28 - November 24, 2008
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com f
- November 24, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 4
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COMMODORES
Prom Page l B
"I think our defense was abso-
lutely outstanding," Borseth said.
"In the half court, we were rock-
solid."
Vanderbilt forward Christina
Wirth, a preseason All-SEC selec-
tion and a candidate for conference
player of the year, was Michigan's
main concern defensively. The
Wolverines stepped up to the chal-
lenge, holding the senior to just six
points.
"She didn't get shots that she
normally gets from the perimeter,"
Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb
said. "But I think they did a good
job on her inside, as well."
The strong defensive effort
continued in the second half as
the Wolverine offense got going,
opening up their largest lead of
the game at 12.
The Commodores were switch-
ingtheir defense from zone to man
all afternoon, and even unveiled a
full-court press in the second half.
But the Wolverines remained rela-
tively unfazed.
"They did exactly what we
expected them to do," Borseth
said. "I think we did a pretty good
job with it and we played at our
pace."
Senior guard Jessica Minnfield
led Michigan with 14 points, but
Sorry, seniors: 'M'couldn't
give you a proper sendof
Senior Jessica Minnfield and the rest of the Wolverine defense shut dows Vander-
bilt yesterday.
it was her contribution as a floor
general that helped the Wol-
verines the most when she was
navigating through the full-court
press.
"I put it all on confidence, basi-
cally," she said. "Having my team-
mates have confidence in me."
There was typically balanced
scoring for Michigan, with senior
forward Stephany Skrba con-
tributing eight points on 4-5
shooting and Benson nearing a
double-double with 10 points and
nine rebounds. Sophomore guard
Veronica Hicks added seven.
After losing to 12th-ranked
Texas A&M at home on Thursday
by three points, Borseth speculat-
ed this win could do great things
for his team's confidence.
"It just showed that our kids can
play with a good, quality team," he
said. "And we need that."
Dear Seniors,
Well, that was it. Our last football
Saturday has come and gone. To
call the final go-round disappoint-
ing would be an understatement.
Many of us
came to Ann
Arbor look-
ing forward to
matchups with t
Ohio State more -
than any par-
ticular class or
degree.
But Michigan
football went SANDALS
0-4 against the
Buckeyes in the
last four years, and our memories of
the Saturday before Thanksgiving
especially won't be fond. We're the
second consecutive class of seniors
that will receive degrees without an
important part of the University of
Michigan experience - a win over
Ohio State.
Certainly, the five-year winless
streak against the Buckeyes is hard-
er to swallow for those who actu-
ally played in the game. But what
makes it difficult for us is that the
results have been entirely beyond
our control.
No matter how hard we cheered
or how much we cared, we couldn't
do anything to change the outcome
on the field.
We couldn't jump onto the field
to fill the gap and stop a long Beanie
Wells touchdown run (and we've
seen plenty of those). We couldn't
slap on pads and pass-block for a
harried quarterback. We couldn't
put on a headset and call plays.
We've invested a lot in our Mich-
igan football fandom over the past
four years and the results haven't
been what we expected.
There have been bright spots:
The 2005 last-second win over
Penn State. The unbeaten run to
Ohio State in 2006. The Capitol One
Bowl win against heavily favored
Florida in Lloyd Carr's last game.
The win over Wisconsin in Septem-
ber, the biggest comeback in Michi-
gan Stadium history.
We've seen more than our fair
share of low points, too: A 7-5 sea-
son our freshman year that includ-
ed a home loss to Minnesota. Two
losses to end a previously unbeaten
2006 season. Appalachian State.
Finishing 3-9 in 2008.
We've seen more Michigan foot-
ball losses in four years than any
group of seniors since the class of
1937.
The seniors on the football team
have talked a lot this year about
being able to vicariously enjoy the
success when the program turns
around. They've all maintained
they can still take some pleasure
knowing that they helped build the
foundation.
The general student population
won't be able to enjoy any future
success in the same way. Our con-
nection to the football program will
always be as alumni of the Univer-
sity, not as past participants. While
a successful team will be alot of fun
to watch in years to come, it won't
change the fact that we were on
campus for one of the worst four-
year stretches in program history. 4
There's no doubt this seniorclass
will be proud of its time at Michi-
gan. As students, we've attended
one of the world's finest universi-
ties. But will we be as proud of our
Michigan fandom in the years to 4
come?
