The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday. March 11. 2008 -- 9
Knee surgery may not
keep Merritt sidelined
Senior expected to
miss rest of season
could return for Big
Ten tournament
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Making senior David Mer-
ritt one of the Wolverines avail-
able to the media before Friday's
practice seemed like a curious
choice.
Just two days after senior
David Merritt hurt his knee
against Ohio State about a month
ago, Michigan coach John Beilein
said in an athletic department
release that the guard's season
was over.
Merritt tried to get under
a screen against the Buckeyes
when his knee locked. His menis-
cus tore, flipped over and got
stuck between bones.
"I still contested the shot
after it had locked out, but then
I couldn't extend my knee all the
way," Merritt said.
Merritt thought he wouldn't
play anymore, but instead of
repairing the meniscus and wait-
ing for it to heal, which takes four
to six months, it was removed in
Feb. 20, which shortened his
recovery time.
Merritt wore a practice jersey
Friday but said he was just rehab-
bing. When asked if he might play
again this year, he said, "We'll
see" with a grin.
The West Bloomfield native
was on the court for about 30
minutes before Sunday's game
against Purdue, running sprints
and making cuts before his team-
mates took the floor for warm-
ups.
He high-fived and chatted
with them and also participated
in some of the group warm-up.
He seemed to move with ease,
saying he felt "pretty good" and
didn't feel the knee too much.
Although Merritt is worried
about his conditioning, Beilein
said it would be great if Merritt
were cleared to play even spot
minutes in the Big Ten Tourna-
ment.
The Wolverines, who tipoff
the tournament against Iowa
Thursday, need help in the back-
court. Michigan's guards (fresh-
men Manny Harris and Kelvin
Grady and redshirt junior C.J.
Lee) combined for 13 points, four
rebounds, seven assists and 16
turnovers against Purdue.
Beilein said earlier in the sea-
son that he wishes he had more
time to work with Merritt.
But because Merritt walked
on to the team last year, he has
another season of eligibility
remaining.
Although Merritt said there's
a 50-50 chance he'll be on the
team next year, he participated
in Senior Day activities Sunday.
He said it felt a bit strange know-
ing it might not be his last game
at Crisler Arena.
Merritt said he and Beilein
haven't had any long conversa-
tions abouthis return,butthey've
had some short talks.
For Merritt, the decision par-
tially depends on whether he
can find a good job. He plans to
graduate in May and is pursuing
a career in advertising or market-
ing.
Beilein said he'll have to assess
the team's scholarship situation
and what type of players he'll
bring in for next year to see how
Merritt would fit. Two fresh-
men guards will join the Wolver-
ines, and Arizona-transfer Laval
Lucas-Perry will be eligible to
play by midseason.
Indiana native Zack Novak
committed to Michigan Friday,
according to nwi.com. The 6-
foot-4 swingman averages 26.9
points per game. He also had
offers from Valparaiso, Colorado
State, Oakland and Indiana-Pur-
due Fort Wayne, according to the
website.
Another Indianan, guard Stu
Douglass, has already signed a
letter of intent to play for the
Wolverines next year.
ALL-BIG TEN HONORS: Har-
ris made the All-Big Ten second
team and All-Freshman team.
Sophomore center Ekpe Udob
earned All-Defensive team
recognition. The coaches gave
sophomore forward DeShawn
Sims an honorable mention.
Senior Ron Coleman won the Big
Ten Sportsmanship Award for
Michigan.
RODRIGO GAYA/Daily
Freshman Scooter Vaughan is unlikely to play this weekend after breaking his jaw in an of f-ice incident.
Defense adjusts to
Vaughan's injury
In words and actions, Kelly
emerges as quiet leader
Teammates look
to sophomore for
emotional support
By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
When senior Justine Mueller
nears the end of her grueling 32
50-meter repeats at practice, she
has to push to finish. Then she
hears sopho-
more Mar- KELLY
garet Kelly's
encourage-
ment from
the pool
deck.
That voice
makes all the
difference. YEAR: Soph.
"It can be HOMETOWN:
the light at Ann Arbor
the end of
the tunnel EVENTS:
some days," 2001M
Mueller 100 Fly
said.
After
claiming
conference titles and breaking
records, Kelly has a lot left over
- for her teammates. A quiet
leader, the Ann Arbor native can
almost always been seen with a
smile, ready to provide positive
motivation.
"Definitely a silent leader,"
Mueller said. "(She) just really
can bring light to anyone's day."
Kelly brings her upbeat atti-
tude to the pool day every day.
