The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, December 4, 2006 - 3B
Tankers topple top talent
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
After Michigan coach Bob
Bowman won a Coach of the Year
award, brought in a top preseason
recruiting class and coached an
overall solid month in the pool, it
was starting to seem like things
couldn't get better for the men's
swimming and diving team.
This weekend, they most cer-
tainly did.
In an event littered with the
world's top swimming talent, the
Wolverines showed why they
deserve to be near the top of the
collegiate ranks. Michigan won the
college division at the U. S. Open,
as its 293 points handily defeated
competition that included the likes
of No. 1 Auburn (91.5 points) and
No. 9 Northwestern (118 points).
The Wolverines putup solid num-
bers across the board while achiev-
ing some personal bests and several
NCAA "B" times, attained by break-
ing a certain time set at the event.
Freshman Scott Span captured
NCAA "B" times finishing fifth
in the 200-meter breaststroke
(2:17.91) and seventh in the 100-
meter breaststroke (1:03.67).
"Scott Span's breaststroke
and Matt Patton's freestyle per-
formances were really impres-
sive," Bowman said. "They swam
extremely hard today and did great
jobs in each of their events."
Patton recorded a personal best
in the 1,500-meter freestyle, fin-
ishing fourth overall with a time
of 15:30.64. He also picked up a
NCAA "B" time (3:56.13) in the
400-meter freestyle to cap off a
notable weekend.
Juniors Alex Vanderkaay and
Dane Grenda added to the rout;
both recorded multiple NCAA "B"
times, finishing first and fourth in
the 200-meter butterfly and first
and seventh in the 400-meter indi-
vidual medley.
"Our guys were able to step up
and swim tough against excellent
international competition," Bow-
man said. "They were very pre-
pared for the challenge."
The Wolverines were also
impressive in the 4x100-medley
relay. Span, Patton, sophomore
Bobby Savulich and freshman
Chris Brady garnered an NCAA
"B" time in the event. The quar-
tet was just one-hundredth of a
second behind the Club Wolverine
team that included former Wolver-
ine stars Davis Tarwater and Peter
Vanderkaay, along with Michigan
assistant coach Michael Phelps.
Bowman was thrilled with his
team's performance, especially
since the event was filled with
some of the top teams. Bowman is
even more pleased with Michigan's
showing given that Michigan is in
the heart of its training regimen.
"We have trained extremely
hard recently," Bowman said. "It is
great to have our guys go out and
swim like they did at the peak of
their training."
Bowman was recently named
National Coach of the Year at
USA Swimming's Golden Goggle
Awards. Assistant coach Michael
Phelps, who also received two
awards, accompanied him at the
podium. Bowman attributed the
award to his team's hard work over
the past several years.
"It was the swimmers who real-
ly worked hard, and it was simply
though their work and dedication
that I received this award," Bow-
man said.
Michigan will look to carry its
momentum into its next match
against the Mexican National
Team on Jan. 2.
Co-captain Ryan Churella was one of two wrestlers to win individual titles at the
Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas. The team finished second.
Bluefnishes
second out west
Season over:
Spikers fall short
in upset attempt
By ANDY REID
Daily Sports Writer
Last year, the Michigan vol-
leyball team experienced a sea-
son-long theme of frustration and
heartache.
A losing record, no tournament
bid and an overall bad taste in
their mouths led the Wolverines
to set one goal for the 2006 sea-
son:
Play in December.
The team accomplished that
goal by the slimmest of margins,
losing in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament to Cal Poly 3-
1 on Dec. 1.
But before they played the
match, the Wolverines had to play
the waiting game. The days prior
to it seemed to go by slower and
slower.
"We got out (to San Luis Obispo,
Calif.) pretty early on Wednes-
day," junior Lyndsay Miller said.
"I was so excited to play. I spent
the whole time just itching to get
- out there on the court."
Finally, on Friday night, in
front of nearly 3,000 energized
Cal Poly fans - the largest crowd
ever to watch a volleyball game in
Mott Gym - the Wolverines took
the court for their first NCAA
' Tournament match since 2004.
