Football vs. Ohio State Saturday, noon (ABC) Michigan Stadium S 'TS Hockey vs. Ohio State Friday, 7 p.m. Yost Ice Arena Swimming hopes to remain unbeaten By MELANIE SCHUMAN DAILY SPORTS WRITER "Long and strong on the first 100, pickup tempo on thesecondhundred," coach Jim Richardson shouts above splashes at another of the Michigan women's swim team's grueling prac- tices. Richardson and assistant coach Chrissi Rawak are preparing for Friday's meet in which they will face two talented opponents,.Penn State and Southern Illinois. It will be a test of the best as both visitors have 4-1 records this season and Michigan (3-0) is still undefeated. Richardson believes this weekend will be a challenge for his team, espe- cially because Penn State is resting up for the meet. "In all honesty, the likelihood of us winning the meet isn't great," Richardson said. "We've improvedand so have they. The improvements are a wash." Richardson and Lady Lions coach Bob Krimmel are old friends and each expressed theirrespect for one another. "If you can't get up for Michigan, you shouldn'tbe in this sport,"Krimmel said. "We justneed tofocusmoremen- tally and take it up 4 notch." Southern Illinois has one loss this season, to Arkansas, while Penn State has only fallen to Big Ten rival Purdue. "Southern Illinois is a good team, but will notbe as strong as Penn State," Rawak said. "It should be a really in- tense meet, especially because the women are very exhausted." The Nittany Lions rested for the meetagainst Michigan this year justas they did last season, when they de- feated the Wolverines. Rawak ex- plained that last year's meet was per- formed under different circumstances though, because it was during a series of three away meets. The Michigan women couldn't participate with full squads in allthose events due to aca- demic commitments. Freshmen Anne Kampfe says that this weekend will be a bit tougher than last, when the Wolverines beat Minne- sota. "It's an honor for us knowing they are swimming against us shaved and tapered," Kampfe said. "We want to win this week, so that come Big Tens, we know we can be tough if we've swam each team individually well." Divers from all three squads will participate in Friday's one-meter and three-meter events. "It wil be a great challenge, and a compliment to our program to take on a team who is shaving and tapering for us," Richardson said. See WOMEN, Page 11 Michigan goes for it all Women's soccer looks to take nationalclub title By ELISA SNEED DAILY SPORTS WRITER The top eight women's club soccer teamsin thecountry-twoteamsfrom each of the four qualifying regions - will be in Austin, Tex. today for the start of the National Club Champion- ship. Michigan will be one of those teams. Today the Wolverines will play the first in a series of games which could lead them to a 27-2 record and make them national champions. But it won't be an easy series. "These are the best teams from their respective regions," Michigan coach Linda Hamilton said. "They've estab- lished themselves. They've had to dig deep and come up with big wins. It's definitely going to be tougher." The tournament is set up with two brackets. One team from each region is in each bracket. Every team will play against the three other teams in its bracket in the first round- two games today and one tomorrow morning. The two teams with the best records from each bracket will move on to the semi- finals tomorrow night, with the win- ners of those two games competing in the finals Saturday. In the first round Michigan will face Arizona, defending champion North Texas and Colorado State. If the Wolverines qualify for the semifinals they willface Baylor, Brigham Young, Mancado State or Illinois. Michigan defeated the Illini 4-0 earlier this sea- son. Hamilton said that the confidence the Wolverines have this season may give them the winning edge. "They've gained confidence and that can't ever be replaced," she said. "They know that a team has to beat them to win. They (the other team) have to be the better team. It's nice to gooutthere on the field knowing that." "We haven't had to change much (since the Midwest tournament)," cap- tain Carrie Taylor said. "We've been doing pretty well. You don't want to change something that works. "We have been working on passing though. We have the tendency to get frazzled and pass away to the other team. All week we've been playing small scrimmagestogetalotoftouches on the ball and controlled passing." Hamilton added that corner kicks will be as important in the tournament as they have been all season. "A lot of scoring opportunities are createdbycornerkicks,"shesaid."The system we've set up will give us alotof opportunities to score." The team is optimistic about its potential. "We're pretty excited about our chances," Taylor said. "We're all in good shape, maybe the most in shape . (at nationals). We just have to show up. and play well." D ^U"LAS'AWE R/Dll The Michigan women's soccer team faces Arizona in its first game of the National Club Championships today. Jeff Cothran provides Ohio State with power and speed BY MICHAEL FITZPATRICK OHIO STATE LANTERN Jeff Cothran likes to think of him- self as a fullback in a tailback's body. But some of his teammates think of him as an extra offensive lineman. "He's a third guard coming out of the backfield with4.5 speedandanasty attitude - you can't beat that," Ohio " State offensivelineman Jason Winrow said. Blocking. A mundane, unappreci- ated art. When itcomes toblocking, Cothran is Picasso on the gridiron. Just how effective is Cothran's blocking? Consider this. In the Buck- eyes' 24-6 thumping of Penn State, Raymont Harris rushed for 151 yards, buthad to share the co-offensive player of the week honor with Cothran, who didn't carry the