9195S THE MICHIGAN DAILY
'Wr'
Leads
to
Tank
Success
Michigan's NCAA Swimming Champions
Devote Many Hours to Tireless Practice
handled wi tl
the y're d
z)
By DICK MINTZ
".Champions are made not born,"
is a maxim that finds its greatest
truth in the swimming world.
The Wolverine swim team,
NCAA and Big Ten title holders,
know all too well after an exhaust-
ing day of practice what work
forged the crown that now sits on
its head.
"Work, work, work, and those
that work the hardest gain theI
most success," is the proven phil-
osophy of Coach Gus Stager.
Team members estimate that
they average two miles of hard
swimming each day, grinding out
length after length in the Varsity
Pool.
Conditioning formulas vary
among the coaches. Bob Kiputh,
Yale's reknowned swim mentor
has his athletes do calisthenics on
land for months before they ac-
tually take to the water. Others
have their swimmers work with
weights to limber their muscles,
while most combine these prac-
tices to best develop the individual
potential of their charges.
An intensive training schedule,
however, is all too likely to burn
a swimmer out before he has a
chance to fully develop his poten-
tial,
Intensive Schedule
It is theintensity of the train-
ing schedule, not the period of
time one has been swimming, that
brings the swimmer to the point
of dimirnishing returns, said Pete
Fries, Wolverine long-distance
star. Fries started his swimming
when he was 18 months old and
still remains 'enthusiastic about
the sport.
Paradoxically, while swimming
is recognized as an individual
sport, Fries and most members of
the team won't practice their
swimming alone. They need some-
body swimming alongside them of
comparable ability to drive them
to the point of exhaustion. "It's
like chasing a rabbit I have' to
catch," Fries said.
Swim Own Race
At the same time Fries added
that it's important that a swim-
mer be able to swim his own race
when competing rather than his
opponents. The younger swimmers
on the team he said haven't yet
developed this internal clock
mechanism that enables them to
establish their own steady pace.
In doing the 440-yd. freestyle
Fries said, he can judge his finish-
ing swim time within a couple of
seconds. John Smith. the Wolver-
ine ace backstroker, demonstrated
his own uncanny sense of timing
by swimming 50-yd. lengths in
times demanded by Stager, who
hovered nearby with a stop watch.
Smith's own estimate of his time
was to the tenth of a second in
agreement with the stop watch.
Australians Devoted
Commenting upon therecent
sensational successes of the Aus-
tralian swimmers, Stager said he
can't find they're doing anything
really different in their stroke,
thougroh " redo hae watendency A HARD WORKER-Michigan swimmer Dick Hanley, who in his
Americans. past two years on the team has earned various Big Ten and NCAA
Fries found the difference in the victories in free-style events, is one of the many proponents of
Australian's devotion to the sport. plain "hard work" in training.
MEET AT DETROIT OLYMPIA:
Icers To Compete Against Russians
By HAL APPLEBAUM 'I
for two games with Minnesota, one
On Jan. 6 the Michigan hockey at Minneapolis and the other at
team will skate on the ice at De- Hibbing, Minn. The tour concludes
troit Olympia to face a select with a game in Philadelphia,
squad ofRussian players. where that city's representatives,
The game will be part of a six- the Falcons of the Eastern League,
city tour by the Russian squad, will test the visitors..........
which toured Canada last year.
The tour opens in New York, Dec. Michigan Coach Al Renfrew and
31 when the ,U.S. National team members of the team are eagerly,
will cballenge the invaders. awaiting the clash with the Rus-
sians.
Russians Play Harvard "Last year the Russians showed
Following the Madison Square us how fast and good they are but
Garden lidlifter, the tour will move fthey were still beaten by the more
at Boston where Harvard's Ivy experienced Canadian squads.
League champions will oppose the They play a different style -game
Russians. From there they move than we do. We in Notth America
on to Detroit, and then they travel play a hard, checking game, whilej
in Europe there is less body con-
tact and more emphasis on speed
and precision. They are techni-
cally outstanding players," Ren-
f red commented.
r
Canadians Find Thaw
Last year the Russians opened
their tour in Windsor against the
Whitby Dunlops and with speed
and precision they took a quick
2-0 lead over the dumbfounded
Canadians. Midway in the first
period the Whitbys found out that
the Russians did not know how to
handle a team that checked all
over the ice and they began to.take
advantage of this fault in the
Russian's defense and piled up, a
9-2 victory over the befuddled and
bruised foreigners.
The Russians obviously. have
been practicing the art of defend-
ing against checks since last year
and they will not be caught with
their guard down again.
