The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 26, 1997 - 11

.Women's
track
nears
*NCAAs
By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
The camera zooms to focus on the
hand of our hero, struggling to maintain
a grasp on the crumbling edge of the
cliff, pulling against all odds to reach the
glory of the peak and the chance to fight
on for one more day.
The camera zooms to our hero's face.
Indiana Jones? Batman?
To the shock of the audience, no - it
is any one of the athletes on the
Michigan women's track team.
Figuratively, of course.
Saturday's Silverston Invitational at
Michigan's Track and Tennis Building is
the last chance for each Wolverine to turn
in a performance good enough to qualify
them for an individual event in the
CAA championship, which take place a
ewk from Friday in Indianapolis.
Okay, soit isn't exactly a matter of life
and death, but NCAAs are not only the
last meet of the season, but also a chance
to earn honor on a national level.
Michigan will probably not qualify
enough people to make an impact on the
team competition at nationals, but that
doesp't mean individual Wolverines
might not have the chance to win per-
sonal glory in a specific event
As of now, several Wolverines are tee-
tering precariously on the edge of
NCAA qualification. The NCAA main-
tains two standards of acceptance -
provisional and automatic. If an athlete's
performance is better than the automatic
standard, then a bid to nationals is guar-
anteed. If, however, an athlete only man-
ages to achieve a provisional qualifica-
tion, the possibility of being bumped by
someone else's better time persists.
0 So far, no one on Michigan's roster
hars slipped in under the automatic qual-
ification standards, but some
Wolverines do have strong enough pro-
visional marks to almost guarantee a
spot at the NCAAs.
Sophomore Nicole Forrester has the
best chance to go to nationals with a
season-best height of 5-foot-I 1 1/2 in
the, high jump. It is doubtful that
enough of the other provisional quali-
Ors will have heights good enough to
ock her out of a championship bid.
But after remaining undefeated for
the entire indoor season, Forrester only
managed a second-place finish at last
'ee1kend's Big Ten championships.
In the 1996 Big Ten outdoor champi-
onships, Forrester also failed to live up
to the high expectations placed upon
her, falling out of competition before
See NCAAs, Page 12

Ranked opponents next for Blue
Plocki prepares women tumblers for tough spring-break road trip

By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
In "The Empire Strikes Back," the
great teacher Yoda encourages young
Luke Skywalker to stay behind and
thoroughly learn the Jedi trade before
going off to fight Darth Vader. Yoda
favors the strategy of coaching his stu-
dent before the boy goes off to face his
ultimate challenge.
Not all coaches would agree with
Yoda's strategy. One of those is
Michigan women's gymnastics coach
Bev Plocki. She doesn't mind matching
her team up with its ultimate challenge
before the season's climax.
"I could make a schedule every year
in which we were undefeated," Plocki
said. "But that's not the kind of coach I
am."
Plocki's desire to face the nation's
toughest competition before the NCAA
championship (the team's most critical
test) is reflected in next week's sched-
ule.
The No. 4 Wolverines will face three
ranked teams on the road: No. 3 Utah,
No. 14 Brigham Young and No. I
Georgia. The trip begins Friday at Utah,
and Michigan concludes its longest
road trip of the year on March 8 in
Athens, Ga., against the top-ranked
Bulldogs.
The week's matchups will probably
preview the NCAA championship, and

Michigan will find out if it deserves to
be mentioned in the same breath with
teams like Utah and Georgia.
"We have to make the big push,"
Plocki said. "We need to be able to go
in there and hit our routines."
On Friday in Salt Lake City the
Wolverines will go in as underdogs. But
lately, they have been attaining higher
all-around scores than Utah. Even
though Michigan fell to UCLA last
weekend, it climbed higher in national
ranking points.
"Losing to UCLA didn't do anything
destructive to our team," Plocki said.
"We're definitely going to be up for this
trip. It's fun to compete at Utah and
Georgia because they draw big
crowds."
Competing at those arenas, howev-
er, might make winning very diffi-
cult. Utah hasn't lost a home meet in
years and has scored a full two points
higher at home this season than on the
road. It also holds the edge over
Michigan in three out of the four
apparatuses.
The Utes' strongest event is the bal-
ance beam, in which they have aver-
aged a 49.059, the nation's best score
in that apparatus. Utah boasts the
nation's second- and third-best per-
formers on the beam in Traci Sommer
and Summer Reid. Meanwhile, the
balance beam is Michigan's weakest