I hope we will, because the link
we've had as fans is as strong as
any we've built on this campus. Our
Saturdays in fall, both good weath-
er or bad, drunk or sober, win or
lose, have been the only timeswe've
truly come together as a whole with
a common goal.
While the past four seasons
haven't played out the way we
would've liked, there's no denying
that they brought us together. And
that's something to be proud of.
-Sandals can be reached
at nsandals@umich.edu.
WOM EN'S SWIMMING A ND DIVING
Michigan's NCAA hopes
look bright after weekend
Tauro rises to the top,
hopes to shine at NCAAs
By RYAN A. PODGES
Daily Sports Writer
Tough competition is nothing
new for the No. 18 Michigan wom-
en's swimming and diving team.
Already this season, the Wolver-
ines have faced No. 3 Stanford, No.
4 Texas, No. 5 Florida, No. 9 Indi-
ana and No. 11 Minnesota.
So when Michigan entered the
three-day Art Adamson Invitation-
al at Texas A&M this weekend to
swim against No. 6 California, No.
8 Texas A&M and No. 14 Southern
Methodist, among others, Michigan
coach Jim Richardson was excited
to see how his battle-tested team
would respond to the meet's speed.
If Michigan's third-place per-
formance was any preview of the
NCAA Championship meet, which
will be held in the same pool, the
Wolverines are poised to have one
incredible meet.
"I can't honestly recall a better
swim meet for us in November,"
said Richardson, who is in his 24th
season as the Wolverines head
coach. "I couldn't be happier. We
try to swim intelligently, and when
you look at the way we swam and
the splits for each segment of the
race, I can't recall a better meet
than we've had even at the end of a
season. We just swam really well."
Junior Margaret Kelly had the
only first-place finish for Michigan
in the 200-yard individual medley.
Kelly also finished fifth in the 100-
yard freestyle with a personal-best
time of 49.33 and fourth in the 100-
yard butterfly.
Sophomore Natasha Moodie
broke 23 seconds in the 50-yard
freestyle twice in one night when
she led off the 200-yard freestyle
relay with a time of 22.7 and then
swam 22.8 in her individual event.
Richardson estimated her relay
split was one of the top four or five
swims in Michigan history.
Michigan began the meet with
impressive swims in the 200-yard
freestyle and 400-yard medley
relays, which finished second and
fourth, respectively.
"I don't think we've ever had six
relays in this meet swim as well as
we had swim on Friday and that's
really impressive to me," Richard-
son said. "In three relays you have
12 people, and for all of them to
swim well is a hard thing to have
happen. We did that twice tonight.
We just did not have a bad swim on
those relays and it was excellent."
The meet took a bizarre and dis-
appointing turn on Friday night
when several records set at the
meet, including the Big Ten and
school record Kelly set that night
in her 200-yard individual medley,
were ruled invalid. The pool was
measured at 75 feet and 0.5 inches
the day before the meet, but tight-
ening the lane lines between the
pool wall and the moveable bulk-
head apparently caused the bulk-
head to move toward the wall and
made the pool length 1.125 inches
shorter than the 75-foot minimum
requirement when it was measured
again after competition ended Fri-
day.
The only reason the pool was
measured again was because Aggie
senior Triin Aljand set an NCAA
record in the SO-yard freestyle.
Since it is unclear at what time
between the two measurements
the bulkhead moved, the number
of races swum at the correct and
incorrect distances is unknown. An
appeal will be filed with the NCAA
to permit the a time conversion to be
used to generate new times for each
race.TheNCAAmaythenrecognize
these new times as valid records and
NCAA qualifying times.
Richardson said the team's
incredible performance was a
result of how the team has been
training. Before this weekend, all of
theWolverines' meetshave beenon
Fridays and Saturdays after a long
week of hard training. Richardson
took a special approach to training
for this weekend, one he has taken
each year before this meet.
