10A - Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Turf wars: M'-Nine
slides m on carpet
The Michigan men's gymnastics team hopes to bounce back from a disappointed finis
last year's NCAA 7
Blue wants big revenge
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
Since April 7, 2006 - the day
the Michigan men's gymnastics
team had to watch six other teams
compete for the
National Title
- the Wolverines Michigan
have dedicated at NCAS
themselves to get-
tingbacktoNCAA Matchup:
team finals. Michigan
This weekend, vs. NCAAs
they'll find out
if all their hard rWhen:aurs
work will pay off.
"It feels great Where: Rec-
(to be going back reation Hall,
to NCAAs)," Penn State
junior Dan Rais
said. "We worked
very hard because of last year, end-
ing up eighth place. Michigan is
better than that."
Thebulletinboard at the practice
gym is usually cluttered with vari-
ous announcements, clippings and
tentative lineups. Now, it is almost
completely cleaned off, making
the new "flashcards," outlined in
fluorescent yellow, stand out even
more.
"BLAME NO ONE," they
instruct. "BLAME NOTHING. BE
PREPARED TO HANDLE EVERY-
THING."
After posting the cards, Michi-
gan coach Kurt Golder spoke to his
team about adding just a few tenths
of a point to each event score - most
times, not even enough to match the
top mark of the season.
"Kurt went through each event
and told us what he thought
we were capable of scoring,"
senior Aaron Rakes said. "Every-
thing was so realistic. When he put
up the totals, it was much higher
than we've been scoring recently."
The gymnasts will need to walk a
fine line between trying their hard-
est and remaining relaxedeenough to
hit their routines. At Big Tens, they
shifted too far in the first direction.
Afraid of snaking mistakes, they
competed tentatively and finished
fourth. Several Wolverines felt the
team suffered from a collective lack
of confidence.
After the team returned to Ann
Arbor, sophomore Jamie Thomp-
son held up a T-shirt in practice. A
friend had printed the words "Big
Ten Champ" on it before the team
even competed.
"That's how much confidence
this school has inus, and our friends
and our family," Thompson said.
"We have to go out there with that
same confidence people have in us.
We are the best team; we just have
to do it."
Because it dropped to No. 5 after
Big Tens, Michigan is in Session I
of team qualifiers, along with No.
1 Ohio State, No. 4 Stanford, No. 8
Illinois, No. 9 Iowa and No.12 Army.
The team will begin the competi-
tion on the high bar.
The top 12 teams in the nation
were invited to NCAAs, with six
competingineachsession onThurs-
day. The top three teams from Ses-
sion I, as well as the top three from
Session I, held later that evening,
will compete for the National Title
on Friday night. Michigan has beat-
en every team in its session at least
once this season except one (the
Wolverines never competed against
Army).
To prepare for the order of events,
the noise and general pressure of
NCAAs, the team held mock team
qualifiers on Thursday. No detail
was overlooked, from playing the
national anthem and wearing com-
petition unifooiis to stopping the
flow of the mascot with a "TV time-
out." Above evcrything, a crowd
noise soundtirac uzzed, letting
fly every few minutes with a hearty,
"BtO!" - a fairly accurate simula-
tion of what Michigan will hear in
Penn State's tiny, packed-to-the-
gills Recreation Hall this weekend.
Throughout the mock-NCAAs,
thegymnasts cheered each other on.
Most important, they hit their rou-
tines in the clutch instead of allow-
ing misses to snowball. Michigan
posted a217.4- probably enough to
put the team through to the finals,
but most likely not enough to win a
championship.
Although it was only practice,
Golder is optimistic about the ses-
sion as well as starting on high bar.
Competing in the afternoon session
will allow M ichigan more time to
recover bctfoore oam finals. Despite
recent strcigglos on high bar, the
event was a strength in both the
mock NCAAs and the early part of
the season.
"If we just get off to a good start,
we can get so much momentum,"
Golder said. "We'ol just be flying
going into floor.
Momentum and confidence will
be the key at NCAAs. If Michigan
competes all out to its full potential,
the Wolveriiss are certain they can
top any tcai in the country.
