Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, January 30, 2015 — 7

Shot put standout has unique path

By NATHANIEL CLARK

Daily Sports Writer

Long before Derek Sievers

was a shot put standout for the
Michigan men’s track team,
he hoped to make a name for
himself on the gridiron.

He spent three years as

a starting fullback on the
football team at Byron Center
(Michigan) High School.

He has won the shot put four

times in his collegiate career,
including
victories
at
the

Simmons-Harvey
Invitational

on Jan. 17 and against Michigan
State on Jan. 24. He also finished
15th at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor
Championships
and
seventh

at the 2014 Big Ten Outdoor
Championships in the event.

“The shot put event happens

so fast,” Sievers said. “You
have to clear your mind and
use the nervous energy to your
advantage.”

While it sounds funny to call

the shot put a fast-paced event,
the rapid motions it requires are
fitting for Sievers.

***

At Byron Center, Sievers

amassed 2,212 yards on 340
carries.
During
his
junior

year, he notched 769 yards on
133 carries and nine rushing
touchdowns
despite
sharing

duties with another running
back.

But
Sievers
truly

demonstrated his prowess his
senior year, when he collected
1,157 yards on 147 carries,
equating to 7.9 yards per carry.
It was a performance that won
him All-Area and All-State
honors. Sievers even added 13
rushing touchdowns for good
measure while sharing the job
yet again.

Yet even with his success as

a running back, Sievers always
considered himself first and
foremost an offensive lineman,
a position he had played since
his pee-wee football years.

“If you run the ball, you get

hit,” Sievers said. “If you’re
blocking someone, you get to hit
them.”

Perhaps it was a way of

bonding with his father, who
played football at Southeast
Missouri State from 1982 to
1986 as an offensive lineman.

“My dad was my pee-wee

coach all the way up through
eighth grade,” Sievers said.
“We’d always practice in the
backyard and stuff. He instilled
in me that you can either be the
hammer or the nail, and you
don’t want to be the nail.”

Or maybe it was a way of

keeping up with his brother,
who took delight in pushing
him around. The sibling rivalry
soon translated into skills as
a linebacker. Sievers finished
2009 with 79 tackles, three
recovered fumbles and three
catches for interceptions.

“It
was
pretty
intense

between my brother and me
until I outgrew him in ninth
grade,” Sievers said.

Sievers was also the punter

for Byron Central for all three
seasons of his career, averaging

34.3 yards per punt in that
stretch. He even dabbled in the
long snapper position for a time
as well.

As if all of that weren’t

enough, Sievers took part in
wrestling and bowling during
the winter months.

“I was just trying to live my

high-school
sporting
career

out,” Sievers said. “I didn’t
really focus on one thing.
Bowling was awesome because
I got free bowling all the time.”

***

But Sievers’ other sports did

not detract from his track and
field performance. In both his
junior and senior seasons, he
earned All-State honors in both
the shot put and discus events
and won the Division II state
championship in the discus.
It rubbed off on the rest of the
team as Byron Central won the
Division II team title in 2010
and 2011.

“Track was the best overall

experience for me,” Sievers said.
“That’s why I continue to do it
today.”

Even with all of his success,

he was largely overlooked on
the recruiting trail for both
football and track. But once
Michigan called, there were no
more decisions to make.

“No one really recruited me

out of high school for track,”
Sievers
said.
“And
football

was mostly Division II and
Division III schools. Michigan
came along at the very end of
my senior season and my mom
said, ‘If you can go to Michigan,
you’re gonna go to Michigan.’ ”

Still, Sievers gets a kick out of

football even though his playing
days are done. He is a denizen of
Michigan Stadium on football
Saturdays and regards those
days as some of his best in Ann
Arbor.

While Sievers may be a shot

put star, football will always be
a part of him.

‘M’ hopes growth
process complete

By BRANDON CARNEY

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan men’s lacrosse

team is entering its fourth
year of competition, and its
players and coaches believe the
program is finally ready to take
the step out of infancy.

Following a five-win season

in 2014, the Wolverines believe
the worst of the team’s growing
pains are behind them.

“This year, we have so many

guys that are mature and used
to the system,” said senior
attacker Will Meter. “I think
we’re looking to go full steam
ahead and not worry about any
growth. We’ve already gone
through that.”

Top-scoring
sophomore

attacker
Ian
King
returns

for Michigan, and redshirt
sophomore goalkeeper Gerald
Logan is also back after missing
last season with an injury.
King, Logan and sophomore
midfielder
Mikie
Schlosser

were all named to the Big Ten
Players to Watch list. The three
will make up the core of the
team, and Meter expects them
all to improve.

