4 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSTuesday - Tuesday, January 18, 1994 1994 en's and Women's Men's Conference Preview Wolverines favored for number nine Minnesota, Ohio State in battle for second place in Big Ten By BRETT JOHNSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER This time last year it was a foregone conclusion that the Michigan men's swimming and diving team would win its eighth straight Big Ten title. How- ever, things change, and this season looks like a tougher challenge for the Wolverines to win number nine. The squad returns a number of All- Americans, including Gustavo Borges, Marcel Wouda and Rodney VanTassell, but it will be important for the other swimmers to pick up for the loss of last year's seniors. Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek expects this to happen, though, and still views his team as the favorite. "Probably the end result will still be the same. I think Michigan will still win it," Urbanchek said. "The margin will be much less than it has in previous years mainly because of the other teams. Minnesota and Ohio State are going to make major gains this year. Overall, the entire Big Ten is picking up." Michigan's top two challengers, as Urbanchek indicated, will be the Golden Gophers and Buckeyes. Minnesota has been the bridesmaid to the Wolverines for four straight sea- sons. Redshirt senior Paul Nelsen will be expected to lead the Gophers. Nelsen finished second in the 400-yard indi- vidual medley (IM) at the 1992 NCAA Championships and was a member of the U.S. National Team that traveled to Mallorca, Spain, for the World Short- Course Championships in December. Nelsen also keys Minnesota's breast- stroke events. In addition, the Gophers return All- Americans Matt Brown (100 and 200 breaststroke) and Bernie Zeruhn (500 freestyle) as well as NCAA platform diving champion P.J. Bogart. Despite having a solid squad, Min- nesota coach Dennis Dale does not see his team as having enough to de- throne the Wolverines. "Michigan will go unchallenged," Dale said. "It will be a good battle for second." A steadily improving Ohio State should be a part of that battle and is looking to rise from last season's fourth-place conference finish. The team's strength lies with the 1993 Big Ten champion in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Judson Crawford, and the Big Ten's two-time defending 100 backstroke champion, Bill Weaver. Sophomore Jay Hladish is also a solid sprint freestyler. The Buckeyes also have strength in diving with Yoshi Sakata, 1993 Big Ten Diver of the Championship at the conference meet. Iowa and Indiana round out the top five teams in the conference. The Hawkeyes have a tremendous talent in Rafal Szukala, who won the 200 butter- fly at the 1992 NCAA Championships. He followed that up with a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Last season at the NCAA Championships, he finished third and fourth in the 100- and 200- yard butterflies, respectively. "Not only is he fast, but his interna- tional experience rubs off on other ath- letes on the team," Iowa coach Glenn Patton said. "His experience can help to provide a calming effect to the rest of the team." The Hoosiers are currently trying to overcome the death of swimmer Peter Johnston, who was killed in a car crash last summer. The team is dedicating the season to his memory. In the water, Indiana coach Kris Kirchner sees his team as being capable of challenging Michigan and the rest of the Big Ten elite for the conference title. "We're coping with (Johnston's death)," Kirchner said. "We have T- shirts with his name on them. We have not forgotten him, but we certainly do miss him. "We definitely are counting on moving up in the Big Ten. We have to rise to a new level for a chance to challenge Michigan and the other upper echelon teams." That chance to challenge will de- pend on the whole team, but more spe- cifically on All-American backstroker Manning Field, co-captain Jason Arnold and redshirt sophomore Andy Boersma. Kirchner believes Boersma has a chance to be a force. "If we can harness (Boersma), he could be an NCAA champion," Kirchner said. "He's a stallion, but he doesn't realize how good he can be." As for the lower half of the Big Ten, Michigan State coach Richard Bader says that it is a crap shoot. "From sixth to 10th, I think you can just roll the dice," Bader said. The Spartans look talented enough to move up from their eighth-place finish last season. Bader's squad is led by Chris-Carol Bremer, who is strong in the distance freestyle and 200 butter- fly. Ron Orris, Tom Munley and Uwe Volk aid the Spartan lineup. Last season's sixth-place squad, Wisconsin, figures to be in a similar position as Michigan State, but the losses of Robert Pinter, Terry Butler and Thai Rea will put added pressure on the returning Badgers. Topping the list of returning swimmers is Valter Kalaus. The Hungarian is one of the top dis- tance