2B — April 8, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Sainristil impressing in spring ball

Mike Sainristil was one of those 
guys in high school. The kind that 
played seemingly every position 
and did it well, his athleticism the 
prevailing reason he stepped on 
a football field and stayed there 
nearly the whole time.
Even when he committed to 
Michigan, it was unclear whether 
Sainristil’s talents would be best 
fit at wide receiver or cornerback. 
A few weeks into spring ball, Jim 
Harbaugh said, “Defensive coaches 
would be fighting to have Mike as a 
corner.” But, for now, the defensive 
staff has lost that battle.
Sainristil is a wide receiver. And, 
by all accounts, he looks good doing 
it.
“He has a level of quickness, 
change 
of 
direction, 
speed,” 
Harbaugh said last Wednesday. 
“Been really eye-opening and 
really good for the team. He’s also 
tough. He’s blocking.”
For now, with juniors Donovan 
Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins 
out, Sainristil is taking starting 
reps as the H receiver, in the slot. 
For someone who juggled multiple 
positions in high school, his game 
already has an unusual refinement. 
Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis 

tweeted a video last week of the 
early enrollee running an out route 
and doing so with the technical 
ability required of a college wide 
receiver.
At Michigan’s open practice 
on Saturday, Sainristil stood out 
in the same way. During red zone 
drills, he effortlessly hauled in a 
touchdown off a crossing route 
from Dylan McCaffrey. Minutes 
later, he caught a bullet over the 
middle from Joe Milton.
“Wow, he is quick. He’s a really 
good football player,” said junior 
Ben Mason. “A really tough guy, 
too. He’s not afraid to stick his nose 
in there and make a block. So he’s a 
guy that I’m really confident having 
on the field with us.”
There’s enough spring hype to go 
around, but as far as early enrollees 
go, Sainristil is getting the brunt 
of the compliments. Though just a 
3-star recruit, thanks to his 5-foot-
10 stature and the lack of high-end 
recruits in Massachusetts — and 
a 3-star without a clear position 
at that — he seems to be doing 
everything right thus far.
That goes beyond the field. It 
means going into class, getting in 
the weight room and doing it all on 
time.
“He’s doing everything to a T,” 
said senior guard Mike Onwenu. 

“He’s taking a lotta reps. … He’s 
stepped up to the plate. It’s crazy to 
see that as a freshman.”
Both Harbaugh and Mason 
brought up the blocking as well, 
a characteristic that shows up on 
Sainristil’s high school tape despite 
his 179-pound frame. He seeks 
out contact and looks to lay guys 
out. That’s the type of thing that 
endears him to Harbaugh.
“There’s 
probably 
three 
examples where you can see 
his second, third, fourth effort 
down the field,” Harbaugh said. 
“Sometimes 20, 30, 40 yards down 
the field, blocking for whoever does 
have the ball. If you don’t have the 
ball, then you become a blocker. 
He’s been really good and can’t say 
enough good things about him.”
Michigan’s 
receiving 
corps 
lacked depth last season. Outside 
of Peoples-Jones, Collins and tight 
end Zach Gentry, nobody earned 
the consistent trust of quarterback 
Shea Patterson. That’s a hole 
Sainristil — along with tight end 
Nick Eubanks and a healthy Tarik 
Black — can fill.
“Mikey, just keep doing what he’s 
doing,” Harbaugh said. “... Doing 
a great job. So all compliments to 
Mike Sainristil, as long as he takes 
that flattery and, as they say, ‘Don’t 
inhale,’ should be good.”

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has praised freshman Mike Sainristil for his play during spring practices.

‘M’ makes its mark against Illinois

There was some doubt in 
the air after the Michigan 
women’s tennis team dropped 
the doubles point.
However, 
after 
four 
consecutive wins in singles 
to follow up, all doubt was 
cleared. 
No matter the result of 
the final two matches, the 
Wolverines would win — and 
they did, 4-3. 
Against 
Illinois, 
seniors 
Brienne Minor and Kate Fahey 
set the tone, opening the meet 
with a 6-1 win. The team 
ultimately dropped the doubles 
point, but in the end, it did not 
matter.
“We are really balanced 
down the lineup and it is very 
exciting 
to 
see what this 
group can do,” 
said Michigan 
coach 
Ronni 
Bernstein. 
“I 
am 
proud 
of 
our effort for 
winning 
the 
four 
singles 
points 
after 
not 
having 
that 
doubles 
point. The team works hard 

