with proceeds benefiting the team.
See for yourself why lacrosse is America's fastest-
growing sport.
Name: Peter Vanderkaay
Hometown: Rochester Hills
Team: Men's Swimming
Class: Senior
Why: With one swim, Vanderkaay broke four swimming records en
route to a national championship in the 500-yard freestyle event. The
record time of 4:08.60 broke former Wolverine Tom Dolan's six-year
record of 4:08.75. He also deserves an apology from Daily Sports for
using a picture of his brother, Alex, on the front page of the Daily.
M' Schedule
Date Event Location Time
3/28 Baseball vs. Bowling Green Ann Arbor 3:05 p.m.
3/28 Softball vs. Bowling Green Ann Arbor 4 p.m.
3/28 M Basketball New York, NY. 7 p.m.
vs. Old Dominion @ NIT
3/31 Baseball vs. Northwestern Ann Arbor 3:05 p.m.
4/1 Baseball vs. Northwestern(DH) Ann Arbor 1:05 p.m.
4/1 W Rowing Columbus TBA
@ ACC/Big Ten Double Duel
4/1 M Track and Field Atlanta, Ga. TBA
@ Yellowjacket Invitational
4/1 W Track and Field Atlanta, Ga. 9 a.m.
@ Yellowjacket Invitational
4/1 W Tennis at Minnesota Minneapolis 12 p.m.
4/1 M Tennis vs. Minnesota Bloomington TBA
4/1 W Track/Field Palo Alto, Calif. 11 a.m.
@ Stanford Invitational
4/2 W Tennis @ Iowa Iowa City 1 p.m.
4/2 M Tennis vs. Iowa Ann Arbor 1:05 p.m.
4/2 Softball vs. Minnesota Ann Arbor 6 p.m.
NCAAS
Continued from page 1B
While earning second place in the
1,650-meter, Vanderkaay was also
part of the runner-up finish to Ari-
zona in the 800-yard freestyle relay
along with seniors Chris DeJong,
Tarwater and his sophomore brother
Alex Vanderkaay.
The team had set its sights on win-
ning the 800-yard freestyle relay
since being runners-up last year at
the NCAA Championships. The title
has had Michigan roots since the
early 1990s, when the Wolverines
became the national leader in long-
distance events.
"We really wanted that win badly,"
Tarwater said. "We hoped to bring
the title back to Michigan. We swam
our hearts out and did the best we
could. It was a little frustrating, but
being runners-up is not too bad."
Bowman pointed to DeJong's sec-
ond leg of the relay as being the most
impressive, considering the senior
rallied back after a career-best swim
earlier that evening in 200-yard free-
style.
"Chris had a tough time when he
didn't make it to the finals in the 200-
yard freestyle," Bowman said. "But
he had a great evening race, and I
think that made him even stronger in
the relay. I'm very proud of the way
he swam. He's given a lot to Michi-
gan, and I really appreciate that."
The Holland native went on the
next day to place ninth in the 200-
yard backstroke (1:43.12).
The final swimmer to put up criti-
cal points for the Wolverines was
Alex Vanderkaay. The sophomore
was primed for the meet after earn-
ing a Big Ten title in the 400-yard
individual medley and being runner-
up in the 200-yard individual medley
at the Big Ten Championships three
weeks ago. The confidence that he
earned in Bloomington was obvi-
ous in his swims this weekend. The
younger Vanderkaay earned three
top-eight finishes (500-yard free-
style, 400-yard individual medley
and 200-yard butterfly) and was part
of the runner-up 800-yard freestyle
relay team.
"Overall, I am very happy with
my swims," Alex said. "My main
goal was to get top eight in all of my
events, and I did that."
Bowman was impressed with how
Alex performed over the weekend
and said he believes the future of the
younger Vanderkaay is full of poten-
tial.
"Alex had a great weekend for us,"
Bowman said. "He has grown a lot
this year, and it will be fun to see
him develop over the next couple of
years."
With the completion of the season
this past weekend, the Wolverines
will graduate seven seniors and will
be without a pair of NCAA individual
champions. But with the addition of
12 freshmen to the squad this year, the
team's future is anything but bleak.
BEAM
Continued from page 1B
our beam performance."
In the locker room the team tried
to regain its composure and focus on
ending the meet on a positive note.
The break in rotation gave Michigan
an opportunity to shake off what was
undeniably its worst rotation of the
year and realize that both this meet
and its season were far from over.
"During the bye, we all talked,
and we just got together," Clauson
said. "Our coach told us we can
either let this get worse and mope
around and go out on a negative vibe
or we could go out and do the best
floor routines that we can do and go
out with pride."
Even though this bye worked in
the team's favor after the balance
beam, it was its bye prior to the
event that greatly contributed to the
Wolverines inability to stay on the
apparatus. All of the momentum that
the Wolverines had built up during
vault and bars evaporated during the
20-minute break, causing them to
go into their beam warm-ups out of
sync.
"The bye rotations are a blessing
and a curse," Plocki said. "I think the
bye rotation going into beam detach-
es you from the competition. When
you have so many bye rotations, it's
hard to just jump back into the meet.
However, the bye after beam gave us
a chance to talk to the team and re-
group and shake off the pity party
we had for ourselves."
By the time Michigan was ready
to close out the night on floor exer-
cise, it knew it was out of contention
for the Big Ten title. Still, the Wol-
verines remained determined to end
the night on a high note.
With their season-low balance
beam score of 48.175 behind them,
all six gymnasts executed flawless
floor routines. McNamara redeemed
herself from beam, winning the
floor event with a score of 9.900.
Michigan went on to win the floor
exercise and place five Wolverines
on the podium.
"I am happy with how well we
came back and finished," Pocki said.
"For us, that was just a pride factor to
come back after the atrocious beam
rotation that we had and not give up.
I think that was the character that
this team has, they weren't going to
go feel sorry for themselves and give
up on the rest of the meet."
With the NCAA Regional Cham-
pionships two weeks away, the Wol-
verines will need to figure out how
to bring their stellar individual per-
formances together to make a strong
and complete team meet.
"Even though we had a bad meet
this time it will set us in the right
direction for the next meet," McNa-
mara said. "This year is not over
with at all. We have learned a lot
from this meet, and we are going to
come together more and head into
Regionals strong."
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