17 — Wednesday, February 3, 2021
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Despite unusual season, women’s rowing
makes headway
What the 14-day pause means
for women’s basketball
On Thursday, Michigan lost its
first game of the season, falling
77-81 to Ohio State. Junior forward
Naz
Hillmon
had
a
historic
performance with 50 points, but
the Wolverines couldn’t find the
win in the end.
In a normal season, the first loss
would sting for a few days only to
be forgotten after the next game.
But this isn’t a typical season.
Michigan’s defeat may linger a little
longer as the Wolverines embark
on a 14-day pause due to positive
cases of the novel COVID-19
B.1.1.7 variant within the Michigan
athletic department.
The directive is just one of a
string of obstacles Michigan has
already faced. In fact, it isn’t even
the first break the team’s dealt
with. The Wolverines faced a
22-day break in December after
canceling games against Illinois
and Penn State in accordance
with COVID-19 protocols. When
Michigan returned on Dec. 31
against Wisconsin, it seemed as
though they hadn’t missed a beat,
defeating them, 92-49, with only
eight players eligible.
The Wolverines struggled to field
a full team against Northwestern
too. Conditions worsened against
Nebraska on Jan. 7, when junior
guard Leigha Brown, the team’s
second-leading scorer, was absent
due to COVID-19 protocols.
The break will mean that the
Wolverines will miss important
games
against
Purdue,
two
against Michigan State, Rutgers,
Minnesota
and
Maryland.
If
everything goes to plan, Michigan
can return on Feb. 11 against
Purdue.
Since
November,
the
Wolverines have been preparing
for an unconventional season —
temporary
shutdowns
seemed
likely from the start.
“We saw that basketball could
actually be taken away, and we
were disappointed with the way
that the season finished last year,”
Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico said on Nov. 25 following
Michigan’s
win
over
Central
Michigan, their first game of the
season. “We didn’t get to play
in the NCAA Tournament. We
thought we had an awesome squad
returning but we are so happy with
the ability to be able to play today.”
Although the team has faced
ineligibility
due
to
COVID-
19 protocols in the past, as of
Saturday, the team didn’t have any
active cases.
The majority of the Wolverines’
starters have remained healthy
to this point and a pause like this
could allow for Leigha Brown to
return without missing any more
games. Even though Michigan is on
pause now, the team understands
that COVID-19 can still impact the
remainder of the season.
“We understand that this is
a different year, unprecedented
times
and
we’re
just
really
focusing on next man up,” junior
forward Naz Hillmon said Jan.
3 following Michigan’s win over
Northwestern. “We have numbers
called being there ready to play and
we really try to not take our games
for granted. You never know what’s
going to happen tomorrow.”
In what has thus far been Barnes
Arico’s most successful season in
her nine years with the Wolverines,
Michigan’s experience has come
to the fore. The Wolverines were
undefeated before their matchup
against
Ohio
State,
currently
sitting at No. 12 in the most recent
AP Poll. Core players like Hillmon,
junior guard Amy Dilk and fifth-
year senior Akienreh Johnson have
all stepped up only for their future
as a Wolverine to be uncertain.
Michigan has already proven
this team is capable of anything
when healthy. Once the pause is
lifted, the Wolverines will try to
continue their strong start.
Right now, it’s just a question of
when — and if — Michigan can get
back on the court.
It’s still early on a crisp fall
morning in Ann Arbor, the sun
just starting to peek through
the fog, the dew settling into the
still-green grass.
As the city begins to wake up,
the Michigan women’s rowing
team has long since started their
day. The coxswains’ cries of
encouragement rise above the
constant whir of ergometer fans,
set in formation on the field, six
feet apart in the shadow of the
Michigan Stadium’s Block ‘M.’
When
the
pandemic
hit
and canceled the remaining 11
regattas of the Wolverines’ 2020
spring racing season, it came as
a shock to the team. But since
then, with pandemic protocols
in place, they have not let the
strong headwind that is COVID-
19 prevent them from making
headway on their goals.
“It’s been a big change for
everybody,” Michigan coach
Mark Rothstein said. “Those
have been some big changes,
though
—
imagine
rowing
in a mask; it can get pretty
uncomfortable,
especially
during the hard workouts.”
Rowing is a sport that relies
on team chemistry to a degree
that few others do. If one rower
is even a fraction of a beat off-
rhythm, just the slightest bit off-
balance, the boat can rock back
and forth or oars can catch crabs
underwater,
amongst
other
things that can happen to slow
the boat down.
