2B - January 11, 2010

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0

2B - anuay 11,2010The ichign Daly -mi-hiand-ly-o

Healthy Clary leads Michigan
in dominant victory at home

Seniors are witnessing
history, not the good kind

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By ANDREW HADDAD
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan junior and defend-
ing National Swimmer of the Year
Tyler Clary doesn't mince words in
describinghisboutwith H1N1- the
swine flu - earlier this season.
"Compared to how I feel now, it's
like night and day," he said.
While hampered by the virus,
Clary had a few disappointing
results relativetohisincrediblyhigh
standards at the beginning of the
year. Now fully healthy, Clary, who
set the American record in the 400-
yard individual medley last month,
won two events at Saturday's dual
meet. His performance helped No.
7 Michigan men's swimming team
dominate the Hoosiers, 158-82.
The Wolverines controlled the
meet from the start, winning the
first six events. It was a continuation
of the strong form they've shown all
season, capturing the USA Short
Course Nationals last month and
the Orange Bowl classic a week ago.
The Wolverines' most impressive
event was the 200-yard individual

medley, where they took the top
four places, led by Clary with a time
of 1:49.06 and junior Neal Kennedy,
who finished just 22 hundredths of a
second behind.
"It's always fun to race Neal,"
Clary said. "He's a great competi-
tor and much faster than me at the
breaststroke and the fly. We've been
neck-and-neck in that race all year."
Clary also wonthe 500-yard free-
style with a time of 4:28.55.
"Tyler swims solid every time,"
Michigan coach Mike Bottom said.
"We expect that from him, and,
truthfully, the world expects that
from him. That's a lot of pressure,
but he handles it well."
Sophomore Dan Madwed joined
Clary as a multiple-event winner,
grabbing the 200-yard freestyle
and the 200-yard butterfly. Michi-
gan dominated several other events
as well, winning both relays while
grabbing the top three spots in
the mile freestyle, among others.
Senior co-captains Andre Schultz
and Chris Brady each won an event.
Schultz took the 200-yard back-
stroke and Brady won the 50-yard

freestyle.
Indiana is often considered a
national powerhouse, so its weak
performance on Saturday was
surprising. Michigan took full
advantage of what Bottom called
a "rebuilding year" for the Hoo-
siers.
"I think they came here under-
standing that we had a much
stronger team," he said. "They red-
shirted a few of their best swim-
mers. They're looking toward
beating us in the future instead."
The Wolverines compete at both
the Southern Methodist Classic
and a meet with Eastern Michigan
next weekend, but their next Big
Ten event, a quad at Ohio State, isn't
until the end of the month. Michi-
gan and Ohio State are the favorites
to win the Big Ten title, so the meet
should be a good indicator of which
team will bring home the crown.
"On paper, with the times that
(Ohio State) has done, they'd beat
us right now," Bottom said. "It's in
their pool also, so we're going there
with the understanding that it's
going to be tough."

Yesterday was an enormous
test on my patience and
optimism. I walked down
to Crisler Arena with my friends
fully expecting the Michigan
men's basketball team to extend
its two-game win streak.
Instead, we saw the Wolverines
blow a huge, early lead and lose
to Northwestern. This seemingly
cemented the team's post-season
invitation to
the College
Basketball
Invitational.
(Honestly,
show me a
scenario in
which Michi-
gan pulls ANDY
it together REID
enough to _ _
finish the
season with
a .500-or-better record, requisite
for even an NIT bid, let alone ,
some way in which the teams
makes NCAAs.)
"When things are going south,
the leadership has to come from
more than just me," Beilein said
after the game. "There has to be
positive stuff from people within
this team."
That doesn't sound like a
coach of a team that has one of
the nation's best players. A team
that was poised to do something
really special at the beginning of
the year.
But it's nothing out of the ordi-
nary, especially not on Michigan's
south campus right now.
Thus continues the most head-
scratching, frustrating academic-
calendar year in Michigan sports
history - which just so happens
to coincide with my senior year.
In the three major sports (foot-
ball, basketball and hockey), the
Wolverines are a combined 23-24.
No bowl trip and - without some
miracle - no chance at an NCAA
Tournament bid in the other two.
All three teams, at some point,
had wild expectations, which
makes this downfall even harder
to figure out. Football started

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Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez led the Wolverines to a 4-0 start this
year before finishing 5-7, disappointing fans in Ann Arbor.

