10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 6, 1994
By BRETT JOHNSON
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Most people who watch the Olympics know the names
of Matt Biondi, Tom Jager and Pablo Morales. They have
been the superstars of United States men's swimming
from as far back as 1984.
One thing they all have in common is they are sprint-
ers. Biondi and Jager are known best from their exploits in
the 50- and 100-meter freestyles, and Morales won fame
for his gold in the 100-butterfly.
On the other hand, the middle- and long-distance swim-
mers, the guys who swim the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter
freestyle events are relatively unknown. Because U.S.
coaches have not stressed distance events, the best Ameri-
cans have not been on par with their foreign counterparts.
However, the downward spiral of U.S. distance swim-
ming is being stemmed with the help of Arizona sopho-
more Chad Carvin, Texas sophomore Matt Hooper and
Michigan's own Tom Dolan.
This past weekend, the Wolverine freshman solidified
himself as one of the nation's top long-course, distance
freestylers by winning the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyles at
the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships in
Federal Way, Wash. His time of 7:56.33 in the 800
freestyle was the third fastest U.S. performance ever.
The weekend before, Dolan competed in his first
NCAA Championships. Although he recorded fast enough
times in the 500- and 1650-yard freestyles to become the
third- and eighth-fastest human ever in those events, he
could only manage a second and third place finish, respec-
tively. Carvin was the guy who set NCAA, U.S. Open and
American records in those events.
Coaches and fans alike were impressed by the perfor-
Dolan leads long
distance evolution
mances of the distance freestylers at the NCAAs. Michi-
gan coach Jon Urbanchek saw the meet as a coming-out
party for U.S. distance swimmers.
"I feel real good for Hooper and Chad and Tom," said
Urbanchek, the head coach for the 1994 U.S. World
Championship team,."I think those three are the ones who
are going to have to carry the torch for us. The tide has
turned. All we needed was some new blood. It should be
Chad and Tom all the way to '96."
Dolan believes the reason for the lack of top American
distance swimmers was due to a change in United States
coaching philosophy to more sprint-oriented training.
Now, he says, that trend may be reversing.
"(The NCAAs) is the first meet of many that Ameri-
cans are going to do well in distance swimming," Dolan
said after the 1650 freestyle. "It's a great sign for everyone
in the U.S., and I think it's a wake-up call for everyone in
the world. For a while, it looked like U.S. distance swim-
ming was going down the drain, and I think it can only get
better from here."
Although Dolan's performances at spring nationals
qualified him for the Goodwill Games this summer in St.
Petersburg, Russia, he will not be attending. Instead,
Dolan will focus on the World Championships and the
U.S. trials in Indianapolis this August.
"Time-wise, I think I'm there (among the top swimmers
in the world)," Dolan said. "I'm focusing on making it to
World Championships. The trials will be fast, so I have to
worry about making the top two (in order to go to Rome)."
So, if everything goes according to the U.S. distance
guys' plans, Olympic watchers will be saying Dolan,
Carvin and Hooper's names in the same breath as Biondi,
Jager and Morales.
GOLF
Continued from page 9
77 for a 227. Although he averages
just over 75-a-round for the season,
Dobbs' instant maturity has been a
pleasant surprise for the team.
"He's afreshman (and)he'splayed
in every tournament (in the fall and
spring), which is really uncommon,"
Carras said. "He's the leading player
on this team."
Sophomore Chris Brockway was
the next highest Wolverine finisher,
landing in 23rd place with a 231.
Junior Bill Lyle, senior Bob Henighan
and freshman Brent Idalski rounded
out the starting five for Michigan,
finishing in 35th, 48th and 58th, re-
spectively.
Four other Wolverines - Adam
Anderson, Carl Condon, Justin Hicks
and Mike Hill - traveled with the
team to Dallas. Though their scores
didn'tfigure into the team's final tally;
the trip gave the coaching staff an
opportunity to assess their abilities in
a tournament setting.
"We're trying to find out what we
have," Carras said. "We took nine guys,
andI would've taken all 13 if Icould've.
The idea was to take them down there
and give them five concentrated days of
work, and if we do well, fine; if we
don't, it's no concern."
Kent led from start to finish, in-
creasing its slim three-stroke, first
round lead to 12 after the second
round. The Golden Flashes pulled
away from the rest of the field in the
final round, thanks to the efforts of
Bryan DeCorso, Eric Frishette and
Kevin Kraft.
The trio tied for second place with
a 217. Kraft and Frishette each fired a
single-round 69, the lowest score for
the tournament.
ANASTASIA BANICKI/Daily
No. 1 singles player Dan Brackus and the rest of the men's tennis team
take on Michigan State today at the Liberty Sports Complex.
Despite worries, taxers look
to conquer Bowling Green
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By ELISA SNEED
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Oops.
As the Michigan men's lacrosse
team goes into tonight's contest
against Bowling Green, one of the
biggest problems it faces is fielding
ground balls. Coach Bob DiGiovanni
has three main worries for the game,
and that is the first one on his list.