Win, lose or tie the game on
Jan. 6 will be a highpoint in Mich-
igan hockey annals.
. 9
JOHN SMITH
. backstroke star
FERRY FIELD RENOVATED:
Track Repairs Nearly Complete
{
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By STEVE ROGERS
Michigan alumni who haven't
been around for a while might
have quite a problem recognizing
Ferry Field as the same famed
place where Jesse Owens set three
world records and equalled another
back in May of 1935.
That historic site is now in the
final stages of a face lifting opera-
tion that will make it one of the
top six track and field plants in
the country.
For Big Ten Meet
It is fitting that this sprucing-up
program, which actually has been
going on for nearly two decades,
should come to its completion this
year, because next spring Michi-'
gan will host the Big Ten outdoor
track championships. Coach Don
Canham also hopes to have at
least three dual or triangular
track and field meets for the home
fans in 1959.
Latest improvements on Ferry
Field have been the installation of
asphalt runways for the varied
field events. Drawing heavily on
asphalt-runway research per-
formed by Purdue Track Coach
Dave Rankin, Michigan now has
all but eliminated the problem of
mud for field-events competitors.
Special Mix
Each runway's specially mixed
two inch top-dressing sheet, un-I
derlaid by three inches of black-
topping, which is over a six inch
prepared base, is slightly crowned
to speed water runoff on rainyI
days.
Spectators have been taken into
consideration in the Ferry Field
rebuilding program. All the ,field
events have been laid out in such
a manner that they are now per-
formed in front of the stands
where all fans can see them.
Pits Moved
Shortly after Canham became
coach in 1946, the pole vault pit
was moved to the south side of the
infield directly in front of the
stands and the broad-jump, high
jump, and shot-put pits and run
ways also were set up in the in
field where they, too, could b
seen along with the races .A discu
ring has been placed in the infieli
although its use will probably b
limited to exhibitions.
Another recent change, althoug
not so readily apparent, is tha
the position of the Ferry Fiel
track itself has been change
Long ago built into one of th
nation's finest by the hard work o
Michigan Equipment Man Han
Hatch and the late grounds-keepe
Charlie Mutter, the track has no'
been moved almost 30 yards wes
This was necessary with the con
struction of the Varsity Swim Poo
a few years back.
Curves Widened
Prior to the National Collegiat
championships held here in 1959
about 20 feet of concrete platforr
in front of the Ferry Field stand
was blasted out of the way to allov
the track to be widened to nin
lanes. Later on, the 'curves wer
widened so that all races coul
be finished in front of the stands
"Now," Canham grins, "we ca
say truthfully that wf have one o
the finest track and field plants i
the country. Of course, we stil
have to build a team to go with it.
OnIly Fitting
That Ferry Field is now one o
the great track and field sites i
the country fits in with the fac
that Michigan, under Canham, ha
become the nation's collegiat
track headquarters. Canham i
president of the American Trac
- - - -
I- Coaches Association located in
- Ann Arbor.
. His part in the Canham Dia-
ae
s mond publishing scheme has
d. blossomed into a money-maker for
e the national organization. This
came about through the publica-
h tion of a fast-selling international
it track and field digest which in-
d cludes contributions from 50 world
d. famous coaches.
d.
Dl
4,
s s
Ee
'df
>f ; The 1958 Christmas Present, Findersj
f 6 mm M~n m mum
T e lurate Librarrr
A
It os GresCo Bo-ok ,*.. .5
k The Anerican Heritage Book o2
T The Revolution ..k.. ...f. .........814.50
The Ilustrated Library of the
Natural Science r. .da . ... ..S19.95
The Rodgers and llaninerstein
So g Book .. . , . . .......... . . .. .. .. $19.90
The French Cat . ,f. #.. #. . ##.f.# .,.,.i. . 8 . 1.00
The Most of S. J. Pereflman . . . . . . . . . .S 5.95
G Treasur of Art Masterpieces . . . . . . S.7.95
fHouse &l Gardens Cook Book . . . . . . . . S 6.50
h e L n o S h k s e r . . . . # # , . 99 95Th e A rt o f F re n ch C o ok in g . . . . f. . . .. 19 .9
The W'orld's Great Religions . . . . . . .. S 4.95"
e~crblock's Special For T1' day f. . . ..A.S 3.50
# 1ullfig ht ....# .... . # # ., . . . $ . 10.00
fGream Stories From The
World of Sports *i.......#...... ..11.95
The Second Fireside Book of Baseball . . 6.50
Complete Stock of 2500 Pairs
DON CANHAM
...a new track area
CORDUROY IVY PANTS .,..