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Friday, September 20, 2013 - 7

Barnes Arico's new workout

By DANIEL FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Wearing a drenched purple
workout tee, Michigan wom-
en's basketball coach Kim
Barnes Arico walked into her
office Tuesday sweating pro-
fusely. She had just completed
her 142nd straight day of work-
ing out for at least 30 minutes.
The streak began after last
season ended when Barnes
Arico and her staff had a talk
about how important physical
fitness, health and setting an
example for the players are.
"We always want to be in
great shape," Barnes Arico said.
"We always want to eat right.
We always want to take care
of ourselves. I think it's part of
our responsibility as coaches
and as staff to set the example."
To emphasize the point,
Barnes Arico and company

devised a competition set with
rules and regulations.
"It has to be 30 minutes of
cardio," Barnes Arico said. "But
if you decide to walk, because
sometimes you need to vary it
up, you have to double the time
for a walk. And if you really
want to change, you can play
tennis or basketball or volley-
ball, which we've done before
too, but that has to be about an
hour in duration."
The competition began at
the beginning of May with all
women's basketball staff mem-
bers involved. The contest's
first victim was the youngest
member of the staff, assistant
coach Joy McCorvey. Follow-
ing her, others started drop-
ping out, including assistant
coach Chester Nichols.
Now almost five months
later, just two remain - Barnes
Arico and women's basketball

director of operations, Amy
Mulligan.
While Barnes Arico, who has
run the New York City Mara-
thon, was seen as a favorite to go
the longest, Mulligan competed
somewhat as of a dark-horse
candidate to last this long.
"(She) thought 365 days was a
good number to try to achieve,"
Barnes Arico explained of Mul-
ligan, who "didn't work out
prior to this." "I said 'let's start
with three.' Then maybe six.
And then maybe nine."
Having to put in 20-hour
days during the summer with
teen camps and recruiting vis-
its in the summer, Barnes Arico
faced a dilemma: when would
she have time to work out?
"You really have to make a
commitment to being up at five
in the morning or staying up
super late to get it in," Barnes
Arico said. "It's difficult in our

profession to be able to do it.
But Amy and I have managed."
Finding time to work out
hasn't been the only issue
that Barnes Arico has had to
deal with during the streak. A
couple of times, the issue has
been dealing with inclement
weather or not having access
to a workout room. As a result,
Barnes Arico had to use cre-
ativity to get a workout in.
One such instance was the
day the team flew home after
spending 10 days in Europe.
"We left at 6:30 in the morn-
ing and we were out running
the streets of Italy," Barnes
Arico said. "We did stairs, we
did push-ups, and we did sit-
ups."
Though cardio has com-
prised the bulk of the staff's
workouts, especially for Barnes
Arico, there are some loopholes
that have allowed for Mulligan
to keep her streak going, like
golf.
"I have yet to do that," a
smiling Barnes Arico said. "But
that's what Amy seems to do on
Sundays, I don't have four open
hours in my day."
That sentiment was espe-
cially true on Wednesday with
Barnes Arico scheduled to fly
out of Ann Arbor at 7:30 a.m.
for a recruiting trip. Knowing
what was planned for the day
- recruiting non-stop until her
11p.m. flight that night - Barnes
Arico said she'd "probably be
up (Wednesday) morning at
four" to work out before arriv-
ing at the airport at 6:30 a.m.
While a winner will eventu-
ally come out from the compe-
tition, it's hard to tell who that
person will be, especially with
Mulligan's latest epiphany.
"(Amy) told me the other
day, it's no longer a competition
- it's a lifestyle," Barnes Arico
said. "So that's kind of what I
was trying to achieve and now I
feel I can never fall off because
I have to keep Amy going."

