14 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May 8, 1996

SPORTS
>men gymnasts finish season in
iper' style, place sixth at NCAAs

By Kevin Kasiborski
Daily Sports Writer
Sweet home Alabama. For the Crimson Tide. that is.
Performing in front of its home crowd, Alabama pulled
away from the field - including Michigan - in the final
rotation to win its third women's gymnastics national cham-
pionship April 26.
The Crimson Tide finished with a score of 198.025. The
Wolverines came in sixth, less than two points behind with
a tally of 196.375.
Georgia led the Crimson Tide by five-hundredths of a
point after three events of the Super Six team finals.
But when the Gym Dogs managed only a 48.575 in their
final event - the uneven bars - Alabama was quick to
take advantage.
The Crimson Tide set an NCAA record, scoring 49.775
on the vault to put it ahead of Georgia, which finished with
a team total of 196.775.
That score, however, ended up as good enough for only
a third-place tie.
Perfect scores by Danielle McAdams and Kim Kelly
highlighted Alabama's record-breaking event, and put the
team over the top and into the catbird seat.
"In the locker room before the last event, I looked at the
team and said, 'We can do this, ladies,"' Crimson Tide head
coach Sarah Patterson said.
"At that moment, I saw incredible spirit in this team. We
knew what it took to win," she said.
Leading the Wolverines was senior Wendy Marshall,
who scored a 39.475 in the all-around. That mark was good
enough for the fourth-highest score in the team finals.

Although the Wolverines finished second last year, and
were the fourth seed entering the meet, coach Bev Plocki
said she was not upset with the sixth-place finish.
"We don't think of ourselves as losers," Plocki said after
the meet.
"I don't think a lot of people thought we would make
this far after losing five seniors, much less make it to th
Super Six (again),' she said.
The Wolverines' performance in the preliminaries in late
April almost kept them from making it into the Super Six.
Michigan scored 193.50 in the early session, its lowest
output since March 1.
However, the score was good enough for third place in
the early session, qualifying the Wolverines for Super Six
competition the following day.
Michigan advanced to the second day despite the fact
that all six teams competing in the evening session of the
qualification round scored higher than the Wolverines.
UCLA finished second, leaping past Georgia on the la
rotation to finish with a score of 197.475.
Utah came up short in its bid to retain the national title
for another year.
The Utes - two-time defending champions - finished
tied for third place with the Gym Dogs.
Oregon State finished fifth with a score of 196.525.
The meet marked the second time in two weeks that
Alabama had broken the 198-point mark. The Crimson Tide
scored an NCAA-record 198.075 at the Central Regional
meet April 13.
Coming into the season, only Georgia had ever scored
more than 198 points.

Lauren LaBranche and the Michigan women's gymnastics team capped off their
season with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA "Super Six" team finals.
Marty's
Madness
at
MARTY'S MENSWEAR
Now thru May 11th
All Suits & ALL other
Sportcoats merchandise
from 20%-50%
$19900
O F.....-._..-__---.----...- --------.
HOURS
Monday - Thursday 9:30 am - 7:00 pm;
Open Friday, May 10 until 11pm;
Saturday 9:30 am - 6:00 pm;
Sunday Noon - 5:00 pm
310 South State Street (on the campus)
313/668-6338 313/668-6023

Women's track wins at Kalamazoo;
men fare poorly at Central Collegiates
By James Goldstein host Western Michigan was one point throwing 45.10 feet, and senior A
behind the Boiler- American Courtney Babcock won tl
That blur that just went by was the makers for third 1500-meter run in 4:32.14.
Michigan women's track and field team place. Senior Tania Longe turned in a first
blasting past its opponents. Michigan fresh- place performance in the 100-meter hur-
The Wolverines captured. the man Nicole Forrester Notebook dles (14:42) at Kalamazoo, and also
Western Michigan Invitational team title won the high jump captured the the long jump title.
this past Sunday at Kanley Track. title, setting a track women's tracks
Michigan posted146 points with no record with a 6k0- Men's track Men's track
other opponent even close to competing foot effort. Fellow Host Western Michigan cruised to
with the Wolverines. freshman Nikki - - victory in the Central Collegiate
Purdue finished second (104) and Keith was victorious in the shot put, Championships, while Easte4
Michigan finished in second (175.5)
and Michigan State third (97).
Michigan placed eighth out of 10
teams with 36.5 points and no wins.
P H T A P ER A N The Wolverines' best finish in an
event was junior Alex Lengemann's
fourth-place result in the decathlon.
Lengemann had 6466 points.
Women's golf
The Michigan's women golf team
placed fifth in the Big T*
Championships with a three round totaf
score of 988 at Bloomington April 26-
28.
Indiana blew away the field, posting
a 946 total team score. Ohio Slate and
Minnesota finished second andthird,
repectively.
The Wolverines' top performance
came from Wendy Westfall and
Freshman of the Year Katy Loy, who ti
for tenth.
A EN EBesides the accolades given to Loy
and McDonald after the tournament,
Michigan coach Kathy Teichert was
A Y0named as co-Big Ten Coach of the Year
with Indiana's Sam Carmichael.