event. Still, Plocki is optimistic.
"I believe we can do it,' she said.
"When we hit (our routines), we're4-
tastic, and anything can happen on any
given day." -
Defeating Georgia this season, how-
ever, may be a fantasy at best. The
Bulldogs have put together a dreamsea-
son that began with an upset of pres-
son favorite and defending chantjpn
UCLA.
Since then, Georgia has amassedn
average all-around score of 196.154,
high above that of No. 2 Alabama_.;
The Bulldogs lead the rest of alc
nation in three out of four apparati-
es, including a 49.531 on the VaU4.
Overall, they boast three of thctqP
four gymnasts in the nation in Karta
Lichey, Kim Arnold and Lah
Brown.
Naturally, Plocki isn't demanding a
win from her team. That nrighlit e
improbable.
"I will not be disappointed iue
don't beat Georgia," she said. "But, I
will be disappointed if we- don't get
some good road scores."
Michigan will likely- see t e
Bulldogs again in the NCAA chanigi-
onship, judging from the way the tjo
teams have fared all year. So, likct e
epic George Lucas saga, we'll have to
wait for the next episode to see who
will win the ultimate battle.

JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daiy
The Michigan women's gymnastics team is preparing to face some tough competi-
tion on the road, including No. 3 Utah, No. 14 Brigham Young and No. 1 Georgia.

Tankers aim to regain title

I6

By T.J. Berka
Daily Sports Writer
Going into this weekend's Big Ten
championship meet in Bloomington, the
Michigan men's swimming and diving
team is taking a new approach. Instead
of being the hunted, the Wolverines are
among the hunters, out to strip
Minnesota of its title.
Last season the Golden Gophers
broke a 10-year Michigan winning
streak at the Big Ten meet. While many
of the Wolverines were at the U.S.
Olympic Trials at this time last year,
Michigan is intent on making up for last
season and restaking its claim as the top
team in the conference.
"The senior class is very fired up for
this meet, Michigan coach Jon
Urbanchek said. "They have been
encouraging the young guys to dig deep
and swim their best."
A telltale sign in the swimming com-
munity that a big meet is coming up is
the practice of shaving and tapering.
Predictably, the Wolverines have
brought out the razors and lessened
their workload in preparation for this
weekend.
"Normally before dual meets, we go
through the normal training process until
the night before the meet and we don't

shave for dual meets, Urbanchek said.
"In this sport,, you can't go week after
week at your best, so you save your best
for the big meets."
To get the best results possible, the
Wolverines are looking for a big show-
ing on the final day of the three-day
event.
On the third day, the lineup calls for
the 200 butterfly, with Olympic silver
medalist Tom Malehow; the 1650
freestyle, which freshman Mike
McWha has dominated this season;
and the 500 freestyle, in which
Michigan boasts Malchow, McWha,
captain John Piersma and Andy Potts.
Derya Buyukuncu also looks strong in
the 100 and 200 backstroke events.
The Wolverines will probably need
strong performances in these events,
because Minnesota has the advantage on
the first day. The first day features main-
ly sprint events, the Golden Gophers'
specialty.
"We will fall behind the first day, but
we can win if we do great the second day
and perform the way we should perform
on the last day," Urbanchek said.
Another thing that sets the Big Tens
apart from normal dual meets is the
scoring. The first 16 places receive
points in each event, as opposed to the

first five places in dual meets.
Therefore, the Big Ten champion
needs depth-something which con-
cerns Urbanchek.
"It's possible to not win a single event
but still win the meet," Urbanchek said.
"We are a little low on depth, as we
have four guys who have never swam at
this level before. It will be interesting to
see how they do."
Another thing the Wolverines hope to
accomplish is to qualify for the NCAA
Championships, which are March 27-29
in Minneapolis.
"Winning is not enough this week-
end," Urbanchek said. "We need a lot of
guys to make the qualifying standard for
the NCAA meet also."
The hunters are ready and at their
peak, as the Wolverines approach the
meet having completely recovered from
their battles with the flu and with asth-
ma. Due to this, Michigan is ready to
close in for the kill.
"We should be able to win if everyone
contributes, digs deep down within
themselves, and are ready-to re-establish
Michigan as the team to beat;'
Urbanchek said.

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