The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, February 20, 2013 - 7A
'M' can't find stroke
Michigan finishes
last in Puerto Rico
with disappointing
42 over par
ByJUSTIN MEYER
For The Daily
A trip down to the Puerto
Rico Classic in the middle of
February wasn't the quasi-
spring break the Michigan
men's golf team washoping for.
Instead, Michigan was mus-
cled into last place with a team
score of 42 over par by a field
that proved the freshman-lad-
en Wolverines still have much
work to do. The team sifted
through the rubble on Tuesday,
searching for bright spots amid
a performance that left every
Michigan golfer outside the top
half of the field.
"I thought a couple of the
guys were in pretty solid control
of their game," said coach Chris
Whitten. "The biggest thing is
that guys can come back and
practice based on what's hap-
pening in tournament play. We
all work on our fundamentals
all the time, but what we really
need to practice are the mis-
takes we make under pressure."
The Wolverines certainly
have their work cut out for
them. Michigan sent seniors
Matt Alessi and Miguel Echa-
varria, as well as freshmen
Chris O'Neill, Brett McIntosh
and Andrew Yeager, on the trip.
McIntosh continued an
impressive freshman cam-
paign, finishing tied for 39th,
but every other player's scores
came as a bit of a disappoint-
ment.
"Brett posted a very solid fin-
ish and knows that he had a lot
of opportunities to even shoot
lower," Whitten said.
McIntosh said he kept his
confidence up - even after a
few double-bogey missteps -
by remembering that he'd been
shooting well all weekend and
knowing that he needed a clear
mind to continue playing well.
It all came together for
McIntosh on the 15th hole -
his last of the shotgun-style
tournament - when he made a
25-foot shot for an eagle and par
onthe day..
Despite the poor perfor-
mance on the team leaderboard,
the Wolverines feel like they
have the ability to post better
scores, and a respectable first
round seems to be indicative
of that. Michigan was flirting
with a par performance before
a series of stumbles on the last
two holes dropped it to 12th
out of the 15 teams. The first
day left the team frustrated but
excited for the next round and a
chance to improve its position.
"I think we got it out of our
system. ... we could move up a
lot," O'Neill said after the first
round. "We're so close to really
clicking."
Instead, day two sank the
Wolverines for good. The team
posted a 313 for the round,
which, at 25 over par, was
almost enough to guarantee it
last place.
One area Michigan could
look to for encouragement
after the tournament was the
more-impressive third round.
McIntosh and O'Neill shot par
for their best scores of the tour-
nament, and the team posted a
relatively successful seven over
par.
In the end, however, the
southern schools proved far
superior to the competition
from the Big Ten. No. 5 Ala-
bama won the tournament with
a score of 33 under par and
Northwestern was the only Big
Ten school not to finish in the
bottom three.
"We come (to the Puerto Rico
Classic) because the field is
really, really strong every year,"
Whitten said, "I think the guys
know that there's work to be
done. This is a really competi-
tive field we just played, but it's
not at all where we wanted to
finish."
Michigan's next tournament
is the Colleton River Collegiate
in South Carolina on March
6, which gives the team a few
weeks that Whitten noted are
crucial. When spring break
rolls around and most of cam-
pus empties, the team will be
on the range trying to make
sure it doesn't replicate what
happened on the ocean course
this weekend.
Senior guard Jenny Ryan was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday for the first time in her Michigan career.
Ryan, Michigan red-hot but
crucial stretch. still looms
Three straight wins
have propelled
Wolverines to third
place in Big Ten
By ALEXA DETTELBACH
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's bas-
ketball team is the hottest in the
Big Ten.
Winners of three straight,
including a road victory over
then-No. 13 Purdue for the first
time since 1998 and a win over
Michigan State for the first time
in five years, the Wolverines are
playing their best basketball
of the season. Actually, they're
playing some of their best bas-
ketball ever.
And it couldn't have come at a
better time.
With four conference games
remaining, Michigan (8-4 Big
Ten, 19-6 overall) is in the home
stretch of its Big Ten season, and
it's heating up again just in time
for the NCAA Tournament. Last
year, the Wolverines had to cross
their fingers and pray they'd
be selected to join the dance in
March, but if the season were to
end today, they'd be a lock - no
praying necessary.
Currently, Michigan sits tied
for third place in the Big Ten.
The Wolverines have the same
conference record as Purdue and
Illinois, but they recently beat
both teams during their three-
game win streak.
RYAN LEADS THE PACK:
Leading the way during Michi-
gan's hot streak is senior guard
Jenny Ryan, who was named Big
Ten Player of the Week on Mon-
day - the first time in her career
that she's won the honor.
"Jenny is a really emotional
kid, and I was worried about
her (before the Michigan State
game)," said Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico. "I kept telling
her to relax, but I also told her
before the game she was going to
have to score, and golly, she did."
