Basketball vs. Iowa March 4, 1 p.m. Crisler Arena SPORTS Wrestling vs. Iowa State Sunday, 1 p.m. Crisler Arena The Michigan Daily Tuesday, February 21, 1989 Page 7 'M' coach makes splash with third straight Big Ten title BY JAY MOSES In the end, Michigan women's swimming coach Jim Richardson was in the pool. That's the way it goes. In football, the coach gets carried off on his players' shoulders. If he's really lucky, he gets Gatorade thrown all over him. In women's swimming, when you're a winner, you end up in the pool. And that's exactly where he belonged. Richardson, in his fourth season as head coach, led the Wolverines to their third consecutive Big Ten Championship last weekend at the Donald B. Canham Natatorium. That's. no small feat considering the level of competition in the conference. But that's nothing new around here. The women's swimming team is one of the strongest programs at the University, and it has been for quite a while. The Canham Natatorium. Now that's new. The Kaepa sneakers that many of the swimmers and Richardson are wearing. That's new. But a Big Ten Championship for an excellent program? That's practically old hat for the Wolverines. THERE ARE a lot of successful athletic programs here at Michigan. Some of them get tremendous media and fan support. Women's swimming is not one of those programs. Despite the tremendous success of the team, crowds for dual meets are sparse. And ESPN is not exactly clamoring for the rights to televise their meets. But there is something about this sport. It is not flashy. It is not a "prime time" show. There is a sincerity about the coaches and swimmers that you just don't find in some of the more highly-publicized sports. Richardson epitomizes that sincerity. This is the kind of man we are talking about. After an exhausting weekend of hosting nine teams, which was capped off by a conference championship, where would you expect to find a head coach? Out celebrating? Home sleeping? RICHARDSON sat in a completely empty Canham Natatorium talking to three college-newspaper reporters. Richardson's recruiting policy is another great example of the kind of program he has here. "We try to recruit swimmers who want to come to Michigan," Richardson said. "We've stopped recruiting faster swimmers who don't fit into our philosophy." What is that philosophy? Well, that's a pretty complicated question, but maybe this will give you somewhat of an idea. The women's swimming team has absolutely no team rules. No curfew, no nothing. "I know I don't have to worry about any of these girls going out after a meet and doing something high- schoolish," Richardson said. SO THE Big Ten Championships are over for another year, and the crown rests safely in Ann Arbor. And the swimmers, as a sign of affection for their coach, tossed him in the pool. A dripping wet but very relieved Richardson didn't even bother to change his clothes for quite a while. His fellow Big Ten coaches were keeping him busy with their congratulations. It seems that just about everyone who comes into contact with Richardson has pretty much the same opinion about him. "Oh, he's great," Athletic Director Bo Schembechler said. "Couldn't be better." Nice to hear from a man who has a few Big Ten Championships of his own. "Jim does a great job with them," Northwestern head coach Kathie Wickstrand-McIntosh said. THE CONFERENCE agrees, too. After the meet Saturday, Richardson was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Richardson orchestrates one of the most successful athletic programs at this University with a simple, yet dignified manner. He fervently resists taking credit for his team's success. His swimmers know better. "He's the best coach in the country," senior Jill Oviatt said earlier this season. Richardson cares, and it is evident during the meets, where he is the loudest cheerleader of them all. So where else would the good-hearted leader of one of the strongest and most sincere athletic programs at Michigan belong? That's simple. Jim Richardson was in the pool. JOHN WcISE/Daty Michigan's Sean Gallagher placed third in the 200-yard freestyle, this weekend against Ohio State. The Wolverines came from an early deficit to defeat the visiting Buckeyes. Blue swimmers easily stroked past OSU Individual efforts shine through at EMU meet BY MICHAEL SPIRO The women's track team ap- proached last Saturday's meet at Eastern Michigan looking to prepare for next weekend's Big Ten Championships. Eastern Michigan probably would have won the non-scored meet, but Michigan coach James, Henry was not disappointed by the' Wolverines' showing against th6 local competition. "We're not looking goal-wise for anything spectacular," Henry said prior to the meet last week. "If good performances come out of (the- meet), fine." Some spectacular performance were turned in, despite Michigan approaching the meet with a relaxed attitude. Senior Dana Davidson took second place in the 55-meter hurdles, running her season's best time (7.90 seconds) and qualifying for the. NCAA championships. Last week she missed the qualifying mark by .001 seconds. Junior Mindy Rowand also shined for the Wolverines. Rowand ran the mile in under five minutes,, as expected, finishing third with a time of 4:50.46 Other standouts were Gillian: Osborne, who took second place in the 400-meters with a time of 57.9 seconds, and Traci Babcock, who took third place in the 3000-meters with a time of 10:21.60. Junior Lisa DeVries, who just returned to competition after being sidelined by a nagging toe injury and a bout of the flu, placed second in the high jump with a jump of 5-feet 8-inches. All in all, the weekend was a success for the Wolverines. BY JODI.LEICHTMAN The Michigan men's swim- ming and diving team pleased the home crowd, Sunday, by over- taking Ohio State to win its last dual meet of the season, 76-36. The second-ranked Wolverines accomplished that feat by sweeping six events and claiming 13 first-place finishes overall. Michigan's Rick Wilkening accomplished the first win of the day, by swimming the 100-yard backstroke in a personal best of 51.37 seconds.5Teammates Ron Howard (51.50) and Alex Alvizuri (51.52) placed second and third, respectively. Wilkening had hoped to make the NCAA qualifying time of 50.57, but was still pleased with his time. "I was pretty excited about my races," said Wilkening, who also tied Jarret Winter for first place in the 50-yard freestyle. "Our taper is starting to kick in now, and I was really happy with my own performance. It couldn't have been any better." Other Wolverines with dual first place wins included Marty Moran in the 100 and 200 but- terfly, Mats Nygren in the 500 and 1650 freestyle, and Mike Barrowman in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Eric Wunderlich achieved a personal best with his first place finish in the 400-yard individual medley while teammate Brent Lang captured first in the 200- yard freestyle. Dan Wilkering was the sole OSU swimmer to outswim a Wolverine for a first place victory. Both he and teammate Andy Flood took the top two places in the 100-yard freestyle. Schembechler blasts network dictatorship I - FROM STAFF REPORTS College football needs "people with enough guts" to stop television from dictating starting times, Michigan coach Bo Schembechler told the NCAA's annual College Football Preview, yesterday. "I am going to be a little more difficult to get along with in terms of changing starting times," Schembechler said. "College football is meant to be played at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and I think we ought to come as close to that as we can." Schembechler was particularly angry last fall when ABC forced him to play at 3:30 p.m. against Indiana and Minnesota. ABC has already asked that Michigan's 1989 season- opener against Notre Dame be played during prime time. Schembechler strongly opposes the move, and ABC is expected to appeal to University President James Duderstat. ABC has targeted nine of Michigan's 11 regular season games this fall for possible television. - The Associated Press contributed to this story. A NEW CAMPUS BREAKFAST LOCATION! 1122 S. University FEATURING: *New York Breakfast Bagels eHuevos Rancheros *Outstanding Omelettes .Fresh Home Baked Muffins .Croissants ePecan Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 7:00AM-10:30AM * uburba n PONTIAC CADILLAC HONDA Life goes by too quickly to worry about your car. 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