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