The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 — 7
Wolverines improve thanks to return of seniors Finn and Morrissey
Expectations are high in a
program when coaches compare
players to all-time great athletes
like Michael Jordan or LeBron
James. But those expectations
were justified when applied to
fifth-year runners Erin Finn
and Jamie Morrissey.
“Both of them here and at
the end, Morrissey, the team’s
happy that (Finn and Morrissey
are)
back,”
said
Michigan
coach James Henry. “Because
they’re our LeBron James of
the program. They’re our Kobe
Bryant of our program. They’re
our Michael Jordan of track and
field.
“I mean, they’re some of the
best of the best. And when the
best of the best go down, your
program, you’re not as good.
So we’re significantly better by
having those two, those young
ladies in the program.”
As game-changing runners
for the Michigan women’s track
and field team, the long-awaited
return of Finn and Morrissey
could only offer improvement
— and their impact on the team
showed at the Battle of the Blues.
The Wolverines finished second
in a field of three and, more
notably, with 25 career bests.
After a three-year absence
in outdoor track, Finn saw her
first event since 2015 after
redshirting her junior year and
sitting out all of senior year
due to injury. Normally when a
player returns from injury, rust
or decline might make its rounds
in the first few performances.
But for Finn, she immediately
saw the success she and her
team anticipated. The “little one
with a big heart” — as Henry
called her — showed just how
big her heart was. Through hard
work and perseverance, she ran
a career-best time of 9:14.31 in
the 3,000-meter event in her
return.
With advice from associate
head coach Mike McGuire to
pace herself, Finn concentrated
on her timing. She ran a
74-second pace for the first
two laps before finishing the
final lap on a 71-second pace
that allowed her a personal best
— and third-best in Michigan
history for the 3,000-meter
outdoor race.
Henry,
despite
grouping
Finn with some of the greatest
of all time, was just taken
aback. Caught off guard by her
dominant showing, he had in
every way anticipated that rust
that plagued many who return
from injury.
“She approached the race
showing
she
was
healthy,”
Henry said. “She wasn’t going
after a career best because you
can’t be an injured-reserve and
hurt and out and expect to just
come in right away and do your
best. But she’s paced herself and
that’s what we want.”
Morrissey, similarly, had total
control of her race in her return
to outdoor action.
Doing her part in the team’s
mid-distance and long-distance
sweep, Morrissey posted a time
of 2:05.11 for the 800 meters —
.02 seconds from her personal-
best. She and Finn led the way
for the distance runners to make
their mark in the event, as they
— along with seniors Claire
Borchers and Haley Meier —
claimed first in their respective
events.
But
Michigan’s
accomplishments to the distance
events didn’t come as a surprise
to Henry.
“That’s
the
part
of
our
program,” Henry said. “That
goes the same way with all of
our kids. We build our program
around
long
distance
and
middle distance. They are our
bread and butter. As they go, so
does the team. And we just do
our very best in those areas, but
we build our program around
distances. So it’s expected and
they expect to weigh in terms of
performances.”
What
also
didn’t
come
as a surprise to him was
the
improvement
showed
throughout the roster, and not
just by the Wolverines’ distance
runners.
25 career bests were posted
throughout the meet, which was
the main focus for the team. It
was never about winning. It was
about growth.
“That’s what we want,” Henry
said. “This was our first scoring
meet before the conference
meet. It gave us a chance to
compete
against
different
competition. It gave us a chance
to get many of the kids involved
in scoring in the meet.
“Our goal was not to win the
championship or this particular
meet — the Battle of the Blues.
Our goal was to improve. So
to have 25 kids come out and
do such an improvement, we
might not have won but we were
successful.”
Meier, in addition to her twin
Hannah, helped highlight the
depth Michigan displayed with
their
improvements.
Going
first and second respectively
in the 1,500-meter, the Meier
twins paved the way for a group
of seven Wolverines to finish
within the top ten.
Despite
the
second-place
finish, Michigan came out of
the meet with the best outcome
it could have expected. As Finn
and Morrissey improved toward
their best forms, the rest of the
team followed suit and provided
their best efforts in turn. With
the pace of growth likely to
continue, the comparison to
great athletes might not be
limited to just Morrissey and
Finn, but to the rest of the team
as well.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Senior Erin Finn returned to the Michigan outdoor track and field team for the first time in three years and set a personal record in the 3,000-meter race.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
Marody, Calderone sign entry-level contracts
Just
three
days
after
the
Michigan hockey team lost, 4-3,
to Notre Dame in the Frozen Four
semifinals, junior forward Cooper
Marody and senior forward Tony
Calderone signed NHL entry-level
contracts.
After breakout seasons, Marody
inked a deal for three years with the
Edmonton Oilers and Calderone for
an undisclosed duration with the
Dallas Stars on Sunday.
Marody and Calderone led the
offensive attack as two-thirds of
the lethal “DMC” line alongside
senior
forward
Dexter
Dancs.
Together, the trio accounted for 53
of Michigan’s 136 goals, 34 percent
of all points and a plus-minus rating
of plus-48.
Originally
selected
by
the
Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth
round and 158th overall in the 2015
NHL Entry Draft, Marody’s rights
were traded to the Oilers on Mar. 21
for a 2019 third-round pick.
