Women's Swimming & Diving at NCAA Championships Today through Saturday Austin, Texas SPORTS Wrestling at NCAA Championships Today through Saturday Oklahoma City The Michigan Daily Thursday, March 19,1992 Page 5 6 M' athletes head to NCAAs Slipping wrestlers look to rebound Women swimmers send 15 to Austin by Tim Rardin Daily Sports Writer After more than four months of intense practices, morning runs and workouts, the 14th-ranked Mich- igan wrestling team, down from the sixth position it held before the Big Ten Championships, has finally reached the climax of its long season. The Wolverines, who finished the season with a 13-4-1 dual meet record, failed to peak at their penul- timate meet, the Big Tens, finishing a disappointing sixth after capturing second last year. Michigan must now regroup with the five wrestlers who qualified for the NCAAs, in Oklahoma City, March 19-21. Last year, Wolverine coach Dale Bahr saw his team qualify seven wrestlers for the NCAAs and man- age a solid 12th-place finish. With two fewer wrestlers, such a finish doesn't loom nearly as likely this time around. "How you do is predicated on numbers," Bahr said "If you take eight wrestlers,, you figure half of them get a decent draw and do well. You're talking about four or five going on to score points for you. When you take five, then you have to hope that all five to do some- thing. It's gonna be difficult." That batch of five does include two All-Americans. 134-pounder Joey Gilbert placed third in 1991 and is also currently No. 3 in the country. Bahr's other All-American is Lanny Green (177), who finished sixth in last year's NCAAs and who now holds the eighth spot nation- ally at his weight class. First-time qualifiers Jason Cluff (126), Brian Harper (150), and Jehad Hamdan (190) could also put points on the board for the Wolverines. The presence of James Rawls (142) and Phil Tomek (HWT), who both failed to qualify this year after doing so last season, and Sean Bor- met (158), who was ranked seventh in the nation before suffering a sea- son-ending knee injury, will be sorely missed. "We expected James and Phil to qualify, so we were definitely dis- appointed with their performances," Bahr said "We really thought Sean had a good chance at being an All- American, but I guess there's noth- ing we can do about that." Once again, defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Iowa, which won the Big Tens in com- manding fashion while qualifying 10 wrestlers for the NCAAs, is the favorite to repeat. Three other Big Ten schools, in addition to Michigan, are not far behind in the latest Amateur Wrestling News Top 25 poll. Ohio State is fifth, Wisconsin eighth and Purdue 12th. by Kim DeSempelaere Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's swim- ming and diving team packed their bags and headed to Austin, Texas yesterday to compete in the NCAA National Championships which will be held today through Saturday. Twelve Michigan swimmers and three divers qualified to compete in the championship meet. The 15 Wolverines qualified at the Olympic trials held earlier this month, and at the Big Ten Conference Championship meet in February, both in Indianapolis. Among those swimmers to qualify at the Olympic trials were junior Mindy Gehrs, frosh Alecia Humphrey and senior co-captain Jen Love. Gehrs is expected to perform well this weekend after finishing 18th in the 200-meter IM and 21st in the 200-meter butterfly at the Olympic trials. She has also set three Michigan swimming records this year in the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 butterfly. Other Wolverine national quali- fiers include seniors Lisa Anderson, Katherine Creighton and diver Lisa Cribari. Anderson is not looking for a great showing this weekend as she has been on the injured list most of the season with a shoulder injury. Cribari leads the Michigan team on the boards in both the 1- and 3- meter events. The senior diver qual- ified to compete at the Olympic tri- als but was unable to attend. Diving teammates, senior Margie Stoll and sophomore Cinnamon Woods, should also offer some competition on the boards. Humphrey and fellow rookie Lara Hooiveld are expected to finish fairly well at the meet. Senior Michelle Swix, junior Missy McCracken and sophomores Karen Barnes and Nicole Williamson are looking to contribute individually as well as to Michigan's relay teams. Finishing off the Wolverine roster are sophomore Stephanie Munson and junior Kirsten Silvester. Michigan coach Jim Richardson's team's primary goal is to finish above their 15th-place fin- ish at the NCAA Championships last year. Unfortunately, there are many hurdles the team will have to overcome to reach their goal. Some of these obstacles include strong squads from Stanford, USC, Texas, UCLA and Arizona. Preliminary competition begins this morning with the top 16 finish- ers from each event and the eight additional consolation swimmers racing in the finals competition this evening. Additional competition will be held tomorrow and Saturday. Wolverine rookie standout Alecia Humphrey hopes to extend her winning ways and help Michigan to a top-10 finish at the national championships. Blue to clash with Green Men gynnasts take on MSU for state bragging rights by Todd Schoenhaus Michigan coach Bob Darden said. Daily Sports Writer "We can build on last weekend (a Saturday evening at Cliff Keen Arena, the Michigan men's