4B - January 20, 2009
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
TRYOUT: Coaching staff returns
to campus for walk-on evaluations
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From page 1B
the competition. Many potential
walk-ons rounded off cuts in post
and corner routes or didn't actively
fly back to.the ball on comebacks.
The smallballs did provide some
excitement, though. In the waning
minutes of the hour-long session
- cut down from 90-minute try-
outs last year - Kinesiology junior
Zac Baker ran a deep post route,
dove and made a spectacular one-
handed grab, barrel-rolling on the
Onsterbaan Fieldhouse turf.
The coaching staff erupted in
"Yeah, Bakes!" cheers for Baker,
a manager for the team the last
two seasons. The catch must have
made an impression on Rodriguez,
because Baker, along with four
others, was contacted yesterday
and asked back for further evalu-
ation and training. It was the first
time in three auditions that Baker
has made it past the first round
of evaluations in Rodriguez's try-
outs.
John Guerriero, Patrick Collins,
Jack Kennedy and Jordan Kovacs
(who ran the fastest 40-yard dash
at the tryout) are the other four.
Unlike last year, when the walk-
ons immediately went through
academic and health checks and
began working with strength and
conditioning coach Mike Bar-
wis, those who made the cut this
weekend will be asked to continue
working out on their own to get
in shape for further evaluation
before March.
On the first day of spring prac-
tice, the coaches will see what the
walk-ons can do with a real foot-
ball. And that's when this crop of
potential Wolverines will be given
a chance to make the 2009 roster.
"That's a couple months, but it
gives them some time to work on a
couple things and get ready to go,"
Rodriguez said. "Today was just
a small part of our walk-on pro-
gram, but we're really trying to be
more aggressive overall with it.
"You know, identify guys
throughout the state, throughout
the country that maybe could be
the next (redshirt sophomore full-
back) Mark Moundros, who was
an outstanding player who walked
on here."
After the tryout, Rodriguez
emphasized that the most impor-
tant thing about coming to Michi-
gan - whether the students made
the team or not - was earning a
degree from the University. But
talking to the tryoutees after-
wards, Michigan football clearly
held a special place with them.
"The other (team) managers,
they all feel the same way about
this as I do," Baker said following
the tryout. "This is our passion.
This is what we grew up on. This
is, like, Michigan football."
For Kovacs, the opportunity
is a dream come true. His father
was a walk-on Wolverine when he
attended the University. Kovacs
was asked back after September's
tryout but wasn't allowed to con-
tinue after the coaches found out
about a knee surgery Kovacs had
in January.
And if Kovacs continues to
impress the coaches, he might even
see the Michigan Stadium field on
game day.
"Once you're good enough to
win with, you'll play," Rodriguez
said. "Whether you're a former
walk-on, a walk-on, a fifth-year
senior or whatever, the best guys
will play."
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WILL MOELLER/Daily
LSA freshman Jordan Kovacs was asked back by the Michigan football coaching staff to try out during the team's first spring
practice. Kovacs, who tried out as a defensive back, ran the fastest 40-yard dash during the session.
Thuener-Rego, Wolverines
two-step to victory in Crisler
Tumblers breeze to
first in Windy City
By JAKE FELDMAN
For tbe Daily
As the Michigan women's gym-
nastics team rotated from the bal-
ance beam to the floor for its final
event Friday night, senior Tatjana
Thuener-Rego stayed behind.
She shook her shoulders, did a
quick two-step and flashed a smile
to the crowd. Then she jogged
with an unmistakable swagger to
catch up with her teammates.
"You gotta play around and
have fun," Thuener-Rego said.
"That's how you keep everyone's
spirits up and the energy up. You
just dance."
After an injury-ridden junior
year, Thuener-Rego has become
Michigan's most consistent gym-
nast through three meets.
She collected three event titles
and the all-around crown as
the Wolverines romped to a win
in their home debut. Michigan
posted a score of 194.325 to beat
No. 25 NC State's 191.15 and Kent
State's 193.525.
The Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten,
6-2 overall) built a sizable lead
after the second event, as four
of Michigan's gymnasts earned
scores of 9.8 or higher on the
uneven bars. Junior Kelsey Knut-
son's graceful performance on the
balance beam earned a title and
Thuener-Rego ended the meet
with a nearly flawless floor rou-
tine (9.825).
