The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, January 15, 2019 — 7

Wolverines track and field breaks 
multiple records in season opener

As the gun went off on 
Saturday for the first race of 
the Wolverine Invitational, the 
University of Michigan Indoor 
Track and Field Arena was 
already buzzing with activity. 
Athletes were moving on all 
sections of the floor as the high 
jump, shot put, long jump, pole 
vault and hurdling events all 
began. 
The Wolverines broke many 
records over the next four hours, 
including back-to-back throws 
in the women’s weight throw 
event. Senior Bailey Baker broke 
the school record with a throw 
of 19.28 meters, which was 
upped by .25 on the next throw 
by senior Kayla Deering. Junior 
Andrew Liskowitz also broke 
the school record for men’s shot 
put. Other personal records 
were broken in the men’s weight 
throw, both the women’s and 
the men’s 60-meter hurdles, 
and the women’s 3000-meter 
events. This performance even 
surpassed 
Michigan 
coach 
James Henry’s expectations.
“I 
was 
expecting 
some 
broken performances in the 
essence of sometimes the kids 
get nervous on their first time 

out, but to get those kinds of 
performances makes me more 
optimistic,” Henry said. “Even 
though the first step is the most 
important, we’ve got a lot more 
steps to go.”
Out of seven teams and 35 
events, Michigan ended up with 
21 athletes finishing in the top 
three, six of whom won their 
event.
The Wolverines had a strong 
start in both the men’s and 
women’s 
60-meter 
hurdles. 
After taking four of the top five 
times in the heats, junior Roland 
Amarteifio crossed the finish 
line first with sophomore Sierra 
Hendrix-Williams coming in 
third. On the women’s side, only 
freshman Michaiah Thomas 
qualified for the final, finishing 
sixth. 
The Michigan men continued 
to succeed in the following 
track 
events, 
particularly 
dominating the mile event in 
which the Wolverines had the 
six fastest times, including 
first and second-place finishes 
by freshmen Gabe Mudel and 
Dominic Dimambro. While the 
women could not crack the top 
five in the mile, they succeeded 
more in the short distances with 
junior Jade Harrison coming in 
first in the 200-meter dash. 

Possibly the most exciting 
moment of the meet came in 
the penultimate event, the 
women’s 4x400 meter relay. 
With roughly 500 meters left, 
junior Julia Hall moved into 
second place, which had been 
occupied by Michigan State 
in the earlier part of the race. 
Michigan surprised the crowd 
again in the last 200 meters 
when freshman Aurora Rynda 
overtook 
Eastern 
Michigan 
for first place, quickly putting 
distance between herself and 
the rest of the pack. 
Henry attributed Michigan’s 
overall 
strong 
results 
and 
the new team records to the 
strategic training. 
“We prepped ourselves quite 
well,” Henry said. “We do an 
excellent job prepping ourselves 
for our program. We’ve been 
prepping since September, so 
this is a chance to do our first 
competition and I would call it 
a dress rehearsal. It was a good 
dress rehearsal.
“There’s so many steps to the 
Big Ten, so we’ve got a 10-step 
process and this is just step one. 
Some of the kids stumbled on 
their first step and some of the 
kids did well on their first step. 
We’ve just got to evaluate and 
take it one step at a time.”

LANE KIZZIAH
For the Daily

The life of 
a collegiate 
athletic 
program 
is 
one 
of 
continuous 
overhaul. 
At the end 
of 
every 
season, 
coaches 
move 
on, 
seniors 
graduate and a fresh flock of 
wide-eyed freshmen join the 
team.
Naturally, 
new 
seasons 
always bring about change 
and 
unknowns. 
Coming 
into the 2018-19 women’s 
basketball season, programs 
in the Big Ten Conference had 
seemingly experienced more 
change and featured more 
unknowns than most other 
leagues around the country. 
Five of the Big Ten’s top seven 
leading 
scorers 
from 
last 
season departed — Michigan 
point guard Katelynn Flaherty 
being third on that list. To put 
it simply, the conference was 
ripe for the taking.
Despite 
losing 
Flaherty 
and senior Jillian Dunston, 
it was not a far-fetched 
notion that the Wolverines 
— who finished sixth in the 
conference and made it to the 
second round of the NCAA 
Tournament — could ascend 
to bigger and better things 
this season.
Seniors Hallie Thome and 
Nicole Munger were set to 
take over the leadership roles 
of Flaherty and Dunston, both 