“I am so grateful that I had the
opportunity to play for two of the
best coaches in college hockey,
Red Berenson and Mel Pearson,”
Marody
said
in
a
statement.
“Combined with their exceptional
assistant coaches and support staff,
they have prepared me for the next
level. The teammates I have had the
honor of playing alongside the past
three seasons have made it the best
time of my life.
“The Children of Yost, the
Michigan Hockey Band, alumni
and fans make playing at Yost
an
unforgettable
experience.
My lifelong dream of playing at
Michigan and wearing the block ‘M’
was even better in reality.”
In his first full season as a
Wolverine, the Brighton, Mich.
native led the team in scoring with
51 points on 16 goals and 35 assists
to rank third in the country and
first in the Big Ten. Marody became
just the third Michigan player to
lead the conference in scoring and
was named to the All-Big Ten first
team. On Friday, he was selected as
a CCM/AHCA West Second Team
All-American.
Down
the
stretch,
Marody
registered four goals and five assists
in six postseason games. His two
tallies, including the game-winner,
led the Wolverines to a 3-2 win
over Northeastern in the NCAA
Regionals and the 25th Frozen Four
berth in program history.
Calderone led the conference
with 25 goals to go with 19 assists
for 44 points, all career highs for
the captain. He scored seven times
on the power play and posted four
game-winners during his senior
campaign.
An All-Big Ten second team
honoree, the Trenton, Mich. native
tallied six goals and three assists in
the playoffs. His four goals in the
Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals
against Wisconsin tied for most
in a game in Michigan history. In
134 career games as a Wolverine,
Calderone notched 54 goals and 37
assists.
Last April, Pearson spoke with
Calderone about his potential to
play professionally after college.
Always a sharpshooter from the slot,
Pearson encouraged him to improve
his skating, speed and overall
conditioning to compete at the next
level. Calderone put in the time to
become more well-rounded, and it
paid dividends Sunday afternoon.
“Extremely happy to announce I
have signed my first NHL contract
with the @dallasstars,” Calderone
said in an Instagram post. “I want to
thank @umichhockey for the best 4
years of my life. I also want to thank
my family and friends who have
supported me and helped make this
dream come true.”
Bock finishes fourth in
all-around at Big Tens
After Dmitri Belanovski closed
out his second rings routine of the
weekend with a stuck dismount,
he pointed to the cameras.
The senior — competing for
a Big Ten title on the still rings
Saturday night during his final
competition in Ann Arbor —
knew he’d executed his routine
well enough to earn a good score.
He scored 13.800, good for fifth
place in the final.
“I stuck to what I’ve been
doing all year,” Belanovski said.
“I definitely have the lowest
start value out of these ten guys
competing, but I stuck with my
execution, stuck my dismount
and just did what I did overall all
year long.”
Placing
just
ahead
of
Belanovski
was
freshman
Cameron Bock, who earned a
fourth-place finish with a score
of 13.825.
“Cameron has really, really
come around on that event, has
really developed a lot this year,”
said Michigan coach Kurt Golder.
“Strategy for (Belanovski), was,
you know, he had a little elbow
issue, we watered it down a little,
went clean and conservative, and
it worked out well for him.”
Bock
started
his
strong
weekend Friday with a fourth-
place finish in the all-around
with a score of 82.800.
On the floor, Bock hit a clean
routine with the only deductions
coming in hops on the landing of
his tumbling passes. He followed
up his floor routine with good
form and rhythm on pommel
horse, earning a score of 13.750
— his third-highest tally of the
season. Four more clean routines
earned him the highest finish
of a freshman in the all-around
competition.
“I just put on on every event,”
Bock said. “I hit 6-for-6 and
just came out with a really good
score.”
In
Saturday’s
high
bar
competition, Bock executed three
challenging releases and took
just a small step on his dismount
to score 13.725, just 0.25 below
his qualifying score and good for
another fourth-place result.
“He has, I think, a really smart
routine,” Golder said. “One that
fits his abilities well, and yeah,
just real clean.”
On the vault, juniors Emyre
Cole and Anthony McCallum
placed
fourth
and
fifth,
respectively. It was McCallum’s
third vault of the season, and
the performance should serve
him
well
with
the
NCAA
Championships looming.
“I think particularly today,
it’ll help him,” Golder said. “You
know, he came up a little short
and he was just pulling to make
it yesterday, and we were very
happy about that. But I think he’ll
probably get a big confidence
boot by his vault today.”
Though
each
gymnast
performed a perfectly fine routine
in Saturday’s competition, the
results did not follow how they
were expected to perform after
earning second place in the team
competition on Friday. None
of the individual competitors
improved upon their qualifying
scores, leading to middle-of-the-
pack finishes.
The NCAA Championships
are just two weeks away, and
the Wolverines are hoping to
capitalize on the momentum
from the team competition and
perform better than last year’s
ninth-place finish.
“We haven’t been in the
top six, we haven’t been in the
NCAA finals the last two years,”
Belanovski said. “We proved a
lot of people wrong with this top
two finish yesterday. We’re just
looking to get back in the top six
and fight for that NCAA trophy.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior forward Cooper Marody and senior forward Tony Calderone signed NHL contracts with the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars, respectively.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
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