freestylers in the conference and the nation. Ed Pierce, a sprint freestyler, will be counted on heavily as well. Wisconsin will be under the direc- tion of new head coach John Davey. "Obviously, it's not the best situa- tion to have a coaching change in the middle of the season," Davey said. "It will be difficult to move up in the con- ference because there are five good teams, and we lost a lot, but I'm opti- mistic." Penn State, Northwestern and Pur- due are all good enough to move up in the conference standings. The Nittany Lions are coming off of a seventh- place finish at last year's Big Tens but have lost 90 percent of last year's squad. They have added what coach Peter Brown calls "a talented group of newcomers." Northwestern has a solid group of returnees including seniors Dan Greyber, a backstroker, and Brock Wil- liams, a freestyler. The addition offresh- man Shae McCowen, a National Inter- scholastic Swim Coaches Association All-American, should have an imme- diate impact for the Wildcats. The Boilermakers round out the Big Ten. Last season, they finished 10th as well but didn't finish in last place. Illi- nois took 11th place but has since dropped its program. However, Purdue is a better team this season and could find themselves climbing up in the standings. John Klinge is the strength of the Boiler- maker lineup as he swims the 200 but- terfly and the 200 and 400 IMs. Steve Renie holds down the sprint freestyles, and Daron Pearce and Frank Ambrose are solid in the distance freestyles. "We've got John Klinge coming back," Purdue coach Dan Ross said. "He's a multiple finalist at the Big Tens. We finished 10th last year, but the last five teams can be in any order. No coach wants to tell you where they'll finish." -Daily Sports Writer Charlie Breitrose contributed to this story. Backstroker Royce Sharp is one of the favorites to win the 200-yard event h Sharp finished third in the 200 back. He currently holds the American record in Men's Team Preview Blue as strong as ever as break Stanford's hold on By JEREMY STRACHAN DAILY SPORTS WRITER So the Michigan men's swimming and diving team lost three All-Ameri- cans after finishing second at the 1993 NCAA Championships. No big deal for the Wolverines; they lose All-Ameri- cans every season and always remain in the thick of the national title hunt. That's what Michigan swimming coach Jon Urbanchek and diving coach Dick Kimball are shooting for this year. Urbanchek is leery of top-ranked Stanford but believes his third-ranked Wolverines, led by five returning NCAA All-Americans, could sneak into the top spot at the championships. "I think we have a team that's as good as we were last year at the NCAAs," Urbanchek said. "Stanford is obviously the team to beat, but I think ..,: -: '.f.X".4 ,r ,:. :. Michigan and Texas could have a g battle for second. "I think the goals for us this year are to swim to our potential and have us go for as many titles this year like we did last year." In order to achieve its goals, Michi- gan faces the toughest schedule in the nation. The Wolverines hosted top- ranked Stanford at home and will travel to No. 2 Texas this week. They ha already swum against perennial natio contenders California, UCLA and USC on the road -coming away with a 2-4 ledger - blemished only by a loss to the Trojans. Michigan is led by two prominent names from the international swim- ming community in the freestyleevents. Junior Gusatvo Borges held the short-course world record in the 100- meter freestyle until late last year ag won the silver medal in the 100freest for Brazil at the 1992 Summer Olym- pics. At the NCAA level, Borges won titles in the 100-yard freestyle and as a member of the 800 freestyle relay last season. Urbanchek says Borges should dominate the three sprint freestyle events and help out on four relay teams at the NCAA level. "It looks really good for Gustavo, repeat for the third time to win the 100 in NCAAs," Urbanchek said. "I don't think it's been done before because (Matt) Biondi didn't win it his fresh- man year, but it definitely looks like he's going to win it four years in a row, "I think we'll do pretty good (at NCAAs)," Borges said. "We're looking. pretty strong. All of the freshmen are step- ping up, doing their jobs, and I think* team overall has improved a lot." Junior Marcel Wouda, the 1993 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, won three NCAA titles last year in the 500 freestyle, 1650 freestyle and was amem-. ber of the 800 freestyle relay. The All- American from the Netherlands holds Wolverine records in the 500,1000 and 1650 freestyles. "My personal goals are to end up NCAA finals) in all of my events, Wouda said. "I want to help out the team there and that's the main thing for me. I think personal goals are important but not as much as team goals." "1 think Marcel is definitely the fa- vorite to win again at NCAAs but he's. going to be pushed by his own freshman