8A — Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘Team Michigan’ in the hunt for $500,000
Engineering doctoral students
Kyle
Hanquist
and
Kevin
Neitzel’s journeys to national
TV began in an alleyway in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
At a conference in Europe
last
year,
the
aerospace
engineers
received
an
email
from the University’s College of
Engineering about a new Golf
Channel reality show “Driver vs.
Driver.” The challenge: in “Shark
Tank” style, aspiring golf club
designers invent an innovative
driver to pitch to equipment
manufacturer Wilson Golf.
Hanquist and Neitzel received
the information only one week
before video submissions were
due and questioned whether
there would be enough time to
produce an idea and application.
But the opportunity to combine
their aerospace knowledge with a
love for golf couldn’t go to waste
— not to mention the prospect of
teaming with one of golf’s most
legendary brands.
Wilson Golf’s range of products
includes drivers, fairway woods,
hybrids, wedges, putters and balls
for amateur and professional
players. Since 1922, PGA Tour
stars Arnold Palmer, John Daly,
Vijay Singh and others have won
a combined 61 major tournaments
using Wilson products.
“Being outside of the golf club
design industry, we thought our
idea could bring something new
to (golfers),” Neitzel said. “And
there’s
a
half-a-million-dollar
prize, so that was pretty good, too.”
After
brainstorming
to
reach their best concept, they
conducted the video shoot in the
Copenhagen alleyway.
“That was pretty random,”
Hanquist said. “But I think it
helped us stand out when they
saw us.”
Besting over 300 applicants,
Hanquist and Neitzel — now
coined
“Team
Michigan”
—
were among 11 teams selected
to compete head-to-head on the
show. Engineers, teachers and
golf professionals are among the
many hopefuls.
The seven-episode elimination
series
culminates
with
the
announcement of the winner on
the Nov. 22 finale. The $500,000
grand prize comes with a chance
for the winning driver design to
be included in next year’s Wilson
product line.
The first episode aired on
Oct. 4 and the second this past
Tuesday. Teams pitched their
designs to judges Tim Clarke,
President of Wilson Golf; Frank
Thomas, former United States
Golf
Association
Technical
Director; and Brian Urlacher,
former Chicago Bears linebacker
and avid golfer.
Through
two
episodes,
Team Michigan survived the
elimination of five teams and
were surprised the cut was so
steep so early in the filming. The
third episode airs Tuesday, and
Hanquist and Neitzel say they
will be heavily featured.
“To have a one-in-six chance
on half-a-million dollars, I’d take
those odds,” Hanquist said.
Even if defeated, Hanquist and
Neitzel plan to pursue turning
their driver design into a business.
Team Michigan is confident
its expertise in aerodynamics
will not only help golfers hit balls
with greater velocity and further,
but straighter off the tee. They
turned to Formula One cars and
airplane designs’ aerodynamics
for inspiration to incorporate into
their club technology.
“(Wilson
Golf)
wants
something that’s new, that’s going
to break the mold a little bit, so we
really tried to be different than
what’s out there already,” Neitzel
said. “We really focused on things
that we would want in a driver,
and pushed things a little bit with
the physics background we have.”
Taping started last October
at
Wilson’s
Chicago-area
headquarters and presents the
full process of bringing driver
ideas to life. Although Hanquist
and Neitzel know the contest’s
outcome, they are prohibited from
disclosure. However, they alluded
the next five episodes shift focus
from design pitches to the evolution
and production of tangible clubs,
with more contestants getting cut
along the way.
Though having their club being
used on the PGA Tour would be a
remarkable feat, Team Michigan
hopes one person above anyone
else will “grip it and rip it.”
“We see (Michigan football)
head coach Jim Harbaugh golfing
in a lot of Pro-Ams,” Hanquist
said. “That would probably be
the coolest thing ever if we saw
him using our golf club at Pebble
Beach. I mean, that would be the
most surreal thing ever.”
Over a year ago, Hanquist and
Neitzel shot their application video
in a Copenhagen alleyway, with
no idea if they would get a spot on
the show. Now, the opportunity to
represent their university on such
a large scale is one neither man
could ever have imagined.
COURTESY OF KYLE HANQUIST
Michigan doctoral students Kyle Hanquist (left) and Kevin Neitzel are competing to design a new driver for Wilson Golf.