gymnas- tics team will attempt to achieve a specific goal - a point total in the 280s. This achievement would have seemed insurmountable two months ago, when the Wolverines began their season scoring in the low 260s. However, the young squad has improved greatly since then, scoring in the upper 270s in its last three meets. The No. 13 Wolverines will have no problem getting psyched up for this last dual meet of the year - No. 8 Michigan State is coming to town. Michigan will seek to avenge an earlier loss in East Lansing, where it fell apart late in the meet to lose by seven points. The Spartans will certainly pro- vide stiff competition. They began their season scoring in the 270s and have been bouncing around 280 ever since. While State has maintained the same level, the Wolverines have been improving with each and every meet. "Michigan State is strong and consistent, but not unbeatable," 278.40 at the Michigan Invitational) and hopefully come out victorious." Sophomore Ben Verall, No. 4 in the nation on the floor exercise, will likely miss his second consecutive meet with a sprained ankle. 'Michigan State is strong and consistent, but not unbeatable.' - Bob Darden 'M' gymnastics coach Although Verall is a big loss, the deep Michigan squad should be able to sufficiently compensate for his absence. "We might have to compromise two or three-tenths of a point with Ben out of the lineup," Darden said. "But he missed last week, and we still obtained the second-highest point total in school history. Ruben (Ceballos) will have the opportunity to play a more integral role." This meet will pit two of the na tion's premier floor specialists head. to-head. Third-ranked Spartan Paul Dackermann will challenge Wolverine frosh Brian Winkler, the top tumbler in the country. The traditional block format, in which each team performs a differ- ent routine simultaneously, will be abandoned this weekend. Instead, both teams will compete on the same event at the same time, alternating performances. The new format takes a bit longer, but does have certain advan- tages. This will make it easier for spectators to follow the meet. Also, the more intense and direct competi- tion provides participants and coaches with a better idea of how the team is scoring in relation to the opponent. The Wolverines are looking to gain momentum and confidence be- fore heading to Illinois for next weekend's Big Ten Championships. By that point, Michigan hopes to have qualified for the Eastern re- gionals, which takes place in three weeks. FOR MORE SPORTS, SEE PAGE H Michigan's Raul Molina and the rest of the No. 13 men's gymnastics team will take on No. 8 Michigan State Saturday night at Cliff Keen Arena. Women netters fly south for matches by Sharon Lundy Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's tennis team (2-2 Big Ten, 4-5 overall) will head south this weekend in an at- tempt to extend its current winning streak, the last match of which was won by forfeit. The Wolverines were scheduled to meet Big Ten leader Indiana last Sunday after a strong 8- 1 victory over Ohio State Saturday - their first Big Ten triumph. But after complaining about the Indoor Track and Tennis Building, Michigan's home facility, Indiana did not show up for the match. The Wolverines were shocked by the Hoosiers' forfeit. "You'd think a team like that would have a little class and have some commitment to their confer- ence,' co-captain Amy Malik said. Indiana expressed concern about the lighting, court surface and in- jury-prone setting, and had not re- turned contracts at the beginning of ' . the season to confirm the match.. "I don't blame anyone for not being thrilled to play here when they walk in and see the building," junior Kalei Beamon said. "But we practice here every day, and they were obli- gated to show. It was really upset- ting. It doesn't say a lot for them." This weekend, the Wolverines will be away for three consecutive matches. Friday, Michigan takes on Alabama, which should be the toughest match of the series. Ala- bama has scored victories earlier this season over Big Ten powers Wis- consin and Northwestern, both of which defeated the Wolverines previously this year. Saturday and Sunday, Michigan meets Southeast Louisiana State and South Alabama, respectively. The two teams are very close in ability, and both matches should be challenging. During this week of practice, the Wolverines have been trying a dif- 74 ferent routine. Half of the players had their day off, while the other players had practice, and then ro- tated the next day. This enabled the 5TH AVE. AT UBERTY 791- coaches to give more individual at- $300 DAY HY TEYPM tention to each of the players, and STUDENT WITH I.D.$4 emphasize the technical areas of Europa Europa (R) their games. Alan & Naomi (Ps) "Hopefully when this weekend's The Prince of Tides (R) matches start, the players will feel Present this ad when confident with all aspects of their purchasing a large opco game," Michigan coach Elizabeth and receive one Ritt said. s expires 3r31192 ATQ&, ITALIAN RESTAURANT PRESENT THE EIGHTH ANNUAL SPAGHETTI CHOWD OWN SUNDAY, MARCH 22,1992 ATQ, 1415 CAMBRIDGE BENEFITS GO TO THE ANN ARBOR ART A CCCn'T A TrYNT'C A RT CT A RT PRCTYP A M l Tn F T Study Abroad with Beaver College I Study in Greece I Study In Ireland I Study In Austria I Study In BrItain r f r rr7,ATr/oil T i I A reoresentaitive will be on campuis to meet I