2B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 26, 1996 Veterans spark swimmers By Chris Murphy Daily Sports Writer After the Michigan women's swim- ming team's startling victory in this weekend's Big Ten Championship, one can only wonder what spurred the team to such complete dominance. Isn't there any parity in the Big Ten anymore? Apparently not, as far as women's swimming is con- cerned. This weekend the Wolverines Notebook flexed their collec- tive muscle and ba- sically put to rest any doubt about theirposition in the --- i national rankings. So how did Michigan achieve this standing? The reason is really simple: while in Minneapolis, the Wolverines re- ceived a boost from two of their top upperclassmen. The return of junior Rachel Gustin and senior Beth Jack- son helped Michigan to one of their best team performances in recent years. Gustin returned from a shoulder injury sustained earlier in the season. The injury has been nagging; Gustin hasn't been able to compete since mid-January. Jackson has been sidelined with mononucleosis. The ailment has kept her out of action since January. The co-captain missed the Wolverines' dual meets against Indiana and Ohio State and wasn't sure if she would be in shape for Big Tens. The team was more than happy to have two of its top swimmers back in the fold. "When you have a couple people who haven't swum a meet since early January, and they come in and step up and perform, that really picks the team up," Richardson said. FOR THE RECORD: Several records were broken this weekend in Minne- apolis. While many Michigan swim- mers turned in strong individual per- formances, the Wolverines' strongest area might have been their relay teams. Michigan set four Big Ten records in four different relay events. The Wolverines took first in the 200-yard relay. Megan Gillam, Melisa Stone, Dana Van Singel and Jen Eberwein combined for a record time of 1:30.89. Kim Johnson, Karen Bunting, Talor Bendel and Eberwein took the 800- yard freestyle relay with a record time of 7:17.23. Jackson and Gustin combined with Bendel and Johnson to win the 400- yard medley relay. Their time of 3:42.18 was a new Big Ten record. The 400-yard freestyle relay team continued its dominance with Eberwein, Bendel, Gillam and Stone combining for a record time of 3:19.77. MICHIGAN'S MOST VALUABLE?: The Wolverines obviously enjoyed a whole slew of strong individual per- formances. So who was the team's most valuable swimmer? There is no real award given out but, unofficially, the honor could go to the freshman Eberwein. Competing in her first Big Ten Championship, Eberwein asserted herself as one of the Wolverines top young swimmers. "It's always good to see a freshman step up," Bendel said. "She raced re- ally faced." Eberwein took first in the 50-yard freestyle by finishing with a record time of 22.86. Also, of the four record- setting relay teams, Eberwein com- peted in three of them. Eberwein's classmates also were key in the Michigan victory. "All the freshman really stepped up Michigan women's swimming team captured its 10th consecutive Big Ten title this weekend WALKER VANDYKE/Dgly in Minneapolis. and that's great to see for the future of Michigan women's swimming," Bendel said. UP NEXT: The Wolverines are now setting their sites on the team's two final tests - Olympic Trials and the NCAA Championship. A healthy ros- ter with the freshmen stepping up could be the key to Michigan winning its first NCAA Championship in school history. The Wolverines had their best NCAA Championship performance last year. In 1995, Michigan finished second behind Stanford. "As long as everyone stays healtN we should have a really good shot at NCAAs," Bendel said. Michigan State gymnasts vault over Blue By Sharat Rau For the Daily In sports, a "dual" meet is one that involves two teams, whereas a "duel" implies a battle between two individu- als. This minor change in spelling means a world of difference. In a dual there can be several duels, and one team can dominate the dual while the other man- ages to win many duels. All that can get confusing. However, it is a valid argument for explaining all the positives in No. 20 Michigan's loss, 209.75 to 221.4, in its dual meet with unranked, intra-state rival Michigan State Saturday at Cliff Keen Arena. For the Wolverines, individuals shined while overall, the team did not. "For this point in the season, we are doing great. Although it's not the con- sistent effort we'd like to see, we're getting different highlights from differ- ent guys at different times," Michigan coach Bob Darden said.. Two gymnasts in particular that are coming through with important perfor- mances for the Wolverine tumblers are juniorJason MacDonald and senior Kris Klinger. They not only performed well in the floor exercise Saturday (9.3 and 9.15 respectively), they also electrified the bipartisan crowd with their high bar routines. Klinger recorded a 9.6 and took first while MacDonald came in second with a 9.55. "(They were) phenomenal. They have the talent to take it as far as they want to go. And that's going to be a result of their continued hard training in the gym," Darden said. "We were very pleased with our se- nior leadership in Chris Onuska on his premier event, which is pommel horse." Darden said. Not only did Onuska place second in the pommel horse with 9.25, he came in second in the all around with 52.85. As far as dueling, Onuska and fellow Wolverine Flavio Martins (third in the all around with 50.5) had to contend with the Spartans' Ethan Sterk, who came in first in the all around with 54.45. Sterk finished in the top five in every event except the pommel horse in which he placed in sixth. Credit should go where it is due. Michigan State took the top four spots in the floor exercise, the top three in still rings, the top three in parallel bars and six of the top eight spots in pommel horse. A large part of this team effort came from first place finishes by junior Sam Smith, junior Joe Duda, senior Chris Skidmore and sophomore Keith Dou- glas. Smith took first in vault (9.25), Duda in both parallel bars (9.6) and rings (9.65), Skidmore in the pommel horse (9.4) and Douglas in the floor exercise (9.4). Michigan may have won some duels, but the Spartans won the overall battle. "We always have that rivalry be- tween Michigan and Michigan State. They had a down year a couple of years ago, and