Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - January 21, 1991 GYMNASTICS PREVIEW 1991 Women aim for Big 10s Coach Bev Fry sports top gymnasts in 1991 4 FILE PHOTO Michigan gymnast Jim Round once again will excel on the rings, among other events. The junior all-arounder was chosen as a co-captain for the second straight year by his teammates. oun men's squad hopes to avoid injuries, inconsistency by Jeff Cameron and R.C. Heaton Daily Sports Writers "Weare going to win Big Tens this year." Sophomore Julie Hofmeister predicted this when asked for her opinion of the 1990-1991 Michigan women's gymnastics team. To put it mildly, the women have high expectations for the upcoming sea- son. Under the direction of second- year coach Beverly Fry, the Wolverines are looking to improve on their past performances. Two years ago, Michigan finished dead last in the seven team Big Ten field. Last year, the squad upped their standing to sixth in the league. The Wolverines may not win it all this year, but they expect to crack the top three. "People will have to contend with us this year," Fry said. "This is the best team U of M has had in quite awhile. We would like to fin- ish at least third, but we must stay heal thy." Michigan has already proven this at a competition last weekend at Wisconsin. They beat a tough Minnesota team who finished third in the Big Ten. Strong perfor- mances were turned in by sopho- more standout Ali Winski and frosh phenom Wendy Wilkinson. "People can expect to see ex- citing things from Ali Winski and Wendy Wilkinson," Fry said. "I think they will be the real crowd- pleasers this year." Other important contributions are going to come from sophomore Debbie Geiger and first-year gym- nast Nicole Simpson in the all- around competition. Simpson is sidelined with an ankle injury at the present time. Junior co-cap- tains Diane Armento and Laura Lundbeck are expected to lead the Wolverines both in competition and in the lockerroom. Armento will perform on the vault and on the balance beam. Lundbeck will compete on the floor exercise and the vault. Junior Kim Crocker is ex- pected to provide solid scores in University Of Michigan 1991 Women s Gymnastics Team M Name Beverly Fry Diane Armento Kelly Carfora Kim Crocker Tami Crocker Debbie Geiger Eva Gordon Julie Hofmeister Tiffany Kinaia Laura Lundbeck Rae Pelletier M. Samuelson Stacy Shingle Nicole Simpson Laurie Sugar W. Wilkinson Allison Winski Yr. Ht. Hometown 2nd year JR FR JR FR SO SO SO SO JR FR SO FR FR FR FR SO 5-2 5-3 5-4 5-4 5-5 5-3 4-11 5-3 5-7 5-3 5-0 5-2 5-4 5-3 5-2 5-0 Head Coach Franklin Lakes, NJ Schereville, IN Ann Arbor, MI Ann Arbor, MI Portage, MI Skokie,lL Traverse City, MI Troy, MI Burnsville, MN Saline, MI Traverse City, MI Bridgeport, OH Columbus, OH Ann Arbor, MI Mississauga, Ont. Dallas, TX 0 by Charlie Wolfe Daily Sports Writer' Making an in-depth assessment of the 1991 Michigan men's gymnastics team, one finds that three factors will be crucial if the Wolverines plan on being a formidable foe in the Big Ten. Coming off last year's regional-qualifying, 17th nationally-ranked team, those factors will be youth, injuries, and consistency. All three will weigh heavily on head coach Bob Darden's mind, if the team is to seriously contend in the conference or qualify once again for post-season competition. YOUTH: There will be plenty of it as this season's squad features six freshmen, nearly half of the 13- man team. And even a majority of the upperclassmen could be considered fairly young, as that includes two sophomores and only one senior on the whole roster. Five are returning letterwinners, however, and two qualified for the NCAA Championships last year. The Wolverines will be led by their co-captains, Jim Round and Matt Harrison. Only a junior, this is Round's second year as a captain, and Harris&h is the lone senior on the squad. Both will be excellent all-arounders for Michigan., but Harrison's specialty is the parallel bars and Round excels on the rings. Round had a team-high score of 9.60 on them a year ago (while also scoring a team best 9.30 on the horizontal bar), and Harrison will try to better last season's leading tally of 9.40 on the parallel bars. "The guys really appreciate (Harrison's) input, and his competitive experience is invaluable," Coach Darden said. "As for Jim (Round), it's the second year he's been chosen as team leader, so that should speak for itself." Another major plus is the return of junior Ruben Ceballos, Michigan's top all-around performer from a year ago with a team-high score of 55.75. Ceballos is the finest returnee in the floor exercise (an amazing personal best of 9.75 last season) and vault (9.45), while qualifying for the NCAA Championships in both events. Glenn Hill joins Ceballos as the other NCAA qualifier, the junior competed in the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year on the pommel horse. Hill had his hand in a cast the past three weeks, but has returned this week to compete in multiple events. "I'm looking forward to competing again," said Hill, "it's kind of frustrating being out these last few weeks. I was excited about the first meet at Minne- sota; we did really well compared to the past years." The other upperclassmen who hope to bolster their team's scores this season are junior David Nader, and sophomores Scott Harris and Josh Miner. Finally we arrive at the true youth reserve of the team, and .heading an impressive list of first-year gymnasts are two members whom Darden refers to as "super-freshmen." Royce Toni and Ben Verrall both took a year off between high school and college; Toni to recover from an injury and Verrall to train more extensively. "We will put a lot of pressure on Royce and Ben this year," said Darden. "They are looked at as having a year of collegiate experience and should contribute a great deal to our team." Darden was also very positive about his other four newcomers. Jorge Camacho was considered the leader in the floor exercise