The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com | April 5, 2010
Al Around
Cameron defeats
teammate and last
year's champ Kelley
By MICHAEL LAURILA
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - When junior
Chris Cameron finished second at
the Winter Cup Invitational in Feb-
ruary and was named the second-
best gymnast in America, that was
only the beginning.
This past weekend at the Big
Ten Championships, Cameron won
the all-around competition and
floor exercise, becoming the sec-
ond straight Wolverine to win the
crown.
He was named to the first team
All-Big Ten for the second consecu-
tive year, and was given the Big Ten
Gymnast of the Year award.
Even having accomplished all
that, Cameron was disappointed,
since the fourth-ranked Wolverines
weren't able to bring home a Big Ten
Championship on Friday night.
"I just had a decent night," Cam-
eron said. "Floor was definitely the
best event I had. I don't think I've
ever gotten into that mode before
when I just felt like a piece of steel
flipping around out there."
And with the all-around win,
Cameron, and last year's champion
Thomas Kelley still have one more
year of eligibility left.
"I think (Cameron) just has an
inner drive to succeed and become
the best gymnast he can become,"
Michigan coach Kurt Golder said.
"It's really hard to find, and we're
fortunate at Michigan to have a guy
that's driven that hard."
Cameron is only a junior, yet he
has accomplished more in his first
three years than many Wolverines
have in their entire careers.
Cameron was a 2009 NCAA All-
American, and has a good shot at
"He goes the
extra mile to
make sure he's
doing it right."
repeatingthat honor when the Wol-
verines compete at NCAAs in two
weeks.
"He's more dedicated than any
other gymnast I've ever met,"
junior Thomas Kelley, last years
all-around champion, said. "He's
got that little extra drive and little
extra confidence that I think a lot of
us aspire to have in our gymnastics.
"Just to go out, and know that
you're going to hit no matter what.
Chris doesn't waver. He's always
rock solid."
Cameron was also the runner-up
on the stillrings and made the finals
on Saturday on the parallel bars and
pommel horse.
Both Cameron and Kelley have
one year of eligibility remaining.
Not onlyis he particularly driven,
but he also has a natural ability to
push his teammates. He is a perfect
model of one who leads by example.
"He goes the extra mile to make
sure he's doing everything right,"
redshirt senior Ryan McCarthy
said. "When somebody would be
tired and cash in and go to the
showers, he takes that extra turn,
even when he's tired.
"He's really awesome to work out
with because he's motivating for
everyone. He holds everyone to a
high standard and that's really good
for our program."
In two weeks, Cameron will try
to lead Michigan to its first National
Championship since 1999.
When asked what the team will
need to do, Cameron didn't chalk it
up to simply getting better and hit-
ting all of its sets.
"We got to stop messing around
and trying to minimize deduc-
tions and stuff like that," Cameron
said. "Minimal shouldn't be in our
vocabulary anymore. Maximize
score, maximize height and maxi-
mize distance.
"Everything we do has to be
bigger, faster, and stronger."
Junior Chris Cameron is now a two-time first team All-Big Ten gymnast after his championship performance this weekend.
inishes second
By MICHAEL LAURILA
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - Having shared
the Big Ten Championship with
Illinois last year, the No. 4 Michi-
gan men's gymnastics team was
looking to take the crown out-
right this year when it traveled to
St. John Arena this past weekend.
Unfortunately for the Wolver-
ines, after a disastrous pommel
horse routine, plagued with falls,
they were defeated Friday night
by 1.55 points at the hands of the
third-ranked Fighting Illini, fin-
ishing second in the conference.
Junior Chris Cameron won the
all-around competition and floor
exercise, along with the Big Ten
Gymnast of the Year award.
Usually, it's hard to blame one
event in particular for a team's
loss, but on Friday that was the
case. Michigan lost 2.65 points to
Illinois in that event alone. The
Fighting Illini had a solid perfor-
mance overall, but nowhere near
perfect.
"Illinois didn't hit every set,"
junior Chris Cameron said. "Our
hit percentage was probably high-
er but they had more champion-
ship-level sets and their starting
values were higher when it mat-
tered.
"We didn't hit pommels, and if
we did hit pommels, it would have
been a different story."
On Friday, the Wolverines took
part in the team competition, and
on Saturday, the individual event
competitions were held.
The meet consisted of six Big
Ten teams, five of them in the
top ten in the country: Illinois,
Michigan, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6
Minnesota, No. 7 Penn State and
Iowa. Even with all the tough
competition, it was mostly a two-
horse race between the Wolver-
ines and Fighting Illini.
When it was all said and done,
the third-place Nittany Lions
were 10.85 points behind Michi-
gan.
"I think it was clear all year
that we were the two teams to
beat and that there was a drop,"
Michigan coach Kurt Golder said.
"My surprise is that I thought the
drop would maybe be about five
points, and we're looking at about
ten or eleven."
Other notable performances
for the Wolverines were senior
Mel Santander's second-place
finish in the all-around competi-
tion behind Cameron on Friday
and his third-place finish on the
parallel bars on Saturday.
Santander and junior Thomas
Kelley were also named to the
All-Big Ten first team.
All year, the Wolverines have
struggled with putting together a
full, poised competition.
Before their last dual meet
against Ohio State, when they set
an all around school record, they
had yet to do so.
They are always trying to fin-
ish the last two or three rota-
tions strong, and hope to do so at
NCAAs.
