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. COULD YOU BE A DAILY RI Bags under eyes. - -Ability to survive on no I ORTER? mod. 4 1w 00 M Sharp eye for detail. Is I Tie from Mom. .4- sleep and laut Interviewing Note-taking gh about it. savvy. ability. I Tanne tankers ' R t ,, _ . ,. Well-read. A f FIND OUT MASS MEETING, '". b+ Z M nt 6 f ) t 7 "lot Polished writing skills. triump 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. 11,1 n n nE