“King
and
Logan
have

played at an extremely high
level,” Meter said. “Even as
solid as they’ve played in their
first years, there’s always an
opportunity to take a step
forward, and these two can be
elite players. We’re really going
to need to rely on them.”

Michigan coach John Paul

has brought in a highly rated
13-man recruiting class, and he
retains eight of his nine point-
getters from last year. While
youth is still an issue with the
Wolverines, the potential for
the team is sky-high.

With the development of

the
program
coming
along

nicely, Michigan will turn its
attention to the development of
its new league. The Wolverines
will be a part of the inaugural
Big Ten lacrosse season. New
arrivals Maryland and Johns

Hopkins are expected to rank
atop the conference, as both are
preseason top-10 teams.

Michigan was voted last in

the Big Ten preseason poll,
but that doesn’t mean the
Wolverines won’t be looking
to make some noise. With
television
appearances
and

national exposure coming with
the new conference, the team
is excited to show the country
where the program is heading.

“We know the Big Ten’s

going to be tough this first
year,” Meter said. “Playing
these bigger teams that have
won national titles doesn’t
seem as daunting of a task now.
They’re just going to be regular
games.”

If there’s one game Michigan

has circled on its calendar, it’s
the April 5 matchup against
Ohio State. The Wolverines
have yet to defeat the Buckeyes
in three years of competition,
something
the
senior
class

hopes to change in its final
season.

“The
seniors
have
had

meetings about what we want
our legacy to be, and we really
want to be the first team to
beat Ohio State,” said senior
defender Mack Gembis. “That
would be the culmination of all
the work we put in the past four
years.”

Whether or not Michigan can

defeat Ohio State this season,
the seniors are a historic group
for the program. The class will
be the first that has played
all four years, something the
seniors know is special.

“It wasn’t always easy at

times,” Meter said. “But we
went through a lot, and that’s
why I think this season’s the
biggest. If we can come out, do
well in the Big Ten and prove
ourselves, it’ll show how far
we’ve come as a class in leading
this team.”

Seniors like Meter helped the

program take its first step. Now
they’re helping it take its first
running strides.

MEN’S LACROSSE

The last moose standing: Max Bielfeldt

By LEV FACHER

Managing Editor

Max Bielfeldt’s lower legs are

legendary. But lately, the large-
calved forward is seeing less
about them on Twitter, and he
thinks that’s a good thing.

“I was making a joke the other

day,” he said. “It’s a good sign
that I’m playing better when
after a game, back in the day,
80 percent of the Tweets were
about my calves and now only 20
percent are about my calves. So
I think that means I’m playing a
little better.”

Known as “Moose” to his

coaches and teammates, the
6-foot-7 senior is enjoying a
late-career surge. Bielfeldt is
averaging just shy of 10 points
and 21 minutes per game over
the Michigan men’s basketball
team’s
last
three
Big
Ten

contests, on the heels of three
seasons in which he barely saw
the floor.

He’s now known as a key

contributor on a Wolverine
squad that, as of late, has
impressed with its resiliency
in the face of injury and
inexperience.

Following Mitch McGary’s

departure for the NBA, Jordan
Morgan’s graduation and Jon
Horford’s
transfer,
Bielfeldt

found himself the Wolverines’
lone upperclassman big man
in 2014-15. With each passing
game, it becomes increasingly
clear
he
isn’t
taking
the

responsibility lightly.

Rather,
Bielfeldt
has

taken advantage of the role,
climbing the depth chart to
become — depending on the
situation — Michigan’s first
big off the bench. Despite their
inexperience, it was freshman
Ricky
Doyle
and
redshirt

freshman Mark Donnal who
engaged in a preseason battle
to start at the ‘5’ spot, with

Bielfeldt viewed as the third
horse in a two-lane race.

But that didn’t stop him from

helping
contain
Wisconsin’s

Frank
Kaminsky
and
his

five-inch height advantage in
Michigan’s 65-60 overtime loss
to the Badgers on Jan. 24, or
shooting 6-for-9 from the field
to help the Wolverines take
down Nebraska on Tuesday.

It helps, of course, that

Bielfeldt spends the days leading
up to games impersonating the
very players he’s later assigned
to defend. He leads Michigan’s
scout team, a role Michigan
coach John Beilein says he
assigned him “because he’s the
brightest of all those guys at
knowing college basketball.”