Even through tough workouts,
she consistently finds a way to
make sure her fellow swimmers
are excited about swimming.
Kelly's kind words and posi-
tive attitude radiate with her
teammates. In and out of the
pool, Kelly makes it a priority to
support her teammates and takes
concern for their well-being.
"Whenever I'm having a bad
day, I'm just like, 'Margaret, I
need a hug,' and so she'll give you,
one of those 'mom hugs,' " junior
Emily Brunemann said. "She's
very good with those, and those
really brighten up your day."
Kelly said she gives out hugs to
teammates that may benefit from
one, but really just "anything to
help them out."
The athletic training major
says she tries to take the team's
philosophy of turning negative
energy or experiences into posi-
tive ones.
"She's got wonderful balance
in her life," Michigan coach Jim
Richardson said. "But I think
to Margaret, people are more
important than things or swim-
ming."
But Kelly's teammates and
coaches are not the only people
to take notice of her optimistic
spirit.
Kelly has amassed a slew of
honors this season, including
beingnamedtheBigTen Champi-
onship meet's highest scorer. She
also received the Big Ten Sports-
manship award last month.
"It's just an honor to get that
award, to know that people notice
maybe when you're nicer to other
teammates or just congratulate
everyone," Kelly said.
Kelly's modesty and posi-
tive demeanor don't sway with
a tough meet or practice. She
makes the best of the situation,
and finds a way to use it to her
advantage.
"On days when she's fatigued,
she's just more determined,"
Richardson said.
Kelly's quiet leadership may
not make a lot of noise, but her
swimming definitely screams.
She won three Big Ten titles at
last month's conference cham-
pionships and has recorded the
eighth fastest time in the nation
in 200-yard individual and sixth
in the 100-yard butterfly.
At the NCAA Championships
March 20-22 at Ohio State's
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, the
crowd will be one of the loudest
of the season. But the Wolver-
ines won't need to look far to find
their biggest cheerleader. She's
been there all along.
Senior forward
Kolarik's return
looks more likely
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan's worst-case defensive
scenario is quickly becoming a real-
ity.
After Kevin NOTEBOOK
Quick was dis-
missed from the team Feb. 1, the
Wolverines' roster went down to
six game-tested defensemen. Now,
that number stands at five.
Freshman defenseman Scooter
Vaughan broke his jaw in an off ice
incident, wrestling with a team-
mate late last week. He underwent
surgery yesterday afternoon, but
is unlikely to return for this week-
end's CCHA quarterfinal series
against Nebraska-Omaha.
"Just the pain factor from the
surgery today, he won't be skating
(today) or Wednesday," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said. "Maybe
he will skate Thursday, but it will
be a huge question mark this week-
end."
Berenson said Vaughan could
be back this season because he had
screws and plates inserted in the
jaw, rather than having it wired
shut.
Without Vaughan, the coach-
ing staff is quickly moving to its
backup plans and beyond. The
defensive pairings were adjusted
for yesterday's practice with junior
Mark Mitera, Vaughan's pair mate,
skating alongside freshman Chad
Langlais. Sophomore Steve Kamp-
fer and freshman Tristin Llewellyn
were paired. The final duo featured
sophomores Chris Summers ,and
Eric Elmblad.
Elmblad, a walk-on from St.
Ignace, appears to be the leading
candidate to fill Vaughan's spot,
except for his inexperience. Elm-
blad has never played in a college
game.
"I feel like I'm ready," Elmblad
said. "I'm practicing with the best
team in the country every day."
But the coaches aren't guaran-
teeing the spot to Elmblad. Junior
forward Danny Fardig skated as a
defenseman yesterday and could be
on the blueline if the coaches don't
feel Elmblad is ready to jump in to
the fray for a playoff series.
Fardig last played defense dur-
ing the Great Lakes Invitational
his freshman year. He called those
two games an "eye-opening experi-.
ence."
"Eric's the defenseman, and
he'll have a leg up as far as play-
ing," assistant coach Billy Powers
said. "But Danny has played some
defense in the past, and he actually
looked pretty good (yesterday)."
Fardig has always been a defen-
sive-minded forward, and spent
much of yesterday's practice next to
Mitera, looking for tips and asking
questions. But he'll have to learn as
much as he can quickly.
Vaughan's injury came at the
worst possible time for Michigan.
Nebraska-Omaha has the nation's
12th-best offense, so an inexperi-
enced defenseman will be in a par-
ticularlydifficultspotthisweekend.
