The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 — 7

Indoor season ends in bittersweet fashion

For the Michigan women’s 

track and field team, spring break 
didn’t begin with tanning on a 
beach or backpacking through 
America’s 
greatest 
parks. 

Instead, it was spent competing 
in the Big Ten Indoor Track and 
Field Championship.

While there may be no wonders 

of the world in Geneva, Ohio — 
the site of the championships — 
there is an indoor track facility 
where the Wolverines closed out 
their Big Ten indoor season to 
bittersweet results.

For 
a 
few 
athletes, 
the 

weekend’s tournament proved 
favorable. 
Two 
Wolverines 

claimed Big Ten titles, a relay 
team set a school record and five 
athletes advanced to the NCAA 
Championship.

Fifth-year senior Haley Meier 

won the mile with a 4:46.05 and 
punched her ticket to the NCAA 
Indoor Championship. The race 
came down to a near-photo finish 
where Meier narrowly escaped 

last year’s champion, Madeline 
Strandemo of Minnesota, edging 
her out by less than three-
quarters of a second.

“This has been a goal for a 

really long time, and one that 
I’ve wanted to have since I got 
to Michigan,” Meier said. “It was 
really an amazing experience. 
A lot of blood, sweat and tears 
went into trying to get there, but 
I really just owe a lot of that to 
my coach and especially to Claire 
(Borchers) and my sister Hannah 
who also competed with me to 
get me there.”

Having 
never 
been 
to 
a 

national meet to compete as an 
individual, the competition next 
weekend will surely be a new 
experience.

“I’ve been struggling with 

my mentality before races for 
a long time,” Meier said. “It’s 
really taken some time to figure 
out what works for me before 
races and no matter what, there’s 
always going to be nerves, but 
it’s always so important to let 
yourself be excited too.”

Senior Claire Kieffer-Wright 

captured gold in the high jump 
after a tie-breaking finish and 
will be joining Meier in College 
Station for the championship.

“It 
was 
really 
exciting,” 

Kieffer-Wright said. “I want to, of 
course, thank my teammates for 
cheering me on in the sidelines 
and all my coaches and trainers 
and my mom for being there for 
me.”

Kieffer-Wright 
separated 

herself from the pack by clearing 
1.81 meters on her first attempt, 
paving the way for her top-place 
finish.

But though Michigan earned 

several individual accolades, the 
team struggled as a whole.

The 
Wolverines 
finished 

eighth 
of 
13 
teams 
despite 

the 
individual 
performances, 

showing that Michigan still has 
a lot to improve on going into the 
outdoor season.

“I thought on one hand our 

bread and butter was middle-
distance and distance,” said 
Michigan coach James Henry. 
“They had an outstanding day, 
an 
outstanding 
performance 

and I thought the area that I was 
responsible for didn’t bring it the 
way that I thought that they were 
going to bring it until the end 
with the (4x400-meter) relay.”

Henry, who primarily coaches 

the sprinters, watched his group 
struggle all weekend, reaching 
the podium in only one event. 
The 4x400-meter relay team 
set a school record of 3:37.88 but 
finished just fifth in a deep field 
of runners.

“Everyone’s got to take some 

responsibility,” 
Henry 
said. 

“There were some kids that didn’t 
get out there and execute or I 
didn’t prepare them accordingly. 
It’s probably a combination of 
both, so taking responsibility 
as a coach and an athlete is the 
biggest step towards solving our 
mediocre performance.”

Added Kieffer-Wright: “It was 

good to see that some people are 
stepping up. I think that if those 
people who are stepping up can 
bring one or two people along 
with them to the outdoor season, 
I think that will really help our 
team standings.”

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Senior Claire Kieffer-Wright captured gold in the high jump at the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Chamiponship.

JACOB KOPNICK
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan hires Klein

After 10 years, the Michigan 

women’s soccer team is starting 
anew.

Athletic 
director 
Warde 

Manuel announced Feb. 28 that 
Jennifer Klein will take over 
as head coach of the program, 
replacing Greg Ryan. 

Klein, 33, comes to Ann Arbor 

with a considerable amount of 
coaching experience at every 
level. She first began as the head 
coach at Nevada-Las Vegas, then 
moved on to become an assistant 
coach at Washington State and 
Southern California, where she 
spent that past few years.

“Michigan has such great 

academic and athletic traditions 
and I can’t wait to be a part of 
it,” Klein said in a statement 
on MGoBlue.com. “I am really 
looking forward to coaching 
and leading the women’s soccer 
program as we work to pursue 
excellence both on and off the 
field.”