Game one showcased a high
level of play from both sides of
the net, but the Mustangs strung
together four small runs that the
Wolverines couldn't find answers
to, and Cal Poly took the game 30-
23.
"We came out in game one
pretty timid," freshman Megan
Bower said. "We didn't really
know what to expect (from Cal
Poly), and they just played much
steadier than us."
Like its play during the Big Ten
season, Michigan started slowly
but soon regained its composure.
The Wolverines came out swing-
ing in game two, dedicated to put-
ting themselves back into position
to upset Cal Poly (13-1 Big West,
23-5 overall).
All year, Michigan has thrived
when playing the role of the
aggressor. Friday night was
no different. With their backs
against the wall, the Wolverines
went on a killing spree, recording
21 of their 58 total kills in the sec-
ond game.
Along with the forceful offen-
sive play, Michigan's defense set-
tled down and played a steadier
game. Cal Poly couldn't penetrate
the stout Wolverine defense, tal-
lying just 10 kills in the 30-26
Michigan win.
"I was impressed by our team's
ability to respond to Cal Poly's
start," Michigan coach Mark
Rosen said. "After a tough first
game, we were able to find a way
to fight back."
Michigan had Cal Poly on its
toes, but wasn't able to capitalize
on the momentum gained in game
two.
The Mustangs followed a com-
mon strategy in game three that
Michigan was forced to deal with
often toward the end of the sea-
son: key on junior Katie Bruzdz-
inski.
Cal Poly began to set up triple
blocks on the left side of the net in
an attempt to slow down the All-
Big Ten first teamer's offensive
output.
The strategy worked, and Bru-
zdzinski, who broke the Michi-
gan single-season kill record with
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
Two stars were shining for the
Wolverines this past weekend as
Josh Churella and Eric Tannen-
baum each placed first in their
respective weight classes. The Star
of the Desert Arena was the host for
the No. 8 Michigan wrestling team
as they finished second at the Cliff
Keen Invitational in Primm, Nev.
At 149 pounds, Churella is now
one of just five Wolverine wres-
tlers ever to have won two Cliff
Keen Invitational individual titles.
Churella also improved his Cliff
Keen Invitational record to 10-0.
"Josh Churella made great
adjustments with Cornell's Jordan
Leen," Michigan coach Joe McFar-
land said. "He really wrestled a per-
feet match today in the semifinals.
He's really paying attention."
Churella's semi-final match with
Leen was more than just a match; it
was a second chance. Leen beat him
in the previous match between the
two. After that, Churella spent time
working to correct his mistakes.
Luckily for Churella, he got anoth-
er opportunity to wrestle Leen and
took full advantage of it.
"I think I did a good job correct-
ing those mistakes," Churella said,
"I used a different strategy, and
it worked in this tournament. So
hopefully I'm on the righttrack."
Churella used the momen-
tum from the win against Leen in
the finals against Harvard's J.P.
O'Conner. In the first half of the
match, Churella's single-leg shots
were not working, which forced
him to make some adjustments. So
Churella used his double-leg take-
down, which helped him enough to
take the match and the title.
At 165 pounds, Tannenbaumwas
in complete control throughout
the majority of his final match and
eventually took down Missouri's
top-seeded Matt Pell. The match
did tighten up toward the end when
Tannenbaum had difficulty getting
up off the mat. But Tannenbaum
found a way to escape just as time
was expiring.
"The biggest accomplishment,
I always think, is beating people
ranked above me," Tannenbaum
said. "But here this weekend there
really wasn't anyone ranked above
me. It justified that my placing
should be above (Matt) Pell. Rank-
ings don't matter, but for NCAA
seeding they obviously do matter at
the end of the year. So it's definitely,
good to knock off the guys ranked
above you."
Missouri went on to win the
tournament by an astounding
48 points over Michigan, but the
Naperville, Ill.native Tannenbaum
beat Missouri's top wrestler.