now they're in an upswing," Darden said. "We might be in a rebuild- ing year right now ... the guys know that. We we're working very hard to show that we have the potential, that we do have the base nucleus of what it is all about to be a team in the sport. "There's a lot of room for improve- ment, that's the upside. The downside of it, it's going to take a lot of work." SWIMMING Continued from Page 11 Big Ten champions, so it's no surprise that the team was happy about their return. "It was great to see them back in competition," sophomore Talor Bendel said. "It's great to have their enthusi- asm." There's no question that Gustin's and Jackson's contributions were key, but like Richardson said, this was a team performance. The highlights came from the entire roster. Sophomore Talor Bendel followed up her sensational 1995 Big Ten perfor- mance by taking first in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle. Her time of 49.94 in the 100 freestyle was a new Big Ten record. Another key contribution came from freshman Jen Eberwein. Eberwein won the 50-yard freestyle with a Big Ten record time of 22.86. Eberwein was also part of Michigan's record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay team. She joined Bendel, Melisa Stone and Megan Gillam in finishing with a time of 3:19.77. Eberwein paced the entire relay team; her lead leg time of 49.77 broke Bendel's previous mark. The Wolverines completely domi- nated certain events. Michigan took 1-2-4-5 in the 200- yard backstroke. Melisa Stone won the "It was great to see them back in competition. It's great to have theb enthusiasm."f -- Talor Bendel Michigan swimmer event with a time of 1:59.01. .Eberwein and Gillam joined Bendel in going 1-2-3 in the 100-yard freestyle. Junior Jodi Navta took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time 2:14.77. Sophomore Kerri Hale co - tributed arguably her best performance of the season. Hale took second in the mile and third in the 400-yard indi- vidual medley. Another sophomore who stepped up her swimming was Kim Johnson. After struggling this season, Johnson partici- pated in two of the team's record-set- ting relay teams. The numerous strong individualp formances resulted in an effort thatW volved the whole team. "It was a great team performance across the board," Richardson said. "The swimmers who were having dis- appointing performances still got be- hind their teammates. And the swim- mers who were swimming well. got behind them." Tankers are men among children By Susan Dann Daily Sports Writer The freshman members ofthe Michi- gan men's swimming team may not have earned "big men on campus" dis- tinction like some of their world-class, Olympic-caliber teammates. But this weekend, a handful of fresh- men swimmers proved they were ca- pable of performing like men among children, literally. The Michigan Open, held this week- end at Canham Natatorium and co- hosted by the Ann Arbor Swim Club and the Michigan, was an age-divi- The Michigan men's gymnastics team could not spin its way by the Spartans this weekend. clueP=#t? Hey! Are you a Michigan student thinking about becoming a UNIX Sys Admin or PC Network Engineer? Taos Mountain has internships and career opportunities for you! Come by and say, "Hi!" We'll be in the ACM Office, Room B027, North Campus Commons, Monday and Tuesday, Feb 26-27, 10 am - 4 pm. Evening Presentation & Reception: "System Administration in Silicon Valley" Room 1200, EECS building, Tuesday, Feb 27, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Meet Taos Mountain's technical recruiters. Due '.U FlU "9, / SS.,. sional meet, with participants ranging from youth to senior, for both girls and boys. Several Wolverine swimmers took to the lanes in the senior division heats, competing for the last time this season. "The meet really gives (the younger swimmers on our team) a chance to unwind after the season," coach Jon Urbanchek said. "It is a good season- ending meet for those on our team who will not be competing in the Olympic Trials or at NCAAs." Despite the lack of team awards, the meet was no less important for those who competed. "The point in the meet is to try to make (national qualifying times) and just to better our personal times," fresh- man Dawson Hughes said. "The meet is a great end to the season and gives us a chance to look forward to next season." The open-aged format contrasted with collegiate dual meets the Wolverines have competed in this season. "These are the types of meets I was swimming before I came to college, so it was a little weird to be back in the same atmosphere after competing in (college) dual meets," Hughes said. The role of a freshman on the defend- ing national champion squad is a diffi- cult one. The swimmers put in the same hours at the pool, but with the exception of a few freshmen, do not get equal time on the award podium. But their role is no less important to the team. "Some freshmen can immediately contribute to the team score," Urbanchek said. "With the other fresh- men, we need to nurture them to'con- tribute along the road." The swimming and diving team is allotted only 9.9 scholarships each year, so walk-ons fill a majority of the rost . "(Walk-ons) are equally as impW tant (as scholarship swimmers)," Urbanchek said. "With such a limited number of scholarships, the role of a walk-on is really important." The freshmen learned that Michigan swimming is a team sport. "At the beginning of the season, the upperclassmen treated us hard to stress the importance of the team," freshman David Stephens said. "It was re tough, but it's been worth it to be pa the team, being able to swim with guys who are going to the Olympics and are the best in the world." Although you may not have readtheir names in the paper, the freshmen swim- mers are really no different from the veteran Wolverines. "The young swimmers (at this weekend's meet) may not have known us as much as the big names in Mic gan swimming like Tom Dolan John Piersma, but when they see a Michigan cap, they still think it's.cool to swim against us," Hughes said. Itjust goes to show that the maize and blue are the same for the "big men" and the not-so-big-men of the Michigan swimming team. .<9:90 Mfr?.,~ U44$$*.,v- Publication Date Deadline Monday, March 11 Wednesday, February Tuesday, March 12 Wednesday, February Wednesday, March 13 Wednesday, February, 28 28 28 , 0, , Just join us.