With social distancing still
firmly in place, the Wolverines
have had to find other ways to
bond as a team.
“We’ve all had to rely on
reaching out to each other a
lot more, because last year, you
could go up to your friend after
a workout and give them a pat
on the back or just say hello and
physically be there,” sophomore
Elena Collier-Hezel said. “This
year, the biggest difference is
that we can’t really see a lot of
our teammates at one time, so
we have to reach out to each
other more, and when we get the
opportunity, saying, ‘Hey, I’m
here, hope you’re doing well.’ ”
It’s been particularly tough
on the underclassmen: the
freshmen, because their first
season
of
college
rowing
(not to mention their first
year of college) is abnormal
beyond anything they could’ve
imagined;
the
sophomores,
because they are yet to have a
first season under their belts,
having had every spring race
canceled.
As a result, the juniors and
especially
the
seniors
are
stepping up to perpetuate the
team atmosphere that was a
key factor in many of these
women’s decisions to come to
Michigan.
“Our biggest strength as
a team is our team culture,”
fifth-year starboard Madison
Byrd said. “It’s just taking
advantage of those moments
where we’re putting the boats
in the bays, or during water
breaks, those are really the
only times you’re going to have
in close proximity together, so
just taking advantage of that.
“As a senior class, we’ve
really had to just keep the main
thing the ‘main thing,’ which
is training to win and win for
Michigan.”
Confident in the bonds his
team can create, even in a
pandemic year, Rothstein is
focusing on making sure that
the Wolverines are still on track
to the lofty goals he’s set for
them. The bar is high: Michigan
won the Big Ten in 2019 and
placed third at the NCAA
championship the same year.
And
it
turns
out
that,
as grueling as the rowing
workouts tend to be, there have
been a few pluses to this very
negative year. The team has
had more chances to get out
on the water, thanks to a few
unseasonably
warm
winter
days. Also, working out at the
Big House, on the field and
under the lights, is undeniably
cool.
For the coxswains, whose job
is to steer the boat and spur the
rowers on, encouragement and
motivation have taken on a new
meaning this year, spurring a
new approach.
“I’m usually a pretty big
hard-ass 100% of the time,”
senior
coxswain
Charlotte
Powers said. “But especially
with COVID, the importance
of
positivity
and
keeping
everyone’s attitudes up has been
super important because it’s
obviously really hard for them
both mentally and physically.
So I just think keeping that
mindset of ‘we’re on the water,
we’re getting to practice, we’re
here still’ is huge. It’s way more
‘let’s enjoy this and let’s keep
using this as a building block.’ ”
It’s
been
an
effective
adjustment — there’s a sense
of gratitude in these rowers’
voices, an appreciation for the
chance to compete at the sport
they love, no matter what it
looks like.
“We had to keep reminding
ourselves that we are here to
win a national championship, so
as long as that’s still on the table,
we’ll go through anything,” Byrd
said. “Keeping our eyes on the
prize — I know it’s kind of cliché,
but keeping our hearts and our
minds focused on training for
Michigan so that, come May, we
can win for Michigan has been
what we’ve been trying to keep
at the forefront of our minds.
“Just because of a new change
that might come our way, or a
new protocol, or new rules or
something else gets taken away,
we have to remember that we’re
not here for the gear or the free
meals. We’re here to represent
the Block ‘M.’ So always coming
back to that, in spite of whatever
difficulty we’re facing, that’s
been crucial for us.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
NICK MOEN
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Wolverines are finding creative ways to adapt its team culture and training to the pandemic.
A week on, Michigan’s athletic department shutdown makes even less sense
Nine days ago, Michigan’s
athletic department issued a
14-day shutdown of all Uni-
versity athletic activities due
to the detection of cases of
the more contagious B.1.1.7
COVID-
19
variant
within
the
athletic
department.
At
the
time,
the
directive
seemed to be
an unneces-
sary blanket
response to a targeted issue.
The new variant of COVID-19
was discovered in a handful
of teams, so teams that had no
COVID-19 cases at all also had
to shut down? Despite teams
not having contact with one
another? All while the rest of
the state went about life with
minimal restrictions?
Since then, we’ve learned
a little bit more about how
the decision came into being.
It was technically a “recom-
mendation” from the Mich-
igan Department of Health
and
Human
Services,
not
an
order.