Additionally, the Mavericks' lead-
ing scorer, Bryan Marshall, is likely
to be back for the series after suf-
feringa knee injury Feb. 15.
KOLARIK BACK ON TOP LINE:
Senior alternate captain Chad
Kolarik is closing in on a return for
this weekend's series. Kolarik, who
went down with a serious ham-
string injury while stretching for
a puck Feb. 15, skated with the top
line in yesterday's practice.
"I like the direction he's gone,"
Berenson said. "He's made sig-
nificant strides to get where he is
now."
Kolarik has been undergoing
treatment twice a day since he suf-
fered the injury.
For the past week, he has con-
centrated on regaining his endur-
ance, after spending more than two
weeks off the ice. Kolarik will also
work on getting back into contact
drills during practice this week.
Ultimately, the decision of
whether to put Kolarik back in the
lineup will be made by Kolarik,
Berenson and trainer Rick Ban-
croft. But Kolarik is feeling better
every day.
"It's not 100 percent, but it's get-
ting there," Kolarik said.
PACIORETTY NAMED TO
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Freshman
Max Pacioretty was named to the
CCHA All-Rookie Team yesterday.
Pacioretty was the only Wolverine
named to the team and was one of
two unanimous selections. With
a talented 12-member freshman
class, Michigan had the numbers to
fill much more of the rookie squad.
After thriving in one-arm routine, Baldus-Strauss joins regular event lineup
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
For most athletes, getting hurt
means sitting out.
But for freshman Ben Baldus-
Strauss, it meant learning to do floor
exercise on just one good arm.
After sustaining a mysterious
injury on the pommel horse in
November, Baldus-Strauss's right
wrist was useless for more than a
month. Even with multiple X-rays
and an MRI, doctors weren't sure
what was wrong and eventually
just immobilized the wrist. Baldus-
Strauss, normally an all-arounder,
couldn't practice pommel horse,
rings, parallel bars or high bar, all
of which require both arms for sup-
port.
one-handed floor routines were
his only option, and he poured all
his energy and focus into the event
- with the occasional one-handed
vault thrown in for good measure.
"He was doing things he had
never done on two hands, on one
hand," sophomore Evan Heiter
said.
Baldus-Strauss performed one-
handed in the floor exercise in the
Maize and Blue intrasquad, but
never in the regular season.
Once he could use both arms
again, Baldus-Strauss made his
season debut at Oklahoma and then
made major contributions in the
team's win at Iowa, Feb. 2. After
a somewhat shaky first meet, he
provided counting scores on pom-
mel horse and high bar against the
Hawkeyes.
The pressure was on in Iowa City
- Baldus-Strauss performed later
in event lineups, often after mul-
tiple teammates had missed their
sets. And many family members,
including his parents, were there to
watch.
"It's a lot different when you're
later on and you know you have to
hit," Baldus-Strauss said. "I felt
really good on the bar, just because I
knew I had to hit."
His high bar routine, one of the
few clean ones in the meet, was one
of the keys to Michigan's win. Since
then, Baldus-Strauss has become a
regular contributor in the floor,
pommel horse and high bar line-
ups.
While many in the gymnastics
community may have overlooked
Baldus-Strauss, instead focus-
ing on his prominent classmates,
Thomas Kelley and Chris Camer-
on, his teammates noticed the quiet
freshman's talent from day one.
"He's probably one of the most
talented people we have in here,"
junior Joe Catrambone said. "If
you tell him to try a new skill, he'll
master it on the first try."
Baldus-Strauss's impressive
drive for perfection extends to his
schoolwork. If you can't find him
on weekends, junior Scott Breg-
man advised, just look for him in
the Law Quad.
His diligence has paid off - in
his first semester at Michigan, he
earned a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Growing up in Wheaton, Ill.,
Baldus-Strauss tried "every sport
under the sun," including tennis,
tee-ball, football and ice hockey.
But something finally clicked for
the seven-year-old as he watched
men's gymnastics during the 1996
Olympics.
He signed up for gymnastics
classes that day and never looked
back.
"We just happened to have a
gym five minutes from our house,"
Baldus-Strauss said. "It's probably
the best decision I ever made."
His teammates would second
that.
"I think he really stayed under
the radar in terms of being one of
those big-name, bells-and-whistles
recruits," Heiter said. "But in the
end, he's one of our most talented
guys and he could easily be an All-
American many times by the time
his career is over."
RODRIGO GAYA/Daily
Freshman Ben Baldus-Strauss suffered an injury on the pommel horse in Novem-
ber, but he's bounced back for Michigan, even on the pommel horse.