"We trained 100% on Monday,
trained about 75% on Tuesday,
about 50% on Wednesday, travel
on Thursday and then we raced on
Friday," he said. "I think that hav-
ing a couple days of recovery so
that they're not running on fumes
at the end of the week means our
performances here are really a
more accurately reflect how they
train and prepare to race."
The training appears to be work-
ing, but Richardson seems to have
said it best.
"The results speak for them-
selves," he said.
I
By AMY SCARANO
Daily Sports Writer
Danielle Tauro was enjoy-
ing middle-school gym class in
her hometown of Manahawkin,
N.J., when an unexpected visitor
showed up. Her future high-school
cross country coach considered the
nearby middle school recruiting
territory.
"He kind of picked me out from
gym class and told me to come out
for the cross country team," Tauro
said. "I did, and everything just
escalated from there."
Tauro had never been a runner
before, but she apparently looked
enough like one.
Seven years later, Tauro is a
sophomore rising star on the No.17
Michigan women's cross country
team, will compete at the NCAA
Championships in Terre Haute,
Ind., today.
The Wolverines have had a suc-
cessful season, led by fifth-year
senior Nicole Edwards who has
been the top finishing Wolverine in
four races this season. but Edwards
will exhaust her eligibility after
this season. That's where Tauro
comes in.
"Danielle contributes a lot more
than she does just time-wise,"
Michigan coach Mike McGuire
said. "She is really well-received by
all her teammates, and she is a very
team-oriented person. Always smil-
ing, great attitude, she is the type of
person with an infectious attitude
you like to have on the team."
Tauro spent her freshman sea-
son adjusting to the challenges of
college athletics and has spent this
0
Sophomore Danielle Tauro will be a big part of the Michigan contingent
NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. today.
year chasing down other runners.
Tauro exhibited her talent from
the start of this season when she
won the season opener.
"I'm usually just staring at the
person in front of me, hoping I can
close the gap," Tauro said. "I'm
thinking about my teammates,
where they are in the race. Mike
(McGuire) sometimes will count
and tell me what place I am in."
Tauro is running furiously to be
Michigan's top runner in the com-
ing years, after being named the Big
Ten Runner of the Week twice this
season.
A consistent scorer all season,
Tauro usually finishes in second
or third place for Michigan. She
crossed the line first for Michigan
in the Big Ten Championships ear-
lier this month, placing 13th overall
in the team's disappointing fifth-
place finish.
"I definitely want to try and fill
some big shoes," Tauro said. "I am
going to try to step it up, especial-
ly in the Big Tens. I want to start
trying to make it individually for
Nationals, and hopefully, eventu-
ally get All-American."
Although she's just a sophomore,
Tauro's teammates and coaches
have noticed her as a potential
leader.
"It is kind of like passing the
torch down to Danielle to lead the
team," redshirt junior Geena Gall
said. "She has become more of a
leader this year than last year. She
motivates me to run faster and to
stick with it."
Lucky to have a runner's build as
a 14-year old, Tauro now runs like
one too, and that's a definite advan-
tage for the Wolverines.
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By MARK BURNS But the Wolverine lead quickly
Daily Sports Writer evaporated as Minnesota tied the
set at 15 apiece.
n't a lack of focus. It isn't a With all the momentum and
execution. And it definitely home-court advantage, the Golden
ack of heart. Gophers grabbed four of the next
rhy has the Michigan volley- five points, forcing Rosen to call a
im been unable to win back- timeout.
kconference road games this The timeout proved ineffective
as Minnesota ran away with the set
reason is "very, very good and the match, giving the Wolver-
" Michigan coach Mark ines their sixth Big Ten road loss of
said. the season.
r losing to Minnesota and The Golden Gophers' defense
Iowa this weekend, the held the Wolverine offense to a
ines (11-7 Big Ten, 23-7 mediocre attack percentage of .149
) have yet another road split and registered 10 blocks on the
heir belt. night.
ay night, the 20th-ranked "We knew they'd be motivated,"
ines had high hopes of Rosen said. "They are very good
ng No. 12 Minnesota for the defensively and have one of the
time this season. best liberos (junior Christine Tan)
hose hopes were eventually in the country."
rd, as the Golden Gophers Tan has earned Big Ten Defen-
23-6) defeated Michigan in sive Player of the Week five times
ts inside the Sports Pavil- this fall.
