The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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AUGUST 2017 THE WOLVERINE 29 the race to 6,000 meters. The Wolverines' 63 points beat out Penn State (70) and Michigan State (80), and blew away the rest of the field. "Winning the Big Ten is always the highlight," McGuire said. "It's still where things start with me. We've been fortunate. We've won 10 of them, and I can tell you every year we've won them. "I can't tell you every year we've been a final four team, and we've been a final four team five times. That's where it starts. That was in- stilled in me, when I came here 43 years ago, with [director of athletics Don] Canham and Bo [Schembechler] and those guys. It starts at the Big Ten." It continued on, to the verge of a national title. It's been a while since Canham and Schembechler domi- nated the Michigan athletic land- scape. They'd be smiling that a con- temporary has his program at the top and constantly delivers the U-M message. "I'm big on instilling what this place means to me," McGuire said. "I want it to mean that to them. "What we all realize at the end of the year is, we appreciated the jour- ney. We savored the journey as much as the destination we ultimately ar- rived at. That's a perspective that I had to a much lesser degree 30 years ago. "It is something I felt my team shared with me this year. We just talked about the process, always con- tinuing to fight and scrap." They did so in a way that separated them from every other Michigan women's team on campus this year. "It's an honor," McGuire said of the award. "We've got a great ath- letic program at Michigan, and to be recognized at the top is a testament to the special season these young women had." ❏ Michigan's second-place finish at nationals and one-point miss of an NCAA title in women's cross country stood head and shoulders above all efforts among female sports at U-M in 2016-17. Others stepped up strongly as well, although not as dramatically. Here is the remainder of The Wolverine's ranked top-five ef- forts among female sports on campus over the past year: 1. Rowing — Mark Rothstein's rowers posted a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships, marking the fourth time they've made it to the top three. They finished second in 2012. The Wolverines surprised some at the NCAAs, after what Roth- stein himself described as a "very disappointing" second-place finish at the Big Ten race. Michigan pushed that setback aside, became one of three teams to get three boats into the Grand Final and earned the high finish on New Jersey's Lake Mercer. U-M saw its first varsity eight boat take fifth (6:44.812), its sec- ond varsity eight boat earn a third-place finish (6:55.135) and its first varsity four crew place fifth (7:21.099). 2. Water Polo — Dr. Marcelo Leonardi led the Wolverines to their second consecutive Collegiate Water Polo Association championship, boosting the team into the NCAA Tournament. Michigan went 28-9 overall and 8-0 in the CWPA, knocking off No. 9 Princeton 5-4 in the CWPA championship game. The Wolverines made it to the NCAA quarterfinals before bowing to No. 3 USC. U-M featured CWPA Player of the Year Allison Skaggs, who finished her career with 173 goals (sixth on Michigan's all-time list). She paced five Wolverines on the CWPA All-Conference squad. 3. Swimming & Diving — Mike Bottom's swimming and diving crew earned a second straight Big Ten championship, becoming the first group of Wolverines to pull that off in this sport since 1997-98. Several Wolverines earned Big Ten titles: junior G Ryan in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard free- style, sophomore Siobhán Haughey in the 200-yard freestyle, and the 800-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Yirong Bi, Haughey, junior Gabby DeLoof and Ryan. They went on to finish No. 11 nationally, posting All-America performances in six events. 4. Gymnastics — Bev Plocki guided her crew to the regular- season Big Ten championship, the program's 23rd victory at the Big Ten Championships, a regional title and a 10th-place finish in the NCAA. The Wolverines featured a 27-7 mark, including an 8-1 record in the conference. Seniors Nicole Artz and Talia Chiarelli capped careers in which they won a Big Ten title all four years. Artz also earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor and was named the conference's Gymnast of the Year. She garnered two All-America distinctions, boost- ing her career mark to eight such citations. — John Borton The Best Of The Rest For the first time since 2012 and just the second time in program history, Michigan boasted a quartet of rowing All-Americans. The four- some led the Wolverines to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS