The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - January 28, 1991- Page 7
M' recruiting class
placed in top three
by Adam Lutz
Last season, Gary Moeller's first recruiting class was considered a
pleasant surprise, as most experts ranked it in the nation's top five. In his
sophomore year, Moeller apparently has his eyes on the No. 1 spot.
According to SuperPrep Magazine's senior editor, Allen Wallace,
Michigan's current recruiting class would rank in the top three along with
Penn State and Washington.
4 "They're balanced on both sides of the ball, especially along the
offensive and defensive lines," Wallace said.
What explains Michigan's recruiting success?
"Michigan presents a positive, family atmosphere," Wallace said. "When
prospects look at the Big Ten, the team that gives off the best all- around
image is Michigan. Further improving Michigan's position is Ohio State,
awhich is having a down year, and Notre Dame, usually the top recruiting
school, is battling an academic image problem, forcing them to pass on
athletes with low GPA's or possible prop. 48's."
Michigan has received a known 13 commitments - leaving seven
additional scholarships to grant before the Feb. 6 official signing date. Of
the 13, six have come from the list of the "Best of the Midwest." Here is a
look at some of the top prospects:
Tyrone Wheatley, a 6-foot-1, 215 pound running back, decided on
Michigan last week. He is currently the No.1 player in the state, and
*'aCcording to Superprep, the Midwest's No.1 athlete. Wheatley can do it all
on the field, as represented by his career numbers of 4,257 rushing yards and
70 touchdowns. Said Wallace: "He has unbelievable size combined with
quickness. He is extremely versatile and productive from many different
positions."
The other offensive skill position filled thus far is at quarterback.
Michigan received commitments from the state's top two prospects. Craig
Randall (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) is considered the better of the two (ranked
18th in the country by Superprep), because of his all-around athletic ability.
"He is quick and has the ability to run the option," Wallace said.
Meanwhile, Jay Riemersma (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) is built similar to
Michigan's current quarterback, Elvis Grbac. Wallace says that Riemersma
is a "decent prospect, who projects a good size, strong arm and has an
excellent head on the field."
A mammoth offensive line is usually a Michigan tradition, and this class
contains many who fit that mold. The largest is Trezelle Jenkins (6-foot-
7, 290 pounds) Chicago native, whose nickname is 'Tree.' Considered an
All-American by most, Jenkins' size is his greatest attribute. However,
according to Wallace, Tree had a disappointing senior season after much pre-
season hype.
Wallace considers Joe Marinaro (6-foot-4, 275 pounds) and Paul Barry
(6-foot-4, 289 pounds) the nation's 16th and 23rd best lineman. Marinaro, a
Massachusetts native, possesses tremendous ability that stems from his
"flexibility, strength and the toughness he brings to the field." Barry's
abilities, however, lay more with his intelligence and strength. He also
benefits from playing at an excellent program at Cincinnati Moeller high
school.
Over the weekend, Jamie Mignon a 6-foot-5, 245 pound linebacker,
recognized as the Wisconsin Player of the Year, orally committed to
Michigan. Rated 7th on the "Best" list, this All-American was described as
an "all world" type by Wallace after piling up a career 32 sacks and five
safeties.
Deollo Anderson, a 6-2, 190-lb cornerback was rated 2nd on the "Best"
list, while mounting a career 22 interceptions. This All-American also
showed his offensive flair by adding 30 touchdowns while playing tailback
and flanker.
Trent Zenkewicz, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive lineman, is rated 4th
on the "Best" and was named Superprep's Midwest Defensive Player of the
year. The Cleveland All-American compiled 20 sacks and 102 tackles last
year by combining athleticism and size.
Moeller added Michigan's best defensive lineman as well, Rob
VanderLeest(6-foot-4, 245-pounds). VanderLeest, rated 18th on "Best",
'J had an excellent year in leading his team to the class C championship. He
combined his immense toughness with quickness to help him to a career
398 tackles.
'Men spikers keep rolling
Gymnastics teams
vault over Illinois
Women
set record
in victory
by Andy Stabile
Daily Sports Writer
When the Michigan women's
gymnastics team talks about "Super
Sunday" in practice today they won't
be talking about the Super Bowl.
Instead, they'll be referring to their
performance in yesterday's dual meet
with Illinois. It was super.
The Wolverines scored a school
record for points, and along the way
beat the defending Big Ten champs
by a score of 185.1 to 182.85.
"Michigan looked real solid." said
Illinois assistant coach J.A.
Dominguez. "We knew they... had
the ability to have a great meet like
this."
Michigan seemed to be on a roll
from the beginning. After a solid
performance on the vault, the
Wolverines stunned the crowd (and
maybe themselves) on the uneven
bars. Assistant coach Jack Evanoff
described it as, "by far our best per-
formance on the bars this year."
After each gymnast landed her
dismount, she was engulfed by an ar-
ray of teammates whose faces
seemed to show both surprise and
jubilation. Voices were screaming
and high fives were flying. "The
team really pulled together," sopho-
more Tiffany Kinaia said, "It was
fun."
The team stumbled slightly on
the balance beam but maintained its
lead. Michigan headed to the floor
routine, the final rotation, knowing
the Illini still had to compete on the
normally lower scoring beam.
"There was no way we were going to
let them (Illinois) get back into it
then." Evanoff said.
Sensing victory, the Wolverines
put in an enthusiastic floor routine
to which the big crowd responded fa-
vorably.
Again, smiling gymnasts left the
floor to be greeted by a host of
teammates.
Again, the scores showed that
Michigan had turned in another sea-
son-best performance.