Understandably,
though, the University viewed
it as an order. A public univer-
sity ignoring a cut-and-dry,
stop-it-now
directive
from
its own state government is a
non-starter, no matter what
label you use.
We’ve also learned that
the University proposed only
affected teams be isolated.
That would’ve enabled Mich-
igan’s moneymakers — men’s
basketball, women’s basket-
ball and hockey all of which
had no COVID-19 cases as of
last weekend — to keep play-
ing. The state refused.
Teams were sent scram-
bling to make socially-dis-
tanced travel arrangements
back from away competitions.
Players were resigned to their
apartments for two weeks,
unable to work out or practice
in team facilities.
Both of those realizations
serve to absolve the Univer-
sity of blame. What they don’t
do is make the state’s directive
any more logical.
“While U-M has worked
diligently
on
testing
and
reporting within state and Big
Ten Conference guidelines,
the Michigan Department of
Health and Human Services
is mandating a more aggres-
sive strategy for this B.1.1.7
variant, which exceeds cur-
rent program efforts designed
around the standard form of
the virus,” the University said
in a release on Jan. 23.
Here’s the thing: The state
isn’t mandating a more aggres-
sive strategy for the B.1.1.7
variant anywhere outside of
the Michigan athletic depart-
ment. And that’s the problem.
If the state cared about pre-
venting the spread of the new
variant, it would have enacted
wide-scale lockdowns. A year
of evidence from around the
world shows that’s the only
way to actually stem COVID-
19. If the state didn’t care
about preventing the spread,
it should’ve let teams with-
out positive cases continue
playing. Because ultimately,
they’re the same as everyone
else in the community who
hasn’t been exposed to the
new variant.
Instead,
nine
days
of
inaction from the state has
revealed the forced shutdown
of Michigan’s athletic depart-
ment to be little more than a
PR stunt.
On Wednesday, Washtenaw
County issued a stay-at-home
recommendation for Michigan
students. What happens if stu-
dents don’t follow the recom-
mendation? According to the
Washtenaw
County
Health
Department, that would force
more recommendations. In a
shock to absolutely nobody,
the
recommendation
has
proved meaningless, because
it carries no repercussions.
On Monday, restaurants and
bars will be allowed to open
for indoor dining, even though
maskless,
indoor
activities
create a perfect environment
for COVID-19 to spread.
So does the state really
care about stemming this new
variant or was last week’s
directive truly a PR stunt? Its
actions — or lack thereof — in
the last week indicate the lat-
ter.
And if you find yourself
looking at the CDC dashboard
and
thinking,
‘Hey,
there
are only 22 recorded cases of
the B.1.1.7 variant in Michi-
gan,’ consider the parallels to
March.
Testing reveals the variant
is virtually non-existent, yet
it’s still shown up in multi-
ple Michigan counties and is
present in 30 U.S. states. As
of Sunday, there have been
467 reported cases in the
country.
For
comparison’s
sake, there were 403 report-
ed cases of COVID-19 in the
U.S. on March 7. Two weeks
later, there were 26,025 cases.
Without real restrictions, the
B.1.1.7 variant can and will
chart a similar course.
If the state really wanted to
curb the variant’s spread, the
blueprint is in place to do so.
Instead, it’s opted for a half-
baked approach that helps no
one.
This means that if Michi-
gan athletics return to action
next week as they’re current-
ly scheduled to, they’ll return
to a community with more
spread of the B.1.1.7 variant
than there was a week ago.
Eventually,
odds
are
that
someone else in the athletic
department will contract the
variant because the spread
hasn’t been stemmed within
the larger community.
By that point, though, the
Michigan athletic department
won’t be the state’s B.1.1.7 epi-
center. Yet another new defi-
nition of normalcy will arrive.
The PR value of taking faux
action will be gone. The men’s
and women’s basketball teams
will head off to the NCAA
Tournament.
When they get there, it may
be too late. Their seasons may
have been derailed by two
weeks off practice. Even if not,
seniors will have still lost two
weeks of their fleeting college
careers.
Eleven months into the pan-
demic, that’s the cost of PR.
Mackie can be reached at
tmackie@umich.edu
or
on
Twitter @theo_mackie.
THEO
MACKIE
LUKE HALES/Daily
With restaurants re-opening a week into the athletic department’s pause, many are left to question the state’s approach to COVID-19.