and believes in each other. 
The biggest thing is to show 
toughness and be willing to 
compete and be uncomfortable 
at times and fight for that.”
Minor won six 
of the last seven 
games, allowing 
her 
to 
leave 
the court after 
winning just two 
sets.
“My 
main 
goal 
was 
to 
be 
positive,” 
Minor said. “I 
think that really 
helped 
me. 
I 
really 
focused 
on getting a good start. I got 
on the ground and was feeling 
pretty good. My positivity and 
energy carried me through.”
As a pair, Brienne Minor 
and Kate Fahey 
are unbeatable. 
After four years 
on 
the 
team 
together, the No. 
33-nationally-
ranked duo has 
definitely found 
its footing.
“They 
know 
each other well, 
trust each other 
well,” Bernstein 
said. “They have done a great 

job and won every match. They 
give us a lot of confidence on 
the team having them together 
right now.”
After being a doubles pair 
in 
the 
fall, 
both 
Minor 
and 
Fahey 
were 
paired 
with 
other 
players to try 
out a different 
lineup. 
However, they 
were put back 
together 
at 
the 
beginning 
of 
Big 
Ten 
season. 
Ever 
since then, the two have been a 
powerhouse.
“It was like nothing had 
changed,” Minor said. “We 
knew how we played together. 
We just know our games really 
well. We played together a little 
freshman 
year, 
sophomore, 
and junior year, so we just trust 
each other.”
Minor attributes the team 
mentality to her success on the 
court.
“I go out to the court and 
focus on the team and not 
myself,” Minor said. “It helps 
me get through my individual 
match because I am focused on 
getting that win for the team.”

LILY ALEXANDER
Daily Sports Writer

Wolverines play sharp in Boston

On Saturday, Saint Francis 
(Pa.) was ill-prepared for the 
Michigan water polo team’s 
suffocating 
defense, 
going 
scoreless until the final minute 
of the fourth quarter. The 
final score told a story of a 
massive disparity in play, and 
the Wolverines won, 18-1. The 
Red Flash (9-20 overall, 0-2 
CWPA) took just 12 shots the 
entire game, to the Wolverines’ 
31. Later that day, Michigan 
faced Brown (15-11, 0-3) and 
brought the same high-level 
performance, winning 21-2. 
The pair of commanding 
victories came on the opening 
day of a weekend in which the 
sixth-ranked Wolverines (18-8, 
3-0) traveled to Boston to start 
conference play 
at 
Harvard’s 
Blodgett 
Pool. 
The first day was 
characterized by 
total dominance 
on both offense 
and 
defense 
for 
Michigan 
against 
its 
conference 
opponents. 
Sunday 
saw 
a 
far closer battle against No. 15 
Princeton, in which Michigan 
ultimately 
prevailed. 
9-6. 
With 
their 
strong 
showing, 
the Wolverines are now 3-0 in 
conference play. 
Senior Julia Sellers was a 
force on offense in the first 
two games, scoring three goals 
against Saint Francis and a 
career-high six against Brown, 
including four straight in the 
first quarter. 
“She was the cog that carried 
us on the offensive end,” said 
Michigan 
coach 
Marcelo 
Leonardi. “Generating a lot 
of one-on-nobodies, a lot of 
exclusions, a lot of scoring 
opportunities for others as well.”
While the first two opponents 
offered little resistance, the 
team knew it would have to be 
ready for a tenacious Princeton 
team. 
“I wanted to make sure that 

our bench got a lot of minutes 
early on in the first two games,” 
Leonardi said. “And then the 
third game we were fresh 
enough to play.”
Against Princeton, it initially 
looked as if the Wolverines might 
run away with 
the win again, 
getting off to a 
5-1 lead in the 
second quarter. 
But 
unlike 
Michigan’s first 
two opponents, 
the 
Tigers 
rallied 
on 
offense, 
with 
five 
players 
each 
scoring 
goals, as they cut the deficit to 
8-6 with roughly three minutes 
remaining in the game. 
Just as it looked as though 
the Tigers might tie the game 
in regulation, Sellers managed 
to draw a penalty during a 
breakaway. 
On 
the 
subsequent 
penalty 
shot, 
Junior 
Maddy 
Steere 
secured 
a hat trick and 
put 
the 
game 
out of reach for 
Princeton with a 
goal. 
“You win by 
one, you win by 
20 it’s still a win,” 
Leonardi 
said. 
“I felt composure-wise in the 
fourth quarter we did a good job 
of just showing a bit of maturity 
and composure to finish the 
game off.” 

