The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, January 18, 2018 — 5A

Freshmen key in Michigan’s win over Ohio State

All athletes dream of rivalry 

wins and upsets.

The 
freshmen 
on 
the 

Michigan women’s gymnastics 
team have had one of each — in 
just two meets.

Better yet, two freshmen 

— 
Lauren 
Farley 
and 
Syd 

Townsend — played integral 
roles in both those wins. And 
they still have potential for 
improvement.

Though both suffered falls 

last week against then-No. 4 
Alabama, their performances 
in Saturday’s meet against Ohio 
State showed no hints of their 
first-meet struggles. And both 
were major contributors to the 
Wolverines’ final score of 197.55 
— the highest in the nation so 
far.

Both Townsend and Farley 

earned spots in the starting 
lineups on two different events 
against the Buckeyes. Townsend 
competed on vault and bars 
while Farley performed on bars 
and beam.

And 
Sam 
Javanbakht 
— 

a freshman who has yet to 
make her collegiate debut — 
contributed in a different way, 
making sure the team kept up its 
energy and focus.

“Everyone’s stepping up, all 

the freshmen,” said junior Emma 
McLean. “Even if people aren’t 
competing, they’re stepping up 
and they’re cheering and they’re 
contributing … it’s gonna take us 
far.”

For 
Townsend, 
a 
former 

Canadian national team member, 
the team-focused environment 
of the NCAA is a stark contrast 
to her previous experiences.

“In Canada, we were part 

of a team, but everyone kinda 
individually wanted what was 
best for themselves,” Townsend 
said. “Here, everyone genuinely 
wants you to do well and wants 
you to succeed because it would 
benefit the team.”

Michigan’s 
camaraderie 

helped Townsend bounce back 
from a fall on vault last week. 
This week, she earned a 9.925, 
the second-highest vault score of 
the meet.

“Knowing that they actually 

do have my back and they can 
pull out the score if I mess up … 
was awesome,” Townsend said.

Despite leading off on the 

uneven bars — a position in the 
lineup that often garners lower 
scores — Townsend received the 
highest score on the event with 
a 9.90. Farley’s score wasn’t far 
behind with a steady set.

But where she really had 

the chance to shine was on 
beam. She showcased a unique 
beam routine featuring a back-
handspring-layout-stepout-
layout-stepout flight series and a 
Gainer pike dismount.

“That 
beam 
routine 
was 

great,” said Michigan coach Bev 
Plocki. “This is her first time in 
the bar lineup, she rocked it, and 
she’s right there in the mix on 
floor as well, so really proud.”

And though floor was the only 

rotation that didn’t feature any 
freshmen Saturday night, that 
could change soon.

After scoring had concluded, 

Townsend 
performed 
an 

exhibition routine on the floor 
exercise. It was a test run of 

sorts, a chance to practice in 
front of the crowd and see how 
she would be scored by real 
judges, but without the pressure 
of having her score count.

Townsend’s score of 9.80 

showed an ability to hang 
with the team’s veterans — no 
easy task on the Wolverines’ 
historically-strongest event.

“We 
were 
contemplating 

putting her in the lineup,” Plocki 
said. “(But) in order to earn your 
way, you have to exhibition first.”

Last season, Michigan lost 

two of its strongest floor workers 
in Talia Chiarelli and Nicole 
Artz, leaving big shoes to fill. 
So while Townsend’s floor is 
currently a depth option, it has 
the potential to become much 
more than that.

“She’s one that still has a lot 

left in the tank,” Plocki said. 
“We have a lot I think we can 
still improve upon with her.”

In a sport like gymnastics, it’s 

often hard to know how much 
the freshmen will contribute. 
But as their two big wins 
demonstrated, the Wolverines 
don’t have much to worry about.

Seniors show out in loss

In a head-to-head dual for first 

place, Evan White pushed forward 
to close the gap of centimeters 
between him and the frontrunner, 
Indiana’s Vini Lanza. With the 
crowd rallying behind White, the 
senior gave a last hurrah in the 
final lap.

He came up short.
Just as White had, the No. 8 

Michigan men’s swimming team 
fell to the fourth-ranked Hoosiers 
in a close dual meet despite giving 
its best efforts. Though the seniors 
put the team in a contending 
position, the Wolverines couldn’t 
come out on top.

Despite the loss, Michigan 

rose to the occasion. Coach Mike 
Bottom claimed that the team had 
“one of their fastest dual meets by 
far on the men’s side and women’s 
side.” However, rising even higher 
was Indiana, who also had one of 
its fastest dual meets on both sides.

Other silver linings of the day for 

Michigan were key performances 
from two of its seniors captains — 
PJ Ransford and White.

Putting on a show for the 200- 

and 100-yard Butterfly, White 
came out on top for one of two 
close contests and placed second 
on the other. Despite the result of 
the 200-yard, he had the claim 
to a first-place finish throughout, 
falling just short in final moments 
of the last lap. He finished with a 
1:44.30, just .45 seconds from the 
winning time.

