Irish take first, second at Classic
Special to The Observer
National powers, including Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Virginia Tech, trekked to Gymnastics Michiana to challenge the gymnastics club at the prestigious Clover Classic. Clubs from the Big 10 — Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State and Purdue — also attended.
Undaunted, the Irish performed to their highest level of the year, as the men captured first place with a team score of 146.75. Eastern Michigan, with 131 points, and Indiana, with 130, were a distant second and third.
The women lost by the narrowest of margins to Miami, 140-139.6.
Many individual performances highlighted the competition.
Jason Miller placed first in the high bar, second in the rings, third in the vault and second all around. Mickey McGarry placed first in both the floor and vault, second in the high bar and third all around.
Standout performances in women's competition included Allison Mlller's fourth in both the vault and uneven bars, Sandy Jenkins' sixth in the uneven bars, Katie Bonchonsky's fourth in the floor competition and Erin Henry's third in the vault, fifth in uneven bars and third in floor,
The club will now set its sights on the nationals from March 30 through April 2 at Indiana University. The men took third in last year's championships at the Naval Academy, and were the national champions in 1998, while the women cracked the top 10 for the first time last year.
Field hockey
The Irish stepped up in class at the Ball State Invitational, lining up against six of the Midwest's strongest programs. While the Irish didn't win, they made a statement by playing competitively against Midwest varsity powers such as Ball State and Central Michigan.
In its best effort of the weekend, Notre Dame fell 3-0 to national power Iowa, a Final Four team from a year ago. Carolyn Roderick and Liza Naticchia paced the Irish scoring attack, while Ellen Block was exceptional in the goal throughout the weekend.
Men's volleyball
The volleyball club finished prepping for the upcoming Midwest Intercollegiates and nationals by splitting four games at Indiana's Hoosier Invitational. The club opened with a 25-13, 25-17 victory over Illinois Wesleyan before dropping matches to Team Root 25-19, 25-21, and Kendall University 19-25, 25-21, 15-11. Notre Dame closed the competition by defeating Ball State 25-17, 25-21.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 29, 2000
