Women's Basketball
vs. Minnesota
Friday, Crisler Arena
SPORT
Hockey
at Illinois-Chicago, 8:30 PM
on WJJX (650 AM)
The Michigan Daily
Page 8
Wednesday, January 11, 1984
Alum tries to spe
By ADAM MARTIN
Throwing a six-foot pole with a pointed end two-
thirds the length of a football field isn't an easy task,
to say the least. But for Debbie Williams, it's almost a
living.
Williams, a 1982 Michigan graduate, currently
trains six days a week, three times a day for five of
those days, in her quest toward a spot on the U.S.
Olympic track and field team as one of three women
javelin competitors.
THE EUCLID, OHIO native realizes, however, that
getting to the Olympics has required and still deman-
ds more than one jar of elbow grease.
"You have to be patient with yourself, but I've
noticed a lot of improvement in myself," said
Williams, who, in her heyday at Michigan, was the
'only woman to be crowned four-time Big Ten cham-
pion in the javelin.
Still, all that college labor stands behind her now,
almost as forgotten accomplishments. Williams
seems to feel that she has gone unnoticed the last
couple of years and presently he Olympic chances
are not considered a real possibility.
SAID WILLIAMS, "Other people receive attention
and publicity with respect to their chances, I don't
really understand it."
Williams' ligament damage was perhaps the cause
of her lacking recognition. But it has also prompted
her desire to prove she is a bonafide Olympic athlete.
"The lack of recognition is a strong motivator. I
have a lot of incentive to prove something," said
Williams.
Part of the reason Williams' stature diminished
was an injury to her throwing arm suffered in the
summer of 1982. She tore ligaments in her elbow and
as a result suffered both physically and mentally.
Eight months before the Olympics, however,
Williams' arm is fully healed and the once AIAW
Midwest Champion feels an added incentive to make
it to Los Angeles, as an indirect result of her injury.
JOE MUSCARELLA, Williams' Ann Arbor coach,
spends a great deal of time with the Michigan record
holder. He stressed that Williams has her mind and
body in the right place when the javelin calls.
But it wasn't always that way. Attempting to heal
her arm, Williams paid a visit to a local chiropractor
and received good results.
"He (the chiropractor) really got her back
physically and mentally," said Muscarella.
NOW, WITH HER injury put to bed for good,
Williams and Muscarella know the road to L.A. is still
unpaved. And one of the greatest hurdles is financial.
According to Muscarella, all the training and travel
ar gold
that Olympic athletes must do requires more than
just nickels and dimes, especially for track and field
athletes who generally must go West to find meets.
"Any type of sponsors would help," said
Muscarella.
As for Williams, spending so much of her time
training leaves little for income. Still, her coach
noted, "She does whatever she can," which tran-
slates into odd jobs, usually.
THE PROBLEM remains nonetheless
"Until you are a proven Olympic athlete," said
Muscarella, "it's difficult financially."
Monetary matters aside, Williams' stature (or lack
thereof) is compounded by a certain misrepresen-
tation of her event.
"The javelin is very technical. It's running as fast
as you can and then transferring all that energy into
your arm. It's not just throwing a spear," Muscarella
said.
WITH THE OLYMPICS approaching, Williams has
nearly perfected her throwing style, but she has not
peaked - yet. But as Muscarella noted, "The peak is
planned for the trials, and then the idea is to hold it
through the Olympics."
Said Williams, "I have had a big improvement in
technique (the last couple of years). Right now, I'm
working on the fine points."
One fine point Williams needs little work on is her
ability to throw that six-foot pole - a heckuva long
way. As Muscarella put it, "she could throw farther
than the strongest person at Michigan."
Take that, Bo and Co.
/'
Z'
-Sports Information photo
Debbie Williams, shown here throwing the javelin in her successful college
days, is looking to overcome injury and throw herself into the Olympics.
Ask the Fan
What was your reaction to Michigan's loss to Auburn in the Sugar Bowl?
Blue Lines r
The day after0...
... CCHA falls out
Gerard Smith
LSA senior
I don't think we can pull through once it
comes down to the bowl games. I think it's
because of the coach's reliance on the too of-
ten used plays. Especially with his offense, 1
don't think he mixed it up enough. He just
tried to stay with the same offense that was
effective in the past, but it didn't work.
Todd Sherwood
LSA junior
Michigan's offense didn't produce anything
in the second half, they deserved to lose. the
game. Auburn played a better game than
Michigan, the better team won. A team that
doesn't get any first downs isn 't going to do
well.
Gary Patishnock
LSA junior
I couldn't understand why they didn't use
their time more effectively in the fourth quar-
ter. I couldn't believe how our offense was
stifled especially in the second half. Auburn
was the better team, but Michigan gave them
a good fight. I was pleased that we didn 't lose
by as much as we were supposed to. Everyone
was predicting a blowout, but I said no. I was
glued to my seat for the finalseconds.