"I oi't t hink anyone's count-
ing Lis out right ow, but I don't
think anyone is e>po ctiing us to win
either," soomiore Joe Catrambone
said. "I doiislitely think we're in the
verge of w'iiiinsg this and shocking
a lot oftpeole."
Said'I Tlompso: "'ise can win.
We just gott.a. oeli ce."
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Writer
YPSILANTI - Rubber pel-
lets went flying when junior Nate
Recknagel slid into second base.
Instead of
kicking up NOTEBOOK
clouds of dirt
yesterday, the Wolverines played
on artificial grass.
Eastern Michigan's Oestrike
Stadium has an artificial turf
infield and a grass outfield - and
the dirtless basepaths made for
an interesting sliding experience
during the doubleheader.
"You have to slide at least 10
feet before the bag," Recknagel
said. "(Playing on turf) is very
rare - it's weird."
Recknagel said he has played
on an all-turf infield just once in
his career, which was during his
freshman year. The Wolverines
practiced on a field with partially
artificial grass as part of their
preseason training.
The stability of turf allows
players to run faster, and some
line drives that usually escape an
infielder can be retrieved because
of the increased traction.
During the games, Michigan
players slid farther and faster
than usual and some narrowly
avoided sliding past the base.
"Careful with the Slip 'n' Slide!"
a Michigan player yelled from the
dugout after Recknagel's play.
AN UNLIKELY BREAK: In the
third inning of yesterday's sec-
ond game, junior Doug Pickens
cracked a hard grounder to cen-
ter.
So hard, in fact, that it cracked
his bat - an aluminum bat.
"When I hit (the ball), it made
a weird sound and it felt a lot dif-
Junior Nate Recknagel and the Wolverines were in for a surprise when they
played on Eastern Michigan's artificial turf field yesterday.
ferent, so I just put it down and early in the season, he has been
started running," Pickens said. "I the Wolverines' designated hit-
cracked (the bat) straight down ter, garnering a.400 batting aver-
the barrel." age in'10 at-bats and tallying two
Aluminum bats tend to shatter home runs. His leftfield debut
in cold weather. Pickens said the came in yesterday's second game.
team breaks about five to six bats VanBuskirk still sports a large
a year, mostly during winter prac- ankle brace at the plate. During
tices. Temperatures in the high last Tuesday's game against Cen-
30s during the game contributed tral Michigan, he was atbat when
to the almost foot-long fracture. a foul tip hit him on the top of his
Recknagel, who retrieved foot. The incident didn't affect
Pickens's bat following the at-bat, his status for yesterday's games,
examined the damage and turned which ended up great news for
toward the dugout. "Bus-ted!" he Michigan fans.
sang cheerfully, holding the bat VanBuskirk tallied a pair of
in his right hand. doubles and three RBI in two
"He completely demolished it, games yesterday.
but he got a hit," Recknagel said, "It felt good to actually be able
laughing. "It was pretty cool. You to contribute somewhat on the
never get to see that." defensive end," VanBuskirk said.
FIELDING GOOD: Junior Derek "(Being the designated hitter) is
VanBuskirk is finally back in the fine too, but being out in the field,
field. you just feel like you're more a
While recovering from injury part of everything."
0
secondday surge yields big win
After the first day of the Indi-
ana Invitational, the Michigan
women's golf team sat in fourth
place. Not had in a field of 17.
But the Wolverines weren't
satisfied and charged to a tourna-
ment victory with a team score of
295 on the second day. The set-
ond-round team total was the best
round for any team in the tourna-
ment.
It was Michigan's second tour-
nament win of the season. The
Wolverines were victorious in
their own tournament, the Wol-
verine Invitational, last October.
Freshman Ashley Bauer led
Michigan with a tie for the fourth
best individual score (148). Senior
Ali Stinson was the Wolverines'
other top-10 finisher, coming in
sixth two strokes behind Bauer.
The victory was an important
step for Michigan as it heads into
postseason play. The Big Ten
Championships will be held in
East Lansing April 27 to 29.
M
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Best Bank/Credit Union TF Bank
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1
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