6B-The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - October 18, 2006
Blue can't
upend Gators
or their streak
4
Senior Brianna Broderick finished in the top five for the third time this season.
Broderick near e top,
Wolverines at the bottom
By Chris Meszaros
For the Daily
Streaks are made to be bro-
ken. It's just a matter of when.
Unfortunately for the Michi-
gan women's swimming and
diving team, Saturday wasn't
the day.
Florida brought a 34-0 open-
ing-day record into Canham
Natatorium and extended it
despite an impressive showing
by the Wolverines. Michigan
fell five points short in a 124-
119 loss to the Gators.
The Wolverines' "A" squad's
strong finish in the 400-yard
freestyle relay gave Michigan
hope even though it trailed by
a wide margin heading into the
final event. Led by senior Kai-
tlyn Brady, the team won the
race with a time of 3:23.74.
Seniors Lindsey Smith and
Justine Mueller each won two
individual events and a relay to
lead the Wolverines.
Michigan started strong,
winning the 400-yard medley
with a time of 3:43.01, but fell
behind after the second event.
Back-to-back wins by Smith
and Mueller in the 200-yard
freestyle and the 200-yard indi-
vidual medley, respectively,
gave Michigan a temporary
lead.
But things soon fell apart for
the Wolverines. Florida strung
together a series of first-place
finishes to take a commanding
lead into the final events.
Michigan coach Jim Richard-
son was pleased with his team's
performance.
"I really liked our team
dynamic today," Richardson
said. "Our senior class is lead-
ing the team this year, and I
think they did a great job,"
By Matt Johnson
For the Daily
This weekend, the Michigan women's golf
team hoped to build on its victory in the Michi-
gan Invitational two weeks ago.
But tough competition and inconsistent play
led to a last-place finish for the Wolverines in
the Mercedes-Benz Women's Championship
at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville.
Michigan finished with a three-round total
of 937 - 55 strokes behind champion Tennes-
see.
Senior Brianna Broderick was the lone
bright spot for Michigan. After winning the
individual title at the Wolverine Invitational,
she finished in a tie for fifth - her third top-
five finish this season.
Like the rest of the team, Broderick got off
to a slow start, leaving her in a tie for 31st after
the first day of the tournament. But a final-
round 70 (1-under par) propelled her near the
top of the leaderboard.
"I started poorly, but I just stayed patient and
just grinded it out," Broderick said through the
athletic department. "I ended up getting some
bogeys out of some bad shots, but (Sunday),
I got on a birdie roll and just kept going with
that."
Broderick had little help from her teammates
at the Mercedes-Benz. Freshman Ashley Bauer,
junior Lindsay Davis and senior.Ali Stinson all
finished in the top 20at the Wolverine, but none
placed in the top 50 in Knoxville.
Putting was a problem for the Wolverines
all weekend. Coach Kathy Teichert felt that
practice on the U-M Course should have pre-
pared the team for the greens at the Cherokee
Country Club, but the Wolverines were unable
to execute.
"It was just difficult to see us not be able
to put ourselves in good positions around
the greens," Teichert said through the ath-
letic department. "I just saw a poor display in
almost every area."
At the Mercedes-Benz, Michigan faced stiff
competition - six of the nation's top 25 teams
competed. But the team, ranked No. 12 in the
nation last week, hoped for a better finish after
getting off to a good start this season.
"It was a very disappointing weekend for
us," Teichert said through the athletic depart-
ment. "We're a good team. If we are not into it,
we are not going to compete. We need to make
sure we focus and really compete against the
teams we face, especially now. We still have a
lot of work ahead of us."
The Wolverines are back in action at the
Landfall Tradition in Wilimington, N.C. on
Oct. 27.
c Schaetzl shines, 'M' falls
Richardson praised several
swimmers for participating in
extensive training regimens
over the summer. Many of the
seniors swam for Club Wol-
verine and also trained and
competed at the ConocoPhil-
lips USA Swimming National
Championships.
"When you have people train
for a summer season, it elevates
your performance to a higher
level," Richardson said. "I
thought we were a little faster
than we have been in previous
opening meets."
