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