Pige 4-The Mighigan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 6, 1990
MAGNIFICENT
MIKE
Swimmer
leads
Blue; sets.
records
by Mike Gill
Daily Sports Editor
There is no one in the world
faster than Michigan's own Mike
Barrowman.
And there is no team in the east,
midwest, or north that can compare
to Michigan's men's swim team.
-While other team's may have
beach-blond hair and Coppertone.
tans throughout the winter, the
Wolverines are one of the most
competitive teams in the nation
despite typical Michigan winters.
Last year, the Wolverines just
missed third place in the NCAA
Swimming and Diving Champ-
ionships, and were forced to settle
for fourth place behind the warmer
climate teams of Texas, Southern
California, and Stanford.
Leading the Wolverines is
Barrowman, a senior from Rock-
ville, Maryland. Barrowman has
received extensive publicity of late,
including a large feature in Sports
Illustrated. Barrowman first garnered
attention when he broke the world
record for the 200-meter breaststroke
in-August 1989. The new record led
to him being named the 1989 U.S.
Swimmer of the Year.
However, Barrowman and his
x brushes with glory were far from
complete. As the NCAA
Championships, held in Indianapo-
lis, rolled around, all eyes were on
Barrowman and the 200-yard
br aststroke records. The records
dated back to 1981, when former
Olympian and Southern Methodist
star Steve Lundquist set new NCAA,
American, and Open records in the
ev.ent with a 1:55.01 time.
When Barrowman finished the
event, he had shattered all three
reeords with a new time of 1:53.77.
4"It was exhilarating," his
JOSE JUAREZ/Daiy
Michigan's all-everything Mike Barrowman likes to eat McDonald's for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Fortunately for Michigan fans Barrowman has another year of munching in the Ann Arbor area. Barrowman has
already managed to set a world record and a post a bevy of varsity marks.
teammate Brent Lang said of
watching Barrowman in action.
"Mike just astounds me. He's a heck
of a good competitor. It's real funny
because when he talks, he'll be
talking for weeks about how he
didn't feel good, how he's doubting
himself. Then he hits the water and
he's just fantastic. You don't see
someone break a record by 1.3
seconds by accident."
Barrowman took it all in stride.
"It needed to be broken," he said,
noting how old the record was in
comparison to other events. "I've
been thinking about it since three
years ago, so I've definitely been
thinking about it. I figured that to
win, someone was definitely going
to have to go out and go under (the
record)."
Which is the truth. Texas senior
Kirk Stackle led for half the race and
also finished under the old mark with
a 1:54.81.
Barrowman's "exhilarating" per-
formance led to another award, the
NCAA Swimmer of the Year, which
is based on an individual's perform-
ance at the championships and
determined by coaches.
"I would have never have guessed
I'd win this award," Barrowman
humbly stated. "This is the top
collegiate award for swimming you
could get. I never would have
guessed - I was hoping to break
that record but I never would have
guessed that I would win this award.
This is the first time a Michigan
athlete has won NCAA Athlete of
the Year other than (basketball
player) Rumeal Robinson in a long
time. It should be the kind of news
that's a big deal at Michigan."
The Wolverines will return a
strong squad for the 1990-91 cam-
paign, but their biggest loss is
Lang, a gold medal winner in the
1988 Seoul Olympics. Lang con-
sistently won freestyle events for the
Wolverines, including the 100-yard
at the NCAA's.
With Barrowman, the breast-
stroke events are sound enough, yet
Michigan completely saturates the
market. Junior Eric Wunderlich, who
placed third in both Barrowman's
record breaking 200-yard breaststroke
and the 100-yard breaststroke at the
NCAA's, provides Michigan with
unsurpassed depth in that
department.
Students have one more year to
come to down to Canham Natator-
ium and watch their own Mike
Barrowman - best in the world -
make his dashes toward the finish.
4¢
Y
JOSE JUAREZ/Daily
Amy Honig hugs Missy McCracken after McCracken qua ified for the
NCAA Swimming Lhampionships in the 200-yard butterfly event.
Women swimmers
among the ehte
b Steven Cohen
D ily Sports Editor
After four years of sustained excellence - four Big Ten
championships, and tenth, eighth, sixth, and seventh-place finishes
nationally - it would seem that the Michigan women's swimming team
is ripe, finally, to be overtaken by the rest of the competition.
by ,,vn oe
"On paper we will not be favored to repeat as conference champs,"
coach Jim Richardson said.
The fifth-year coach alluded to the fact that Michigan lost four
outstanding seniors to graduation - Ann Colloton, Gwen Demaat,
Jennifer Eck, and Stefanie Liebner. All were individual conference
champions and all won national championships in their respective events.
"I think they were the best senior class in the history of the confer-
ence," Richardson said, in recalling their numerous accomplishments, and
the fact that only one other Big Ten team (Northwestern, which finished
tenth in 1990) has ever finished in the top ten nationally.
Though these individuals had a great deal to do with Michigan's
emergence as a national swimming juggernaut, it is the system that
prevails. A system which the dedicated Richardson feels makes
Michigan's program as successful as it is.
"I think we have the best swimming team in the country in all as-
pects," Richardson said. "Social, academic, work ethic, social responsibil-
ity, a caring attitude for one another, and a willingness to sacrifice for the
good of the team - all those idealistic things that you talk about."
It hasn't been easy for Richardson to build such a lofty level of excel-
lence. It is difficult to compete with the warm weather schools for talent
as most of the top swimmers hail from Texas, Florida, and California.
Nonetheless, Michigan has been able to succeed through its excellent
work ethic which extends to all areas. The team grade point average last
season was 2.9, a figure Richardson would like to see improve.
The nine incoming first-year students, six of whom are on scholarship,
should fit nicely into the system. Richardson feels that five of the six
scholarship athletes have the potential to score points at the NCAA
tournament while one is more "developmental."
In addition, five returning Wolverines made the Big Ten's all-confer-
ence team last season while captains Minno Gupta and Whitney Scherer,
along with the other experienced veterans, will keep the team focussed.
"The bottom line is they (the swimmers) are the ones who make
themselves successful," Richardson said.
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