The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
April 18, 2016 — 3B
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
McCallum’s title
caps down year
Team fails to
qualify for finals at
national meet
By MATTHEW KENNEDY
Daily Sports Writer
All
season,
the
Michigan
men’s
gymnastics
team
has
struggled
with
the
same
problem:
a
mediocre
team
performance
contrasted
with
flashes of individual greatness.
This past weekend, at the NCAA
Championships
in
Columbus,
that trend continued.
The Wolverines (1-6 Big Ten,
8-23 overall) failed to qualify
for the final round of the NCAA
Championships — dubbed the
Super Six — after a poor showing
in the preliminary round Friday.
Six teams competed in two
sessions, with the top three
from
each
advancing
to
the final round
Saturday.
Michigan
wasn’t
close
to
qualifying,
however,
finishing
in
fifth place with
a score of 422.150. To qualify for
the Super Six, the Wolverines
would have needed to outscore Big
Ten foe Illinois — which scored
432.050 points — for third place.
“It’s a disappointment,” said
Michigan coach Kurt Golder.
“I knew we weren’t going to
be a National Championship
contender, but I knew we had
the potential enough to make
the Super Six, and we didn’t
accomplish that.”
Despite
the
poor
team
performance
Friday,
seven
gymnasts scored well enough
on specific events to qualify for
the NCAA Individual Finals,
which took place later in the
day on Saturday.
“(Friday) evening, they were
disappointed, but I think they
used it as motivation the next day,”
Golder said. “It didn’t appear to me
that anyone was moping around or
anything, they appeared pretty
excited about the opportunity that
lied in front of them.”
Sophomore Dmitri Belanovski
captured two All-America honors
in the same day after finishing
seventh in the All-Around and
fifth on the floor. Fifth-year
senior Colin Mahar — competing
in his final meet for Michigan
— tied third on the rings to also
garner All-America honors.
But
the
most
notable
performance was by freshman
Anthony McCallum. Competing
at
his
first-ever
NCAA
Championship, McCallum scored
a 15.550 on the vault, taking home
an
individual
national
title
in that event
by
0.200
points.
The
championship
came
two
weeks
after
McCallum
set an NCAA
record while winning the vault
title at the Big Ten Championships.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me,”
Golder said. “He’s competed at
the vault all year, and I thought he
was being underscored all year.
But at the Big Tens and NCAAs,
he was getting more of the scores
he deserved.”
The 2016 season will go down
as a disappointment in Golder’s
mind, who is just two years
removed
from
back-to-back
national titles. But, much like the
rest of the season, disappointing
team results were mixed with
stellar individual performances.
“I thought he was
being underscored
all year.”
Two earn All-America honors
Artz, Brown,
Chiarelli compete
as individuals in
final meet of season
By LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
To end a season in which the
Michigan women’s gymnastics
team hoped to contend for the
national title, just three members
of the team traveled to Fort
Worth, Texas, for the NCAA
Championships this weekend. But
out of those three, two returned to
Ann Arbor with second-team All-
American honors.
Junior
Nicole
Artz
and
sophomore
Brianna
Brown
both advanced to the NCAA
Championships
for
the
all-
around,
while
junior
Talia
Chiarelli qualified for the meet
on floor. With the tournament
broken up into two sessions —
one in the afternoon and one
in the evening — the team was
split as both Chiarelli and Artz
were placed in the afternoon
session and Brown was placed
in the evening. Since the entire
Michigan team didn’t make
the championships, all three
Wolverines were separated to
compete as individuals among
other teams.
Artz
kicked
off
the
tournament for the Wolverines
with a rotation on the uneven
bars.
Surrounded
by
an
unfamiliar team at a high-stakes
competition, she was in an
uncomfortable situation — until
she looked to the uneven bars.
At a different event, Chiarelli
left her makeshift team for its
first rotation to cheer on Artz.
Just like at Crisler, she was able
to help prep her teammate for
the event. And while the whole
team wasn’t there, Chiarelli’s
presence was enough to keep
Artz calm for the event. Artz
received a 9.8125 to start the
day.
However, it was Artz’s floor
routine that secured her All-
America honors for the third
straight season. She scored a
9.875 for the event, tying for
sixth, which earned her a second
team
All-American
honor.