However, rather than feeling 

down about his flawed finish in the 
200-yard Butterfly, he entered his 
next event, the 100-yard Butterfly 
with a clear mind and intense 
focus. Determined to bounce back, 
he came from behind to overtake 
Lanza in the final lap, finishing 
with a 46.47, a tenth of a second 
faster than the second-place finish.

Instead of taking in the cheers 

or getting distracted by results and 
emotions from the first race, White 
admitted that only one thought 
ran through his mind as he swam: 

“Just try hard and score points for 
Michigan.”

Likewise, 
Ransford 
had 
a 

similar approach to the meet. A 
slow starter — Bottom noted that 
Ransford “normally kinda sits 
back and builds into it” — Ransford 
chose to go head first into action in 
both his races, claiming the lead 
early into the laps.

Knowing that he had to score 

points on the distance races, 
Ransford took it upon himself to 
try and give the Wolverines the 
advantage. Keeping scoring on 
his mind, he came out fast while 
controlling the pace to dominate 
the competition.

“What a great swim he had, 

both the 500-yard and the mile,” 
Bottom said. “Both of those were 
great swims. He went out for it, 
he didn’t mess around, did he? He 
went out for it. This time I think he 
wanted it. He wanted it bad.”

His desire to win showed, as he 

finished the 1,000-yard freestyle a 
near half-lap ahead of any Indiana 
swimmer — coming in at 9:01.88.

“First half of the season, it’s 

tough because you’re working 
really hard,” Ransford said. “The 
second half, you start to do a bit 
more speedwork. And I was hitting 
my stroke count really well. But it 
is nice in a race to jump on it and 
be able to tell halfway that we’re 
going to get first, second for sure.”

Being able to see the surefire 

victory provided relief to Ransford 
as he witnessed a sweep in the 
500-yard freestyle, with Michigan 
claiming the top three times. With 
a time of 4:23.03, Ransford paved 
the way for the underclassmen to 
follow.

Despite 
their 
individual 

achievements, the Wolverines were 
neither pleased nor disappointed 
with their performance.

“It’s always tough to take a loss 

at home, but Indiana is a great 
team,” White said. “I think all our 
guys showed strong mentalities 
and no one was down after. It was 
in season. It was just good racing 
and practice for the end of the 
season.”

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Freshman Syd Townsend — a former Canadian national team member — was a key contributor to Michigan’s final score of 197.55, currently the nation’s best.

TIEN LE

Daily Sports Writer

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVE

With road wins, ‘M’ all but seals tournament berth

W

hatever validation 
the Michigan wom-
en’s basketball team 

needed, it 
got — and 
then some.

The 

Wolverines 
went on 
the road 
this week 
with March 
hanging 
in the bal-
ance. No. 
19 Michi-
gan (5-2 Big Ten, 16-4 overall) 
had no need to worry about 
the NCAA Tournament until 
recently. The Wolverines 
waltzed through their non-
conference slate, the only slip-
ups coming against Louisville 
and Notre Dame, two of the top 
five teams in the country.

Big Ten play started well 

enough — two easy wins with 
a loss at then-No. 23 Iowa 
sandwiched between them. But 
after dropping a close one to 
then-No. 10 Ohio State in Ann 
Arbor and narrowly escaping 
against unranked Indiana, a 

two-game road trip was the 
opposite of what Michigan 
needed.

Adding to the loss column 

against a formidable Nebraska 
team and the eighth-ranked 
Buckeyes would have put the 
Wolverines below .500 in the 
Big Ten. The margin for error 
would have been all but gone 
with just nine games left in the 
regular season. And, for a team 
that lost out on the Tourna-
ment last season after dropping 
three of their last four and 
exiting in the first round of the 
Big Ten Tournament, familiar 
alarm bells would have rang 
through Crisler Center.

When Michigan boarded the 

plane to Lincoln last Friday, it 
was staring down the possibili-
ty of moving to the tournament 
bubble and going through the 
whole ordeal again.

Down three with eight sec-

onds to go against the Corn-
huskers, that possibility was 
inches away from becoming 
reality.

After a timeout, Michigan 

ran a pick-and-pop with senior 
guard Katelynn Flaherty and 

freshman forward Hailey 
Brown. Nebraska’s Jasmine 
Cincore got over the screen and 
nothing opened up. The ball 
found freshman guard Deja 
Church, who had no choice 
but to attempt a desperation 
3-pointer as the clock reached 
its final second. She was fouled 
— a lifeline — and sunk all 
three free throws to tie it.

“I was almost in disbelief,” 

coach Kim Barnes Arico told 
WTKA. “I wasn’t sure that 
she would be able to do it. But 
you know what’s funny about 
her is that she made every big 
play — like she seems to have a 
knack.”

For the rest of the trip, the 

Wolverines never looked back.

Michigan ran away with the 

game in overtime, then went to 
Columbus and came back from 
a 10-point first-half deficit 
to beat Ohio State on its own 
court. It was only the fifth time 
the Wolverines have beaten a 
top-10 team in program his-
tory.

