8- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 26, 1995
Hoosiers not a concern for men tankers
By NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
Daily Sports Writer
It'sonly adressrehearsal, but it's all
business to the Wolverines.
The top-ranked Michigan men's
swimming and diving team is focused
on winning its tenth-straight Big Ten
title, and a good performance in
Saturday's dual-meet at Indiana would
put it in a dominant position.
The Wolverines don't expect much
competition from the Hoosiers. Indiana
has only beaten Purdue in the Big Ten,
losing to Northwestern and Ohio State.
Their best showing came against No.
12 Florida, but the Hoosiers still fell,
48-65.
However, the meetwillallowMichi-
gan to accomplishmore thanjust adual
meet win.
"We want to give people the oppor-
tunity to swim before Big Tens for
seeding purposes," Michigan coach Jon
Urbanchek said. "Hopefully, we'll get
some people seeded in the finals in the
Big Ten Championships."
The docket of events for the meet
will beunusual so swimmerscan qualify
in events like the 1650-yard freestyle,
the 400 individual medley and the 100
free.
One Hoosier that may be able to
challenge the Wolverines in these events
is senior Brian Barnes. The Indiana
captain was the Big Ten champion in
the 400 Individual Medley in 1992 and
has qualified forNCAAsthisyearinthe
50 freestyle.
But Barnes won't even get to swim
against some of Michigan's best. The
Wolverines aren't sending All-Ameri-
can freestyler Tom Dolan or freshman
IM standoutDeryaBuyukuncu because
of illness.
"The flu has been going around all
week and we just wanted to give these
guys arest," Urbancheksaid. "Themeet
isn't a big deal.This meet is important
for different reasons."
The Wolverines have their minds
on other things. Michigan faces Indiana
at IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis
- home of this year's NCAA meet.
And as important as Big Tens are, a
national championship is on every
Wolverines' mind.
"This will be good for us, to swim in
this facility," Urbanchek said. "This is
one of the best facilities in the country.
For the freshman especially, it will show
them that this is a fast pool and it will
prepare them for NCAAs."
Urbanchek said the recent loss to
second-ranked Stanford has not affected
the team. If anything, he said, it will
help them.
"The effects of the loss left us as
soon as wegotofftheplane,"Urbanchek
said. "We are working hard and we'll
be ready. In fact, it will probably make
us better.
"It's back to business and we just
have to focus on Big Tens Saturday. It
will be kind of a rehearsal for us for
down the road."
01
MICHAEL FITZHUGH/Daily
The Michigan men's swimming team looks to hone its skills for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments against Indiana.
Big perfomances in early season invitationals gives men's tennis a boost
By MARC LIG IDALE
For the Daily
Last year, the Michigan men's ten-
nis team found itself in the finals of the
Big Ten tournament, losing in a tight
match to arch-nemesis Minnesota.
"I felt we were a dead heat with
Minnesota," Michigan coach Brian
Eisner said. "Even though we were not
ranked as high as they were, that's the
level of team I felt we finished last year
with."
After paying its dues, the squad
feels it is ready to beat the Golden
Gophers and capture the Big Ten title.
If the Wolverines are able to attain these
goals, they should catapult into the top
15 in the country.
Beginning Jan. 28, Michigan will
participate in the Illini Invitational oth-
erwise known as the Big Ten Indoors.
The tournament consists of the 64 best
singles players from the conference.
The Wolverines will send eight players
to compete in the competition, includ-
ing three of the top 16 seeds: John
Costanzo (No. 5), Peter Pusztai (No.
10) and David Paradzik (No. 13).
"For the guys a little lower in the
lineup (Nos. 4-6), it gives them a chance
to play some of these guys at the very
top of some of these other schools,"
Eisner said. "I feel that we have players
in these positions that are much better
than No.1 and No.2players at many of
the other Big Ten schools."
In the next couple of weeks, tour-
naments such as the Blue-Grey Classic
in Alabama, hosting 16 of the top 25
teams in the country, and the Ice Vol-
leys in Minnesota, featuring nationally-
ranked teams such as Texas A&M,
should give the Wolverines the oppor-
tunity to be in the limelight, gain na-
tional exposure and see how they stack
up against the best in the country.
In order to prepare the team for the
recent three dual meets, Eisner brought
the team back early from Winter Break
to compete in the Milwaukee Tennis
Classic from Jan. 4-7.
At the Milwaukee tournament,
Costanzo reached the final sixteen in a
128 singles player draw where he lost a
tight three-set match to the No.7 ranked
David Caldwell of North Carolina.
Afterthe tournament, Michigan pro-
ceeded to the Seventh Annual
O'Charley's Tennis Classic at the Uni-
versity of Tennessee where they played
three dual matches from Jan. 14-16.