She now has a total of six All-
American honors.
Despite Artz’s awards and
performances, that wasn’t the
highlight of her time in Fort
Worth.
“Honestly, I was most excited
about Talia’s floor routine,” Artz
said. “She decided to add a full-
in, and it was just really cool
for her to go out there and nail
something that big.”
Chiarelli, who qualified to
perform her floor routine at
the championships, capitalized
on the fact that her routine
wouldn’t affect a team score.
Double Arabians and full-ins are
both E-level passes, and only one
is needed to fulfill the difficulty
for collegiate gymnastics.
With no team stakes on
the line, Chiarelli decided to
perform both.
“We had toyed around with
both of the passes and laughed
about it at the beginning of
the
season,”
said
Michigan
coach Bev Plocki. “If she were
competing in the Olympics and
wanted to challenge Simone
Biles or something, then she
would do it. With these stakes,
it
was
a
once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity, and I give her a lot
of credit for doing it.”
Chiarelli under-rotated her
full-in and took a step forward
on the landing. She ended her
season on floor with a 9.7125,
an appropriate score for the
difficulty of her routine.
Brown, who competed in the
evening session, also claimed
All-American
honors
despite
lacking any presence from her
teammates. Artz and Chiarelli
— who had already finished
competing — had to watch from
the stands.
Despite
competing
alone,
Brown still managed to hit all
four routines. After securing a
9.800 on bars, she had a solid
routine on beam that resulted
in 9.850, her best score of the
night.
“Before my beam routine,
I was feeling pretty nervous
because beam is the place where
I always get ahead of myself,”
Brown said. “I looked to the
stands, saw my beam coach and
she told me I had it, and I just
knew I could do it. I probably did
one of the best beam routines
I’ve done all year.”
With Chiarelli’s impressive
performance
on
floor,
and
Brown and Artz walking away
with additional All-American
honors, they’re optimistic for
the 2016-17 season. They also
have high hopes that next time,
they’ll be competing as a team
rather than as individuals.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior Talia Chiarelli finished her season by performing a difficult floor routine at the NCAA Championships on Saturday.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO
‘M’ wins CWPA title
By MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer
It has been a short road back
to prominence for the Michigan
water polo team. After earning
a share of the regular-season
CWPA Championship a year
ago
under
then-first
year
coach Marcelo Leonardi, the
sixth-ranked Wolverines have
eclipsed the marks set by last
year’s squad. Michigan (7-0
CWPA, 26-6 overall) reached
the 25-win mark for the first
time since 2011 with wins over
Bucknell, No. 21 Hartwick,
George Washington and Brown,
going undefeated in conference
play
to
earn
the
CWPA
Championship outright.
But, the turnaround has come
as no surprise to those in the
program. Leonardi attributes
this to three major points.
“(First), I was able to bring
a quality freshman class and
a transfer (to the team) that
immediately
impacted
our
program,”
Leonardi
said.
“(Secondly), going through my
first year being able to teach
everything in terms of our
system and play (has helped).
Also, the leadership, in terms of
our senior leadership this year,
being able to establish a culture
(has been) instrumental.”
One
of
those
seniors,
attacker Ali Thomason, has
been especially impressive for
the Wolverines this season.
Her talent was on display this
weekend. Sunday, in Michigan’s
18-3 win over Brown, Thomason
scored five goals, had three
assists and added three steals.
The
senior’s
performance
added on to an already impressive
resume this season. Thomason
has won the CWPA Player of the
Week award twice and leads the
Wolverines with 81 goals.
“I think she’s probably the
best player in our conference,
athletic-wise,” Leonardi said.
“In terms of (being) a leader in
and out of the
water,
and
how
humble
she is in terms
of all of the
accolades
she
will
be
(garnering).
It’s easy when
the
hardest
worker
on
your team is
one of the best
players on the team.”
Though Thomason is the
leading goal scorer on the team,
she is often helped by sophomore
attacker
Caroline
Anderson’s
prominent passing abilities.
Anderson surpassed her own
single-season assists record by
recording her 57th of the year
Saturday in the Wolverines’ 16-4
win over Bucknell.
