6B- The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 24, 1997
'M' tankers finish 6th at Indy
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - While David
slew Goliath, the Michigan women's
swimming team was watching from the
sideline.
As expected, a Pac-10 powerhouse
claimed the NCAA championship at
IUPUI Natatorium - but it wasn't
heavily-favored Stanford. Southern
California upended the five-time
defending champion on the strength of
a third-day surge, leaving the Cardinal
in second place. The Trojans' 406
points put them 11 ahead of Stanford.
No. 6 Michigan finished sixth with
264.5 points, despite lofty expectations
and pre-meet predictions placing them
as high as fourth. By the end of the sec-
ond day, the Wolverines were already out
of the championship hunt, 101.5 points
out of the lead.
"We're hanging in there with Auburn,
and Auburn, and ... well, Auburn,"
Michigan coach Jim Richardson said,
referring to the seventh-place Tigers.
The Wolverines had two constants
throughout the meet: Shannon
Shakespeare and Anne Kampfe. The
problem was, there wasn't much else.
The two combined for 77 individual
points. The rest of the team totaled 43.5
points in individual events.
Shakespeare had an exceptional meet.
The freshman finished second in the
100-yard freestyle, third in the 200 indi-
vidual medley and fourth in the 200 free,
as well as swimming on several
Michigan relays.
Her 100 free time of 48.55 seconds set
a Big Ten record. Her 48 individual
points were the most for the Wolverines,
and seventh-most in the meet. "There
was a lot of fast swimming, and I was
really excited to be a part of it,"
Shakespeare said.
Kampfe also stood out for the
Wolverines, finishing third in the 400 IM
and sixth in the 200 backstroke. She also
swam a leg on the 800 free relay team
that finished fifth.
But the other Wolverines didn't do
much in the individual events. The only
other Michigan swimmer to qualify for a
final was Jen Eberwein in the 50
freestyle. She finished sixth.
Last year, Talor Bendel and Kerri Hale
both finished among the top 10 individ-
ual scorers at the meet with 40 and 39
points, respectively. This year was a dif-
ferent story.
Bendel, after finishing in the top four
in two events last year and ninth in her
third, only scored points on the 200 free,
finishing 15th. Her two individual points
paled in comparison to her 40 from
1996.
But she had more on her mind than
swimming. Last Tuesday, Bendel's
grandmother passed away.
"It's hard to say (how it affected my
swimming)," Bendel said. "I think I lost
more sleep then anything, but that may
have been a big factor."
Hale failed to finish in the top 16 in
either the'400 IM or the 200 butterfly,
where she finished fourth and 10th
respectively last year. Her 1,650
o .
freestyle finish dropped to 15th from
second, giving Hale her only two indi-
vidual points of the meet.
While many Wolverines were strug.
gling in the individual events, they
excelled in the relays, as all five finished
in the top eight.
"At the beginning of the season, I did.
n't see any way that we would final in all
five relays," Richardson said.
The 400 free relay saw the Wolverine
come as close as they could to claiming
a national championship. Eberwein.
Shakespeare, Bendel and Kim Johnson
had the lead going into the final 100
yards of the event, when Stanford's
Catherine Fox recorded an amazing
48.03 final 100 to beat out Bendel by
0.47 seconds.
The Wolverines' four other relay
teams turned in excellent performances.
The 200 free relay team also finish
second; the 800 free relay, fifth; the 2
medley, sixth; and the 400 medley,
eighth.
Southern California senior Christine
Quance led the Trojans with 57 individ
ual points. Quance finished tops in the
400 IM and 200 breaststroke and second
in the 200 IM.
Martina Maravcova, a sophomore
from Southern Methodist, was the most
impressive swimmer in the meet. TlI
Slovakia native-- named Swimmer oT
the Year - won the 200 IM in a pool-
record time and claimed the 100 free
title. Maravcova claimed the 200
freestyle as well, setting an NCAA
record with a time of 1:43.08.
WARREN ZINN/Daily
S"annon Shakespeare may not have a way with words like her famous namesake, but did William ever swim this well at the
NCkA championships? Shakespeare, the swimmer, finished at least fourth in every one of her events.