“We went right to a pick-

and-roll option where we had 
a high blast to try to get Hallie 

(Thome) the ball inside, and 
we were able to do it the first 
couple possessions (of the sec-
ond half),” Barnes Arico said. 
“Then they tried to pack it in 
the paint and once they did 
that, we were able to kick and 
find Katelynn.”

Thome and Flaherty fin-

ished as Michigan’s leading 
scorers, putting up 27 and 21 
points, respectively, with 18 of 
Flaherty’s total coming in the 
second half as the Wolverines 
mounted their comeback and 
pulled away en route to an 
84-75 win.

Instead of the bubble, Michi-

gan returned to Ann Arbor 
with a tournament bid all but 
official.

Instead of a collapse, the 

Wolverines rose to the occa-
sion.

With a signature win under 

their belt and the season’s 
toughest road trip out of the 
way, the rest is simple: Hold 
the line and Michigan is in.

Ethan Sears can be reached 

at searseth@umich.edu or at 

@ethan_sears on Twitter.

AARON BAKER/Daily

Freshman guard Deja Church was clutch for Michigan in its win over Nebraska last week, sinking three free throws to send the game to overtime.

‘M’ a piece away from top

Friday’s wrestling meet was 

about as close as you’d ever see, 
but you would never know by 
looking at the final score.

The score also couldn’t show 

you how thunderous the cheers 
were throughout Crisler Center, 
the 
close 
matches 
against 

defending national champions 
or the boisterous disapproval of 
controversial calls.

No. 1 Penn State (2-0 Big Ten, 

6-0 overall) was, in the end, 
more aggressive and technically 
sound than the eighth-ranked 
Michigan wrestling team (2-1, 
5-2), eventually topping them, 
25-12.

The 
Wolverines’ 
three 

wins of the meet came from 
freshman Drew Mattin at 125 
pounds, 
redshirt 
sophomore 

Stevan Micic at 133 pounds and 
fifth-year senior Adam Coon at 
heavyweight.

Michigan took the first two 

matches of the night with relative 
ease as Mattin and Micic each 
earned major decisions to put the 
Wolverines up 8-0. However, this 
was the calm before the storm, 
as Michigan went on to drop 
the next seven matchups — five 
of them to defending national 
champions.

The Wolverines did not have 

momentum on their side, as it 
eluded the team all night despite 
the largest home crowd they have 
ever seen. The Nittany Lions 
consistently began each match 
aggressively, as nearly every 
Penn State wrestler was able to 
secure a takedown early on.

“In every match the guy who 

scored the first takedown won 
the match,” said Michigan coach 
Joe McFarland. “That shows you 
how important getting that first 
takedown is and getting that 
momentum on your side.”

In what may have been the 

quintessential match of the night, 
redshirt junior Alec Pantaleo fell, 
6-4, to Jason Nolf, the defending 
national champion and top-
ranked wrestler at 157 pounds.

The match began like any 

other that night as Nolf scored 

a quick takedown at the start 
of the first period. After Nolf’s 
escape to start the second period, 
Pantaleo started a difficult uphill 
climb with a takedown of his 
own. Down only a point heading 
into the third, Pantaleo elected 
to start in the down position, a 
decision he would later regret 
as Nolf held onto him for the 
remainder of the match for a 6-4 
win.

“You can say it was a bad 

decision all you want,” Pantaleo 
said. “But from last year I’ve 
made big strides, and I was really 
confident when I chose bottom.”

Ultimately, this sentiment may 

have been indicative of the match 
as a whole: Michigan was on the 
cusp but could not match up to 
the Nittany Lions’ near-technical 
perfection.

Now 
that 
the 
Wolverines 

have faced the top team in the 
nation and know what it takes 
both mentally and physically to 
wrestle with the best, they are 
optimistic about their chances 
the next time they see Penn State 
on the mat.

“I’m looking forward to seeing 

the video review to see what I did 
wrong so I can fix it,” Pantaleo 
said. “There’s so much that we 
can watch on video to see how 
they’re doing it and not let it 
happen again.”

All in all, this match was a 

gargantuan battle that justified 
the switch from the quaint Cliff 
Keen Arena to Crisler Center on 
Friday. Additionally, while it may 
seem fruitless now, the energy in 
Crisler undoubtedly galvanized 
Michigan 
and 
instilled 
a 

previously unknown energy.

“Finally getting in here it was 

really exciting,” Coon said. “We 
were all just really amped up, 
ready to go for a big dual against 
the returning national champs, 
but there were nerves and 
excitement as well — we were just 
amped up.”

Added McFarland: “It’s a great 

atmosphere in here, you can feel 
it — our fans showed up and it 
was a great atmosphere. I wish 
we could’ve win a few more of 
those close ones, but it just wasn’t 
in the cards I guess.”

WRESTLING

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

ETHAN 
SEARS