Despite the absence of injured fresh-
man Arvid Swan, the Wolverines oblit-
erated Middle Tennessee State (6-1)
team, before losing to South Florida.
"It was just a dog-eat-dog match,"
- .. .. ,
One moment makes fo
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Memories are what make an
experience. They keep
those rare moments alive
forever, no matter how joyous and
sad those occasions are. For many
their time at Michigan will always be
associated with the people they've
met and the subsequent friendships
created.
However, there is always that one
event that outshines all the others, the
one event that becomes more and
more special as the years pass. This
memory doesn't come from a bar or
from class for me. It is an athletic
story to be told over and over.
No other event in the past four
years can touch it.
No matter how much the Fab Five
thrilled everyone with their march to
consecutive Final Fours and on-court
explosiveness, no moment in Crisler
Arena matches this memory, although
Michigan's overtime loss to Duke in
1991 comes close.
And no matter how many times.
the likes of Denny Felsner, David
Oliver, David Roberts and Brian
Wiseman melted the ice with their
spectacular playmaking and
goalscoring,
nothing
compares to this
particular day,
although thes
Wolverines'.
overtime win
over Wisconsin
in the NCAA CHAD A.
quarterfinals in SAFRAN
1993 comes Safrancisco
close. Treat
Nothing will
match September 14, 1991 at
Michigan Stadium. Ever.
The sun shone in all its glory.
Temperatures were in the mid-70s. It
was a perfect day for those attending
any football game, but this was no
ordinary game. This was Michigan-
Notre Dame. And it happened to be
the first major college football game I
ever attended.
The day began gloriously as I
r the greate
walked with thousands down Hoover.
With my face painted half blue and
half maize, I wore the first Michigan
t-shirt I ever bought.
Then came the entrance into the
stadium. I passed through the brief
darkness of gate 31, reemerging in the
sunlight seconds later only to witness
"The Big House" in all its glory. New
grass. Freshly painted end zones. The
Wolverines dressed in their blue
jerseys with maize pants. The famous
winged helmet. It was all here. This is
why 106,000 people invade Ann
Arbor on autumn weekends.
And as I belted out "Hail to the
Victors" for the very first time as the
marching band paraded in the block
"M", I realized why Michigan is so
special to so many. Even without the
game I knew this was a moment to
cherish, not only that day, but for the
rest of my life.
With each pass, run and tackle I
yelled with all the might a freshman
could muster. By the conclusions of
the game's first possession, I knew
my voice wouldn't last much longer.
Somehow it did, but any screaming
for the rest of the game sounded as if
Now on tap:
Paulaner Salvator &
Grant's Imperial Stout
Eisner said. "They beat us 4-3, and we
had some great opportunities to win the
match."
In their next match for 3rd and 4th
place, the Wolverines beat a solid
Northwestern team, 6-1.
"I think we are on the right track
and we have made a lot of progress,"
Eisner said. "More importantly, the
team feels real good."
st memory.
I had sandpaper in my throat.
The game progressed, and
Michigan jumped ahead, 17-7, at
halftime, but the Fighting Irish cut the
Wolverine lead to three entering the
fourth quarter. That's when "Magic"
happened.
The game hung in the balance as
Michigan owned the ball and faced a.
fourth-and-one at the Notre Dame 25-
yard line. The Wolverines called
timeout to discuss the situation.
If they went for the first down, a
run seemed automatic. After all that's
what Bo Shembechler would have
done. That's what any coach at
Michigan would have done,
especially with this offensive line that
would produce three NFL starters.
That's what any coach would have
done.
But this wasn't a typical game.
This wasn't a typical day.
The Wolverines broke from the
sideline huddle and came to the line
of scrimmage. They were going to
run. Everybody in the stadium knew
that. Everybody except the Michigan
players and coaching staff.
Quarterback Elvis Grbac stepped
up behind center Steve Everitt and
barked out the signals. Then came the
drama and moment that will live
forever - the Wolverines were
throwing it. And throwing it for the
end zone.
Out to Grbac's right at the snap
stood Desmond Howard, Grbac's
high school teammate. The 5-foot-9
wide receiver sped down the field, on
his way to immortality.
As Grbac offered the play fake,
Howard shook the inside defender
and burst toward the end zone. There
was only one problem as the future
Heisman Trophy winner looked for
the ball -it had been overthrown.
Then came the catch, which
forever sealed this day in the memory
vault. Howard stretched his frame to
its fullest while making himself
perpendicular to the turf. Just as his
body hit the earth, the football came
to rest in his hands. Touchdown,
Michigan.
I didn't need anything else that
day. What more could there be to
life? The Wolverines were on their
way to defeating Notre Dame in the
most dramatic of ways with complete
sunshine and the bluest of skies. All
was perfect.
And the truly great memories in
life, the ones that never fade, are
always perfect.
.77
H
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