TheMichigan Daily - Friday, February 4, 1994 - 11 Seniors prepare for final swim in Canham water justavo Borges (lane five) prepares to swim the 200-freestyle earlier this season. He went on to win the event. Women swimmers gear up By DARREN EVERSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER It's tough to find a true dynasty These days, regardless of whether you're talking professional or col- egiate sports. , True, some athletic organizations seem to maintain a level of excel- eence from year to year, but the decade-long dominance of teams ike the New York Yankees and Boston Celtics has all but vanished. However, if parity is indeed the theme of sports today, somebody needs to inform the Michigan women's swimming team. The Wolverines continue to dominate the Big Ten as they attempt to end their season unbeaten, taking on Indiana at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Canham Natatorium. Michigan is 5-0 against the Big Ten this season, and 7-0 in overall competition. In addition, the Wol- verines currently havean eight-year conference championship run go- ing, a streak that will be on the line at the Big Ten Championships in Indianapolis in two weeks. Still, Michigan coach Jim Richardson's focus is on the Hoo- siers. "Indiana will do well in the sprints, and we're going to have to perform well there if we're going to swim with them in those events," Richardson said. "There'll be a good 400-meter individual medley race between Garland O'Keefe and Anne Kampfe. Garland is a former na- tional finalist and is a senior this year at IU, so there'll be some good races." Wolverine Melisa Stone should provide the Hoosiers plenty of com- petition in the sprint department. The Ohio native helped lead Michigan over Ohio State last week- end with first-place finishes in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle. She also became the third Wolverine ever to swim the 50 in under 24 seconds in season. While acknowledging Indiana's strengths, Richardson does not envi- for Big Tens sion a Hoosier upset this weekend. "I think that on paper we're a stronger team than IU," he said. "In swimming, there are fewer surprises than in sports like basketball and foot- ball just simply because there's no ball to take a funny bounce, and be- cause it's such a quantitative sport. "You know the range in which people can perform. I would expect us to perform well, and if we do, we should win the meet." In order to do so, the Wolverines will need to have continued good ef- forts from juniors Lara Hooiveld and Alecia Humphrey. Both had strong showings against the Buckeyes last weekend. Hooiveld won the 200-meter breaststroke by six seconds over fel- low Wolverine Jodi Navta. Humphrey won the 200-meter backstroke and finished second in the 200 individual medley. . Kampfe also swam well forMichi- gan last weekend, finishing first in the 200-meter butterfly. By BRETT JOHNSON DAILY SPORTS WRITER Stage two of the men's swimming and diving season -the Big Ten dual meets - comes to an end this week- end as the Wolverines hit the water against Michigan State and Ohio State. Tonight, No. 3 Michigan (3-0 Big Ten, 7-3 overall) takes on the Spar- tans in the final home meet of the season. Tomorrow, the team travels to Co- lumbus to take on the Buckeyes. These meets mark the final meet competi- tions for most of the swimmers who will be attending the Big Ten Champi- onships at the end of February. Michigan State (3-2,7-3) is coming off of an impressive victory over Indi- ana last weekend at East Lansing. The Spartans defeated the No. 23 Hoosiers, 124-119, thanks in part to the performance of Uwe Volk who won two events including the 1000-yard freestyle where he set a pool record. The Spartan victory ultimately came down to a first place finish in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. "Indiana was ranked and we needed to swim well in the shorter events," Michigan State coach Rich- ard Bader said. " The strength and emotion of our team going into the final event sent a message to the Big Ten. We're not as down as they think we are." However, Indiana is not the same caliber team as Michigan, and the Spartans should pose few problems for the Wolverines. Senior co-captain Rodney VanTassell indicated that some events could be close, but that the over- all meet should not. This meet gives the Wolverines achanceto swim in events they usually do not compete in. "It's not that important of a meet," VanTassell said. "State has some good swimmers and some people will be challenged. We're looking for good swims although some people will be swimming off-events." For VanTassell and the rest of the seniors, Tom Hay, Brice Kopas, Kent Tschannen and diver Eric Lesser, to- night has significant importance be- cause it will be the last home meet of their careers. "I hope to have a good meet," Hay said. "It's kind of sad. We have a good senior class, and hopefully, we I