going into the Minnesota meet, and Mike Mott was a two-time high school state champion on the pommel horse. Matt Marsich has an impressive background in the all-around, but the coaches will try to have him emphasize vault and floor exercise, while Seth Rubin will work the pommel horse. INJURIES: Simply put, the Wolverines can't afford any. Many of the team members are already nursing injuries to one extent or another, and even though they seem to be a way of life for many gymnasts, they could stop an upcoming team in its tracks. Hill's is the only one serious enough to have kept him out of competition, but both Harrison (knees) and Ceballos (wrist) are hampered enough to be seriously restricted in practice, and lesser problems are common. "We don't have the depth that some of the bigger teams have," Round said. "But if we're all healthy, we should do pretty well. That's going to be the key." CONSISTENCY: This third dynamic is one that Darden continually will push his squad towards, feeling it is especially important with his team's limited pool of experience. Michigan mainly concentrated on basic skill training the first few months last semester, "but then in December and since we've come back, it's been intense training to just churn out as many routines as possible," Darden said. "And then to just perfect those routines over and over again." That's not to say that the gymnasts will be displaying the most intricate routines, however. That may be wishing for too much, too soon. "We're not going to set the world on fire with the difficulty of our routines," he said. "We do have a variety of routines for everyone, but we need consistency above all." Working along with Darden this season will be assistant coach Mike Milidonis. He has coached women's gymnastics teams before, and is also an active member of numerous national and international gymnastics organizations. Milidonis had some very inspiring words about the men he'll be working with this year. "We have a great group of guys, youth as well as leadership," he said. "I think we're going to surpass our recent history and rewrite the record books, I really do." the floor exercise. Sophomore Tiffany Kinnai will perform nicely on the balance beam, and rookie walk-on Tami Crocker will com- pete on the uneven bars and the vault. Sophomore Julie Hofmeister is the most improved gymnast on the squad and will be a fine all- around performer. They are young, but not inexperienced. "Michigan looks really im- proved under coach Fry," Wiscon- sin assistant coach Jeff Thompson said. "It's her program now. She has her own kids now, and they re- ally look good." The Wolverines sport a very young squad now, with no seniors and only three juniors. Michigan has also received commitments from a number of top recruits al- ready, giving further reason for confidence in the years to come. "We have phenomenal recrui coming in," Fry said. "Next yea we will be the team to compete with. People need to start looking at Michigan gymnastics in a posi- tive light." The future looks bright for the Wolverines as does the present. They are gaining a competitive at- titude that they have not displayed in the past. They expect to win each week, instead of hoping pull off an upset. SPORTS INFORMATION Michigan women's coach Beverly Fry, in her second year, discusses routine techniques with her gymnasts. The squad is hoping for a top-three finish in the Big Ten this season. Men gymasts look to finish in the middle of the pack in 1991 by Robert Siegel Daily Sports Writer In Big Ten competition last year, the Michigan men's gymnas- tics team finished in seventh place out of seven competing schools, yet they still ranked 17th na- tionally. That fact attests to what a pow- erhouse conference the Wolverines find themselves in this season. Gymnastics is an important sport here in the Midwest, taken very seriously because competiton is stiff. If you oan survive in the Big Tt-n mnw ,. r it ,ill; nly7 d'i "Any conference that qualifies five of seven teams for the NCAA championships is a great confer- ence," Illinois head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "No question. This is the best conference there is," Iowa head coach Tom Dunn said. "The Big Ten is by far the pre- mier men's gymnastics conference in America," Michigan State head coach Rick Atkinson said. Apparently, all the teams in the Big Ten are quality teams. They are all good. But three, Minnesota, Towa and Ohio State. are very tures Chris Kabat who, last year as a freshman, made All-Big Ten. He, like the entire Iowa team, should only get better.. Rounding out the top three is Ohio State. Although perennially strong, this might be an off year for the Buckeyes due to the loss of many of last year's talented se- niors. "We lost 50 percent of our team scores to graduation," OSU head coach Peter Korman said. As for the rest of the Big Ten, it's anybody's game. Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan year for the Illinois men's gym- nasts. However, after an off year, the Fighting Illini are on the re- bound. "We are a much, much better team this year," 17th-year head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. It shouldn't be long before the team is a power again like it was in the '80s when Illinois captured four Big Ten championships. Michigan State head coach Rick Atkinson likes his chances this year. Fifth in the Big Ten a year ago, he hopes to finish second or third. Wisconsin is another hopeful, young team. Perennially near the bottom of the standings, the team hopes to move up this year. From the looks of things, though, thee probably won't So where does all of this leave our. own Wolverines? Michigan's gymnasts are confident, but realis- tic. "Minnesota, Iowa, and Ohio State are probably the top three," Michigan co-captain Matt Harrison said. "But I think we should beat Wisconsin, MSU, and Illinois, so we're right in the middle to unne* Harrison John Roethlisberger, last year's all-around Bi Ten chamn (Yes.