Against the Spartans on Sat-
urday, Ryan had a career-best 24
points on 7-for-16 shooting, while
also adding eight rebounds, five
assists and -four steals. Most
importantly, Ryan hit four free
throws in the final 17 seconds to
seal the win. +
For Ryan, however, the stat
that stoodabove the rest was her
zero turnovers. The guard aver-
ages 2.9 turnovers per game.
"That's unusual for me," Ryan
said. "People were setting good
screens, coach Barnes Arico
really came up with a great game
plan to find me on comfortable
spots on the floor and passes that
were comfortable for me."
Ryan has been the leader of
this team from day one, and now
it's showing on the stat sheet.
"I've coached a lot of really
good point guards in my career
as a coach and she leads the pack
just because of everything she
does," Barnes Arico said.
BRUTAL FINAL STRETCH:
The Wolverines have entered
the home stretch of their brutal
conference schedule. Michigan
is within striking distance of the
top Big Ten spot, and it plays the
top two teams in the Big Ten in
the next five days.
First up, at home on Thursday,
is No. 24 Nebraska (9-3, 19-6),
which sits in second place in the
conference, followed by a visit to
No. 7 Penn State (11-1, 21-3) on
Sunday.
The Wolverines lost to the
Lady Lions earlier this season in
a close 59-49 matchup at Crisler
Center.
The loss to Penn State was
the beginning of a slump during
which Michigan lost four of five,
which nearly kicked it out of Big
Ten title contention.
After those two tough games,
the Wolverines play their final
home game against Northwest-
ern on Feb. 28, before ending on
the road against Ohio State on
March 3.
If Michigan can come away
with a victory against one of its
two remaining ranked oppo-
nents, the Wolverines will set
themselves up for a serious run
at the Big Ten title before head-
ing into the madness of March.
Senior Brittnee Martinez epitomizes the Michigan women's gymnastics team's consistency and experience.
Martinez dazzles with
'flawless'bars, beam
By CINDY YU changed her dismount, too. The
Daily Sports Writer old dismount off the side was
hurting her knee a little bit and
The maturation of the No. 3 this was the second time that
Michigan women's gymnastics she's performed her new one. To
team has shown a complete turn- do a routine of that quality and
around from last year. stick the dismount was pretty
Senior Brittnee Martinez, great to see."
the Big Ten co-Event Special- Ranked 16th nationally on
ist of the Week, is the epitome bars (9.858 average) and 17th
of the team's consistency and on beam (9.846), Martinez said
experience. She has hit on all 13 the two events are her favor-
routines she competed in this ite. Martinez competes what is
season. arguably the highest Tkatchev
Not only is Martinez a reliable release move on bars, a skill
teammate, but she also continues where she propels her body in a
to improve from week to week. backwards motion and releases
At Cliff Keen Arena against Penn the bar near the top of her swing,
State last Saturday, Martinez then launches herself in straddle
claimed the uneven bars and position back and over the bar to
balance beam titles with career grasp it on her way down.
highs on each event: 9.950 and She has also been practicing
9.900, respectively. Her perfor- on the other two events, vault
mances marked her first individ- and floor. She hopes to exhibi-
ual victories of the season. tion on floor on senior night,
"Brittnee had a great night," March 16.
said Michigan coach Bev Plocki. A two-time NCAA All-Amer-
"Her uneven bars routine was ican on vault (2010) and bars
flawless, one of the best I've seen (2011), Martinez injured her
her do. ankle on her vault landing at a
"on beam, our first two rou- tri-meet last year in early March
tines were okay, but they weren't against Penn State and UNC.
awesome. Joanna Sampson did a Her vault aside, this year's meet
good job in the third spot. Then against the Nittany Lions near-
Brittnee goes up in the fourth ly mirrored her performance
position and just rocked it. We against them the previous year,
when she tied for first on bars
with a 9.900 and second on beam
with a 9.875.
Martinez said her fondest
memory was when the team
competed in the Super Six - the
most prestigious NCAA meet -
her sophorpore year, and now
recovered, she has high hopes for
the remainder ofher final season.
"It was just an amazing feel-
ing to be able to getto that point,"
Martinez said of competing in
the Super Six. "With the team
chemistry we have this year, I
think I'm going to top that mem-
ory."
Like Martinez, the Wolver-
ines have continued to show
improvement throughout the
season. Just last week against
Penn State, they recorded their
highestteam total, a 197.375. And
Michigan has the potential to be
even better by working on pres-
sure sets on beam and sticking its
landings on each event.
"Practice has been going
great. Everyone is just get-
ting more confident on every-
thing, becoming more precise
with handstands, form, just the
little things we're focusing on
right now and going on for sea-
son, I think we're just trying to
improve every meet."
PLANNING TO REGISTER FOR
SPRING/SUMMER CLASSES@
ff6o, now is the time to
apply for financial aid.
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