6B - November 17, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Boylan steals show in first
career game for Michigan
Freshman scores 18
points in Michigan's
win over Kentucky
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan coach Kevin Borseth
has been looking for a dynamicscor-
er for his team ever since he arrived
in Ann Arbor last year.
His search might be over.
Freshman guard Courtney Boy-
lan racked up 18 points on seven
shots and went 4-4 from 3-point
range in her first college game, a
70-60 win at Kentucky on Saturday.
It was an impressive individual per-
formance, but Boylan credited her
teammates with her strong debut.
"A lot of it had to do with my
teammates penetrating to the bas-
ket," she said. "I was left open on the
outside, and I just knocked down
the shots."
Playing down her accomplish-
ment was the theme of the night,
and Michigan coach Kevin Borseth
got in on the act.
"She kind of gave us a lift, hit
some open shots," he said. "We have
got to be able to shoot, and she's one
kid that can do it."
As she did in Michigan's exhibi-
tion against Northwood a week ear-
lier, Boylan came off the bench and
played significant minutes - 25 at
Kentucky.
Except for Boylan's18, Michigan's
scoring was quite balanced. Senior
forward Melinda Queen, junior cen-
ter Krista Phillips and senior point
guard Jessica Minnfield each tallied
double-digits.
The scoring load may have been
shared, but it didn't show up on the
stat sheet. Michigan had just six
assists the whole game, something
Borseth seemed concerned about.
"You get assists when you're dis-
tributing the ball and you're creat-
ing for each other," Borseth said.
"And that's a statistic we obviously
pay a whole lot of attention to."
Defensively, Michigan was con-
cerned with stopping the Wildcat
slashers from penetrating and get-
ting baskets in the paint.
On Saturday, Phillips stood in
the way of any Kentucky player
who tried to drive the lane. The
6-foot-6 Phillips blocked six shots,
while junior forward Stephanie
Skrba contributed two rejections of
her own.
"That's where they do all their
damage, right in that lane," Borseth
said. "It's good to have a big kid
down there, and those two came up
pretty big."
Though Michigan's interior
players were in position to block
shots, they couldn't manage to col-
lect many offensive rebounds. The
Wolverines had just five second-
chance baskets, compared to 19 for
Kentucky.
Borseth said his players were
very tentative on the glass.
The Wildcats (0-1) were led by
sophomore Victoria Dunlap's 19
points and 10 rebounds, but the
rest of the team struggled. No other
Kentucky player scored more than
eight points.
A lot of that had to do with
Michigan stepping up defensively,
forcing 21 Kentucky turnovers and
holding the Wildcats to a 32 per-
cent shooting clip for the game.
The Wolverines fared much better
from the field, shooting exactly 50
percent.
The Wolverines (1-0) travel to
Ohio to play Akron (1-0) tonight.
Last year, they beat the Zips hand-
ily behind departed senior Ta'Shia
Walker's 17 points.
And while the Wolverines may
have lost Walker, it looks like they
may have gained a new scorer in
Boylan.
Freshman forward Courtney Boylan, pictured here in Michigan's exhibiti
last week, emerged asa shooting threat this weekend for the Wolverines.
With two runners out,
'M' earns NCAA bid
ByKEVIN RAFTERY
For theDaily
The Michigan men's cross coun-
try team was without two of its top
five runners for the Great Lakes
Regional race in West Lafayette on
Saturday, and it had to find a way to
secure a bid to next week's NCAA
Championship Meet.
Junior Brandon Fellows, the
Wolverines' fifth runner, was
scratched the week before the race
with a stiff knee and replaced by
freshman Bobby Aprill. Senior Jus-
tin Switzer, the team's No. 2 fin-
isher at the Big Ten Championships
two weeks earlier, did not run to
preserve himself for the finals.
Michigan's new top five runners
had to step up big for the Wolver-
ines, as only the top two finishing
teams automatically qualify for
next week's finals. And they did
just that. On a cold and rainy day,
with temperatures in the high 30s,
the ninth-ranked Wolverines fin-
ished second out of 28 teams to
clinch an invitation to the NCAA
Championships on Nov. 24 in Terre
Haute, Ind.
