A public lecture by
JOHANNA 
HANINK

Associate Professor of Classics 
Brown University and 
Former editor, Michigan Daily

JANUARY 29
4:10 p.m. 
Classics Library 
2175 Angell Hall

For more information 
call 734.615.6667

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Monday, January 29, 2018 — 3B

Greg Ryan, Michigan part ways

For only the second time 

in program history, the 
Michigan women’s soccer 
team is looking for a new 
head coach.

Athletic director Warde 

Manuel announced Jan. 26 
that Greg Ryan won’t come 
back to Ann Arbor next year 
after serving as head coach 
for 10 seasons.

“It has been determined 

that Greg Ryan will not 
return 
as 
our 
women’s 

soccer 
coach,” 
Manuel 

said in a press release on 
MGoBlue.com. “We thank 
Greg for his 10 years of 
service 
and 
wish 
him 

success in the future.”

Prior 
to 
working 
at 

Michigan, Ryan was the 
head coach of the United 
States Women’s National 
Team 
for 
two 
years. 

The 
former 
professional 

soccer player most notably 
coached 
the 
national 

team at the 2007 Women’s 
World Cup, leading them 
to the quarterfinals. Before 
that, Ryan also coached 
at 
Wisconsin, 
Colorado 

College 
and 
Southern 

Methodist.

Ryan 
took 
over 
the 

program right after the 
World Cup from former head 
coach Debbie Rademacher, 
who stepped down after 
building 
the 
Wolverines’ 

program from scratch in 
1993. Rademacher finished 
3-9-6 in her last season. 
Ryan’s hire at the time 
was seen as a way to inject 
energy into a stale program; 
Michigan made the NCAA 
Tournament in nine out 
Rademacher’s 14 years, but 
didn’t advance past the first 
round in any of her last four 
seasons.

But 
the 
Wolverines 

followed an eerily similar 
path under Ryan as they did 
under Rademacher. During 
his tenure, Ryan amassed a

WOMEN’S SOCCER

RIAN RATNAVALE

Daily Sports Editor

‘M’ falls to No. 1 Oklahoma

Anthony 
McCallum’s 
vault 

looked good in the air.

The junior sprinted down the 

runway, did a half-turn onto the 
table and catapulted himself high 
into the air before performing 
two backflips. But as he landed, 
he over-rotated his second flip 
and fell forward.

It was, in a way, a metaphor 

for the No. 9 Michigan men’s 
gymnastics 
team’s 
meet. 

Despite leading through the 
fourth rotation, the Wolverines 
ultimately fell to No. 1 Oklahoma, 
411.650-403.650.

Of course, competing with 

Oklahoma — whose 82-meet 
winning streak is the longest 
currently in NCAA in any sport — 
is no easy task.

And while Michigan outscored 

the Sooners in the floor exercise, 
the 
event 
foreshadowed 
the 

inconsistency that would plague 
the 
Wolverines 
throughout 

the meet. Redshirt junior Alec 
Krystek — a walk-on who has 
elevated himself to co-captain 
— hit a near-perfect routine, 
sticking four of his six tumbling 
passes for a 14.5 — the highest 
floor score of the afternoon by 
nearly half a point.

“(He) competed three events, 

counted on all three, won floor,” 
said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. 
“It’s just, he’s getting the job 
done.”

But 
immediately 
after 

Krystek’s routine, senior Dmitri 
Belanovski fell twice and received 
a meager 10.6, forcing Michigan 
to count an earlier score of 11.7.

On pommel horse — a historical 

weakness 
— 
the 
Wolverines 

flipped the script. Michigan hit 
all six routines and outscored 
Oklahoma by over two points 
on the event. And despite the 
loss, the pommel horse was a big 
accomplishment in and of itself.

“It’s just part of the progress 

showing up,” Golder said.

But the Wolverines forfeited 

the advantage they had built 
on still rings and vault. Though 
clean, 
their 
routines 
lacked 

difficulty 
compared 
to 
the 

Sooners. McCallum, the reigning 
NCAA 
vault 
champion, 
was 

supposed to remedy that, but he 
was unable to execute.

“He’s had a couple of rough 

weeks,” Golder said. “He needs 
to take a step back, and you need 
to do that in this sport a lot of 
times … sometimes you have 
to take a step back, go back to 
the basics, perfect your basics, 
attack it again and work your way 
forward.”

Just as McCallum couldn’t 

hold onto his vault landing, 
Michigan couldn’t hold onto its 
lead. Though the Wolverines led 
by a slim margin after the fourth 
rotation, the Sooners put on a 
clinic on parallel bars and high 
bar to claim the lead after the 
fifth rotation.