Suzie Pollins
LSA junior
It would have helped if somebody could have{
caught the ball. Defensively it was a great
game for us. Steve Smith had the best game,
but the problem was that he was so pumped.
He was actually throwing really good, really
hard passes, but no one could catch them.
They weren't used to him playing that hard.
They (Auburn) shouldn't have won on three
field goals. That's kind of a cheap way for us
to lose.
By JIM DAVIS
Forty-two years ago something took place that the leader-
ship of the country knew was possible, but that they thought
would never happen. We know it in history as Pearl Harbor.
What's that got to do with hockey?
Well, last week something happened in the Central
Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) which was likewise
unexpected, but really came as no surprise. No, CCHA
headquarters wasn't wiped out. But Michigan Tech and Nor-
thern Michigan announced they were leaving for the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) next season.
And though the defection of the upper-penninsula teams
isn't Quite as earth-shattering as the attack on the Pacific
Fleet, it is nonetheless noteworthy.
How big a surprise was it? "I wasn't surprised," said Val
Belmonte, coach of the newest member of the CCHA, the
second-year Illinois-Chicago Flames. "It's tough to lose any
team, I don't care who it is. But to get up and leave after the
CCHA has worked so hard to get where it is now?"
Michigan State head coach Ron Mason was likewise
dissappointed. "It's a blow to our league when you lose two
solid programs which are consistently top-four challengers,"
said the fifth-year mentor.
"Really our league has gone through the growing pains,
we're over them now. That's what is so surprising about the
two teams leaving," he added.
Why would Tech and Northern leave the friendly confines
of the CCHA to play hockey with a bunch of schools west of
Lake Michigan?
Well for one thing, distance was a factor, especially for
Tech, who were charter members of the WCHA in 1959, but
joined the CCHA three years ago. The Huskies said that they
might as well travel to Colorado as to visit Miami, which they
must do this weekend. Bitt for neither school was it a spur of
the moment decision.
"We've been discussing the move with the WCHA, with
Tech, and with the CCHA body for over two years," said Nor-
thern Athletic Director Gil Canale. So they applied to the
WCHA on December 21, and were immediately accepted.
Last season a tentative merger of the CCHA with the
WCHA was proposed, but voted down 10-1 by the CCHA. Tech
voted yes. "We were in favor of the merger between the
(leagues)," said Huskies Athletic Director Ted Kearly. "W
favor more interleague play."
"That's just what Tech will get now, because next season
the WCHA plans to play an interlocking schedule with the
Super Seven, an off-shoot of the present 17-team ECAC.
"The interlocking schedule with the east is an exciting new
concept," said Kearly.
Maybe it is an exciting concept, but it's also expensive. Big
bucks will have to be spent flying a Super Seven team like
Boston University of Providence to Minnesota-Duluth or Nor-
th Dakota, and vise-versa.
Money is the big reason the Ivy League schools don't wan
to play with the west. Money is also a factor in why teams like
Michigan-Dearborn have not been accepted into a major
hockey association.
"Eastern schools do not put in the money western schools
do," said UIC's Belmonte. He also pointed out that teams like
the Super Seven's Lowell have only 1200-seat arenas, as com-
pared to Illinois-Chicago's 8,800-seat Pavillion, the largest in
the CCHA.
Granted Ohio State has only a 1500-seat arena, but Lowell
doesn't have a prosperous, profit-producing football program
to help pay for the hockey expenses, as the Buckeyes do.
Surely Lowell can't expect to compete long under the new
arrangement, and the Western teams won't be satisified.
That means before long college hockey will have to be
restructured again.
"Down the road there has to be a change in Western
hockey," said Belmonte, citing that college hockey has no
natural national acclaim, and thus must scramble to find the
right conference chemistry.
"It seems like college hockey in general has been going
through so many different changes," said Bowling Green
head coach Jerry York. "The East has split up now and we
almost merged with the West.
"We're in a constant state of flux. I think next week it
might change again, (so) we've got to roll with the tide."
Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan leaving this time is
just the latest domino to be played in a huge on-going game.
The next bomb could be dropped at any time, and when it
does, it won't be a surprise.
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By PAULA SCHIPPER
Ummmm. . . 15 days of sun and the
high surf in Puerto Rico. Cocoa ta
and hanging ten; what could be more
relaxing?
Although the men's swim team got
even coach Jon Urbanchek out body
surfing like a pro, he still found time to
put them through six hours of practice
in the Pan American Games' pool.
NO SOONER was Christmas break
over - when assistant coach Fernando
Canales and sophomore Benoit Clement
competed in the U.S. Internationa
Competition against competitors fro
27 countries.
Considering Clement did not taper
off training before the meet, he turned
in a fast time in the 500 freestyle
although he did not place.
SELF-COACHED CANALFS swim-
ming for his native country, Puerto
Rico, qualified for the Olympics at the
meet with a third in the 100 freestyle.
There was no post-training partying
WEDNESDAY, JAN.
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