Page 6-The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 5, 1991
Swi-mmiers savor joy of six
Power trio leads Wolverine men to sixth consecutive Big Ten title ° 5 r

by Adam Miller
Daily Sports Writer
It only takes one word to de-
scribe the Michigan men's swim-
ming and diving team.
A-maizing.
Under the guise of two Olympic-
selected coaches, swimming coach
Jon Urbanchek and diving coach
Dick Kimball, the Wolverines (7-2
in dual meets) won their sixth
straight, and record 25th, Big Ten ti-
tle this year. They finished sixth -
two points short of fifth - at the
NCAA Championships. Michigan
accomplished this with a schedule
that had them on the road for over
six weeks - Urbanchek called the
schedule a "big mistake" - and
managed to stay on top while their
top three swimmers were away
from the team.
Where was this trio? Winning
medals at the World Champi-
onships, in Perth, Australia.
You've probably heard about
Mike Barrowman. Barrowman, who
graduated in May, is the world-
record holder in the 200 meter and
200 yard breaststroke and a four-
time Big Ten champion in the 200
yard event. Naturally, he was se-
lected as captain of last year's squad.
But Barrowman stayed home, in
Rockville, Md., to train for the
world championships during first
semester. Thanks in part to the in-
strumental leadership of Michi-
gan's other senior, Ann Arbor na-
tive Scott Van Appledorn, the
Wolverines went 5-0 in dual and in-
vitational meets until Barrowman
returned in January.
However, Barrowman wasn't the
only world-class talent on the team.
The two "Erics" - Namesnik and
Wunderlich - also headed down
under in December and, like Bar-
rowman, took home medals for
their efforts. While in Perth, Bar-
rowman took the gold in the 200
meter breaststroke and broke his
own world record, while Wunder-
lich grabbed the freestyle gold and
Namesnik came up silver in an indi-
vidual medley event. Speaking of
Olympics, all three are potential
members of the 1992 U.S. Olympic
team. Unlike Barrowman, Namesnik
and Wunderlich were with the team
for the duration and were key
swimmers in all of Michigan's

Longhorns - and once in a double
dual meet at Indiana. While the
Wolverines routed the Hoosiers,
they got hooked by the faster and
deeper Longhorns.
These losses were understand-
able, even predictable, since Texas is
a swimming juggernaut and went on
to win the NCAA Championships
- held in their own Austin, Texas,
pool. The loss that shocked Michi-
gan came February 16 at Ohio State.
Ohio State's premier diving team
keyed the Scarlet and Grey win. The
Buckeyes would eventually come in
seventh in the Big Ten Champi-
onships, but according to Michigan
assistant Mark Noetzel, they knew
they could not win the conference
tournament so "they adjusted their
goals, and their season goal was to
beat Michigan."
It was Iowa's goal to beat
Michigan, too, only the Hawkeyes'
self-proclaimed "Mission Michi-
gan" aimed for a Big Ten title. Iowa
led after one day of competition at
the Big Tens, but "Mission Michi-
gan" became "Mission: Impossi-
ble" when the Hawks were disqual-
ified from the 400 yard individual
medley race on the second day.
Michigan came back from a No. 4
showing on the first day to take
first by over 100 points at the end of
the second. The Wolverines cruised
to the title from there.
While the No. 6 finish in Austin
was disappointing for the team since
one of their preseason goals was a
top five NCAA finish, the results
were easily explained by one factor.
After the graduation of Olympic
gold-medalist Brent Lang, now a
Wolverine assistant, Michigan
lacked great sprinters and all of
their skill in the "specialty
strokes" could not overcome this
deficit when facing a speedy team
like Texas.
However, Michigan's future
looks bright. After having "the joy
of six" straight conference crowns,
the Wolverines are early favorites
to win their "lucky seventh" this
winter. A strong underclass group
and one of the nation's top recruit-
ing classes should assure Urbanchek
at least one more ring and one more
"a-maizing" season before
Barcelona.
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Ot

FILE PHOTO/Daily4
Under the direction of second-year coach Patti Smith, the Wolverine
field hockey squad recorded their first winning season since 1987.
'M' stickers ae'in.
rnasement any more

