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." ................. ......A D....... ...... .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . ..E ....... D A.................L Y .......... 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. t c U ...- -943I}f fa RESTAURANT "26 YEARS EXPERIENCE" 19918BSN STUDENTS. Enter the Air Force immediately after gradua- tion - without waiting for the results of your State Boards. You can earn great benefits as an Air Force nurse officer. And if selected during your senior year, you may qualify for a five-month internship -CHEF JAN- 26 years of expenence TOP GOLD MEDAL WINNER DF DETROIT COBO HALL NATIONAL CONTEST Sponsored by Michigan Restaurant Association Michigan Chefs De Cuisine Association Order your college ring NOW. JO STEGN A ME R IC A SCO LL E GE R I NG' 0 BLUE RIBBON BEST CHEF AWARD IN WASHINGTON D.C. VOTED #1 BEST ORIENTAL FOOD IN ANN ARBOR 1990 -Michigan Daily Stop by and see a Jostens representative, Jan. 28 -Feb.1 11 o m r 4oAm A I