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SPORFS
www.michigandaily.com
sportsdesk@umich.edu
Injury haunts
meet for Blue
By Mustafizur Choudhury
Daily Sports Writer
It was a weekend of triumphs and disappointments for the
Michigan women's track and field team at the inaugural
NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in Columbus. While
four athletes earned a trip to the NCAA Championships, an
untimely injury forced four others to watch from the sidelines.
A hamstring injury suffered by sophomore Sierra Hauser-
Price in the 100-meter dash caused the 4x100-meter relay
team to miss the finals of the event. Also, according to
NCAA Regional regulations, the other members of the
squad were expected to report to the officials at the line
before the start of the race. When those athletes unknowing-
ly failed to do so, they were disqualified from all events for
the remainder of the day. Because this was the first time the
Wolverines competed in the new Mideast Regional, the
coaches were also unaware of the rule.
This was a major setback for the sprinters, who had done
very well up to that point. The penalty prevented juniors Carly
Knazze and Vera Simms from-participating in the finals of the
200-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles, respectively.
"This was the first time that rule was applied in my 24
years of coaching," Michigan coach James Henry said. "I
didn't do my homework and I take full responsibility for it. I
MONDAY
JUNE 2, 2003
It's OK Detroit: There
IS life after Carlisle .
TONY DING/Daily
Freshman Rebecca Walter was one of four Wolverines to
qualify for the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
feel terrible for Carly and Vera, who worked so hard to get
to that point."
On a brighter note, seniors April Phillips and Melissa
See NCAA, Page 12
'crew finishes fourth at NCAA
KYLE O'NEILL
The Daily Janitor
A message to all Detroit Pistons
fans: Your team is fine. It is in better
hands than it was when it left New
Jersey dejected. Joe Dumars knows
what he is doing. I'm reassuring you.
This is life, and sometimes life likes
to mix things up for no reason. The
dismissal of Rick Carlisle will not
bring an end to the world nor to the
Palace of Auburn Hills.
For some reason, I don't think
many of you are actually believing
me now. In fact, you're probably
wondering whether to continue read-
ing or go back to constructing a life-
size memorial of the 2002 NBA
Coach of the Year. Well, you're prob-
ably not going that far, but I'm pretty
sure the majority of you have been
reminiscing of the good ole days of
last month and not discussing the
future of this team.
Essentially, this decision came
down to the fact that the Pistons are
now ateam eight wins away from a
title, assuming they get back to game
one of the Eastern Conference
Finals. Could Rick Carlisle have got-
ten those wins in future years? Prob-
ably. But this is a time when winning
now is more important than winning
later. Former Philadelphia coach
Larry Brown will most likely be the
Pistons' head coach as early as today,
and if there is any coach out there
who can get those wins faster than
Carlisle, it's Brown.
Now that I've said Dumars made
the right move, I probably need to
back up this statement with some-
thing other than janitorial gibberish.
So to you, the reader, here are my
reasons why you, a fan of Detroit
sports, should be more concerned
with the Red Wings than with those
who reside at Two Championship
Drive.
1. Brown has been to the NBA
Finals, Carlisle has not. For that mat-
ter, Brown's teams have not been
anything great, but they exceeded
expectations like the Pistons of the
past two years. This Detroit team is
the most talented team that Brown
has ever inherited. 2. Brown endured
losing Allen Iverson for 20 games in
2001-02, yet the 'Sixers still man-
aged to finish sixth in the Eastern
Conference. Not many coaches
would have survived losing a star
player of that caliber - especially
when, without Iverson, the team's
fate fell into the hands of an aging
Dikembe Mutombo. 3. The Los
Angeles Clippers have reached the
playoffs twice since 1980. Their
coach in those two playoff seasons:
Two-year coach Larry Brown. Need I
say more? 4. Derrick Coleman was a
dominant force against the Pistons in
the playoffs. One could only imagine
what he could do with Ben Wallace
- or Darko Milicic for that matter.
5. It is unlikely that Brown will feel
any pressure. Seriously. He was able
to make his relationship with A.I.
work, and translated it into wins. It's
safe to say he can handle media,
fans or players chanting "Carlisle
forever, Brown never," when he
arrives in Auburn Hills. 6. Though
Iverson did a lot of the work, the for-
mer Tar Heel made him into a star.
Expect the same for whatever comes
out of this year's No. 2 pick.
7. I don't really have any more
good reasons, only because Carlisle
was that good of a coach and a per-
son from what I could tell. When it
comes down to it, the Pistons just
See O'NEILL, Page 12
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
The 10th-ranked Michigan
women's rowing team was unable to
come away from the weekend with
an NCAA title. However, the Wolver-
ines exceeded expectations when
they finished fourth overall with.51
points, at the NCAA Championships
in Indianapolis.
The first varsity eight posted a time
of 6:28.58 in the Grand Final, and fin-
ished second behind Harvard, who
clinched first place in the team cham-
pionships with the win. It was the best
performance by a Michigan varsity
eight in the history of the seven-year
program.
"[The first varsity eight] came in
third at regionals and really rebounded
"Don't let your
ahead of
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well," Michigan coach Mark Rothstein
said. "Going from third at regionals to
second at nationals is really impres-
sive. I think losing at regionals was
really good for the varsity eight. It
gave them some perspective. They
could have fallen apart, but they didn't.
They regrouped and raced really well
all weekend."
But the Wolverines couldn't have
placed fourth with just one boat racing
well. Michigan displayed strong show-
ings with its other boats to help round
out the weekend. The second varsity
eight placed third in the Petite Final -
a consolation for boats that don't make
the Grand Final - and ninth overall
with a time of 6:40.32. The first varsity
four came away with a time of 7:24.83,
good for third place.
"Cn^i-cy'into te .-),P''''d'va felt+
like we could do well," Rothstein said.
"We wanted to get all of our boats into
the finals. We ended up getting two of
the three into the finals, but we tried
not to put too many expectations on
the rowers. The most impressive was
the varsity eight, but the four did really
well, too. I think it was our best regatta
of the year. All of the boats performed
really well."
Michigan's fourth place finish is
the team's third top five finish in
three years. The team has a handful
of seniors, but Rothstein was
adamant Michigan would return to
the top again next year.
"The team this year put our program
at a good point," Rothstein said. "We
have a lot of returning rowers. The sen-
iors have left a good legacy for next
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