The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Men's gymnastics senior Syque Caesar: In a TOP PERFORMERS OF THE MONTH MICHIGAN'S warm-up for the 2012 campaign, Caesar earned four medals at the Central South Asian Artistic Gymnas- tics Championships Dec. 31, includ- ing the first gold medal in Bangla- desh international history when he scored a 14.60 on the parallel bars. He also took a silver in the vault, a bronze on the floor and a bronze in the all-around competition. In his first collegiate meet of the year, he scored 15.50 to place first on the parallel bars at the prestigious Windy City Invitational Jan. 15. Men's track and field redshirt sophomore Brad- ley James: The East Lansing, Mich., native set a meet record in the high jump, leaping 2.17 meters (7-1 1/2) to claim first place at The Dual — an annual event pitting rivals Michigan and Ohio State against each other. James out-jumped the field by .20 meters to set a new personal high, and was one of four Wolverines to win an individual event Jan. 14. Women's gymnastics junior Katie Zurales: A steady performer for the Maize and Blue in her first two seasons, with an All-America nod on the vault in 2011, Zurales captured her first career all- around title with a score of 39.300 in a dual meet with Ohio State Jan. 13 to help U-M open the 2012 season with a victory. The Wheaton, Ill., native had top-five finishes on vault (fourth) and floor (third), and had the best score of the night on the balance beam (9.875). Wrestling senior Zac Stevens: The 133-pounder has appeared in every tournament and has started every dual meet in his four seasons at Michigan, a string of 59 consecutive matches. And this year, he might be having his best yet, racking up a 15-5 mark through Jan. 17, good for a .750 winning percent- age that improves upon his career-best effort of .575 in 2011. Stevens is 2-2 in Big Ten meets this season, helping to lift U-M to a 3-1 mark in confer- ence action. Women's swimming and diving senior Amanda Lohman: The Pittsburgh native re- corded the best three-meter dive score by a Wolverine in the past seven years when she placed first in the event (360.60) in a victory over Indiana Jan. 7. Lohman also had the high score on one-meter (305.48), and added to her season success with a sixth indi- vidual event title in a tri-meet against Notre Dame and Northwestern Jan. 14, again placing first on three-meter (347.50). 14 THE WOLVERINE FEBRUARY 2012 Student-Athlete Of The Month Goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer When Haley Kopmeyer, the redshirt junior goalie for the women's soccer team, declared as a Spanish major at the end of her sopho- more year, it had been a long time coming. She studied the language through high school, picked it up quickly and was fascinated by the classes. She didn't become interested in her second major, political science, until she took an introductory class when she got to Ann Arbor. "My freshman year, I tried to pick several 101 classes in different topics, because I didn't really know what I wanted to do," Kopmeyer said. "I took a political theory class, and it was really tough, but I loved it. That's how I got on that track." The political theory class was different than anything she'd studied before, using a more Socratic method of teaching so students could critically reach their own conclu- sions. "I like the way they don't just teach you information and ask you to memorize it. You get information and then you're asked to use your knowl- edge to organize it or apply law or reason to it," Kopmeyer said. "It's always evolving and changing, and that's something that's re- ally interesting for me. I never feel like I have to sit with a text- book and memorize it; I really have to think about that reading and apply logic to it." Closing in on graduation, she realizes that she can utilize both to Kopmeyer is a Spanish major, and she has been named to the Fall Academic All-Big Ten team three times in her career. PHOTO COURTESY U-M SPORTS INFORMATION forge an interesting professional future. "I would love to be able to use Spanish after gradation," she said. "Hopefully, that will help me find a good job. It's a skill I'd love to use on a daily basis and be able to help people with. The Hispanic popu- lation in the U.S. is really growing, so that skill is something that I'll be able to use down the road. "There are a lot of international-relations type things. Careers in political science are the type that you definitely have to build yourself up, and that's my goal." Juggling two majors and a starting role on the soccer team can be difficult. There are a lot of late nights, studying in the Stephen Ross Academic Center, and self-discipline and time management are es- sential tools. But Kopmeyer, who was named to the Fall Academic All-Big Ten team for the third time in her career, is proud of her ac- complishments thus far. "I came in here with the goals of wanting to be the best player I can in soccer and help the team do really well along the way. But the main reason I did choose U-M was the academics," Kopmeyer said. "You can't beat a Michigan degree. I love soccer, but I wanted to make the most of this experience." — Andy Reid