The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/347495
making him the best in class in all but one season he performed in Ann Arbor. Oh, and the other year? He was concentrating on the 2012 Olympics and slipped to runner-up in the NCAA all-around. "It has been the best four years of gymnastics and school of my entire life," Mikulak said of his Ann Arbor sojourn. "Everything that I set out to accomplish, I accomplished." One would hope so, at least ath- letically. Anything more might have involved rushing for 1,000 yards and hitting the buzzer-beater three- pointer to send Beilein's boys back to the Final Four. Lloyd Carr will be forever lion- ized, and deservedly so, for taking the 1997 Wolverines to the national championship. Mikulak's coach, Kurt Golder, might be using his first national title trophy for a coat rack right now. It wasn't easy. Golder took the Wolverines to the mountaintop in 1999 and brought back a loaded ros- ter, one he privately expected to re- peat the feat. He didn't win another for 11 years, but he's been on a tear ever since. His teams have stood alone at the top in three of the last five seasons, including two straight now. Some noticed, with an appreciative, ener- gized crowd reverberating in Crisler Center for the NCAA Champion- ships this year. More should take note. To borrow an old promotional phrase from the PGA, these guys are good. It's not just the guys, whether it's Golder's crew or Mike Bot- tom's men's swimming and diving team, that is achieving sustained excellence. Carol Hutchins has for years given Michigan fans an elite and hugely entertaining softball program, one that racks up Big Ten titles like they're red king crabs in a Deadliest Catch net and competes for national honors every year. This season, they rumbled to a seventh straight Big Ten champi- onship, enhanced the bottom line for cardiologists everywhere in an NCAA Regional win over Arizona State, and beat down Florida State in the first game of the Super Re- gional. Their subsequent losses to the Seminoles — sustained with a flu-wracked crew of Wolverines — didn't diminish the late-season drama. Women's soccer coach Greg Ryan guided the Wolverines to the na- tional quarterfinals. His crew lost to No. 1 Virginia in the NCAA Tourna- ment, 2-1. The stories are everywhere, and sometimes they even involve foot- ball that has nothing to do with a result from September, October or November. If you miss Stephen Lo- szewski's Make-A-Wish tale in this issue, you're passing on the very best Michigan football can be. Yes, football is right around the corner. There is so much more, though. Stop and look around. ❑ Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB _ Wolverine.