May 2008

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Who's Hot

The water polo team has wrapped up the East and now heads West. The team, ranked No. 11 in the nation, captured the CWPA Eastern Championship title and an automatic bid for the 2008 NCAA Championship with its 10-7 win against No. 14-ranked Hartwick on April 27. The star of the game for the Wolverines was junior Julie Hyrne, who tallied four goals and earned Most Valuable Player for the Eastern Championship. Junior goalkeeper Brittany May also put forth an exemplary effort, making eight saves in the final game. At the NCAA Championship this weekend at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center, U-M is the No. 6 seed, taking on No. 3 seed Southern Cal in the opening round on Friday.

Student-Athlete Q&A

Every month in e-TrueBlue: Sports, we feature a Q&A with a student-athlete at the University. This month, meet Sarah Curtis, a member of the women’s gymnastics team.

Hockey

Head ice hockey coach Red Berenson is the recipient of the 2008 Spencer Penrose Award, the American Hockey Coaches Association’s annual award to the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey Coach of the Year. In his 24th season at U-M, Berenson directed the Wolverines to a 33-6-4 record in 2007-08. Michigan's success was unanticipated, with the preseason polls ranking U-M 10th in the nation and fourth in the league. During Berenson's tenure, U-M has advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four 10 times, earned the CCHA regular season title 10 times, and won the CCHA tournament championship eight times. Berenson’s career record now stands at 644-298-68 (.671), ranking him eighth all-time in NCAA wins.

Football

When the deal was going through for the Miami Dolphins to make Jake Long their No. 1 overall draft pick, what was going on in the All-American OL’s head? Read a Q&A with Jake Long to find out. Before he caught his plane to New York for the big day, he answered a few questions for an mgoblue.com reporter, including what he thinks about Miami’s coaches and if he’s glad he stayed his senior year.

Visit mgoblue.com, the U-M Athletics department Web site, to learn about all of U-M’s 2008 NFL action, including the other five draft picks and the free agent deals.

Team roundup

Women's sports

The No. 19-ranked women's tennis team received an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Division I Championship field. The Wolverines (18-5) will head to Clemson, South Carolina, to face No. 69-ranked Furman (19-5) in first-round action next Friday. It marks the seventh straight NCAA bid for Michigan, which was the Big Ten Championship runner-up to No. 1-ranked Northwestern after finishing second in the league's regular-season standings (9-1). With a victory over Furman, U-M would face the winner of No. 13-ranked Clemson (15-9) and Winthrop (15-7) on Saturday, May 10. The regional winner advances to the 16-team NCAA Championship field, which will compete for the national title May 15-19 at the University of Tulsa.

Solid pitching and a pair of home runs allowed the No. 6-ranked softball team (48-5, 18-2 Big Ten) to defeat Penn State (34-22, 6-12 Big Ten), 3-0, on Sunday at Nittany Lion Field. With the win, U-M claims a share of the Big Ten Conference championship with Northwestern, which will host the Big Ten Tournament May 8-9 after winning the coin-flip tiebreaker last week. Michigan will receive the tournament's No. 2 seed. The regular-season title is the 11th in Wolverine program history—at least five more than any other Big Ten school—as U-M wrapped up league play with its best record in nine seasons.

Senior co-captain Nicole Edwards, junior Geena Gall, graduate/senior Toni Salucci and freshman Kaitlyn Peale of the women's track and field team each earned NCAA regional qualifying times in the 1,500-meter, 800-meter and 5,000-meter runs, respectively, at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford on Sunday. These results came a day after junior co-captain Tiffany Ofili won the 100-meter hurdles and set meet and facility records with her 12.83 clocking on the final day of the Jesse Owens Memorial Track Classic at Ohio State. Freshman Emily Pendleton earned an NCAA regional qualifying mark at the meet on Friday, coming in second in the discus with her second best toss of the season 171-7 (52.31m). The team hosts the Lee Paddock Invitational this weekend prior to the Big Ten Outdoor Championships the following week.

Men's sports

A forecast of inclement weather forced the No. 19 baseball team to change the date and time of its Wednesday game against Ball State. Instead of hosting the game in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines traveled to Muncie, Indiana, and played Ball State on Tuesday. The change didn’t seem to bother Michigan (35-11, 20-4 Big Ten), who beat Ball State 15-8. Freshman right-handed pitcher Kolby Wood got the win, improving to 2-0, and four Wolverines (sophomore Mike Dufek, freshman Ryan LaMarre, senior Derek Vanbuskirk and fifth-year senior Leif Mahler) hit home runs. Michigan travels to Minnesota this weekend for a four-game series against the Golden Gophers. Only three series remain before the post-season kicks off with the Big Ten Tournament May 21-24.

The No. 16-ranked tennis team (18-6), which received its third straight NCAA bid, will host Western Michigan (20-7) in first-round action on Saturday, May 10. The 16th seed in the 64-team field, Michigan completed the regular season with a 17-5 record and placed fourth in the Big Ten Conference standings at 7-3. U-M is coming off a semifinal finish at the Big Ten Championship April 24-27, where it earned a quarterfinal victory over Penn State (4-2) before falling to eventual champion Ohio State (4-0). With a victory over the Broncos, the Wolverines will face the winner of No. 17-ranked Texas Tech (19-5) against No. 51-ranked Harvard (15-6) on Sunday, May 11. Competition will take place at the U-M’s Varsity Tennis Center, the first time in the facility's 12-year existence that it will host an NCAA Regional Championship.

There were six NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying performances for the men's track and field team on the final day of the Jesse Owens Memorial Track Classic at Ohio State on Saturday. Fifth-year senior Stann Waithe won the 400-meter dash at 46.61, and co-captain senior Andrew Wechter finished second at 47.12. Senior/junior Dan Harmsen won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal record of 50.98. Junior Adam Harris claimed victory in the 200-meter dash at 20.91 and also finished second in the 100-meter dash with a 10.43. The final regional qualifier of the day was junior/sophomore Sean Pruitt, who finished 10th in the hammer throw with a toss of 197-5 (60.17m). The Wolverines will host the annual Len Paddock Invitational this weekend. The Big Ten Championships are the weekend of Friday, May 16, followed by the NCAA Mideast Regional at the end of the month.

For the second straight season, sophomore David Chan of the men's gymnastics team was named an All-American at the Individual Event Finals, which took place in Palo Alto, California, in April. Chan earned the honor on the pommel horse with a fifth-place score of 14.550. Other Wolverines who qualified for All-America honors were junior/sophomore Phil Goldberg with a fifth on the still rings and freshman Thomas Kelley with a sixth-place tie on high bar. The individual competition followed the NCAA Championships Team Finals the day before, when No. 6-ranked Michigan finished sixth in the country.

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In the News

Will Robinson, MA’38, who died April 28 at age 96, made his mark on sports at every stage of his life. When he finished second in the state high school golf tournament in North Carolina, he played the round alone because blacks weren’t allowed to share the course with whites. He later became the first black person to lead an NCAA Division I men’s basketball team, where as head coach of Illinois State he never had a losing season. But it was as a scout that he really excelled, first for the Detroit Lions and then for 28 years with the Detroit Pistons. He was a key architect for the back-to-back championship teams in 1989 and 1990. Read his obituary in the New York Times.

Read the Detroit News article from last week about the dedication of the Wilpon Baseball Complex. Photos and updates of both Ray Fisher Stadium and softball’s Alumni Field are available at the U-M Athletics Web site.

This Month's Poll

Take me out to the ballpark! How do you like your hot dog? Tell us in our online poll.

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