10

Thursday, May 31, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Hua and Knight finish seasons

Runhao Hua charged up the 
court and hit the ball past the 
outstretched racket of Texas A&M’s 
Patrick Kypson. When the ball hit 
the ground without a return, Hua 
let out a yell to celebrate his upset 
win over the fifth-seeded Kypson 
in the second round of the NCAA 
individual singles tournament.
The senior on the Michigan 
men’s tennis team battled for the 
three-set victory after losing the 
first set 6-4. He won ten straight 
games to win the second set 6-0 
and get out to a 4-0 lead in the third 
set before Kypson began to stage a 
comeback.
But No. 47 Hua was able to hang 
on and win the third set 6-4 for 
likely the largest upset of his career 
with the Wolverines.
He earned the spot in the round 
of 32 after a straight-set defeat of 
No. 28 Johannes Ingildsen from 
Florida, who had won the previous 
meeting with Hua. This time, 
though, Hua was able to battle for 
a 7-5 first set win and cruise to a 6-2 
victory in the second set.
In the round of 16, Hua saw his 
run in the tournament come to an 
end with a loss to No. 9-16 seeded 
Mazen Osama out of Florida. 
He lost the first set 6-1, but in 
the second came back from a 5-3 
deficit to be within one game of 
Osama before dropping the set and 
ultimately the match. 
Hua’s fellow Michigan senior 
Alex Knight also competed in 

the singles tournament as one 
of the No. 9-16 seeded players, 
but Knight’s senior season had a 
more disappointing ending. After 
earning a unanimous selection 
to the All Big-Ten first team and 
notching a 25-8 record on the 
season, Knight was upset by 
Vanderbilt’s Cameron Klinger in 
straight sets.
Knight and Hua also combined 
as the Wolverines’ doubles pair for 
the NCAA doubles tournament. 
The 
partnership 
had 
been 
successful throughout its Michigan 
career — marking a 16-7 record 
during the 2017-2018 season.
That 
success 
didn’t 
carry 
through to the tournament as the 
duo fell 6-2, 6-2 to No. 17 Fabien 
Fallert and Tim Sandkaulen of the 
University of Mississippi in the 
first round of play.
Though their senior seasons 
didn’t 
end 
with 
a 
national 
championship, both Hua and 
Knight have played large roles 
in the Wolverines’ success since 
arriving in Ann Arbor. The seniors 
have been prominent figures in the 
lineups since their freshman years, 
making their graduations a big 
change for the team.
With Michigan ending the 
season ranked fourteenth in the 
country by the ITA and a large 
class of freshmen coming in the 
fall, it stands to reason that Knight 
and Hua will see their spots filled 
soon and the team’s success will 
continue.
But the legacies they’ve left will 
be much harder to replace.

CHUN SO / DAILY
Senior Runhao Hua ended his final season with Michigan in the NCAA Tournament

Eight Wolverines qualify for NCAA 
Outdoor Championships in Tampa

Two hundred meters from 
elimination, 
Sarah 
Zieve 
wasn’t about to go quietly.
The top three finishers in 
her 3000-meter steeplechase 
heat 
at 
the 
NCAA 
East 
Preliminary in Tampa, Fla. 
would qualify to the NCAA 
Outdoor Championships in 
Eugene, Ore. Zieve sat in 
seventh, her shoe untied and 
her season on the brink of 
elimination. 
Nevertheless, she began a 
desperate sprint and didn’t 
stop until she crossed the 
finish line — 
placing in third 
by .13 seconds 
with a time of 
10:07.58.
“Definitely 
as amazing as 
a comeback as 
I’ve ever seen,” 
said Michigan 
women’s 
distance coach 
Mike McGuire. 
“ … Within the last lap, it 
was like the barriers weren’t 
even there the way she was 
hurdling.”
While 
her 
race 
wasn’t 
nearly as drama-filled, senior 
Claire Borchers — the Big Ten 
champion in the event — also 
qualified for nationals in the 
steeplechase. She stayed with 
the lead pack the entire time 
and finished her heat with a 
time of 9:58.57, good enough 
for the sixth-best time overall.
Joining them in Eugene 
will 
be 
fifth-year 
senior 
Haley Meier who had never 
qualified for nationals in the 
1500-meter despite a close 
call last year. Refusing to 
drop lower than fifth in her 
heat — where the top five 
automatically qualify — Meier 
left nothing to chance as she 
stayed in the upper echelon of 
her race through its entirety. 
She finished fourth with a 
time of 4:15.47 and extended 
the Wolverines’ seven-year 
streak of qualifying runners 
to the NCAA Championships 
in the event.