cancomeouton top." "It's the k senior's last dual meet so it will be impor- tant to me," VanTassell said. "It's the VanTassell last time I will evercompete (at Canham)." As for Saturday's meet, No. 20 OhioState(3-0,7-0)possessesastron- ger lineup than the Spartans do. Bill Weaver leads the Buckeyes by way of the backstroke.Weaver won the 1993 Big Ten championship in the 100 backstroke and placed fourth in the 200 back. However,A I -American breaststroker Judson Crawford has sustained a season- ending neck in- jury leaving agaping hole in the Buck- eye lineup. "I haven't done a good enough job PRINTING 3HIGH QUALI TY LO0W PR ICEST of making us competitive yet," Ohio State coach Bill Wadley said. "I have to congratulate John Urbanchek for putting together a great team. "I don't expect it to be much of a meet. We just hope to make them swim honestly." Another crucial part of Ohio State's team is diver Yoshi Sakata. Sakata won both the one- and three- meter springboards at last year's Big Ten Championships. Diving against Sakata will give Lesser and the rest of the Wolverines a chance to see how one of the top divers in the Big Ten is progressing. "(Diving against Sakata) really won't make that much difference in how we dive, but it's a good opportu- nity to see how he's diving," Wolverine diving coach Dick Kimball said. "Div- ing at someone's home pool is a lot different than a championship. "However, it is a good opportu- nity to do well against a good diver." Action SpcrtSa 8t Est. 1976 We'll Stick it To You Hockey sticks, pucks, supplies and Michigan hockey jerseys! 419 E. Liberty, 2 blocks off State 663-6771 State pride, State of Michigan Classic at stake for women tumblers By MELANIE SCHUMAN )AILY SPORTS WRITER Crowds will be chanting a variety 3f Michigan fight songs at Cliff Keen :arena this weekend, but the gymnas- tics duel should be a bit more fierce. Spirits flew high in practice Thursday when the Michigan women's gymnastics eam prepared for its first home competi- don, the State of Michigan Classic. Local rivals Michigan State, Cen- ral Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan will all visit Ann *Xrbor Sunday to relive the events of ast year's close finish, of which Michi- gan was on the losing end. "Last year at this meet, we didn't necessarily have the best meet we could have had," sophomore DiannaRanel i said of Michigan's second-place finish past season. "But everybody has been working really hard and we're gonna ,)ut in areally good showing this week- nd." So far this season, the Wolverines gave been victorious at three away meets, including last week's victory over CMU. Throughout this week it waspracticeas usual, despite the physi- al demands of the five-team competi- .d on which lies ahead. "There is no reason to change (prac- tice) if they've done well in the other meets,"assistantcoachGuy Thiessen said. This will be the first home meet in his Michigan coaching career. "I'm kind of psyched up for the meet and I'm trying to make it rub off on the girls," Thiessen said. If practice was any indication of just how ready the gymnasts are, Thiessen and the rest of the coaching staff should not be worried. All agree that although MSU is the toughest team coming, Michigan's focus will be on its own performance. "We'll look at (MSU) a bit closer because we know that they're our main competition," senior Nicole Simpson said. "If we do what we're capable of doing then we should come out on top." Since September, everyone has been working on routines even though they're not all competing each weekend. With the loss of former Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year Wendy Wilkinson last weekend to a knee in- jury, as well as the season-ending achilles injury to May May Leung, the gymnasts fillJng the 5th through 8th spots realize the importance of their performances. "Our first concern when people get injured is for that individual over the sport of gymnastics," assistant coach Melissa Kutcher said. "The next most important thing is what can we do for the team and how is it going to affect the team. We've had some excellent girls on the team who picked up some slack forus." The Wolverines seem to believe they simply need to perform how they practice. Perhaps it is a superstition, but it has worked thus far. "I don't think we would prepare any differently mentally or physically for this one meet,"Kutcher said. "We train as possibly hard as we can every day regardless of what meet is coming up and we try and go in with the same mental toughness forevery singlemeet." This week also marks Kutcher's coaching debut at Michiganand what an introduction to the intrastate colle- giate rivals she will witness. Jackson & Maple Village Center All Seats All Shows $1.50! Now Showing: The Best Reasons of them all... When it comes to draft beer - Come to Ashley's "Home of the English Ales" 338 S. 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