"We have to make our fifth
See BIG TENS, Page 3B
EMILY CHIU/Daily
Junior Thomas Kelley finished second in the All-Around and helped the fourth-ranked Wolverines to a second-place finish at
the Big Ten Championships. No. 3 Illinois beat Michigan by just 155 points.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Michigan beats Wildcats for
first time in thirteen years
SOFTBALL
Offensive explosion propels 'M'
By BRIAN MECHANICK
Daily Staff Writer
With the success the Michigan
women's tennis team has been
fighting, they might never want to
come home.
A weekend sweep of No. 4
Northwestern and Wisconsin
gave the Wolverines their ninth-
straight win, with the last seven
coming on the road.
No. 8 Michigan (5-0 Big Ten,
15-3 overall) defeated the Wild-
cats, 4-3, and the Badgers, 6-1, giv-
ing the Wolverines a 5-0 record in
conference play.
The Wolverines entered Sat-
urday's match at Northwestern
winless against the Wildcats
since 1997. Northwestern had not
lost in Big Ten competition since
April 2004, a winning streak of 81
matches.
The day got off to a strong start
as the Wolverines swept doubles
to take the pivotal first point.
Wolverine junior Denise Mure-
san dominated 13th ranked Maria
Mosolova - the same player to
whom she lost in the fall - 6-3,
6-0.
"I saw her in the fall," Muresan
said. "So I knew how she played
and how Ihad to play. I was able to
just play smart today, hit my shots
and take my opportunities."
But two straight Northwest-
ern(4-1 Big Ten, 13-4 overall)
wins tied the overall score, 2-2.
No. 5 singles stemmed the tide, as
senior Tania Mahtani got the cru-
cial win. Down 5-2 in the first set,
Mahtani rallied to win 7-5, 6-3.
"I got off to a rough start,"
Mahtani said, "I was trusting my
game, but I wasn't quite execut-
ing in the beginning of the first
set. I went down 5-2, 40-15, but I
just kept trusting my game, stayed
calm, and knew that I was going
to be able to come back."
Freshman Mimi Nguyen
clinched the match for the Wol-
verines with a straight-set win in
No. 4 singles.
"It shows the progress of the
program," Michigan coach Ron-
nie Bernstein said. "Northwest-
ern is the team to beat in the Big
Ten, so we've definitely caught up
to them. The girls have improved
a lot and it's just a good group. We
work hard, and we believe in our-
selves, so it really doesn't matter
who we're playing."
In Sunday's match at Wiscon-
sin, the Wolverines again got off
to a strong start as they swept
doubles to take the first point.
Muresan took No. 1 singles in
dominant fashion to take the sec-
ond point, but Wisconsin (1-4 Big
Ten, 6-12 overall) made it inter-
See WILDCATS, Page 3B
By LUKE PASCH
Daily Sports Writer
You would be hard-pressed
to find a weekend on the softball
schedule as lopsided as last week-
end was.
The sec- WISCONSIN 0
ond-ranked MICHIGAN 15
Wolverines
(3-0 Big Ten,
26-5 over- WISCONSIN 0
all) squared MICHIGAN 8
off against
Wisconsin in their second Big Ten
matchup of the season. And from
the first inning on a drizzly Satur-
day afternoon in Ann Arbor, there
was little competition.
Over the series' two games,
Michigan tallied 18 hits, while Wis-
consin mustered just two (one in
each game). Michigan crossed the
plate 23 times. Wisconsin never
managed to do so, as the Wolverines
won 15-0 on Saturday and 8-0 on
Sunday.
With the eight-run mercy rule in
effect, neither game surpassed five
innings.
This was a fate the Badgers
(0-4, 8-20) have met before - the
last time they were shut out back-
to-back was last April in Madison
against the visiting Wolverines.
Saturday's game featured a
Michigan lineup that performed
well from top to bottom. The only
starter who didn't get a hit, senior
catcher Roya St. Clair, still drove in
a run on a sacrifice fly to right field
that opened up the scoring for a
10-run second inning. Sophomore
second baseman Amanda Chidester
hit a two-run shot to left in the first
inning, and senior third baseman
Maggie Viefhaus smacked an oppo-
site field three-run homer to left in
the following frame.
Senior centerfielder Molly Baush-
er continued to prove her worth
from the nine-hole in the lineup
as well, as she hit a bases-clearing
double to the wall in left center that
blew open the second inning.
"The nine-hitter is a very impor-
tant role," Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins said. "To me, it's a place
of honor. Her job is to have good at-
bats, turn the lineup over and make
things happen. And I have main-
tained for the lasttwo years, at least,
that when Molly Bausher is getting
on base, we're winning games."
Junior pitcher Jordan Taylor
needed to toss just three innings
to' earn her 14th win of the sea-
son. Once the Wolverines went up
by 15, Hutchins cleared the bench
and replaced Taylor with freshman
Stephanie Speierman, even though
Taylor had a no-hitter in the mak-
ing.
"It was a chance for us to get
Steph (Speierman) in the game,"
Hutchins said. "Jordan was throw-
ing a no-hitter, but if Steph doesn't
get some innings, it's going to be
hard to develop her and hard to
keep her motivated. It was too good
of an opportunity to pass up."
The freshman hurler seized the
opportunity, as she struck out four
over two innings of work. She did
give up a bloop single to right with
two outs in the fifth inning to lose
the combined no-hitter, but she
came back strong to strike out the
next batter and end the game.
See SOFTBALL, Page 3B
ROAD TO CRISLER
U Women's basketball coach Kevin Borseth
has been successful everywhere he's been.
Follow his journey from his hometown gym to
Crisler's hardwood. Page 4B
CANHAM'S TV DEBUT
* Michigan water polo defended Ann Arbor
in front of a packed house and its first-ever
television audience as they beat arch-rival
Indiana in a close match. Page 3B