Blue excels in season's first competition

By ZELL ZOERHOF
For the Daily
For Natalie Beilstein, the praise
cascading down from the 2,662
fans in Crisler Arena, "Ten, ten,
give her ten," was nothing new.
But Beilstein, who won two
national championships in high
school, was not the only fresh-
man to compete at a high level.
Brittnee Martinezfinished strong
in each of her four events, earning
a 38.25 in the all-around competi-
tion.
Freshman orientation went
very well for the Wolverines.
"Our freshman did a great job,"
Michigan coach Beverly Plocki
said. "In an intimidating atmo-
sphere, they did well."
In the first competition of the

season, Michigan defeated Iowa
and Bowling Green on Saturday in
Ann Arbor. They finished with a
score of 194.875.
But despite the victory, Michi-
gan started relatively slow.
"We had a couple silly mis-
takes," Plocki said. "(Senior) Sarah
Curtis's hand slipped on the horse
on her vault, which never happens,
and we had a couple of silly things
like that happen that are easily
corrected."
After a slight fall in vault, Curtis
countered with a stunning 9.85 on
uneven bars with a near-perfect
dismount and landing.
"We have a strong bar lineup,"
junior Kylee Botterman said. "We
are also a team that can pick it up
when we need to."
Three-time All-American Kylee

Botterman picked up where she
left off from last season, finish-
ing first in the uneven bars with
a 9.9 and second in the vault. Bot-
terman scored high enough in all
the events to place first in the all-
around with a score of 39.15. It was
the ninth time in the last 10 compe-
titions that Botterman reached that
coveted plateau.
As thet12th-ranked Wolverines
gun for their 18th ever Big Ten
title, they can take many positives
from Saturday. Botterman has
continued her near-perfect form,
the freshman look very promising
and the team has nine returning
upperclassmen.
"This team has a tremendous
amount of potential," Plocki said.
"We have to stay healthy and fix
the the silly mistakes."

4-0 - a month-long stretch
that seems surreal now, given
the current state of the team -
before falling off the face of the
Big Ten planet. Everyone jumped
on the basketball team's band-
wagon, with a No.13 preseason
ranking. Then the team took a
national flop. And hockey - what
the hell? That one, I can't figure
out.
So, my fellow seniors, you
could take the obvious, "Oh,
God, why me?" route that has
become pretty popular on cam-
pus. It is the easy one, and it defi-
nitely sucks that our last year in
Ann Arbor has to be one of such
athletic misery.
You'vefseen losses and alle-
gations of NCAA violations, a
two-year losing streak to a Little
Brother that seems to be growing
up rather quickly and a slew of
other disappointments too hurt-
ful and depressing to mention
here.
You see, you could let this
recent backslide get you down.
But look on the bright side here.
You're witnessing history.

Not many senior classes can
say that.
Sure, the 1998 graduates had
a football national champion-
ship. The 2004 grads celebrated
their last home football game by
rushing the field after the Wol-
verines beat Ohio State in the
100th iteration of "The Game."
The 1989 class took to the streets
and rioted after Michigan won
the basketball national champi-
onship.
But this is a different kind of
history-in-the-making, one that
- once Michigan athletics is back
on the performance-based top -
could be remembered, in a differ-
ent way, for far longer than any of
that other stuff.
It's rock bottom. The lowest
plateau Michigan sports has been
on, well, maybe ever. And all us
seniors can say we were here for
it. We've seen a steady decline
over four years and now things
have finally bottomed out.
Now, isn't that special?
- Reid can be reached at
andyreid@umich.edu.

Juniors and Seniors thinking about
international Peace Corps service,
NOW is the best time to apply!

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Contact University of Michigan Peace Corps Representatives:
Alex Pompe and Mahima Mahadevan
International Opportunities Center, Room 10
603 E. Madison Street
Phone: 734.647.2182
E-mail: Peace.Corps@umich.edu
Attend an Information Session to learn more:
Wed., Jan. 20, Wed., Feb. 17, and Fri., April 9
6:30 p.m., U-M International Center, Room 9
Degree-Specific Information Sessions:
Education: Thurs., Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m., School of Education
Business: Thurs., Feb. 11 at 6:00 p.m., Ross School of Business
Ag and Environment: Wed., March 10 at 6:30 p.m., SNRE (Dana Building)
Health: Thurs., April 15 at 5:00 p.m., Henry F. Vaughan Building
*Visit www.peacecorps.gov/events for exact locations.
PEACE CORPS NEEDS APPLICANTS WITH DEGREES & SKILLS IN:
Agriculture & Forestry . Environment - Education & English Teaching
Math & Science." Health Education . Public Health
Business & IT. French and Spanish
800.424.8580
www.peacecorps.gov
Life is calling. How far will you go?

Stop by the Alumni Association for:
Free coffee
Free bagels .
Free Wi-Fi
Mark your calendars for this semester's dates:
January 13, 20, 27
February 3, 10, 17, 24
March 10, 17
Welcome Wednesdays is open to all U-M students.
The Alumni Center is Located at 200 Fletcher St., at the corner
of Fletcher and Washington, next to the Michigan League.
ALUMNIASSOCIATION
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
www.umalumni.com/students

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