L s edd upfor Michi
By Fred Unk
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - All season long,
Michigan women's swimming coach
Jim Richardson has emphasized sacri-
ficing regular-season success for post-
season glory.
As the fatigued
Woerines suf-
fered through a a
three-meet losing
streak following a
grueling training
trip, Richardson
insisted that the
dual-meet season
didn't matter.
Midhigan, he said,,
would be fast when it counted - at the
NCAA championships.
A sixth-place finish at the NCAAs
may lead some Michigan fans to wonder
what happened to the promised post-sea-
son pay-off.
Despite the sixth-place finish, the pay-
dff was there. Several Wolverines posted
personal bests, and as a team, Michigan
improved on its projected score by 50
points.
- So why did a team that finished in the
top three at the NCAAs for the past two
seas.Qns fall to sixth this year?
Losing swimmers to graduation and
injuries has certainly contributed to
Michigan's drop from the top three.
With the graduation of Beth Jackson,
Michigan lost a swimmer who had fin-
ished in the top four in both backstroke
events in 1996.
The Wolverines have also been with-
out All-American Rachel Gustin, who
had season-ending shoulder surgery in
October.
"She's the type of swimmer that's a 60-
point swimmer for you," Richardson
said. "You can't give up 60 points, not in
a year like this."
But blaming graduation and injuries
for the Wolverines' decline, however, is
ignoring the larger picture - collegiate
swimming is getting faster, and
Michigan is struggling to keep up.
This year's championship featured the
fastest field of swimmers ever at an
NCAA meet. As a result, scoring points
became more difficult.
"You're seeing, at 16th place, the
fastest women's swimming meet in the
history of the world, including the
Olympics," Richardson said.
Last year, a time of 50.26 was good
enough to qualify for the championship
final in the 100-yard freestyle. In this
season's NCAAs, 20 swimmers were at
least that fast.
One reason why Michigan was not
able to keep pace with the faster teams
was the decision by some swimmers not
to compete over the summer.
"Taking the entire summer off and not
racing is like getting off of a moving
train," Richardson said. "You can get
back on the train, but your not going to
get back on in the same place"
Several Michigan swimmers who
competed over the summer showed sig-
nificant improvements in their times
from last season, but it wasn't enough to
keep pace with the elite teams.
in the 50 free, Jen Eberwein improved
her time from 22.99 last year to 22.63,
yet fell from fourth to sixth.
"There were 22 women in this meet
who broke 23 seconds flat (in the 50
free)," Richardson said. "Jennie
Eberwein last year swam a 23.0 and
finished fourth; 22.9 is 22nd in this
meet."
Richardson cited an influx of talented
freshman and the presence of an increas-
ing number of foreign Olympians
Richardson as contributing to the faster
times.
"It's too bad we only had one scholar-
ship to deal with this year," Richardson
said. "It was a great recruiting year."
For Michigan, freshman and
Canadian Olympian Shannon
Shakespeare has proven to be a great
addition, but in this year's field she
wasn't enough to keep the Wolverines
from slipping.
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Kerri Hale and the rest of the Wolverines hoped to splash onto the scene in Indianapolis this past weekend, but they fell
short. Michigan failed to finish in the top three for the first time in three years.
Poetic justice for Blue's Shakespeare
PARADISE*
Continued from Page 3B
In fact, Hutchins has done quite well
recruiting in California. The
Wolverines currently have six players
from the state on their roster - not
bad, considering the average tempera-
ture in Ann Arbor during January is 17
degrees.
Y"We work hard at the right things in
recruiting," Hutchins said. "Sara
Griffin is a great example. I tell kids, 'If
you don't want to go to a great school
and play softball, then this isn't the
lace.' We're not about the weather."
The Wolverines are about winning.
They are the only program in school his-
tory never to record a losing season, and
they've done this despite having to prac-
tice indoors a large part of each season.
Still, while the Wolverines can com-
ete with the Arizonas and the UCLAs,
they aren't at that level. Not quite.
In the College World Series the past
two years, Michigan is 0-4. There is no
guarantee that the Wolverines will even
make it back to the CWS this year. It
doesn't help that for the first time ever,
the Big Ten has four teams ranked in the
top 10 (No. 6 Iowa, No. 8 Michigan
State, No. 9 Michigan and No. 10
Minnesota).