on and off the court. A stellar 
recruiting class featuring the 
likes of point guard Amy Dilk 
and forward Naz Hillmon 
supplemented a young but 
talented roster. This was a 
reload, the theory went, not a 
rebuild.
Through 17 games, only a 
few of those premises have 
come to fruition.
Teams in the Big Ten clearly 
underwent some overhaul, 
but the narrative coming into 
the season was exaggerated. 
The conference this season 
is deeper than first thought 
and features a number of 
quality teams. In fact, for 
the first time since the 2014-
15 season, the current AP 
Top 25 includes six Big Ten 
programs — most notably No. 
9 Maryland, No. 17 Michigan 
State and No. 20 Rutgers, who 
currently sit atop the Big Ten 
standings.
Though 
Thome 
and 
Munger have been everything 
they were chalked up to be as 
leaders, they have struggled 
at times with injury and 
inconsistency. Their offensive 
output hasn’t been able to 
replace Flaherty’s on a clear 
one-to-one basis, but then 
again it may have been naive 
to think it could.
To a similar extent, this 
highly touted freshman class 
has shown signs of brilliance, 
but as expected has also 
shown signs of inexperience. 
Dilk and Hillmon, specifically, 
have 
been 
thrust 
into 
prominent roles. While this 
will undoubtedly serve them 

well in the future, with the 
ball-handling duties placed on 
Dilk’s shoulders, she has been 
error-prone.
After a 19-point outing 
against 
Washington, 
in 
which she shot 7-for-11 from 
the field, Dilk accounted for 
nine turnovers and shot 14.2 
percent in the next two games 
— 
signs 
of 
improvement 
followed by clear growing 
pains.
Michigan’s 
up-and-down 
performances 
this 
season 
have culminated in an overall 
record of 11-6 and a 2-3 record 
in the Big Ten — good for sixth 
place thus far. According 
to multiple projections, the 
Wolverines aren’t slated to 
make the NCAA Tournament 
this season. At this point last 
year, Michigan was 15-4 and 
in the midst of a six-game 
win streak against Big Ten 
opponents.
The depth of the Big Ten 
affords Michigan a few more 
notable opportunities to make 
its case for the tournament, 
but 
those 
chances 
are 
dwindling. Thursday’s trip to 
take on Megan Gustafson and 
the No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes is 
the start of a five-game run 
which includes four ranked 
opponents. If Michigan is to 
save its season, it will come 
down to the results of this 
stretch.
The 
Wolverines 
have 
alternated between success 
and defeat in their five games 
against Big Ten opponents 
thus far. They can no longer 
afford such deviations.
While 
they 
challenged 
themselves out of conference, 
the results of those games 
weren’t 
good 
enough 
to 
compensate 
for 
lackluster 
performances in the Big Ten.
So no, it’s not time to 
press the panic button on 
Michigan’s season, but there 
is a figurative finger hovering 
over it. The coming weeks 
decide everything.
 
Connor 
Brennan 
can 
be 
reached 
at 
conbrenn@
umich.edu or on Twitter @
ConnrBrennan.

‘M’ running out of chances

CONNOR 
BRENNAN

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan are facing a crucial five-game stretch.

New Year, new Lavigne: Michigan goaltender shows signs of resurgence

For most, New Year’s marks 
a time of change.
For 
Michigan 
junior 
goaltender Hayden Lavigne, 
the change came a little 
earlier. With a .870 save 
percentage up from October 
to December, it was no secret 
he had struggled in net while 
fighting for playing time.
That was, until winter 
break 
hit, 
when 
Lavigne 
decided to flip a switch.
“You could see it just in 
practice, his intensity, his 
work ethic,” said Michigan 
coach Mel Pearson. “proHe 
turned the corner just before 
Christmas, and then we’ve 
seen it in practice.”
Practice was where he made 
his mark — for good and bad. 
When the season first began, 
the starting goaltending spot 
was his to lose. After all, 
former Wolverine goaltender 
Jack 
LaFontaine 
had 
transferred, and the backups 
were two freshmen with no 
collegiate experience. But the 
effects of a guaranteed start 
had a negative impact on his 
development.
Lavigne — tall and athletic 
— normally created separation 
from every other goaltender 
not through talent and skill 
alone, but through the way 
he worked hard and attacked 
practice. 
He 
was 
competitive 
to 
the 
point 
where 
allowing 
goals 
during 
practice 
angered him.
Yet, despite 
his work ethic, 
he lost focus 
in the midst of 
his job’s security.
“I think when he first came 
back this year, little sloppy 
in practice,” Pearson said. 