Much of Michigan’s success 
against Princeton was due to the 
team’s effectiveness in drawing 
penalties and converting them. 
Senior Kim Johnson stood out 
as she drew six exclusions and 
three 
penalties, 
and 
Steere 
scored on three of the four 
5-meter penalties in the game.
Leonardi attributes much of 
the team’s poise and success this 
weekend to the difficult road 
schedule the team has endured 
this season. Three weeks prior, 
the 
Wolverines 
traveled 
to 
California to face a gauntlet of 
three ranked teams in a single 
weekend. Michigan has now 
played 23 games against ranked 
teams this season and won 15 of 
them. 
After a strong conference 
debut, 
the 
Wolverines 
will 
emphasize cleaning up their 
play 
and 
improving 
game-
time decision-making as they 
approach the end of regular 
season 
conference 
play 
and 
the 
upcoming 
CWPA 
and 
NCAA 
championships.
“We 
went 
3-0, 
which 
is 
always 
important,” 
Leonardi 
said. 
“We also got a 
lot of minutes 
for our second and third teams 
and then our first unit got 
challenged against Princeton. 
So, I felt overall we had a good 
weekend.”

PHILLIP CALDWELL
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Brienne Minor and Kate Fahey set the tone by opening the meet with a 6-1 win as the Wolverines topped the Illini, 4-3.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior Julia Sellers scored in each of Michigan’s three games on the weekend.

Jack Lint lifts himself to victory

When he was sitting on a 
hospital bed 18 months ago, Jack 
Lint would have never predicted 
that he would be the second-
highest decathlete performer in 
Michigan’s history upon return.
As the fifth-year senior nursed 
his shoulder immediately after 
surgery, 
he 
could 
not 
have 
imagined throwing a javelin 56.79 
meters, a distance over four-and-
a-half meters longer than his 
previous best. But he did — putting 
himself into prime contention 
for a spot in the NCAA Outdoor 
Championships.
“I really didn’t expect it to 
happen this soon or that well or 
that I would get a huge (personal 
record) like that,” Lint said.
It seems unlikely on the surface, 
but Lint delivered with a come-
from-behind win at the Jim Click 
Shootout, winning the event with 
an overall personal score of 7,596 
points. 690 of those points came 
from the javelin throw, which was 
essential for him to win the overall 
event.
The throw prevented Lint 
from falling 125 points behind, 
as his original throw would have 

had him do. The latter throw 
allowed him to surmount Texas 
Tech freshman Axel Hubert, the 
eventual runner-up, with a 116-
point comparative victory in the 
1,500 meters.
Thanks in no small part to an 
extreme level of dedication and an 
admirably positive mentality, Lint 
completed the race of his life.
“I was rehabbing, you know, 
two or three or four hours a day, 
every day,” Lint said, “pretty 
much all the way through at least 
February or March and then 
after that, you know, continuing 
another hour or so every day. … 
My goal was always to come back 
and compete, you know, throw. So 
I kind of kept that in the front of 
my mind the whole time.
“My 
rehab 
process 
was 
definitely 
a 
lot 
longer 
than 
anticipated or expected, so just to 
keep that in mind, even though 
things weren’t happening fast. 
‘Eventually I’ll get back’ was what 
I was telling myself.”
Lint worked incredibly hard in 
pursuit of his goal, fighting to get 
back to full strength even in the 
face of setbacks and complications.
“I couldn’t even really run until 
November or December (2017),” 
Lint said. “So three or four months 

without running, and no running 
fast until January, so this past 
year has just been building back to 
where I was.”
Despite that being what Lint 
has had to do over the last year, 
his actual performance does not 
reflect as such, a result he chalks 
up to confidence. Lint told his 
coach that he was going to throw a 
personal best in the javelin during 
warmups for the event, a remark 
met with a laugh that looks foolish 
in hindsight.
“I just had confidence that it 
was gonna work out well,” Lint 
said. “And then in warmups, 
everything was going well. It just 
came together.”
Whether it was confidence, 
ambivalence or just good juju, the 
result was everything Lint could 
have hoped for. His journey back 
to the level he wants to compete 
at is far from over, but he certainly 
laid an auspicious groundwork 
and has plenty to be excited about 
moving forward.
“It was just really awesome to 
get a personal best in the whole 
decathlon, and then also to know 
that my shoulder is back to being 
better than it ever was,” Lint said. 
“I think that was definitely the 
highlight of the entire trip.”

My positivity 
and energy 
carried me 
through.

And then the 
third game 
we were fresh 
enough to play.

JACOB COHEN
For the Daily

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior Jack Lint became second-highest decathlete performer in Michigan’s program history.

It is very 
exciting to see 
what this group 
can do.

(Sellers) was the 
cog that carried 
us on the 
offensive end.