"I really believe this is the toughest
the conference has ever been,"
Hutchins said. "We've got to be consis-
tent and play our best ball every time
we walk on the field."
They haven't done that yet.
The Wolverines are 25-8-1, but only
three of those losses were to ranked
teams and only one was to a team (No.
4 South Carolina) ranked higher than
them.
Because of this, Michigan has fallen
from its No. 5 preseason ranking,
which was the highest ranking in
school history.
"I feel like we're not peaking yet,"
Hutchins said. "But that's good. We're
a little inconsistent. We still have work
to do. We don't just get to be in the Big
Ten championship game."
But odds are, the Wolverines will be
there.
Now that their home schedule is final-
ly about to start (Wisconsin comes to
town next Saturday), they should reel off
some victories. Their record at home
over the past two years is 23-3 and 20-1,
respectively. They'll need a similar mark
this season to capture the Big Ten again.
But with an improving conference, it
won't be easy.
"It makes repeating the title even
more of a challenge," Hutchins said,
"with so many good teams among the
(top) 10 softball-playing schools."
So, how will the Wolverines handle
the improved Big Ten?
Here's a guess. They'll instill the same
strategy they use for the weather.
They'll deal with it.
- Barry Sollenberger can be
reached over e-mail at
jsol@unmich.edu.
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Shannon
Shakespeare may be a freshman, but
she sure doesn't swim like it.
In a year when freshman made an
immediate impact on the NCAA
meet, the Winnipeg, Manitoba, native
was one of the best in the class.
"She's just a very gifted athlete,"
Michigan coach Jim Richardson said.
"And I think the big thing was that I
didn't do anything to mess her up this
year."
At the NCAA championships this
weekend, Shakespeare made a state-
ment.
But as usual, her statement was in
actions rather than words. She led all
Michigan swimmers, finished seventh
overall in the meet with 48 individual
points, and also swam a leg on four of
the Wolverines' five relays.
Shakespeare finished in the top
four of all three of her individual
events.
There were other great swimmers
in the freshman crop this year.
Catherine Fox, Stanford's two-time
Olympic gold medalist, claimed two
individual titles and finished third in
another.
Kristy Kowal, Georgia's newcomer,
finished second in both the 100- and
200-yard breaststroke and ninth in the
200 individual medley.
But what separates Shakespeare
from the others is the person, not the
swimmer, according to her coach.
"She's a great racer, a great com-
petitor and a really good team per-
son," Richardson said. "She's fun to
have around."
After setting two Big Ten records at
Big.Tens last month, all Shakespeare
could say was how happy she was for
her team. After finishing third in the
200 IM Thursday, she said she was
lucky just to make the finals.
Such a modest, soft-spoken attitude
is not common among stand-out ath-
letes. After Southern California
senior Kristine Quance won the 400
IM, she said her coach had to remind
her that she can't "take these races for
granted."
Shakespeare is "such a good fit for
our program because we speak the
same language - and I don't mean
English," Richardson said. "The
things that are most important we're
in agreement on, and a lot of those
things aren't swimming."
(Shakespeare@*
is) a great racer, ,a
,great competitor
and a really good
team person.
- Jim Richardson
Michigan women's swimming
coac
Some of those things are her fami-
ly and friends, doing well in school,
and having a social life that has char-
acter in it, according to Richardson.
"I like to spend time with- my
friends and my-family, and do a lot of
training and get a lot of rest,"
Shakespeare said. "I try to get. my
social time in and just relax."
But make no mistake about its'
swimming is a very important part of
Shakespeare's-life.
Shakespeare is 19 years old, - and
only 1 1/2 months from her 20th
birthday - a year older than the aver-
age Michigan freshman.
She opted to delay her freshman
year to train for the 1996 Summer
Olympics, in which she competed for
Canada.
.WANEDO
BUSINESS-
FRESHPERSONS
SOPHOMORES
I
:9
ii. .1
- Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals & Heterosexuals
intergroup Dialogues are face-to-face meetings of individuals from a
variety of identity groups. Dialogues, readings, experiential exercises
and journals are incorporated into the process of working across anc
within lines of difference and similarity.
t N s a ob i JOb
(Not your typical job interview!)
C"
I
i