"OBR-""N"T h
The Michigan men's swimming team got out of the blocks quickly all
season long last year, on its way to a sixth consecutive Big Ten
championship.

meets.
One of the highlights of Michi-
gan's season was a runaway victory
at East Lansing on Feb. 1. Butter-
flyer and freestyler Brian Gunn
toppled a McCafree Pool record,
once held by Mark Spitz, that
evening and commented that "it's
always nice to see a Michigan name"
on the Spartan pool's record board.
In January, the Wolverines
headed out to California to take on
swimming powerhouses Stanford
and Cal-Berkeley. Since Barrowman,.
Namesnik, and Wunderlich had just
returned from Perth and the team
had been on the road for over a
month at that point, many predicted

Michigan would have a tough time
out west. Instead, based on a strong
performance from Gunn, Steve
Bigelow, Noel Strauss and an out-
standing showing from Kimball's
divers, especially recently-gradu-
ated Steve Hamerski, the Wolver-
ines thrashed both the Cardinal and
the Golden Bears and returned to
Ann Arbor with their perfect
record intact.
However, the Wolverines did
stumble a few times along the way
to their dynastic win at the Big Ten
Championships. Twice, they fell to
Texas, once in the January 26-28
SMU Invitational - Michigan
came in second behind the

by Rod Loewenthal
Daily Sports Writer
"There's no place like home.
There's no place like home. There's
no place..."
Unfortunately, Ann Arbor
wasn't as hospitable to the Michi-
gan field hockey team as Kansas was
for Dorothy. The Wolverines (3-6-1
in the Midwest Collegiate Field
Hockey Conference,12-7-2 overall)
recorded only three victories at
home at the Tartan Turf this season
while they got 11 on the road, good
enough for a fifth-place conference
finish.
Michigan coach Patti Smith has
turned the program around in her
two years as coach. Under her guid-
ance and with the help of some good
talent, the Wolverines recorded
their fist winning season since 1987.
The Wolverines began the season
strong by grabbing three straight
victories. Senior midfielder and co-
captain Josee Charvet showed why
she deserved to be named to the
first-team all-conference squad by
collecting three of the team's seven
goals in those early-season games.
The middle half of the season
was marked by a nine-game road trip
and NCAA top twenty rankings for
the team. The squad climbed to 19th
on the list at one point and later
resurfaced in the 16th position.
Things were even brighter when the
team returned from the road trip
with a 7-1-1 record.
During their travels, the
Wolverines defeated highly-ranked
William and Mary, while knocking
off perennial nemesis Northern
Illinois. In the overtime victory
against Northern, the Wolverines
were led by first-year goalkeeper
Natasha Bach's shutout. The lone

goal of the game came off the stick
of Michigan's leading scorer, Katie
Thomas.
Smith was blessed by having not
one but two rookie goalkeepers
upon whom she could rely. Nikki
Hoover is the other goalie who
Smith recruited out of California.
Smith hasn't yet decided who's go:
ing to be her number-one goalie dur-
ing the 1991 campaign.
"We're going to see who's the
best at the beginning of the fall,"
Smith said. "Whoever's the best is
going to be in the cage."
This coming season the Wolver-
ines look to fill the gaps left by de-
parting seniors Josee Charvet, Patri-
cia Maran, and Mary Peters. By late
spring, Smith had gotten commit-
ments from two highly touted prep
stars.
"It was tough recruiting,"
Smith said. "We were going up
against the big guns like Iowa and
Northwestern for the best players."
Smith went east in search of tal-
ent and got Chrissie Johnson frQm
Lawrenceville, N.J. Johnson can
play forward or midfielder, and
Smith plans on using her in an at-
tack-oriented position.
The other rookie Smith nagged
hails from the Great White North.
Nancy Irvine, from Vancouver,
British Columbia, was another out-
standing find. Irvine played center-
back for Canada's under-18 national
field hockey team and may move to
midfield to fill the gap left by se-
nior Charvet's departure.
"She'll have a big edge when she
comes to Michigan," Smith said.
"She's played on artificial turf fbr
years."

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