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.