BENJAMIN KATZ
For the Daily
RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Junior guard Katelynn Flaherty made this year’s preseason All-Big Ten team.
MEN’S SOCCER
‘M’ stands united with
Ohio State in rivalry
There is arguably no bigger
rivalry in college athletics than
Ohio State-Michigan, but some
things are bigger than sports.
That was evident Friday night,
when the Michigan men’s soccer
team put the competition aside
to honor Fikayo Idowu, the Ohio
State defender who passed away
in a drowning accident in June.
For a brief moment, there
were no Wolverines or Buckeyes,
just players and fans observing
a moment of silence for one of
their own. Idowu was a young
man who had the same passion
and played the game with the
same intensity as the Michigan
players. This sense of community
is rare in any matchup between
Ohio State and Michigan.
“Sports
give
us
an
extraordinary opportunity to
come together,” said Michigan
senior captain defender Lars
Eckenrode. “Coming into this
game I felt we had an opportunity
to honor their player, who passed
away, and it did bring us closer.”
Eckenrode wrote a letter to
the Ohio State program on behalf
of the Wolverines, sending their
condolences in a time of grieving.
The team wanted to further
honor Idowu on Friday evening.
“Our captains approached us
to want to do something prior to
the game,” said Michigan coach
Chaka Daley. “To do something
for the game I thought was great,
to continue to honor his memory
regardless of the rivalry.”
Despite the pregame show of
respect, the rivalry proved fierce
as ever on the field. Throughout
the game, the teams committed
hard fouls and kept tensions high.
This was evident near the end
of the first half, when Michigan
junior defender Billy Stevens had
to be held back by teammates
during an argument with several
Ohio State players, following a
hard foul against the Buckeyes.
In overtime, Stevens was again
restrained
by
teammates,
following an altercation that led
to yellow cards for players on both
sides. The game ended with 34
total fouls. Michigan’s previous
outing featured just 20 total fouls.
Historically,
the
Buckeyes
have had the edge in the rivalry,
holding a 20-10-1 record going
into
Friday
night’s
game.
Michigan needed a win to avenge
last year’s performances. In 2015,
the Wolverines went 0-2 against
Ohio State, losing in both the
regular season and in the Big Ten
Championship.
The game was filled with
intense play, and neither side
could
gain
any
momentum.
However, with 23 seconds left in
the second overtime, Ohio State
scored, ending the game 1-0.
Off the field, the bond between
each team runs deep. Ohio State
assistant coach Ian Gordona
spent two seasons at Michigan.
Forwards Jacob Duska and Nate
Kohl transferred to the Buckeyes
after each spent their freshman
years in Ann Arbor.
“It’s always fun,” Eckenrode
said. “And it was cool to see
(former teammates) on the field
again.”
This is another example of
a bright spot on an otherwise
bitter coexistence.
While the majority of the time
there is nothing but animosity
between the sides, honoring
Idowu showed that there are
things that transcend the rivalry
and puts the game on hold.
“Football is one thing, but life
is another,” Daley said.
It’s moments like the one
before Friday’s game that Daley’s
point is never more evident, and
reminds fans that at the end of
the day, everybody is human.
Just nine minutes into the
second race of the day, the
Michigan women’s rowing team’s
first boat, after starting in eighth
place, overtook Penn’s boat to
slide into third. At the same
moment, the New York Athletic
Club came up from behind and
pushed the Wolverines into
fourth. But Michigan kept steady
on the meter of first-eight junior
coxswain Nadia
Roohparvar
for
the
next
seven minutes.
Michigan went
on to give up
only one spot
to
first
bow-
number Brown
in
the
final
stretch for a top-
five finish.
This
weekend,
the
Wolverines sent two eights
to the 52nd annual Head of
the Charles regatta in Boston.
Competing Sunday against 33
other boats, both Michigan’s
first and second eights placed
in the top 10 of the women’s
championship race.
“Practices have been intense,”
Roohparvar said. “There’s been
a lot of switching between boats;
I think people have been really
stepping up to the challenge …
Lots of the results (Sunday) were
exceeding expectation for this
point in the season.”
The
race
began
with
Michigan’s first eight in eighth
place, and its second eight in 15th
overall. After passing the first
marker at 4:12.083, the second
boat was in 18th place. Within
five minutes, at the Weld marker,
the crew pushed itself to 10th.