“She did a great job of 
positioning herself,” McGuire 
said. “(She) had a pulse on 
where she was at, where she 
needed to be.”
***
The rain came in droves, 
horizontal and unrelenting.
It’s hard to compete in 
the high jump in the rain. It 
gives the ground less traction 
and messes with the normal 
aerodynamics of the event, 
forcing jumpers to alter their 
speed and entry.
Watching 
redshirt 
sophomore Brandon Piwinski 
compete, you wouldn’t be able 
to tell.
Piwinski 
took 
only one attempt 
to 
clear 
each 
of his first two 
heights — 2.06 
and 2.11 meters. 
Though he failed 
to reach his next 
height 
of 
2.16 
meters, 
so 
did 
all but four other 
competitors 
in 
the preliminary. 
With 12 spots in the NCAA 
Championships and number 
of previous attempts serving 
as 
a 
tiebreaker, 
Piwinski 
easily made the cut — the 
Michigan men’s track and 
field team’s first to qualify in 
the event since 1994.
“Brandon 
jumped 
and 
he made his two attempts 
in basically a downpour,” 
said Michigan coach Jerry 
Clayton. “ … Our people were 
— really handled themselves 
quite well with making those 
adjustments.”
***
Grant Cartwright had one 
last shot at keeping his career 
alive.
After 
failing 
to 
qualify 
for nationals in the hammer 
throw on Thursday, the senior 
had only the shot put left, but 
his first two throws weren’t 
going to cut it.
He stepped into the ring, 
spun and threw. This time, it 
didn’t end in disappointment.
His final attempt measured 
19.53 meters — a personal 
best that rocketed him into 

seventh place, good enough to 
punch his ticket to Eugene.
Meanwhile, 
redshirt 
sophomore Andrew Liskowitz 
unleashed 
a 
19.27-meter 
throw on his first attempt 
— one he knew would likely 
qualify him. But he didn’t 
stop 
there, 
improving 
on 
each subsequent attempt. His 
final throw of 19.92 meters 
garnered third place overall 
and another nationals berth 
for the Wolverines.
“It only took a good first-
round throw, (they) get into 
a rhythm,” Clayton said. “ … 
Credit to them for staying 
focused.”

Joining 
Piwinski, 

Cartwright 
and 
Liskowitz 
in Eugene will be junior 
Taylor McLauglin in the 400-
meter hurdles — his third 
consecutive year qualifying 
— and fifth-year senior Ben 
Flanagan in the 10,000-meter. 
Both were Big Ten champions 
in their respective events.
Perhaps more noticeable, 
though, was one athlete who 
didn’t make it.
Heralded all season as an 
integral part of Michigan’s 
“Meat 
Factory” 
throwing 
contingent, redshirt junior 
Joe Ellis holds the school 
record in the hammer throw 
and 
missed 
the 
Big 
Ten 
Outdoor 
Championships 
record by centimeters. But in 
the NCAA preliminaries, it 
doesn’t matter what records 
you 
hold. 
Three 
throws 
determine the course of your 
season.
And for Ellis, those three 
throws weren’t enough. Two 
fouls in his three attempts 
eliminated 
his 
margin 
of 
error, and his one fair heave 
landed short. He placed just 
15th, ending his season.
“This meet’s a tough meet,” 
Clayton said. “(He) kind of 
lost his rhythm after the first 
throw and wasn’t — normally, 
he’s been able to readjust and 
come through and this time it 
just didn’t work.
“ … He’s had a great season, 
he’s competed really well for 
us at the conference level, and 
you can’t take that away.”

TRACK AND FIELD

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

“Definitely as 
amazing as a 
comeback as 
I’ve ever seen.”