Michigan, 
meanwhile, 

showcased some impressive skills 
— McCallum’s 5.8 difficulty rating 
on parallel bars was second-
highest of the competitors — but 
lacked consistency. Even if they 
didn’t fall, many gymnasts had 
form breaks or costly steps on the 
landings.

“You 
saw 
(a) 
three-time 

national championship team,” 
Golder said. “They’re down with 
two events to go. They got tougher. 
They got more enthusiastic. We 
got a little bit quieter.”

Still, it would take near-

perfection for any team to beat 
Oklahoma, and that Michigan 
came close is a good sign. 
Though the ultimate result was 
disappointment, the Wolverines 
can 
approach 
the 
rest 
of 

their season with newfound 
confidence.

“If 
you’re 
gonna 
win 

championships, you have to beat 
the best teams in the country,” 
Golder said. “We had them on the 
ropes, and we ended up losing to 
them. But hopefully, we showed 
ourselves that we can compete 
with them.”

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

Running inspired: Erin Finn makes history

Last week, Erin Finn made 

history at the Simmons-Harvey 
Quad.

After running an astounding 

8:58.69 
in 
the 
3,000-meter, 

the fifth-year senior broke her 
own school record. After an 
injury-shortened 2017 season, 
the performance served as an 
emphatic announcement that 
Finn is back.

Finn is no stranger to injury. A 

recurring stress fracture in her 
foot had kept her from competing 
in her career’s biggest moments, 
devastating 
the 
promising 

athlete. Her first fracture came 
during her sophomore season 
where her absence detracted 
from an elite cross country team.

The injury bug then reared 

its ugly head again prior to her 
junior season, causing more 
devastating effects. Finn was 
robbed of a chance to compete 
at 
both 
the 
collegiate 
and 

Olympic levels and was forced 
to helplessly watch from the 
sidelines.

In her fifth and final season, 

Finn looks to make a lasting 
statement and craft a legacy that 
grows larger than her injuries. 
Now, in only the second meet 
of that campaign, she has set a 
school record.

“It felt like I was completing 

something,” Finn said. “I felt 
the joy of finally just completing 
something that I’ve been working 
towards. It’s been almost two 
years since I’ve PR’d in any of 
my distance events. I PR’d in 
the mile last year, but that’s not 
really one of my true events.”

This season will also be a 

significant one for Finn as she 
has spent her latest recovery 
period discovering what her life 
looks like outside of running. She 
ventured beyond the sole identity 
of being a runner and found new 
purpose in her running.

“I don’t run because I have 

to. I run because I love it,” Finn 
said. “My junior year I was 
setting unhealthy expectations 
for myself, so my performance 
wasn’t as great as I wanted it to 
be.

“That indoor season, and 

that outdoor season, I ended 
up getting hurt, so it was just a 
long road of getting healthy and 
then finally competing with joy. 
Competing free of having to do 
things but rather getting to do 
things.”

Finding the joy in running 

was not an easy task. After going 
through a lot of soul searching — 
and a campus ministry program 
called 
Athletes 

in Action — she 
finally 
feels 

ready to unlock 
her full potential 
on the track.

“Also, 
my 

faith 
is 
really 

important 
to 

me,” Finn said, 
“And I just know 
that I’ve been 
given gifts, and 
I want to use them with joy and 
not use them with fear.”

While pinning an athlete’s 

identity to an insatiable desire 
to compete and a relentless 
aggression may seem desirable, 
Finn has found both to be 
unhealthy, taking away from her 

ability to compete.

“Part of it was realizing that 

what I was doing last year wasn’t 
working,” 
Finn 
said. 
“Why 

would I impose these rules and 
miserable things on myself when 
I’m doing something I love?”

Finn is looking forward to 

contending in the future with a 
renewed sense of purpose, but 
sat out this past weekend as a 

group 
of 
less 

experienced 
runners 
took 

to the track at 
Saginaw 
Valley 

State’s Jet’s Pizza 
Invitational.

Those runners 

are where Finn 
was many years 
ago — striving to 
make names for 
themselves.

Now 
Finn 
is 
somewhere 

completely different. She is a 
four-time NCAA Championship 
runner up and has never been 
able to climb that final hill. The 
hope is now — with a redefined 
reason for performing — she 
finally can.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Fifth-year senior Erin Finn broke her own school record at last week’s Simmons-Harvey Quad with a 8:58.69 time in the 3,000-meter.

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

103-64-36 (.596) record but 

finished this past season 3-5-3 
in Big Ten play (6-6-6 overall). 
Just like Rademacher’s teams, 
Michigan missed the NCAA 
Tournament 
its 
first 
three 

seasons with Ryan as the coach 
and followed that up with a 
period of relative success. Both 
coaches went as far as the NCAA 
quarterfinals.

