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