Senior captain Lex Williams
led Michigan with an eighth-place
finish (31:42.5). Sophomore Cia-
ran O'Lionaird, junior Sean McNa-
mara and sophomore Craig Forys
all finished within two-tenths of a
second behind Williams, finishing
ninth, 10th and 11th. Senior Seth
Thibodeau rounded out the scoring
for the Wolverines, finishing 24th
(32:05) in the 10,000-meter race.
"The race plan was to stay, hang
out, run together in a group," Mich-
igan head coach Ron Warhust said.
"And that's exactly what we did."
Williams, who finished last for
the Wolverines just a week before
at the Big Ten Championships,
knew what he had to do to improve
his finish this week.
"I had a plan in my head to go
out real conservative, and then I
saw the three guys (McNamara,
O'Lionaird and Forys) working up
front," Williams said. "I worked my
way up to them at about the 6K, and
then we were together for the rest
of the race."
The strategy worked, and it also
helped Michigan to stay fresh for
the finals. The Wolverines ran com-
fortably and should all be available
for next week.
Wisconsin won the region for
the 10th straight year, finishing
23 points in front of second-place
Michigan. The top two teams in
the region automatically qualify for
next week's finals.
"Coming out of it, not running
your number two and five (run-
ners), and then running the way we
did, it was the best run we've had
so far this year," Warhurst said.
"Hopefully, we can capitalize on it
and have the best run of the year
next week."
Junior Jennifer Morgan, seen here at the Big Ten charpionships, finished a career-best 17th at the Great Lakes Regional.
Blue wins regional despite
lost shoes and muddy course
Assistant coach returns to wrestling
mat in lineup-setting intrasquad
By MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Writer
At the Maize and Blue Intrasquad
tournament yesterday, the Wolver-
ines grappled for starting spots and
experience in a dual-meet format.
But for Wolverine assistant coach
Mike Kulczycki, it was also a chance
to compete on a familiar mat.
Kulczycki, in his fifth season as
an assistant coach for the eighth-
ranked Wolverines, last wrestled in
Cliff Keen Arena on his senior night
in 2003.
"When I was walking out there I
was like, 'What am I doing?' "Kul-
czycki said. "Last time I competed
out here it was my senior year, I had
a bad knee and then I sprained my
ankle....I had to walk off of the mat.
I thought I should give it one more
hoorah."
Kulcyzcki challenged fifth-year
senior and two-time All-American
Steve Luke, who was left with no
opponent after a forfeit. The match
was supposed to take place in the
back room, but in an impromptu
decision, they took the mat in front
of the crowd in between the other
bouts.
"To me it is important that (Luke)
had a good, hard match before we
open up next week on the road,"
Michigan coach Joe McFarland
said.
Luke scored a quick two points
with a double legtakedown, but the
nimble coach scored two escapes
and had the match tied up midway
through. After a couple of ques-
tionable stalling calls facilitated by
McFarland, who was yelling for the
calleventhoughhe was coachingfor
Luke's team, Kulczycki found him-
self down one point with seconds
remaining. But Kulczycki couldn't
get the final-second takedown as
the crowd cheered his efforts.
"Kulczycki is old, but he's still
tough," Luke said. "He's slick, I
wrestle him every day in practice,
and I mean I beat him every day in
practice, it is pretty close though."
But Kulczycki fired back.
"It's not over yet," Kulczycki said.
"I'm still getting back into wrestling
shape. I am trying to get my knee
healthy and I'll be ready to go."
The intrasquad was more than
just fun and games for the rest of
the team, with every spot but Steve
Luke's 174-pound slot and Kellen
Russell's 141-pound spot up for
grabs. For others, like Tyrel Todd
(197 pounds) and Michael Watts
(125 pounds), the wrestle-offs were
a mere formality and a warmup for
the start of Michigan's dual-meet
season this weekend, when they
take on Lehigh and No. 24 Penn.
Six underclassmen won start-
ing spots including true freshman
Zac Stevens (133 pounds) and red-
shirt freshman Justin Zeerip (165
pounds).
Todd said it was a nice warmup
and some good experience for the
team.