Unlike 
his 
predecessor 

though, Ryan’s time as coach 
was marred by inconsistency. 
The 
Wolverines 
have 
not 

advanced past the first round 
of the tournament since 2013, 
when they made a run to the 

quarterfinals. Michigan hasn’t 
won a game in the Big Ten 
Tournament since 2015, either.

“I have enjoyed my time at 

the University of Michigan and 
appreciate the opportunity to 
lead 
these 
student-athletes,” 

Ryan said in the press release. 
“I am proud of our successes 
and look forward to my next 
professional opportunity.”

The athletic department has 

already started the process 
of looking for another coach. 
When 
asked 
for 
comment, 

the University referred The 
Michigan Daily to the press 
release.

“I don’t run 

because I have 
to. I run because 

I love it.”

Wolverines suffer first loss at Nebraska 

For a team that recorded the 

highest score in the nation two 
weeks ago, losing to a team ranked 
four spots behind them wasn’t 
exactly expected. 

But for the No. 8 Michigan 

women’s gymnastics team, that’s 
exactly 
what 
happened. 
The 

loss came at the hands of No. 12 
Nebraska, who stands undefeated 
this season with a 3-0 record. After 
the Wolverines suffered a season-
low vault total last week against 
Illinois, and barely managed to 
scrape out a win, troubles in the 
event contined to plague the team 
this weekend. But this time, it 
sentenced them to their first loss 
of the season, 196.875-196.525.

Michigan began the meet on 

an event that would end up being 
its second-best of the night — 
the uneven bars. Senior Paige 
Zaziski led the squad with a 9.875, 
finishing in a tie for second with 
the Cornhuskers’ Taylor Houchin. 
Freshman Lauren Farley was next 
with a 9.850 for fourth.

Out of the remaining four 

gymnasts, 
senior 
Brianna 

Brown and sophomore Polina 
Shchennikova recorded 9.825s, 
while junior Olivia Karas and 
freshman Syd Townsend rounded 
out the rotation with a 9.800 each. 
These scores would amount to 
the Wolverines’ most consistent 
rotation of the night and a final 
score of 49.175.

“We are a good bar team, but 

we’re equally as good on the 
other three events as well,” said 
Michigan coach Bev Plocki. “I 
expect that all four events are 
going to be consistent.”

The next rotation was anything 

but consistent. With an overall 
lackluster vault score of 48.875, 
Michigan 
again 
found 
itself 

outnumbered in the top five.

Zaziski claimed another 9.850 

for a third-place finish, while 
freshman Sydney Townsend was 
the only other gymnast to break 
the top five with a 9.800. But two 
scores of 9.775, one 9.675 and a 
9.275 were less than a point away 
from sentencing the Wolverines 
to their worst vault rotation of the 
year.

“I’m a little bit disappointed. I 

think that we underperformed in 
a couple of places, and Nebraska is 
too good of a team to be able to do 
that and think that you’ll be able to 
come away with a victory,” Plocki 
said. “We did poorly on vault … We 
were not at our best, but we did 
well enough on the other three 
events. But you can’t afford to do 
that on vaulting. We come out 
against Ohio State and rocked 
vault, and two weeks since, we 
haven’t been able to replicate that 
and I’m not really sure why.”

The following floor rotation 

was a highlight for Michigan, 
particularly from Emma McLean. 
The junior earned Michigan’s 
only event title of the night with 
a 9.950, and junior Olivia Karas 

followed with a 9.875 to tie for 
second.

But again, mishaps nagged 

the Wolverines. A 9.175 from 
senior Lauren Marinez on floor, 
combined with the rough patch 
on vault, was enough to deter 
Michigan from a chance at the top 
spot.

On the beam, that trend 

continued. While Zaziski, senior 
Brianna Brown and senior Lauren 
Marinez each scored a 9.850 to tie 
for third, it wasn’t enough to save 
the Wolverines from their first 
loss of the season.

“The routines are there, the 

talent and the ability are there, 
but it’s being able to dig down 
in your gut and pull out what 
you’re capable of doing under any 
circumstances,” Plocki said. “If we 
want to do well in the postseason, 
we’re going to have to learn how to 
fight and dig down and be able to 
get ourselves to our best each time 
we’re getting ready to perform. 
Right now, these past two weeks, 
I’m just not sure what the issue 
was or why we didn’t perform up 
to our capability.”

Michigan doesn’t have a lot of 

time to figure it out, because even 
though the postseason is still a 
few months away, conference 
competitiors 
Maryland 
and 

Michigan State are coming up 
within the next two weeks. 

And even if this team did tally 

the highest score in the nation two 
weeks ago, it hasn’t been the same 
since. 

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Senior Paige Zaziski led Michigan with a 9.875, though her team was upset by No. 12 Nebraska.

LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor

