8A — Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Caroline Hendershot is here to stay
Caroline Hendershot is hard
to miss.
Whether it’s her height of
5-foot-11, her involvement in
a student-run sports TV show
or
her
cheerful
demeanor
guaranteed to light up any room,
the senior on the Michigan
rowing team is pretty distinct.
And, she has challenged the
gender-binding
stereotypes
that have plagued the sports
industry ever since she was
little.
“I think of elementary school
where boys would say that they
were faster because they were
boys,” Hendershot said. “And, I
would do anything to beat the
boys, making sure that I was
the last girl left. I didn’t care if I
was dripping in sweat. You can’t
judge a book by its cover.”
Coming from a family where
both her parents and all three of
her older siblings played college
sports,
Hendershot
seemed
predestined
for
collegiate
athletics.
“Family
games
are
competitive to say the least,”
she said, half-jokingly.
Before
committing
to
rowing as her sport of choice,
Hendershot played nearly every
sport in existence. However,
when she found herself sitting
down in a boat her junior year
of high school, it was the unique
format of rowing that sold her.
“There is a very specific
feeling in a boat when you have
all eight people moving in sync
and pushing a boat at the same
time as hard and as fast as they
can,” she said. “It is one of the
most incredible feelings.”
Although
she
faces
long
days of practice that regularly
produce
blistered
hands,
Hendershot
feels
that
her
teammates
make
everything
worth it. In feeding off of
their accomplishments to fuel
her own success, Hendershot
believes that her teammates
have driven her to become both
a better person and a stronger
rower.
When
she’s
not
rowing,
Hendershot
works
with
Wolverine
Women, an all-
female
sports
talk
show
on
WOLV
TV,
a
student-run
television
station.
What
began
as a desire to get
more
involved
on
campus
the fall of her
sophomore year quickly evolved
into something larger. Two
years later, Hendershot serves
as an executive producer for
Wolverine
Women,
doing
everything from brainstorming
storylines to obtaining athletes
for segments.
Her enthusiasm for the show
comes from her personability
— she wants to tell stories
the average fan might not be
aware of. After graduation,
Hendershot hopes to work in
sports broadcasting.
“Interviewing
people
is
something that I love feeding
off of because I love finding
out who people are,” she said.
“Obviously, I can’t let (sports)
go after four years, so I want
to go into (broadcasting) and
be able to help people tell
their stories and express that
different perspective.”
In terms of ambition, she
considers the community of
Wolverine Women to be very
similar to that of her team.
“Everyone is so supportive
and so uplifting and wants
everyone to succeed,” she said.
“They helped me realize that
yes, you can be competitive, but
you can also bring others along
with you.”
In
December
2017,
she
interned with Tracy Wolfson
— a CBS sports broadcaster and
a Michigan alum — whom she
views as a role model both as a
woman in sports
and as a person.
Hendershot
got to spend a
weekend
with
Wolfson
when
she
worked
as
an
NFL
correspondent
with
the
New
England Patriots
and
Buffalo
Bills.
At the end of the day,
Hendershot
feels
that
everything distills down to
a statement of purpose. As
a woman in sports, she feels
that her role is to push down
boundaries.
“Hopefully,
when
I
have
a career, I want to help open
doors for other women that
want to get into the industry,”
she said.
To Hendershot, graduating
this May will be bittersweet.
She
is
grateful
for
her
experience over the past four
years and is obviously sad that
it is ending, but is extremely
excited to navigate the world
with the skills she has learned
at Michigan.
“I am really happy that I
came here for my experience,”
she said. “There is nothing like
representing the University of
Michigan with a block M on
your back. That is the biggest
thing I’m going to miss.”
COURTESY OF MICHIGAN ATHLETICS/Daily
Senior rower Caroline Hendershot hopes to go into the sports broadcasting industry when she graduates from Michigan in May.
LILY ALEXANDER
For The Daily
From her sports broadcasting aspirations to her rowing prowess, Caroline Hendershot has left her mark at Michigan
Men’s golf improves during final
round of Tar Heel Intercollegiate
The Michigan men’s golf
team entered the final round
of the Tar Heel Intercollegiate
at the UNC Finley Golf Course
looking to recover from a
disappointing
opening
two
rounds. The Wolverines were
left trailing the rest of the field
by the time players teed off
Sunday morning in Chapel Hill.
After shooting a combined
37 strokes over par as a team
during the first two rounds and
sitting in last place out of 14
teams after Saturday, Michigan
coach Chris Whitten and the
Wolverines were determined
to respond.
“It was unacceptable the way
we played the first two rounds
and we know we’re better than
that,” Whitten said.
In
previous
tournaments
this season, Whitten felt that
his team played well in final
rounds, and the Wolverines did
just that on Sunday.
Despite being 39 strokes
out of the lead and without a
viable path back to contention,
Michigan was unfazed and
settled
down
to
improve
its overall team score. The
Wolverines
rebounded
by
scoring three under par to
elevate themselves from last
place to twelfth. The Michigan
coaching
staff
noticed
an
increased level in confidence
and comfort on the course
on Sunday after lackluster
performances up to that point.