"Tachi has really stepped up as
a senior and she's had a great atti-
tude this year," Michigan coach
Bev Plocki said. "I think it's great
to see a senior still improving,
still adding in difficulty. We've
just gotta keep her body healthy
to keep her in the lineup."
Injuries have haunted Michi-
gan throughout the season, and
the team's future success may
rely upon the development of its
reserves. Junior Jaclyn Kramer
Cameron takes all-
around, pommel
horse and rings titles
at Invitational
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
CHICAGO - Senior co-captain
Phil Goldberg stepped forward
and accepted the glass, flame-
shaped trophy, raising it over his
head with a grin.
The No. 6 Michigan men's gym-
nastics team had won the season-
opening Windy City Invitational.
But before the Wolverines left
the floor, they had one more task
to do:
Sing.
As second-place Illinois and
third-place Minnesota dispersed
through the Illinois-Chicago P. E.
Building, the sounds of The Vic-
tors - written in 1898 after Michi-
gan beat the University of Chicago
in football - reverberated in the
city where it was born. The gym-
nasts on the floor pumped their
fists. From the fan section, seven
teammates and four members of
the women's gymnastics team
belted the song back at them.
Michigan last won the Windy
City Invite two years ago, when
the Wolverines were ranked first
in the nation most of the season.
This time, the Wolverines post-
ed a 346.10 score to comfortably
beat their five opponents, which
included No. 3 Ohio State and No.
4 Illinois.
To cap the night, sophomore
Chris Cameron took home the all-
around crown, beating out Ohio
State's Jake Bateman and Tai Lee
and Illinois's Paul Ruggeri, with a
score of 58.1.
"It's the best feeling I've had,"
said Cameron, who notched
career-best scores and event titles
on pommel horse and rings. "We
worked in the offseason to get that
good, and now it's, 'We hit, we
win.' "1
Michigan hit when it mattered,
especially at the finish..Gymnasts
may often say that event order
doesn't matter, but on Saturday, it
did.
In the final rotation, Michigan
was hanging onto the lead head-
ing into parallel bars. Third-place
Ohio State moved to the low-scor-
ing pommel horse, effectively nar-
rowing the race to the Wolverines
and the second-place Illini.
And all that mattered was
whether Michigan's parallel bars
team was better than the Illinois
ring squad.
The Wolverines didn't do it the
easy way, absorbing misses on two
of their first three routines. Then
senior Ralph Rosso put together
a routine marred only by several
steps on the dismount.
Junior co-captain David Chan,
who had missed his vault in the
previous rotation, more than made
up for it with a 14.7 set and a sec-
ond-place finish. Cameron's hit
routine (14.65) finished the night.
Illinois still had three ring men
to go, but Michigan had already
clinched it - and the Wolverines
knew it. Fifth-year senior Paul
Woodward lifted Cameron onto
his shoulders as their teammates
roared, "Let's go Blue!"
"Illinois was good motivation,"
Chan said. "They were really going
at it, and they didn't want us to do
very well on (parallel) bars either.
You could hear them from the
sides.. I just wanted to stick it to
them."
But it was far from a perfect
meet. Michigan had to recover
from a shaky start on high bar,
where it managed just two hit
routines. Sophomore Ben Baldus-
Strauss peeled off the bar early
in his set and appeared to injure
himself. He returned to the floor
on crutches. The extent of his
injury will not be determined until
receiving the results of an MRI.
Before the meet, Goldberg had
declared that anything less than a
win would be "unacceptable." But
victory seemed far away after the
first rotation, with Michigan in
fourth place.
The Wolverines got going on
floor exercise, the next event.
Rosso knocked out his leadoff set
and his energy fed the rest of his
team. Michigan ended up going
five-for-six on the event, with
sophomore Ian Makowske placing
second overall with a career-best
score of 15.3.
"The wheels came off, but we
had to put them back on and go,"
Michigan coach Kurt Golder said.
"I think they were prepared to do
that."
Michigan began a steady climb
up the rankings and moved into
a tie for second with Ohio State
going into the fifth rotation.
Despite a less-than-stellar vault
showing, the Wolverines sat in the
top spot going into parallel bars.
Once they had a hold on first, they
refused to let go.
Cameron wouldn't reveal whose
idea it was to sing The Victors, but
he promised it would become a
regular feature at meets this year.
"We hit, we win," he had said.
"When we win," he added, "we
sing."