“Didn’t bear down as well as 
he should have or could have. 
I don’t know if he thought 
he’d show up, and it’d just be 
like last year.”
It was the coaches that 
made 
him 
realize 
things 
weren’t going to be easy, 
whether he was prepared or 
not.
“I think I kind of realized 
with some help from the 
coaches, that my practices, 
the first little bit of the season, 
probably weren’t where they 
needed to be in terms of out 
of tune, frustration, stuff like 
that,” Lavigne said.
As he returned to the ice in 
2019, he set a goal to change up 
his practice mindset — keep 
his head down, work hard 
and try to stop every puck no 
matter what. Compared to 
the first half of the season, it 
was a new Hayden Lavigne.
Even if drills didn’t go his 
way, even if goals seemed to 
go in in practice, he didn’t 
worry. And that was the key 
to 
Lavigne’s 
confidence, 
which showed early, when 
he was given the start in a 
crucial game against then-
No. 6 Notre Dame.
His performance — 30 saves 
on a .889 save percentage — 
led to Michigan’s first win 
in over a month. The two 
goals were on defensive slip-
ups late in the third period 
that stained an otherwise 
good game for 
Lavigne.
“I 
think 
those practices, 
my 
chance 
in 
the 
practice 
mindset, 
has 
really led on to 
that strong foot 
forward so far 
this new year,” 
Lavigne 
said. 
“My goal is to 
go out every day in practice 
and work hard and gain the 
confidence 
to 
know 
that 
when I go into the weekend, I 

can beat anybody and shut out 
anybody on a given night.”
Even after the win, Lavigne 
wasn’t content.
It was a quality that Pearson 
noted and appreciated.
“That’s what I like about 
him, 
he’s 
not 
satisfied,” 
Pearson said. “He’s maybe 
happy about his performance, 
but he’s not satisfied, and 
that’s how he has to be, that’s 
how his teammates have to be 
too, but Hayden is taking that 
approach so good for him.
“He had a great second half 
last year. So far, he’s off to a 
real good start this year, so 
we’re hoping for more of the 
same from him, and we know 
he can do it.”
Unlike teammate Strauss 
Mann, Lavigne had done 

it before, and been in it 
before — when the team was 
struggling to win. He stepped 
up to the plate last season 
when the coaches needed him 
to. This year, they know he 
has the chance 
to do the same.
“It’s different 
if you haven’t 
proven 
it,” 
Pearson 
said. 
“You 
haven’t 
been there, if 
you 
haven’t 
done it, but he 
has. You know 
he’s got it in 
him, and he’s 
capable.”
After factoring his hot 
second-half-of-the-year 
performance 
last 
season 

and his showing against the 
Fighting Irish, the coaches 
decided early to start him 
back-to-back against No. 4 
Ohio State — going as far as 
resting him for the occasion 
by 
playing 
Mann 
against 
Merrimack.
“We wanted 
to sort of save 
him 
for 
the 
back-to-back 
games, and we 
gave 
Strauss 
the 
chance 
Tuesday,” 
Pearson 
said. 
“Hayden’s 
playing extremely well, and 
that’s why we went back to 
back with him.”
The rest, the confidence, 

the hard work and intense 
practices — all things that set 
the stage for him to succeed 
in the Buckeye matchup. And 
Lavigne took to it.
“He gave us a chance 
to 
(win),” 
Pearson 
said. 
“Obviously we won two of 
the three games that he’s 
played and we had a real 
good chance to win that last 
game there, we had a two-
one lead, and it’s because of 
him.”
Entering the new year, 
compared to the first half of 
the season, there was a new 
Lavigne. A goaltender who 
practiced 
hard, 
competed 
hard and gave Michigan the 
opportunity to win. But for 
Lavigne and the coaching 
staff, it was more of the same.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer

EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne notched 30 saves on a .889 save percentage in Michigan’s 4-2 win over Notre Dame last week, its first win in over a month.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Wolverines posted the six fastest times in the mile event Saturday, including a first-place finish from Gabe Mudel.

“I don’t know if 

he thought he’d 

show up, and it’d 

be like last year.”

“That’s what 
I like about 
him, he’s not 
satisfied.”