“We were determined to
play very solid golf with good
decisions and good attitudes
today and take a step in the
right direction going into the
next
tournament,”
Whitten
said.
The
home
squad,
North
Carolina, took the top spot on
the leaderboard as a team over
the weekend, while Illinois’
Adrien Dumont de Chassart
dominated
the
competition
individually
by
outshooting
the next closest opponent by
six strokes. North Carolina
was the only team to remain
under par by the tournament’s
conclusion.
Standout
performances
by
Michigan
came
from
sophomore
Henry
Spring
and
senior
Nick
Carlson.
Spring finished as the team’s
lowest scorer for the second
consecutive tournament, tying
for 18th place after a successful
two-under-par
outing
on
Sunday. Carlson finished tied
for 31st overall by shooting two
under par on Sunday and seven
over par in total.
The Wolverines now turn
their attention to the Aggie
Invitational in Bryan, Texas,
where they will most likely face
their toughest field all year.
Thus far this season, Whitten
believes that Michigan has not
arrived at its full potential.
But the next tournament could
offer the chance to change that
narrative.
“We know we have a good
team and we haven’t put it on
the scoreboard as many times
as we wanted to this year,”
Whitten said. “So this would be
a great opportunity to go show
some people that we can post
the scores that we know we’re
capable of.”
The Wolverines will need to
start off future tournaments
as well as they did in the final
round on Sunday to reach the
top of the leaderboard.
CHRIS SULLIVAN
For The Daily
Youth offers high hopes for future
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Right
now, the wound is likely still
fresh.
On Sunday afternoon, the
Michigan women’s basketball
team saw its season end when
it bowed out of the NCAA
Tournament following a 70-51
loss to top-seeded Louisville.
While it may be hard to see it
now, this year’s tournament
run may have laid the bricks
that will eventually serve as the
program’s foundation.
Not
long
ago,
Michigan
head
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico announced the nation’s
12th-ranked recruiting class,
which
was
headlined
by
freshmen forward Naz Hillmon
and guard Amy Dilk.
Tasked with the impossible
job of replacing the production
of
the
program’s
all-time
leading scorer Katelyn Flaherty,
Dilk ran the offense with great
efficiency — as if she was a
seasoned veteran. While there
were some bumps along the
way, Dilk looks poised and
ready to handle having the keys
to the Wolverines’ offense.
“I’ve learned a lot obviously,
mentally
and
physically,
growing as a player,” Dilk said
on Friday after the team’s win
against Kansas State.
Hillmon, on the other hand,
became one of the biggest
surprises
of
the
season,
averaging
a
team-high
13.1
points and 7.0 rebounds per
game despite coming off the
bench.
The
season
helped
Hillmon earn two honors: the
media’s Big Ten Freshman of
the Year and the coaches’ Big
Ten Sixth Player of the Year.
If
she
continues
her
exceptional play, it’s hard to
imagine that these accolades
won’t be the last she receives
in her career. For Hillmon,
though, the bond she shares
with her teammates means far
more than whatever awards
might come her way.
“This has been the most
fun
year
I’ve
had
playing
basketball,”
Hillmon
said.
“We’re really close as a team,
that’s what makes it a lot of fun.
That’s all that matters.”
Despite having just finished
their first collegiate seasons,
Hillmon and Dilk represent the
next generation of Michigan
basketball.
While
seniors
forward Hallie Thome and
guard Nicole Munger helped to
establish Michigan basketball as
an NCAA Tournament-caliber
squad, the next generation will
be responsible for keeping it
there. Barnes Arico believes
that her squad is more than up
to the challenge.
“We are going to respond
and we are going to show that
it’s not just one year,” Barnes
Arico said following the loss
to Louisville. “We’re going to
be (in the NCAA Tournament)
year-in and year-out and we
want to take the next steps in
the program.”
Next season, the Wolverines
will be without Munger and
Thome, who helped set the tone
for the team’s culture both on
and off the court. Despite losing
two of its key pieces, Michigan
will return virtually its entire
roster, all of whom should only
continue to grow and develop
with a season or more under
their belts.
“This is probably one of the
first teams in my career that I
have to throw them out of the
gym after practice,” Barnes
Arico said. “They want to
continue getting shots up or
they want to continue working
or they want to get better.”
Of
course,
a
second
consecutive defeat at the hands
of one of the nation’s most
dangerous squads will be a
tough pill to swallow. That being
said, if this Wolverine team has
proven anything this season, it’s
that it is more than prepared to
put in the extra work to not only
stay on the mountain that is the
NCAA Tournament, but also
reach its peak. And while this
year’s departing class was never
able to reach that point, those
who will be able to fight another
season are more than prepared
to get there.
“We have a lot of great pieces
coming back and our kids know
that they are hungry to take
those next steps in the NCAA
Tournament,”
Barnes
Arico
said.
With this group, these next
steps look within reach.
TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan golf team rebounded from a poor first two rounds at the Tar Heel Intercollegiate with a strong showing.
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Freshman forward Naz Hillmon will be a major contributor in the coming years.
I want to help open
doors for other
women to get into
the industry.