When all the scores were tallied,
the Wolverines had a victory and a
school record. "We were really
psyched up for our first home meet,"
all-around performance winner
Allison Winski said, "Today we re-
ally stuck three of our four events.
We still need work on our beam, but
everything else was great."
The record performance was led
by Allison Winski and Wendy
Wilkinson, but also got contribu-
tions from some unexpected sources
as first-year gymnast Stacy Shingle
and sophomore Eva Gordon were
called on for the first time. "Eva and
Stacy Stepped in and really picked it
up." said Evanoff.
"We came off a tough win at
Bowling Green Friday night, but we
were all looking forward to this."
Evanoff said, "We had a great crowd
today and I don't think we disap-
pointed anyone."
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C L A SS..................F..................
Kim Crocker puts a little extra into her floor excercise routine yesterday against Illinois. Crocker, a junior, has
been an important part of the Wolverines surge this season. Michigan defeated the Illini yesterday, and in the
process the team set a school record with its score of 185.1 points..
Men record season-best score against Illinois
by Caryn Seidman
Daily Sports Writer
It began and ended with a mo-
ment of silence.
To begin the men's gymnastics
meet against Illinois, the crowd
and the gymnasts shared a moment
of silence to think about the sol-
diers in the Persian Gulf.
In the end, Illinois had its own
personal moment of silence in
Keen Arena, as the team contem-
plated its 274.75-272.65 loss to the
Wolverines. It was Illinois's first
loss to Michigan in at least 15
years.
"I think they have one of the
best Michigan teams in recent
years," Illinois coach, Yoshi
Hayasaki said. "I can't remember
the last time we lost to them."
This victory did not come as
too much of a surprise to Michigan
coach Bob Darden. The team did
have a rough end to its training
week, suffering a physical letup in
their workout. But Darden knew his
team had the ability to win.
"We simply had to focus on the
physical and mental side of pure
gymnastics and forget about all the
peripheral stuff," Darden said.
It occasionally appeared that
the judges spent more time on the
mats (renegotiating scoring gaps)
then the gymnasts did. When the
Michigan men finally took the
floor, however, they were able to
dominate in four of the six events.
After the first event the Wolver-
ines were never behind.
Michigan began its rotation on
the pommel horse where it
outscored Illinois 45.35-44.25.
NCAA qualifier Glen Hill received
the best overall score in this event _
with a 9.65.
Michigan then "hit" on the
floor exercises although it lost this
event by .20. The biggest factor on
the floor was the first-year team
members who grabbed the Wolver-
ines second and third place in this
event. Rookies Jorge Camacho and
Ben Verrall finished with a 9.60
and 9.55, respectively.
"Our level of freshman have
surpassed what we've had in the
past," Darden said, "they simply
have the right attitude."
Following his strong floor exer-
cise performance, Verrall, who
placed fourth in the all-around, re-
ceived a 9.45 on the vault. His
score was second only to Illinois'
Dan Petritis.
While Michigan began to take
control of the meet on the vault,
Illinois was on the still rings. At
this point it became clear that the
Illini were starting to give up their
fight. Every time one turned away
from the Wolverines to check the
progress of the opposition a blue
and orange gymnast appeared to
be falling from the rings. The Illi-
nois men simply could not hold on.
Before the final rotation Illinois
had managed to pull within one
point. Co-captain Jim Round was
able to wrap up the Michigan vic-
tory with a solid performance on
the horizontal bar.
The victory was also assisted
with a strong performance by
Ruben Ceballos, who placed third
in the all-around. Although Cebal-
los said his performance was very
rough, he thinks the team has be-
gun to hit a plateau.
Receiving their best score of
the season, Ceballos said this
team knows that it can go mL :h
higher.
by Caryn Seidman
Daily Sports Writer
In the huddle they chanted "Go
Blue!" and once they took the
ourt there was no stopping the
Michigan men's volleyball team.
It was an easy victory for the
Wolverines. With the return of the
team's captain and emotional
leader, Jeff Timberlake, they
rolled over the University of
Cincinnati in three games straight
on Friday night.
Michigan had expected
Cincinnati to be slightly stronger
than it was but the Wolverines
were not complaining. Cinncinnatti
was only able to score 21 points
the entire night
"It was great because every-
body got in the game and had a
chance to contribute," assistant
coach Tom Johengen said.
Both Johengen and coach Peg
McCarthy were relieved to have
their captain back. Timberlake had
been absent from the lineup for the
past two weeks with an eye injury
he suffered against Toledo.
"He makes a world of
difference," McCarthy said. "You
tan see his (Timberlake) leader-
ship on the court; he's been doing
it since he was a freshman."
The Wolverines were able to
run their offense well because of
Timberlakes return according to
Johengen. Net play, both blocking
and spiking, was also strong with
the help of Mike McQuin. Michi-
gan also made a very limited
amount of errors like net contact, a
problem which has cost them
points in the past.
Although a Cincinnati player
was constantly yelling "serves up"
it appeared as if his teammates did
not hear him. Michigan was
consistent in its serves, although
they were not always powerful
they did appear accurate
"This team feels like it has its
rhythm back with the return of
Timberlake," Johengen said.
In addition to inspiration
provided by Timberlake, the black
armbands worn in remembrance of
Scott Jeffs assist this team in their
victories. Jeffs was a member of
last years team who died in a freak
basketball accident this summer
and there will be a 30 team "Scott
Jeffs Memorial Tournament" held
by the Wolverines in February.
JOSE JUAREZ/Daily
Ben Verrall performs on the horizontal bar against Illinois yesterday.
Verrall placed 4th in the all-around competition in Michigan's victory.
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