"For a lot of our guys, it was the
first time competing an hour after
weigh-ins," McFarland said. "Our
guys have done a great job with
that, so I wanted to see how sharp
they were. I liked their aggressive-
ness.".
Edwards leads
bounce back from
disappointing finish
two weeks ago
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
Junior Jennifer Morgan
crossed the finish line Saturday
in the NCAA Great Lakes Region-
als with two fewer items than she
started with.
After some soft mud pulled
her heels out of her shoes, Mor-
gan kicked them to the sideline
halfway through the race and ran
the rest of the race barefoot, still
managing to place 17th, a personal
best.
"(My shoes) had been half-on
and half-off for two miles at that
point and I was really frustrat-
ed so I just kicked them off and
went," Morgan said. "It is kind of
funny, looking back on it, but it
was fine and we won. That is all
that matters."
An injury kept Morgan from
racing in the race the past two
seasons, and she was just happy to
be healthy enough to compete this
year, no matter the challenging
conditions.
Navigating the West Lafayette
varsity course was especially dif-
ficult after torrential downpours
before the race left it soaked and
muddy.
"We will all be pulling the mud
off and spending some time in the
shower," Michigan coach Mike
McGuire said after the race. "The
course wasn't thick with grass and
it didn't handle the mud well. It
was definitely a mud bath, which
we have been exposed to, just not
in a long time."
The less-than-ideal conditions
did not faze the Wolverines, how-
ever, who placed first out of 34
teams. They earned an automatic
bid to the NCAA Championships
next Monday.
Luckily for all the runners, the
muddy course was mostly flat,
leaving fewer hills to navigate.
"Every turn and every down-
hill you had to be really careful
so you would not wipe out," Mor-
gan said. "It was fun though, real
cross country and terrible weath-
er, which we have not encoun-
tered much this year."
Ranked 17th nationally and
third in the Great Lakes Region,
the Wolverines are poised for a
strong finish to the season.
A strong team throughout the
year, Michigan was disappointed
after the Big Ten Championship
in which the Wolverines placed
fifth.
Michigan finished behind
Wisconsin and Michigan State at
the conference tournament, but
trampled both teams Saturday.
"The benchmark we have to
go from is that we beat Michigan
State," McGuire said.
The Wolverines' first-place
finish can be attributed to top
runner Nicole Edwards, a fifth-
year senior, who placed second
(20:57.4) behind Michigan State's
'Nicole Bush. Edwards has been a
key part of the Wolverines' suc-
cess all year, and after a disap-
pointing 24th-place finish at the
Big Ten meet, Edwards brought
the heat Saturday.
"I would have been very sur-
prised if she had not bounced
back," McGuire said. "She han-
dled the disappointment of the
Big Ten and put it behind her and
had a good two weeks of training
going into today."
And after the teams top finish
in the "mud bath," McGuire is
confident in Michigan's ability in
the most adverse of conditions."
"We are in the Midwest in
November," McGuire said. "Any-
thing can happen."
6
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0
Elements hamper meet
By NICOLE AUERBACH
and COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writers
Fighting against waves, bru-
tal winds and constant rain, the
Michigan women's rowing team
braved the elements in its final
outdoor race of 2008.
Competing in a casual event
against the Canadian national
squad and the Michigan men's
club team, the Wolverines partici-
pated in a meet unlike any other
Saturday morning in Belleville.
The three teams raced a com-
bined 17 boats, including three
novice women's eights and three
varsity women's eights. The wom-
en's boats received a head start in
the 2.5-mile competition.
Instead ofusing the usual deter-
mining factor, elapsed times, the
winner was chosen based on who
crossed the finish line first despite
the staggered start. The Michigan
women's first novice boat won the
race.
The weather was the biggest
obstacle for all teams. The waves
kept oars stuck in the water, forc-
ing the whole boats to pause and
retrieve them. Teams ended up
racing so close to each other that
rowers could exchange high-fives
across boats.
"Even though it was horribly
cold and we were shaking, and
people were talking about possibly
getting hypothermia, I think all in
all, it was fun," said senior rower
Kate Strzalkowski, who had only
seen the men's club team com-
pete once before Saturday. "With
tweaking next year, I'm hoping it
will continue as a tradition."