The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 28, 2002 - 11
'M' NoTE_
Football games set
to be televised in '02
Michigan football fans will be able
to watch their favorite team no matter
where they may be next year. Five of
the Wolverines' games have already
been set to be televised for next year.
The home opener against Washing-
ton will be shown at noon on ABC,
M which will also cover the season finale
at Ohio State at 12:15 p.m. on Nov. 23.
NBC will cover Michigan's noncon-
ference matchup with Notre Dame and
ESPN will cover the Wolverines' games
against Utah and at Minnesota.
- Staff reports
Henry given Big
Ten coaching award
Michigan women's track and field
coach James Henry was named the Big
Ten Track and Field Coach of the Year
for the fourth time this past Wednesday.
Henry won the award for indoor com-
petition earlier this year as well.
In his 18 years at the helm of the
Wolverines, Henry has led his team to
eight Big Ten team championships and
60 Big Ten individual or relay titles.
This season, the Wolverines swept the
outdoor and indoor titles for the third
time under Henry.
- Staff reports
NCAAS
Continued from Page 10
year, played some good golf and
now I am ready to move on with my
life," Bowers said. "But this is some-
thing I will never forget.
"(Making the finals) sets a stan-
dard. I would be very disappointed
if the girls didn't make it back next
year, if they didn't continue this tra-
dition. We didn't work so hard to
build a program that would draw
recruits in and start this tradition of
going to the regional each year and
now nationals for it to stop after we
graduate."i
Said Teichert: "I think Bess had
an absolutely outstanding tourna-
ment. I mean, two rounds under par
that is just fantastic."
Freshman Laura Olin and senior
Misia Lemanski also turned in solid
weeks for the Wolverines, carding
scores of 300 and 301, respectively,
while senior LeAnna Wicks posted a
310. Junior Kim Benedict had three
solid rounds of 77, 78 and 78, but
was disqualified from Wednesday's
second round for signing an incor-
rect scorecard.
Regardless, the Wolverines have
to hope that the program's first trip
to the finals will serve as a major
stepping stone for future teams.
"You have to remember that the
fact we actually got here is amaz-
ing," Olin said. "We worked so hard
all season long and we kept pushing
each tournament. We just have to
continue with what we left off and
there should be no reason why we
couldn't get back here next year.
"This year has taken us to a whole
new level and to stay at this level,
everyone has to want it."
Rowers prepare for NCAA Championships
With pressure off underdog 'M' on a mission to surprise national competition in Indianapolis
By Albert Kim
Daily Sports Writer
Last year, the Michigan women's rowing team
established itself as one of the elite programs in
the nation with a second place finish at the NCAA
Championships. This year, the Wolverines hope to
establish themselves as the best program in the
nation as they head to Indianapolis in search of
their first national title.
For Michigan, this is its fifth selection in the
five-year existence of the NCAA Championships.
Previous results included three straight fifth place
finishes before last year's breakthrough perform-
ance. The second varsity eight boat shined in last
year's championships, capturing Michigan's first
ever championship by any boat.
"It just goes to show that you can't just have
strength with one boat or the second boat, you
need a whole team effort," senior Sophie Roberge
said. "There are some good teams out there, and
it's not as predictable."
But a considerable challenge awaits Michigan.
The format of the championships will be slightly
expanded from previous years, as 12 teams will be
comneting for the Division I title. This is a result
of Division II and III titles being added.
In addition, the NCAA Championships have
been a two-team race since the beginning, as
Brown University and the University of Washing-
ton have been the only schools to win the title.
And the top-ranked Huskies are looking very
strong once again, although the lack of interre-
gional racing makes it difficult to tell.
"Washington always does really well in their
regular season, there's not a whole lot of competi-
tion for them on the West Coast," senior Christina
Meyer said.
"They typically have an undefeated season, and
going into Nationals, it's kind of an unknown
compared to the East and Midwest."
But Michigan has a wealth of experience on its
side, as well as momentum. The Wolverines are
showing signs of life after an up and down year
with their fifth straight Central Regional Champi-
onship last week. Michigan upset No. 3 Ohio State
by using a combination of depth and determina-
tion to give themselves a much-needed boost after
losing the Big Ten Championship.
"It was really big and it showed the country that
we were still here," Roberge said. "It proved to us
that we could win."
The Big Ten will again be well represented in
the finals, as Ohio State and Michigan State both
received invites. The growth of the Big Ten into a
perennial powerhouse conference has been almost
astronomical and shows no signs of slowing down.
"Seeing (Ohio State) and (Michigan State) will
be fun because we've raced them so many times
this season," Meyer said. "Nationals have always
been the elite schools and it shows that the Big
Ten is nothing to sneeze at."
Last year, Michigan went into NCAAs with
huge expectations on their shoulders. This year
will be different though, as Michigan is now the
underdog.
"It's kind of nice to not win everything this year,
it's less pressure," Roberge said.
The Wolverines have gotten over many obsta-
cles this year, and in the process have finally
bonded as a team. Rowing is the epitome of a
team sport, and Michigan finally realizes that.
Despite its youth, there is no better stage to show
the nation what kind of team Michigan is than
this week.
"Each race we keep getting better and better,"
Meyer said. "We're going to peak at Nationals
without a doubt."
Michigan shortstop Jessica Merchant applies the tag against Nebraska in its 1-0
loss eliminating the Wolverines from the Women's College World Series.
wcws
Continued from Page 10
sub-.200 hitter, hit a ground ball up the
middle. Freshman shortstop Jessica
Merchant made a great diving play to
stop the ball from going through the
infield, but her throw to the plate was
not handled by catcher Monica Schock
as the eventual winning run scored.
Nebraska made four errors to give
Michigan a chance to score in the later
innings, including two infield errors to
start the sixth inning that left two run-
ners on with nobody out. But three and
four hitters Stefanie Volpe and Schock
struck out and five hitter Young ground-
ed into a fielders choice to keep Michi-
gan off the scoreboard.
While breaks can dictate the outcome
of a game in any sport, there are few
sports where one or two plays can mean
so much. In the WCWS, pitching domi-
nance is the norm. Much of the field
even threw their ace for the entire tour-
nament. In fact, Michigan and Nebras-
ka were the only teams not to start the
same pitcher for their first two games.
The Wolverines' game against the
Cornhuskers was the fifth straight
WCWS game where just one team
scored, with four of those games being
final scores of 1-0. Because the pitch-
ing is so strong, one hit or pitch often is
the difference. When ateam takes a
lead, coming from behind is a daunting
task.
This weekend, Young and Motycka
stepped up to the challenge of duel-
ing against such talented hurlers, but
the offense struggled, mustering just
three hits in its two games. While
getting few hits would be expected
against a two-time national player of
the week in Arizona State's Erica
Beach and Nebraska's all-time strike-
out leader in Walker, the fact that
someone did not step up and get a big
hit when the Wolverines' needed it
was the difference.
And while things may not have
worked out for the Maize and Blueat
the WCWS, the experience of being
there will help it next season, when all
but three players return.
"It made me realize that we deserved
to be here," Motycka said.
Not only did Michigan deserve to be
there, it also played well enough to win.
But when it needed someone to step up
and make a big play offensively to win
the game, no one came forward.