GEORGINA DE MOYA/State News
The Athletic Department reportedlypaid for "Go Blue" to be written in Lansing.
'M' admits it paid
for 'Go Blue' writing
By GREG GARNO $100 a piece. Lochmann also
Daily Sports Writer said this is the fourth time Ore-
gon Aero SkyDancer has been
The Athletic Department took hired for its services.
trolling to a whole new level. One pilot for Oregon Aero
Thursday, the department SkyDancer, Suzanne Asbury-
admitted it paid for skywrit- Oliver, contradicted Ablauf's
ten messages across southeast statement that the Athletic
Michigan that appeared on Department did not set target
Friday and Saturday, including locations, saying she was asked
one that read "Go Blue" over to hit Lansing.
Spartan Stadium, in East Lan- "Just Lansing - they didn't
sing prior to Michigan State's say East Lansing," she said to
game against Youngstown State. MLive. "I think that was mid-
MLive originally reported the morning on Saturday. They
news Thursday. wanted our last writing to be
Michigan spokesperson Dave right before kickoff for their
Ablauf said the company hired game, which was noon (in Ann
to write messages, OregonAero Arbor). So I think we were 10
SkyDancer out of Tucson, Ariz., o'clock or something over there."
was not asked to target specific Ablauf said that messages
areas. ranged from "Go Blue" and
"We hired the skywriters to "Hail" to a Block 'M' and 906,
canvas southeast Michigan with for Michigan's number of wins.
slogans and numbers prior to Michigan State athletic direc-
our game last Saturday," Ablauf tor Mark Hollis called the act
said to MLive. "That's all we did. "an irritant" Wednesday, but
We didn't target locations." changed his tone on Thursday.
Chief Marketing Officer "There's no apology neces-
Hunter Lochmann said on Twit- sary," Hollis said to Mlive. "This
ter that the athletic department is another whimsical episode in
paid for 55 messages at about a great rivalry."

(ODD NEEDLE/Daly
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico is one of two staff members to work out for 30 minutes a day for 142 straight days.


Men's tennis set
for fall season

By MATTHEW KIPNIS
For the Daily
The Michigan men's tennis
team will find out where it stands
against other top tennis pro-
grams in the nation this weekend
as it begin its 2013-14 campaign.
The Wolverines will send three
players to the UVa Ranked+1
Invitational this weekend in
Charlottesville, Va. Juniors
Alex Petrone, Justin Rossi and
Michael Zhu will all compete in
the singles draw while Petrone
and Zhu will also play in the dou-
bles bracket.
"This tournament is the
beginning of our fall match-
es, and it really helps us know
what we need to work on and
what we need to do to compete
against other top programs in
the nation," said Michigan coach
Bruce Berque.
Last year, the 22nd-ranked
Wolverines ended the season
with a disappointing upset in the
first round of the NCAA tourna-
ment, losing 4-2 to No. 42 Vir-
ginia Tech. The team, however,
returns every player but one from
last year's team, star Evan King,
that advanced to the NCAA Tour-
nament and finished tied for sec-
ond in the Big Ten, so they have
high aspirations for this season.
Rossi hopes his recent success,
finishing last season with a per-
fect 4-0 record in Big Ten action
and winning the ITA Summer
Circuit event in July by upset-
ting top-seeded Aaron Pfister of
Michigan State, can carry over

into this season.
Zhu is looking forward to the
upcoming opportunity and get-
ting the season started. Zhu and
Petrone posted a 14-11 record as
doubles partners last year. In
the year's first national singles
poll, Petrone ranked 118th in the
country, joining Junior Vlad Ste-
fen, who is ranked 82nd.
"Last year, I played in a tour-
nament similar to this and won
a couple matches so hopefully
I can have a similar outcome,"
Zhu said. "We know each oth-
ers strengths and weakness. We
have been playing together for
two years now so we really have
a good understanding on how we
play."
In order to prepare for the
tournament, Berque has been
stressing conditioning so that
the team is physically prepared
for its matches. Berque relishes
the opportunity for his players to
compete in Charlottesville this
weekend and get some matches
under their belt.
"This tournament is really
important for our players to
build some confidence," Berque
said. "Confidence is a big part of
an individual sport like tennis.
Hopefully we can execute and
compete well against these top
opponents. We will pay attention
and evaluate what needs to be
worked on based on their play."
It is the first match of the year
for the Wolverines so they should
be able to get a good gauge on
where they stand against strong
competition.

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