ball once. "Right now, Jeff is blocking as well as any fullback I've been around," Buckeye coach John Cooper said. "Big team and little me," is how OSU offensive coordinator Joe Hollis describes Cothran's attitude. Agoodexampleofhisattitudecame the Monday after the Penn State game. When pressedbyreportersifhislackof carries bothered him, Cothran re- sponded, "I didn't even realize. I was just glad we werewinning andRaymont was having a good day." Cothran is one of the few players in thecountrywhocanhelphis team from the backfield without even touching the ball. "He's the most underrated guy on our offense," Hollis said. "Jeff has not only done a great job of trying to block his guy but destroy him as well. That demonstrates his pride." Cothran really does seem to enjoy blocking for Harris and doesn't seem to mind not getting the ball. "It's not a problem. I'm rewarded by how far the tailback gets. I have no problem blocking for him; I could see if he weren't getting thejob done, then it would be hard, but that's not the case," Cothran said. Harrishas rushed for 882 yards this season, and much of his success can be tied to Cothran's blocks. Cothran, who has only 163 yards rushing, has had limited opportunity to run the ball this season, with mixed results. Inatwo-game span, he fumbled four times. It was a long route to the starting fullback spot for Cothran, whichhehas now held for two years. He was a tailback at Middletown High School, whereherushed for 1,850yardsand21 touchdowns asasenior. Nifty numbers indeed, but he was a tailback, so he wasn't recruited as the second coming of Pete Johnson. Then Cothran had to sit out his first season as a result of Proposition 48. "That was hell paying for my first year," Cothran said. The days without footballwere also hellish forthe6-foot-2, 245-pound full- back,buthe thinks they werehelpfulin the long run. "I couldn't practice, I couldn't do anything with the team, couldn't go to any functions." Cothran said. "But it gave me a chance to get my academics together, get stronger in the weight roomandprepareforthe year tocome." Summer 1991 marked the end of Cothran's exile from football and also a position change to fullback. Cothran said he had to develop the right kind of mentality to play fullback, and that was an adjustment. "I thought it was easy to switch from tailback to fullback, but it was a lot harder than I thought. You've got to have an attitude about it." Cothran made an auspicious debut asaBuckeye in the 1991 season opener against Arizona. On his first carry, he took a handoff and rambled for 16 yards. For the day, Cothran would rush for 105. It would be the only time he would break the century mark in his career as a Buckeye. During Cothran's first season, he was used sparingly asabackup to Scot- tie Graham. In 1992, he started nine of 12 games and was the team's fourth leading-rusher with 410 yards, and fourth-leadingreceiverwith 19catches. For his performance, he was chosen second-team All-Big Ten. Even though his numbers don't in- dicate it, Cothran is a definite threat to defenses with his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. It was his 29- yard catch and run on the first play against Penn State that set the tempo for the Buckeye win over the Nittany Lions. Cothran honed his receiving skills by taking every opportunity to catch passes during the breaks in practice. He also caught 30 balls a day from a ma- chine similar to a pitching machine used by baseball teams. "He's got a future in the game." Hollis said Jeff Cothran's running and blocking ability have helped the Buckeyes to a 9- 04 record going into Saturday's game against Michigan. 'M' men's swim team expecting easy victories By CHARLIE BREITROSE DAILY SPORTS WRITER LastweekendtheMichigan'smen's swimming team went to Madison for a double dual meet with Minnesota and host Wisconsin. The defending Big Ten champions were almost upset by the upstart Gophers; the Wolverines had to pull out the meet in the final relay. Tomorrow night, at 7 pim., Michi- gan will return home to Canham Nata- torium for another double dual meet. This time the opposition will come from two nonconference foes, Eastern Michigan and Southern Illinois. The Wolverines need not fear an- other close meet. "These teams are not at the level of anybody in the Big Ten," Michigan swimming coach Jon Urbanchek said. "Neither one of them will have any- body to really compete with us. "So, we're going to give our ath- letes a chance to go in a lot of events that are not in their domain. People are going to be outside their comfort zone. Like Gustavo Borges, a sprinter, will swim the 500 freestyle. Sometimes, though, we just experiment with (the line up)." Junior Marcel Wouda likes the op- portunity to get in another meet before the rigorous schedule that faces the Wolverines this season. "It should not be a problem at all to win the meet. But I don't think that's the most important thing. It's just an- other chance for us to swim." The Michigan divers will enjoy the. return home, too. They will cherish the opportunity to compete under normal conditions.' "(The meet in Madison) was a total disaster in terms of trying to compete," diving coach Dick Kimball said. "We had swimmers in front of us, going back and forth, and we neverhad a time where we could concentrate. Itwasjust a survival of the fittest kind of meet. It didn't show much of anything. "I think this meet will give us a little bitofachance to see where weare right now. Three divers, Abel Sanchez, Eric Lesser and Alex Bogaerts, lead the Wolverine diving corps. "They're all three very; close," Urbanchek said. "In any given meet See MEN, Page 11 I U Department of Recreational Sports INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM m _ ; .. . _