“She’s sharpening up her skills
by her accuracy,” Leonardi said.
“In terms of her reads, I think
she’s understanding the plays
now a little more systematically.
(She’s) understanding where her
options are. If her first option’s
not there, where are her second
and third options.”
Michigan now has a 12-day
break
before
it
travels
to
Cambridge,
Mass.,
for
the
CWPA
Championships.
And
though it has had great success
this season, the conference
tournament has tripped up the
Wolverines in the past.
“We need to
see who we’re
going to play,
not only in the
first
round,
but later on in
terms of who
our semifinal
matchup
would
be
as
well,”
Leonardi said.
Michigan
will need to win just three
games in order to win the CWPA
Tournament. If it is able to do
that, the Wolverines will move
on to the NCAA Championships,
something they haven’t done
since the 2009-10 season.
But if the quick turnaround
under Leonardi is any indication,
it will be no surprise if the
Wolverines are able to prove
themselves on yet another level.
“The leadership
... (has been)
able to establish
a culture.”
Michigan falls to Penn State
By LELAND MITCHINSON
Daily Sports Writer
For five minutes Sunday, the
Michigan women’s lacrosse team
got the start it wanted in the
Wolverines’
search
for
their
first
conference win of the season.
Michigan jumped to a 2-1 lead
with goals from junior attacker
Jess
Angerman
and
junior
midfielder Kim Coughlan, the
Wolverines (0-3 Big Ten, 6-9
overall) looked like they were
going to be locked into a back-and-
forth contest with the Nittany
Lions.
However,
the
next
Penn
State goal sparked a 7-0 scoring
run, crushing any momentum
Michigan may have gained from
their early offensive success.
That run proved to be too much
to overcome, as the Wolverines fell
to Penn State, 13-8.
“We’ve got to work on not
getting in that hole,” said Michigan
coach Jennifer Ulehla. “We’ve
got to work on our transition and
really being able to get the ball,
under a lot of pressure, up the
field.”
Despite the Nittany Lions’ large
lead, the Wolverines made a push
to close the gap before halftime,
scoring two goals with less than
five minutes before the break.
Penn State (2-1, 10-4) quickly
countered with two goals of its
own, including a goal on a free
position shot by attacker Madison
Carter with 15 seconds remaining
in the half, effectively canceling
out the Michigan goals.
Carter was the high scorer
for the Nittany Lions on Sunday,
and the Michigan defense had no
answer for her throughout the
first half, as she notched all four of
her goals before the break.
“In the first half we took too
many chances like trying to
intercept, trying to double team
and stay on the double when we
didn’t need to,” Ulehla said. “At
halftime I just said trust your
teammates and trust the defense
and the goalie. Let them shoot
from far out, let them shoot with
a good solid defensive stance,
and then our goalies will come
up with the save which ended up
happening.”
Though the Wolverines faced
a 10-4 deficit coming out of the
locker room, they didn’t roll over.
Michigan managed to outscore
Penn State 4-3 in the second half.
Three straight goals out of the
half brought Michigan to within
three with nearly 23 minutes
left to play. But the Wolverines
couldn’t keep that scoring pace
going, scoring only once more the
rest of the game.
Coughlan did her part, tallying
two more goals in the second half.
Despite Michigan being a player
down, for Coughlan’s second goal
of the half, she curled all the way
across the front of the net before
firing from the right side of the
goal to slot it past the Penn State
goaltender .
“There were some open lanes
there,” Coughlan said. “Our girls
on offense were moving a lot,
going through for each other, and
it caused a lot of open lanes.”
Added
Ulehla:
“You
know
when she gets going she’s very
difficult to stop, she just goes
north-south, and it’s like a bull in
a china shop and she’s got a great
shot. She finishes, she does a great
job of really being disciplined and
deceptive and finishes it really
hard. Even if you put a great
defender on her and you send
help, they’ve got to time it right
and they’ve got to make sure they
don’t foul.”
But for the Wolverines, it will
take more than a good start and
individual performances to secure
the team’s first Big Ten victory.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior midfielder Kim Coughlan led Michigan with four goals, but the Wolverines’ comeback effort fell short.
PENN STATE
MICHIGAN
13
8