The diving team also
excelled. Junior Elyse Lee won
the one-meter springboard
event and took second in the
three-meter event. Senior Ellen
Van Cleve took second in the
one-meter event to round out an
impressive showing.
Richardson said his team's
determined effort showed him
its high level of dedication.
He said he was impressed by
the results given the extensive
training the team has been
going through.
"We want to swim really fast
each week and the end, take a
little rest and then try to swim a
little faster," Richardson said
The meet against Florida was
Michigan's first of a season that
Mueller hopes will be reward-
ing.
"Everyone is swimming out
of their minds, and we have
a lot to look forward to in the
upcoming meets," Mueller
said.
The Wolverines are coming
off a 17th-place finish at last
year's NCAA Championships.
They'll look to get their first win
of the season next week in East
Lansing when they return to the
pool against Michigan State.
NOTES
Young Tankers
drop opener
The Michigan men's swim-
ming and diving team dropped
its season-opening meet for the
first time in 38 years, losing
135-106 to Florida at Canham
Natatorium on Saturday.
If there's one thing this year's
team has, it's youth. The roster
consists of mostly underclass-
men. It was those younger play-
ers who led the way for the
Wolverines in the loss, taking
all three of Michigan's wins.
Freshman Scott Spann
debuted on the second-place
400-yard medley relay team and
picked up his first victory in the
200-yard butterfly (2:02.39).
Sophomores Bobby Savulic
and Matt Patton also picked up
titles. Savulich won the 100-
yard freestyle in 45.76, and Pat-
ton took the 500-yard freestyle
in 4:28.21, with freshman Char-
lie Houchin finishing .25 sec-
onds behind Patton.
The team will head down
Washtenaw Avenue to face
Eastern Michigan this Friday.
DAILY SPORTS.
WHAT MORE
CAN WE SAY?
1temniiional P oli Center By Kevin Wallace
Daily Sports Writer
As great as junior Tim
October 18, 2006 Schaetzl has performed lately,
the Michigan men's golf team
has been just as bad.
Schaetzl placed third with
a three-round score of 9-over
par at the Oklahoma Intercol-
legiate, played at the Oak Tree
Golf Club in Edmond, Okla.
The Wolverines finished last
with a three-round total of 924,
finishing just one stroke behind
seventh-place Arkansas and
35 strokes behind tournament
champion Tulsa.
This marks three of four tour-
ba r ytemrenaments this year in which the
Wolverines placed in the bottom
quarter of the field - finishing
near the top only in its home
meet. Similar to last week's
Wolf Run Collegiate, Michigan
struggled with the tougher pin
placements in the final round.
Michigan coach Andrew
Sapp stressed how the lack of
shot accuracy played a key role
in the Wolverines' loss.
"If you just miss the green
in the slightest way, it is going
to make you pay," Sapp said
through the athletic department.
"So, it made you play smart.
Just being off a few inches here
and there would have you put
a double (bogey) or even triple
(bogey) on your card."
If there is any silver lining to
this dark cloud, it's Schaetzl's
extraordinary play. In his 20th
consecutive start, the junior
placed in the top 10 for the third
straight tournament.
"I was able to get up and down
a number of times," Schaet-
zl said through the athletic
department. "I didn't feel great
over the ball. So I just tried to
make sure that if I missed it, I
missed it in the right spot, and
try to leave myself an easy shot
around the green. Luckily, I was
able to get a lot of balls around
the green down in two to make
par.
Schaetzl has taken on the
tough task of leading a strug-
gling team.
He said that while the Wol-
verines have not performed up
to their expectations, they're
trying to keep a positive atti-
tude.
Sapp has used Schaetzl's out-
standing play as a way to put a
positive spin on the season.
"It's been nice to see him
playing so well," Sapp said. "He
came into the fall season having
ended his summer playing well.
He just really hasn't dropped
off. What has been impressive
to see has been his growth and
maturity as a golfer."
Schaetzl will try for his
fourth-straight top-10 finish
when Michigan competes in the
2006 49er Collegiate Classic,
held next Monday and Tuesday
at the Cabarrus Country Club in
Wilmington, N.C.
I
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