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Senior Tatjana Thuener-Rego kept the mood light in Michigan's win this weekend
by dancing and making sure her teammates had fun during the meet.
has competed in vault, beam and
floor all year in place of injured
sophomores Trish Wilson and
Kari Pearce. After junior Sarah
Curtis fell twice on the beam,
Kramer maintained Michigan's
lead with a season-high score of
9.7.
"I just felt a little bit more con-
fident going in, especially with
the pressure, trying to pick up a
fall," Kramer said.
Added Plocki: "Beam is one of
those events that is most affected
by competition pressure. We try
to simulate pressure situations in
the gym, but there's nothing you
can really do that simulates 2,000
people sitting there watching you
and judges."
With exuberant smiles and
loose body language, Kramer and
her teammates exuded confidence
under pressure.
"We want to be loose. We've
got to go out there and perform
and have fun," Plocki said. "This
is our party."
And despite the injuries, the
Wolverines plan to keep dancing.
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LINCOLN
From page 1B
exemplified in the following games.
But that swagger has faded, and
it needs to reappear for Michigan to
win down the stretch.
The Wolverines have to regain
that good feeling.
"We've got to come out and
believe in ourselves right off the
bat," freshman guard Zack Novak
said, echoing Michigan coach John
Beilein's message following Satur-
day's seven-point loss. "We've got
to do the little things better - come
out for Penn State ready to go."
But what are those little things?
For one, the balanced offensive
attack that picked apart the Bruins
and Blue Devils isn't there any-
more.
In Michigan's last two losses, it
has been Harris's second-half hero-
ics that gave the Wolverines their
best chance to win.
Michigan's leadingscorer all sea-
son, Harris previously shared that
scoring burden with long-range
shooters Novak, freshman Stu
Douglass and redshirt freshman
Laval Lucas-Perry. On any given
night, those shooters can be on
target, but the trio is 7-for-24 from
3-point range in the Wolverines'
last two losses.
It's not rocket science, but when
Beilein's offense looks like a well-
oiled machine, multiple players get
open looks and sink their shots.
That includes junior forward
DeShawn Sims.
A vocal leader, Sims's pregame
and halftime speeches have moti-
vated this team when it has faced a
challenge.
But it's Sims's agility in the post.
that's irreplaceable and needs to
shine.
In the last two losses, Sims is
7-for-27 with just eight rebounds.
That says a lot about a player who,
before last Wednesday's loss to Illi-
nois, led the Big Ten in rebounding
with 8.7 rebounds per game and
was third in scoring (16.5 ppg).
The Nittany Lions (3-3, 14-5), the
Wolverines' Big Ten cellar-dwell-
ing companion last season, have
improved greatly this year. They've
played well at home, knocking off
Purdue and nearly upsetting Michi-
gan State.
Talor Battle, the conference's
leadingscorer, can control an entire
game.
It's clear from this young con-
ference season that every game is
competitive. It's a longseason, and
the last two games could be just
small blemishes on what can be a
successful season.
The Wolverines just need to real-
ize that.
- Lincoln can be reached
at lincolnr oumich.edu
BUCKEYES
From page 1B
game. He logged a season-low seven
points in last week's loss to Illinois.
Michigan's 1-3-1 zone proved
ineffective against the Buckeyes
(3-2 Big Ten, 13-3 overall).. Ohio
State shot 55 percent from the field
and hit 16 shots in the paint, includ-
ing numerous dunks by center B.J.
Mullens and forward Dallas Lau-
derdale.
It didn't help that Michigan (3-3,
13-5) had another slow start. The
Wolverines trailed by as many as 11
in the first half and shot just 7-of-26
from the field in the first 20 min-
utes.
The loss gave Michigan its first
losing streak of the season. The
Wolverines lost 66-51 to Illinois
last Wednesday.
"This is really a tough stretch
right now,"Beilein said. "Obviously
I've been through it tbefore, but I
don't remember this type of thing."
In the next three weeks, Michi-
gan plays seven games. Four will
be on the road, and three will be
against ranked teams, notably No.
3 Connecticut and No. 7 Michigan
State.
Losingto an unranked opponent
at home won't bode well for the
Wolverines' tournament hopes in
March, and it only gets harder from
here for the Wolverines.
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Junior DeShawn Sims was held in check by the Buckeyes' 1-2-2 zone defense, scoring a lowly 10 points.
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