“On the scout team, you kind

of see what (your opponents’)
go-to moves are,” Bielfeldt said.
“It expands your game a little bit.
If they have a good turnaround
jumper or something, and you
try to emulate that in practice
and it goes down for you, you
might try to incorporate that
yourself.”

While being assigned to the

scout
team

is
sometimes

viewed
as

a
sign
that

a
player

shouldn’t
expect
to

contribute
in
game

situations,
it’s much the
opposite
this

year for Bielfeldt.

“He’s on that scout team

because that’s what the team
needs him to do,” Beilein said.

Bielfeldt has been one of

the
scout
team’s
de
facto

captains throughout much of
his career. But with LeVert
out, he and junior guard Spike
Albrecht are the only remaining
upperclassmen on Michigan’s

active roster, creating shortages
on the experience and leadership
fronts.

“Three was already a small

number,”
Bielfeldt
said
of
the

dwindling
number
of

veterans.
“Two is even
less.”

The
sheer

numbers pose
an issue when
it
comes
to

simply leading by example.
With half a roster’s worth of
upperclassmen, it’s easy for
experienced players to set the
on-court tone. In this particular
circumstance, Bielfeldt says the
instruction has to be a bit more
explicit.

“You just have to talk to the

guys more,” Bielfeldt said. “Back
in high school, they might not

have realized that you kind of
need to jog the drill, keep the
energy of practice up.

“When you only have two

guys who have been here for
more than a year, you have to say
it more than do it … you have to
instill it in them.”

Bielfeldt’s
senior
status

in 2014-15 wasn’t always the
plan. Though he has a year of
eligibility remaining, Beilein
and his staff decided in Summer
2014 that Bielfeldt would be
listed as a senior this year.

The decision made sense

for both parties; it opened up
a scholarship for Michigan’s
next freshman class, and it
allowed Bielfeldt — who had just
38 career points prior to this
season — to transfer for a final
season elsewhere, should he
choose to.

Bielfeldt took the news in

stride, working to establish
himself as a leader and taking

advantage of his newfound
health.
He
underwent
hip

surgery toward the end of Spring
2014, sidelining him for nearly
the entire summer but relieving
him of a major inhibitor to his
play.

“Basketball’s a lot more fun

when you land and it doesn’t
hurt,” Bielfeldt said. “I’m having
more fun and playing more, and
with the hip surgery I’m just
feeling better, so you know, just
general cuts and jumps and all
that.”

While he’s certainly having

more fun playing, Bielfeldt is
also flourishing in his roles as a
mentor and tutor for his younger
teammates. From a mentorship
perspective,
the
Wolverines

timed
their
international

summer trip well (the program
is allowed to take one every four
years).

Michigan spent 10 days in

Italy in the offseason, giving

Bielfeldt a chance to get to
know a class of freshmen that,
mid-summer, would typically
be busy throughout the day
with practice, summer classes,
tutoring and other introduction-
to-college activities.

“It
was
nothing
crazy,”

Bielfeldt
told
the
Daily
in

Novemeber.
“I’d
go
walk

around with (freshman guard
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-

Rahkman) or somebody, learn
more about him, and I think
overall we’re closer in that.”

It was the details, Bielfeldt

said,
that
made
the
trip

particularly meaningful.

“Little things, like me and

Muhammad walking into some
little shop and looking at some
European soccer jersey,” he
said. “I never would’ve done
that in the past three years with
an older player.”

While
it’s
not
a
yearly

occurrence for a player who
spent his first three years largely
on the bench to emerge as a
leader and major contributor in
his senior season, Beilein says
it’s nothing new.

“I’ve seen it before,” Beilein

said,
“where
guys
in
that

senior year all of a sudden are
so valuable to you, because
they’ve got the experience,
that maturity about them, that
they’ve been there and done that
before.

“They’ve been waiting a long

time for that opportunity, so
that’s been huge.”

Bielfeldt, regardless of how

he got there, is happy to finally
be playing major minutes and
contributing as much as he has
been lately.

“Overall, you just have to be

ready,” Bielfeldt said. “Next man
up.”

Daily
Sports
Editor
Max

Bultman contributed reporting.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Derek Sievers was a football star in high school before beginning his exceptional shot put career at Michigan.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Max Bielfeldt has recently emerged, averaging just shy of 10 points and 21 minutes over his last three Big Ten games.

“They’ve been
waiting a long
time for that
opportunity.”