B
RUTGERS ROUTED
n The Michigan softball team picked up
three easy wins by a combined score of
39-3. Page 3B
ONE STEP BEHIND
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | April 13, 2015
n The Michigan men’s lacrosse team
fell to Ohio State Sunday at Michigan
Stadium, 13-8. Page 4B
For Kate Johnson, success at
USIBA Championships fuels a
greater goal
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
A little after 3 p.m. Friday, Sandy Johnson saw
her daughter take a punch to the face for the first
time ever. A few minutes later, she watched her
hoist a national championship belt.
Kate Johnson earned her second national boxing
title when she won the 119-pound division of the
USIBA College Boxing Championships. Before
losing Saturday in the Golden Gloves tournament,
she was undefeated at 9-0. Just a few years ago, her
parents would have never seen this coming.
“She was usually pretty quiet until she got mad
or riled up,” Ed Johnson said. “But she’ll hit her
head on a brick wall just to get something done or
prove a point.”
Now a senior, Johnson grew up in Farmington
Hills, Michigan and was a swimmer at Divine Child
High School in Dearborn. She liked to exercise,
and joined the Michigan boxing club at FestiFall
because she thought it might be an interesting way
to stay in shape.
At first, she just wanted to punch the bag.
But as she dove deeper into the sport and spent
more time honing her skills, the competitive itch
took over. It can be difficult to schedule actual
opponents
in
LORDS OF THE RING
Women win national
championship, men finish
second inside IM Building
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Writer
The biggest athletic event in Ann Arbor this
weekend didn’t take place at any of the sparkling,
million-dollar Division I athletics facilities known
nationwide.
While the new and polished fields, tracks and
arenas baked in the early-spring sun, thousands
of fans flocked to the sweaty, echoing gymnasium
of the century-old Intramural Sports Building for
the USIBA National Championships. It was, by all
accounts, a knockout event.
“We got a lot of compliments about how the
tournament was run, from the officials, coaches, to
the teams and fighters that came from all over the
country,” said Michigan coach Tony Sensoli. “They
felt we were very organized and things ran really
smoothly.”
With the backing of a home crowd, Michigan
earned five individual national championships to
claim its first-ever women’s team title. Though it
came up short in repeating as national champion in
the men’s group, taking second instead, the biggest
story of the weekend was the event itself.
Drawing 150 boxers from over 30 teams and
attended by thousands of screaming fans, the event
showed
that
SportsMonday
PHOTOS BY ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
See BOXING, Page 4B
See JOHNSON, Page 2B