Blue, State look to top last weekend's thriller

For the second straight week, the Michigan men's gymnastics team will face intrastate rival Michigan State. The Wolverines are coming off their best performance of the season, a meet where they edged the Spartans by only 1.1 points.

That meet was in Ann Arbor. This weekend, Michigan will have to travel to East Lansing to try to repeat the feat.

On Sunday, the two teams treated the fans to one of the best shows of the season. Both teams recorded their top score of the season - both were also some of the top scores in the nation this year.

Despite the high scores - and because of the intricacies of the ranking system that factors road performances differently than home performances - the teams' rankings changed little. The Wolverines dropped a spot to fifth in the country and the Spartans gained one spot, moving in behind Michigan at No. 6.

Although Michigan State had its top score of the season, coach Rick Atkinson thought that his team could have performed better and should have won the meet.

"We've got them next weekend, and we're going to be in our house," Atkinson said. "We're going to be fine. That was our best score of the year, and it should have been better."

Michigan will have to face the Spartans on senior day, and Michigan coach Kurt Golder will have his team prepared for the intense battle.

"I think that they are going to come back even harder this time," Golder said. "They lost by a point, and I'm sure that they can find a point to make up. They're going to be at their emotional high. If we take them the least bit lightly, they could slip by us."

All signs point to Michigan State being prepared for the Wolverines and having a strong meet. In addition to handling the Spartans, Michigan has another distraction to deal with.

The meet will not be a traditional dual meet, because the women's teams will also be competing.

"(The women's meet) is a distraction for us, and it's good," Golder said. "They can learn from this experience. Someone might raise their hand to start their routine when the music starts blasting for the women's floor exercise.

"You never know when there is going to be a huge cheer in a championship meet."

The meet against the Spartans is the last regular season meet for the Wolverines. In two weeks, the team competes in the Big Ten Championships, followed by NCAA regionals.

Which means that this weekend is the last chance for Michigan to perfect its routines in a competitive situation before the championships.

One concern for the Wolverines is their performance on the road. All year the team has had solid scores on the road, but it has not matched its home showings.

"We just need to be a little more consistent," Golder said. "If we can get super-consistent in practice, then we will be able to do it on the road."

Aiding the Wolverines in their performance this weekend will be their improving health.

Brad Kenna, Tim Dehr and Justin Toman may compete in events that they have been forced to miss the entire season. Also, the team hopes to have Kevin Roulston and Jesse Coleman back from injuries.

With the increased health of the team and the confidence gained in recent weeks, the team looks like it is ready to perform on the road. A top performance in East Lansing would be a sweet ending to the regular season.

03-18-99