The talk of the race from
Michigan’s end was volunteer
assistant coach, Felice Mueller,
who rowed for the New York
Athletic Club. Her boat overtook
the Wolverines at the second
marker,
just
as
Michigan
overtook Penn at time 9:29.775.
While the second eight looked
to make their way up to ninth,
the first eight looked to maintain
their top-five place. Past the CBC
marker at just over 14 minutes,
Brown inched just past the
Wolverines. Unable to take back
fourth in the final two minutes,
Michigan maintained its lead
over
Virginia
by under seven
seconds
for
a
fifth-place
finish time of
16:53.339.
Though
it
was
a
picturesque
day
on
the
Charles River,
high-speed winds made the
course challenging. As much
as the race was about strong
rowing, the conditions made
it also a tough test of steering
and planning. According to
Roohparvar, the start of the
race was particularly windy.
“There’s a lot of chaos, and you
kind of have to keep your cool,”
she said. “The start was really,
really windy, but we were able to
make up a lot of ground because
we dealt with it better than a lot
of crews did.”
Coach
Mark
Rothstein
highlighted
Roohparvar
and
second-eight coxswain freshman
Kathryn Boyle, as well as stroke
seats Kaitlin Wright and second-
eight senior Tessa Yurko.
“There’s a lot of steering, and
it’s important for the coxswains
to manage that well,” Rothstein
said. “I thought both our stroke
seats set really good rhymes.
I feel good about the results, a
much stronger result than we
had last year.”
HUNTER SHARF
For the Daily
Michigan observes moment of silence
for late Buckeye defender Fikayo Idowu
ROWING
Michigan finishes in top
10 at Head of the Charles
Wolverines’ first varsity eight boat
comes in fifth; second eight takes 10th
SOPHIE CLOHERTY
For the Daily
“There’s a lot of
chaos, and you
have to keep
your cool.”
Flaherty a preseason
All-Big Ten selection
Junior point guard Katelynn
Flaherty is probably the most
familiar face on the Michigan
women’s basketball team —
and with good reason. She
already holds program records
in points, with 774, and field
goals, with 280.
Those numbers have now
gotten the attention of the
rest of the Big Ten. Flaherty
was named to the preseason
All-Big Ten team, the first
Wolverine
to
earn
that
distinction since LeeAnn Bies
received the same honors
14 years ago. Flaherty was a
unanimous pick for the All-
Big Ten squad, one of just five
players to earn that distinction
this season.
But adulation for Flaherty
has not been limited to those
inside the Big Ten.
She was also put on the
preseason watch list for the
Nancy Lieberman Award, an
honor given to the NCAA’s best
point guard. Among returning
players, Flaherty ranked third
in the nation in scoring in
2015-16.
As if all of that weren’t
enough, she was even picked as
a preseason fourth-team All-
American by Sporting News.
Flaherty
received
an
All-
American honorable mention
by the Women’s Basketball
Coaches’ Association at the
end of last year.
While
she
already
has
multiple
Michigan
team
records
under
her
belt,
Flaherty appears poised to
break more as she still has two
years of eligibility remaining.
She currently ranks third in
Wolverine history in scoring
average with 18 points, 10th
in total points with 1273,
fourth in 3-pointers with 183
and second in free-throw
percentage at .879.
Flaherty will not be the only
source of offensive firepower
for Michigan, though.
Sophomore center Hallie
Thome
and
senior
guard
Siera Thompson, who ranked
second and third, respectively,
in scoring for the Wolverines
in 2015-16, will be back in
action this season. Freshman
guard
Kysre
Gondrezick
also figures to factor into
Michigan’s offense, as she
scored a state-record 72 points
in a game for Benton Harbor
High School.
But
even
with
that
strong supporting cast, the
Wolverines’ scoring will not
live up to its potential without
Flaherty’s
outstanding
offensive output.
Junior guard becomes first Michigan
player on preseason squad since 2002
NATHANIEL CLARK
Daily Sports Writer
BY THE NUMBERS
Katelynn Flaherty
10
Flaherty’s all-time program rank
in points with 1,273 (she has two
years of eligibility remaining)
4
Flaherty’s all-time program rank
in career 3-pointers with 183,
including 105 last year
774
Points for Flaherty last year, the
most in program history for a single
season by a margin of 115