Other Wolverines had successas
well. Red-shirt sophomore Tyrel
Todd finished second in the 184-
pound weight class, and fifth-year
senior Mark Moos took fifth in the
125-pound weight class. Also fin-
ishing well was fifth-year. senior
Nick Roy, who finished sixth in the
197-pound weight class, and red-
shirt sophomore Steve Luke, who
finished eight in the 174-pound
weight class.
The Wolverines' success this sea-
son is partly because of their perfor-
mance in this type of tournament.
"I think from an individual
standpoint it gives us a much bet-
ter picture of what each wrestler
needs to work on, and that varies
from person to person," McFarland
said. "We as a coaching staff will
sit down with each of the guys who
were out here this weekend and
go over some things that we think
they need to work on. We definitely
made some good improvements
from a couple weeks ago. I think
these individual tournaments are
going to be really important for us
this year."
Churella and Tannenbaum will
try to follow McFarland's lead and
continue their success.
Junior Lyndsay Miller couldn't wait to get out on the court on Friday, but her excite-
ment couldn't help the Wolverines defeat Cal Poly
537, was limited to five kills in the
last two games combined. She
recorded 11 in the games prior to
intermission.
While Cal Poly's defense found
a way to stunt Michigan's best
offensive player, the Wolverines'
defense had no answer for the
Mustang's star, sophomore sensa-
tion Kylie Atherstone.
The 2006 Big West Co-Player
of the Year showed why she was
given the accolade, recording
24 kills in the match. Michigan
attempted several strategies to
slow her down, but was unsuc-
cessful in each attempt.
"(Atherstone) was like a kid
that gets a hot hand in basketball,"
Rosen said. "He keeps making
shots and you can't do anything
to stop him."
Bruzdzinksi's absence on
offense and the overwhelming
power of Atherstone's blazing
the tournament in the opening
round.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't
pull one out tonight," Miller said.
"I know we're going to go into
next year with a pretty big chip
on our shoulder, though."
Although the Wolverines
proved they could compete with
top-tier teams at points through-
out the season, Rosen said they
often lacked the consistency that
makes good teams great.
That consistencycould improve
immensely next season with the
amount of talent returning and
the chip on their collective shoul-
der.
"We're going to work our butts
off in the offseason," Bower said.
"We're not coming to this tour-
nament next year and losing like
this again."
I I
'M' enjoys dominating win over EMU
By DAVID RUSSELL 400-yard medley relays. by Brunemann and sophomore Hannah Smith,
Daily Sports Writer Sophomore Emily Brunemann was another respectively.
key contributor for the Wolverines. She won One Wolverine was busier than her team-
The No. 10 Michigan Women's Swimming the 400-yard individual medley and the 500- mates this weekend. Junior Valeria Silva
and Diving team took advantage of some yard freestyle and swam the third leg of the competed at the U.S. Open in West Lafay-
weaker opponents this weekend. winning 800-yard freestyle team. ette. She missed making the finals of the
The Wolverines won 16 of 18 races to earn But Michigan was not able to extend its 100-meter breaststroke by two tenths of a
a total of 1,192 points, easily besting second- winning ways to the two diving events. Soph- second. Silva was the only Michigan swim-
place Eastern Michigan (879) at the Eastern omore Colleen Emaus finished fifth in the mer to go to West Lafayette, but she rejoined
Michigan Invitational this weekend. three-meter dive and came in sixth in the one- the team for the weekend to compete in the
Michigan won 11 of 13 events on Saturday. meter dive on Friday. Both finishes were team invitational.
Kaitlyn Brady led the way for the Wolver- highs. The Wolverines get to enjoy the rest of the
ines. The senior finished first in the 100-yard The Wolverines won five of six races and holiday season over the next six weeks before
butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. She also swept the top three spots in the 1,650-yard they host the Michigan Invitational at Can-
swam on winning teams in the 200-yard and freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke, won ham Natatorium on Jan. 12 and 13.
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