Klein was the youngest head 

coach in Division I women’s 
soccer when she was named the 
head coach of Nevada-Las Vegas’ 
program in 2010. In her first year, 
the Runnin’ Rebels saw their win 
total increase from five wins to 
11, and set a school record with 
38 goals.

During her four years as an 

assistant coach at Southern 

California, the Trojans amassed 
a 71-19-9 record and won the 
NCAA Tournament in 2016.

Conversely, the Wolverines 

finished last season 3-5-3 in Big 
Ten play (6-6-6 overall), and 
haven’t notched a win in the 
NCAA Tournament since 2013. 
Michigan didn’t reach the NCAA 
Tournament 
in 
either 
Ryan 

or original head coach Debbie 
Rademacher’s first three seasons.

With Klein’s hiring and her 

recruiting prowess, though, the 
Wolverines will look to buck 
trend. As the assistant head 
coach at USC for the last three 
seasons, Klein was in charge of 
recruiting for the Trojans. She 
should provide a boost in that 
department for a program that 
has struggled to attract a lot of 
top-end talent. While she was an 
assistant coach at Washington 
State, Klein also helped recruit 
2014 Pac-12 Player of the Year 
Micahela Castain.

Klein 
also 
holds 
playing 

experience under her belt, and 
has been battle-tested in big 
games. From 2002 to 2005, Klein 
played for Arizona, and was a 
captain in her final two years. In 
2004, the Wildcats captured a 
Pac-10 Championship and made 
it to the third round of the NCAA 
Tournament the following year.

Between 
that 
and 
her 

recruting skills, better times 
could be on the horizon for the 
program.

ROBERT BUECHLER/Daily

The Michigan women’s soccer team has found its new coach.

RIAN RATNAVALE

Daily Sports Writer

Weak finish, but still strong enough

Ambiguity isn’t fun. Let’s get 

rid of it right away. The Michigan 
women’s 
basketball 
team deserves 
to be in.

The 

Wolverines 
(10-6 Big Ten, 
22-9 overall) 
should 
hear 

their 
name 

called by the 
selection 
committee 
next Monday. They should — for 
the first time in five years — play 
an NCAA Tournament game.

Michigan’s February was one 

to forget. The Wolverines blew 
a 16-point lead in the last seven 
minutes of their game against 
Purdue on the first day of the 
month, then proceeded to drop 
three of the next four, falling to 
sixth in the Big Ten.

On top of everything, freshman 

forward Hailey Brown suffered a 
leg injury — Michigan coach Kim 
Barnes Arico estimated she’ll be 

out for the season. What had been 
a team likely to host early-round 
games became one that needed 
another couple wins to avoid 
disaster.

And that’s exactly what it got.
Facing a must-win scenario 

on Senior Night, the Wolverines 
knocked off then-No. 13 Maryland 
on the back of 17 points from 
sophomore 
forward 
Akienreh 

Johnson. Barnes Arico exercised 
caution postgame, but it was clear 
the mood had shifted — and with 
good reason.

Michigan’s resume over the 

season’s first three months is 
unimpeachable. The Wolverines 
didn’t lose to a team outside the 
top 25 and beat Ohio State — now 
sixth in RPI — in Columbus. Their 
losses being condensed into four 
weeks instead of spread out over 
four months shouldn’t matter for 
anything but seeding.

At the Big Ten Tournament, 

Michigan did what it had to do, 
beating Penn State to a pulp in 
Thursday’s first round before 
falling to Nebraska in the second. 

It was all the Wolverines needed.

“We had finished third in 

the league (last year) and had 
a decent RPI, a top-50 RPI, but 
(the selection committee) said we 
didn’t have enough top-50 wins,” 
Barnes Arico said Friday. “This 
year, we have a bunch of top-25 
wins. We have three top 25 wins 
and we have a 38 RPI (ranking). 
Our conference is significantly 
better. Our double opponents 
were pretty good.

“So we think we’ve done what 

we needed to do.”

It’s around this point in 

the calendar that every coach 
becomes 
a 
salesperson, 
but 

Barnes Arico’s pitch is worth 
buying.

If it can replicate its peak, 

Michigan is capable of stringing a 
run. Senior point guard Katelynn 
Flaherty can light up anybody 
from outside and junior Nicole 
Munger is shooting 42 percent 
on 3-pointers as the starting ‘2’. 
Johnson has taken Brown’s spot 
in the rotation and filled it in full, 
knocking down 60 percent from 

the field in the four games since 
Brown’s injury. Junior center 
Hallie Thome is as much a low-
post threat as any other center in 
the conference.