teammate, Tom Dolan," Urbanchek . said. Dolan was a two-time prep A American at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va. The dis- freestyler swept top honorsatthe U.S. Open with titles in ertsthe 400- a Bogaerts 1500-me freestyle and the 800 freestyle relay .In addition, he currently ranks eighth in the world in the 400-meter IM. Dolan is only one part of a talented freshman class. John Michael Piersma was a prep All- Tom Dolan paces himself during his victory in the 500 freestlye against Stanford last Saturday. Dolan is one of the nation's top freshman and is expected to score well at the NCAA championships. DOLAN Continued from page 1 Calif. "I was very impressed with the way he handled himself at that meet, especially in the events that I enjoy working with people (the IMs and distance freestyle events)," Urbanchek said. "I thought he could perhaps follow in the footsteps of Eric, not only on the NCAA level but on the international level." However, his swimming talent was not the only reason Dolan decided to come to Ann Arbor. The honor roll student said his first requirement was strong academics and that out of the three schools he looked at - UCLA, Florida and Michigan -he felt Michigan had the strongest academics by far. Dolan's stay at Michigan has been quite productive, despite an early- season bout with asthma, an affliction diagnosed originally a few years ago. The problem arose once again when he arrived at Michigan last fall. Since In the first college meet of his career, a quad meet against Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Dolan finished second in the 1000- yard freestyle. He lost track of a swimmer from lane one who was way out in front and immediately learned his first lesson about college swimming. "There were two guys next to me, and I caught them," Dolan said. "I thought I was in first, and going into the last 25, I saw this guy just ahead of me sprinting. "That was a good start, because it opened my eyes to what goes on and what can happen. High school meets are kind of joking around. No one takes it too seriously. Here, everyone's gunning for you. Everytime you step on the blocks, someone's trying to beat you." Since that quadrangular meet, Dolan has steadily improved. He won the 400- and 1500-meter freestyles at the U.S. Open in December. Against Stanford, Dolan won both the 1000- and 500-yard freestyles, and in the process, he broke the Canham contributes the most to the team. "His biggest strength is his competitiveness," Urbanchek said. "He's the toughest competitor we have. The bigger the challenge, the bigger his performance." The freshman said he is now fully adjusted to the training aspects of college -lifting weights, something he did not do in high school, and the daily training and competition with Namesnik and Wouda. This orientation has permitted Dolan to reevaluate his goals as far as the Big Tens and NCAAs. At first, he just wanted to get acclimated to the college environment, but now his objective is to help the team finish as high as possible at the national "We're concentrating on his weaknesses," Urbanchek said. "We feel that it takes four strokes to do well in individual medley. His weakness right now is in butterfly. In time, I think all four of his strokes will come up to the world-class level." Dolan has also been concentrating on his turns in order to have a better shot at the conference and NCAA meets. Dolan said this will be the key to having a successful national meet, which is a must if the Wolverines are to pick up the lost points of last year's seniors. As for the pressure to replace Namesnik, Dolan said he really hasn't felt that much. He said the burden falls on the whole team, not just an experiences and is looking toward the 1994 World Championships and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The Pan Pacs experience from this summer taught him a lot about international competition as well as his own racing ability. "(The Pan Pacifics) were a really good learning experience," Dolan said. "Going in, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. When I did, my coach said 'Have a good time and make sure you get something out of it.' I talked to a lot of past Olympians and made a lot of good friends. I got a lot of experience under my belt. "Another thing I learned is that I might have been a little better than I thought internationally. I had never really thought about how well I could do internationally. I think it helped my confidence." This seasoning, Dolan hopes, was the beginning of many more international competitions to come. It was a start in reaching his goal of the Olympics. Urbanchek sees no reason that Dolan cannot eventually succeed his training partner, Namesnik. 'Dolan's going to be a superstar in our sport. I hope that he can reach a peak by 1996, because the United States can really use him. He could be a big-time help in the Olympic Games.' - Stanford coach Skip Kenney