"It's going to be hard playing out-
side," DiGiovanni said. "The ground
balls are never true."
Although the Wolverines have
played eight games this season, they
are not experienced playing outside.
"We haven't practiced at all out-
side," midfielder John Kolakowski
said. "The only natural fields we've
played on were in Indiana and in
Florida on spring break."
However, Kolakowski said that
the team would have a special session
to work on ground balls.
"It's not going to be a big prob-
lem," Kolakowski said. "It's all con-
centration. We should have plenty of
time though, because (Bowling
Green) isn'tgoing to beputting on too
much pressure."
DiGiovanni's second worry is the
number of players he will be able to
take. Injuries and class committment
have kept athletes off the field.
"Having away games during the
week always presents problems with
a full team," he said. "Players have
exams. It's something you have to
work around."
DiGiovanni is also worried about
his team's motivation going into the
contest.
"We came offasuccessfulweekend
at the Eastern Regionals," DiGiovanni
said. "Since Bowling Green isn't in the
Big Ten, it may be a letdown.
"People may also be looking to next
weekend when we've got Illinois and
Notre Dame - which isn't in the Big
Ten - but it's the same level of play."
The one thing that no Wolverine
seems to be worrying about is the
competition. And they may be right
not to worry.
"We're looking forward to the
game for experience," Bowling Green
captain Jeff Rix said. "We're not ready
to be playing a team the caliber of
Michigan. We're just glad they can
come down to play."
'M' netters
to play for
rankings,
state pride
By JOSH KAPLAN
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
The Michigan men's tennis team
(1-1 Big Ten, 5-5 overall) takes its
stab at cross-state rival Michigan
State, tangling with the Spartans to-
day at 2 p.m. at the Liberty Sports
Complex.
In addition to bragging rights, the
teams will be battling for higher
rankings. The Wolverines and Spar-
tans (0-2, 5-7) are tied for seventh in
Men's Region IV.
Michigan will be looking to avenge
a preseason loss to Michigan State in
January at the Volunteer Classic in
Knoxville, Tenn. The Wolverines
were defeated, 5-2, but played short-
handed.
"We lost," Michigan coach Brian
Eisner said, "but Dan Brakus had the
flu, John Costanzo was still injured
and didn't make the trip and Geoff
Prentice wasn't even eligible."
All of these players will be in
today's lineup. Of them, Brakus faces
the steepest challenge in Michigan
State's Mashiska Washington.
Washington, ranked 40th in the
nation, has won seven consecutive
matches and 14 of his last 16. Last
weekend, the Swartz Creek native.
defeated Minnesota's Paul Pridmore,
the Big Ten singles champion, 6-4,6-
2, as well as stopping Iowa's top
player, BobZumph, by the same score.
Brakus has also been playing well
as of late, posting victories over both
Pridmore and Zumph. He is listed as
the 28th best player in collegiate ten-
nis.
Brakus stands 6-foot-3, has
strong serve, apowerful shot and plays
the net well. Washington, at 5-foot-
10, is extremely quick, moves his
shots around the court and plays
mostly from the baseline.
"It's the classic matchup of power
versus quickness," Eisner said.
Eisner is excited about the rest of
his team's play as well. After drop-
ping a close match to defending Big
Ten champion Minnesota, the Wol-0
verines came back to win a tight deci-
sion against Iowa, 4-3.
"Against Minnesota, we didn't
close out some matches we could
have," Eisner said. "Against Iowa,
we did close out the close three-set
matches we needed to win."
The Spartans also hosted Minne-
sota and Iowa over the past weekend.
After falling to the Gophers, 5-2
Michigan State lost to the Hawkeyes,
4-3.
Both teams havestruggled recently
in doubles play. Michigan lost five of
six doubles matches over the week-
end, while the Spartans have lost nine
straight.
In dual matches, six singles
matches are played and worth one
point each. The seventh point is
awarded to the team that wins two*
of three doubles matches, played
immediately before the singles
matches.
In a close matchup like this, the
doubles point could be the deciding
factor between a victory and a loss.
"There is a thin line between all of
the teams in the Big Ten this year,"
Michigan State coach Gene Orlando
said. "We could easily be 2-0 right*
now, but we are not playing good
doubles right now and that is key in a
dual match."
Eisner has stressed the importance
of doubles play to his players.
"We need to start focusing on
doubles," Eisner said. "It's not a
warm-up. We're not doing the right
things at the right times."
RAINOUT
Continued from page 9
and Chris Munson at .393.
On the mound, reliever Ken Raines
leads the team with a 2.65 ERA and
three saves. The Broncos also boast
Mid-American Conference Pitcher of
the Week, Brian Sikorski.
Last season, Western came to Ann
Arbor and beat the Wolverines, 6-0.
BEST OF THE BEST:,For the second
straight week, junior Ron Hollis was
named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week.
This time, however, he was also
named Mizuno National Player of the
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