Even so, making it past the first 

weekend is far from a guarantee. 
If anything, it’s unlikely. The 
Cornhuskers 
shut 
down 
the 

Wolverines’ offense on Friday 
and, though Flaherty has gotten 
better against constant face-
guarding, turnovers are still an 
issue. Going 2-4 in February also 
opened the door to a matchup with 
No. 1 Connecticut as soon as the 
second round of the Tournament 
— a scenario currently projected 
in ESPN’s Bracketology.

If Michigan gets in, it will 

have crawled in. The Wolverines 
were capable of doing more than 
finishing sixth in the Big Ten 
and that’s worth noting. Their 
resume isn’t perfect. It may not be 
deserving of anything more than 
a No. 8 seed and a second round 
date with the Huskies.

But they’ve done enough to get 

in.

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

The Michigan women’s basketball team should make the NCAA Tournament based on its strong performance from all but the final weeks of the season.

ETHAN
SEARS

‘M’ soars to second 
at conference meet 

Over a span of four days, 

the No. 7 Michigan men’s 
swimming and diving team put 
teamwork first and took second 
in the Big Ten Championships 
with 1,617.5 points at the 
Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman 
Aquatic Center. Forty-seven 
personal records were set. 
Of the 26 student-athletes 
representing the Wolverines, 
25 scored points for the team. 
Eleven swimmers received All-
Big Ten honors.

“We had a really great 

meet,” said Michigan coach 
Mike Bottom, “They fought for 
each other, and they have a lot 
of fun. They supported each 
other.” 

Added 
sophomore 
Felix 

Auböck: “What we can be proud 
of is the team performance that 
we had. We kept it close until 
the end.”

The 
Wolverines 
earned 

four Big Ten titles — three 
individual 
and 
one 
relay. 

Auböck won both the 500-
yard freestyle and the 1,650-
yard freestyle; Auböck won 
the 1,650-yard freestyle at last 
year’s Big Ten Championships, 
too. 
Sophomore 
Charlie 

Swanson won the 400-yard 
individual medley. The 200-
yard freestyle relay team of 
freshman Luiz Gustavo Borges, 
graduate student James Peek, 
senior Paul Powers and senior 
Evan White also won.

Powers took third in the 

100-yard freestyle with a time 
of 42.34 — the second-fastest 
time in Michigan’s history.

Peek, who finished eighth in 

the 100-yard freestyle, was a 
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award 
Honoree.

Sophomores Jeremy Babinet, 

Tommy Cope, Jacob Montague 
and 
Charlie 
Swanson 
all 

qualified for the finals in 
the 
200-yard 
breaststroke. 

Montague finished in fourth, 

Swanson in fifth, Cope in sixth 
and Babinet in seventh. Cope 
swam faster in the event’s 
preliminary, with a time of 
1:52.91, the second-fastest time 
in the Wolverines’ history.

Freshman Ross Todd was 

the first Michigan diver to 
qualify for the final in platform 
in four years. His qualification 
in the platform finals made the 
meet that much closer, overall. 
Todd qualified for the finals 
with a score of 76.50 points – 
taking the last qualifying spot. 
Todd finished in fifth with a 
score of 452.75 points, a full 88 
points higher than his personal 
best prior to coming into the 
meet.

“The 
performance 
was 

greater than expected,” said 
Bottom.

Freshman Chris Canning 

and 
sophomore 
Jake 

Herremans 
also 
performed 

well. 
Together, 
the 
three 

divers, Canning, Herremans 
and Todd, scored 98 points.

Freshman Ricardo Vargas 

also performed well at the meet, 
earning two silver medals and 
a bronze. In addition to being 
the highest-scoring freshman 
at the meet, he was also named 
Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

“That was pretty exciting for 

us,” Bottom said.

Saying that it was for ‘us’ 

— as opposed to ‘him’ — the 
Sportsmanship 
Award 
that 

Peek won and the overall 
success from the different 
facets of the team encapsulate 
the 
spirit 
of 
comradery 

Michigan emulated throughout 
the four-day meet.

The 
Wolverines 
surely 

wanted to finish first in the Big 
Ten, their teamwork seemed 
second-to-none. That’s nothing 
to scoff at.

“I don’t think there was 

even one race where I saw 
someone giving up,” Auböck 
said. “Everyone was swimming 
for another person on the team 
and for each other.”

MEN’S SWIM AND DIVE

MAYA SALINAS
Daily Sports Writer