Pazled the Michigan attack with
n 2-1 inthe match, the Wol- 11 kills while Karpiak and junior
looked to send the match to right-side hitter Megan Bower
and deciding set. each had 10.
higan jumped out to a quick Sophomore setter Lexi Zimmer-
vantage in the fourth frame, man added 38 assists in the losing
to kills from junior outside effort. Zimmerman is second in the
Juliana Paz and senior mid- Big Ten with 11.51 assists per set.
cker Beth Karpiak. But the Wolverines were not
about to let Friday night's out-
come affect their play for the entire
weekend.
"We're a very resilient team,"
Rosen said. "When we've won,
we've never been too overconfi-
dent, and when we've lost, we've
never been too dejected."
The pattern held on Saturday.
That night, Michigan traveled
to Iowa, where it defeated the
Hawkeyes (6-12, 14-16) in three
sets.
"We played a team that was not
as good as Minnesota," Rosen said.
"But I'm still proud of how our girls
competed."
Zimmerman's 37 assists on the
night went to a handful of Wol-
verines. Her offensive distribution
confused the Hawkeye defense,
leading to a .308 attack percent-
age.
Paz again led the Wolverine
offensive with12 kills while Bower
and freshman right side hitter
Alex Hunt each added eight. Kar-
piak had nine kills in the match,
giving her more than 1,000 for her
career.
As Michigan returns home for
its last home weekend. Rosen and
the Wolverines will look to knock
off No. 1 Penn State for the first
time since November 2002.
Wolverines ready to pack a
punch at NCAA Championships
4
Seven runners need
to keep together to
find success
By CHANTEL JENNINGS
Daily Sports Writer
Last Wednesday at practice, the
No. 9 Michigan men's cross coun-
try team took off for its eight-mile
run down Division Street the way it
always does - ina pack.
And this afternoon, in the Wol-
verines' biggest race of the year at
the NCAA Championships in Terre
Haute, Ind., they will also take off
and finish together ina pack.
All season, Michigan coach Ron
Warhurst has stressed the neces-
sity of keeping the pack together,
no matter what.
Michigan's goal is to keep its
spread (the time difference between
Michigan's first and fifth runners)
under 20 seconds and make sure all
five scored runners finish in the top
50 or 60 overall. If Michigan can do
that, Warhurst believes the team
will finish somewhere in the top 10.
Warhurst believes this year's
team has more talent than a group
that ran to a Michigan program-
record fourth place 10 years ago.
"I don't know how high we can
go if we're exceptional," Warhurst
said. "Anything can happen."
The seven closely matched run-
ners will be battling for the five
scoring positions. However, it's dif-
ficult to predict who will be leading
the pack. It could be senior Lex Wil-
liams who led at the NCAA Great
LakeRegionals;redshirtsophomore
Ciaran O'Lionard, who led the Wol-
verines at the Pre-Nationals meet a
month ago; or redshirt junior Sean
McNamara, who led Michigan at
the Big Ten Championships, finish-
ing sixth.
In such a crowded race, with
more than 250 runners, staying in
a pack will benefit each individual
runner by making sure they don't
drop their pace or become over-
whelmed by the multitude.
"It's a big help, being able to run
with teammates during the race,"
McNamara said. "If we continue to
do that we'll do pretty well"
It will be the last collegiate race
for three Wolverines: seniors Wil-
liams and Justin Switzer and fifth-
year senior Seth Thibodeau.
Last year, Williams helped the
Wolverines go into the NCAA
Championships ranked 11th in the
nation. But on race day, Michigan
didn't run well and placed 24th out
of 30 teams.
"Nationals is all about being
solid and not blowing up, not hav-
ing a bad race," O'Lionaird said. "If
we can go out there and run to our
capabilities, I see no reason why we
can't finish in the top five."
Warhurst isn't worried about his I
team blowing up or having a bad
race. In his 34th season coaching
the Wolverines, Warhurst has led
12 teams to top-10 finishes in the
NCAA Championships.
"There's a difference between I
being scared and afraid to go out
and perform versus being nervous
(and) excited about 'Let's get it
going and see what we can do,' "
Warhurst said. "And I think that's
where we're at."