The Michigan Daily - SPQRTSMonday - December 8, 1997 - 3B *Wolverines fall short in U.S. Open r .IIII I I I. By Mark Francescutti .aily Sports Writer The U.S. Open came and went for the Michigan men's swimming team, and e displayed emotion was complacency. ;.The tournament brought many top 'wimmers from around the world, including several national clubs. Many of the other countries use the times from c U.S. Open as factors to select their am members, whereas the U.S. team as decided in the qualifying tourna- f nt held this past summer. The individual-based U.S. Open, which has little importance for most of the Wolverines other than warming up Tor the FINA World Championships next month - was extremely impor- tant for two swimmers for that very reason. Michigan swimmers Owen von Richter and Mike McWha both wanted to represent Canada at next month's championships, but to qualify for the Canadian team, they needed top times in events at the U.S. Open. Although McWha took third in the 1,500-meter freestyle and fifth in the 200 free, he fell short of the times he needed to qualify. Von Richter earned second place with time of 3:57.01 in the 400 free, miss- ing first by .19 seconds. He also won sixth place in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:33.36, but still couldn't muster the times to qualify. "Owen was feeling sick and had a lit- tle trouble breathing," senior Chris Laskowski said. "Both swam well:' One of the highlights of the tourna- .M'swimm ment was Laskowski, Scott Werner, Ryan Papa, and Tom Malchow in the 400 medley relay. Their performance in the relay gave Michigan a close third- place time. But the most exciting event for the Wolverines was Tom Malchow's second- place performance in the 200 butterfly. "Malchow had a great 200 butterfly, it was a pretty inspired race,' Laskowski said. Although some Wolverines were happy with their performances, many swimmers struggled due to the lack of preparation. For the Wolverines, the tournament just wasn't as important to them as it was to many of the other swimmers. "A lot of the competition was from other countries to qualify for the world championships," Chris Thompson said. "A lot of the people were shaved and tapered; we were just swimming and doing the best we could." The Wolverines, however, did have their moments. The team earned a sec- ond-place finish behind Southern California among all the universities attending. Senior Ryan Papa, who raced in both third-place team relays, also earned a 10th-place finish in the 100-meter back- stroke. Other Michigan swimmers who placed in the top 20 in events include Chris Thompson - who earned a fourth-best time behind Malchow in the 1,500 free - Werner, Derya Buyukuncu and Mike O'Connor. "It was a solid meet, we weren't expecting too much," Laskowski said. "We weren't focusing on getting the best times possible in this meet. Other than the two Canadians, we just wanted to race top people." The U.S. Open also pitted the Wolverines against some old Michigan faces - 1996 Olympic gold-medalist Tom Dolan and Gustavo Borges. Dolan, who dominated in the prelimi- nary rounds, placing in the. top 10 in many of the events, faltered a bit in the final rOUrids. "Dlolai i, (aMls) had a little trouble swi mmii g as far as breathing," Laskows ki said. The Wolverines will take a month break bed orre the Wvorld Champi onships in Perth, Australia. Wolve rines who have qualified and the countries that they will represent include, Papa (Phi 1ipines), Buyukuncu (Turkey), Francisco Suriano Sits (Singapore), and Maichow (USA). ALAN GOLDEN BACH The Bronx Bomber Traitor 1s like Br own shown upbyloyalA't like Donnanz s much as he is a Michigan man, Bo Schembechler probably wishes he coul be a North Carolina man. Just for a day, at least, before he returns to his Blue oots. If placed in that capacity, Schembechler would have the opportunity to: re-enact his greatest moment as Michigan's athletic director, a position he held briefly from 1988-90, in between the tenures of Don Canham and Jack Weidenbach. That moment was one when he made a decision that some questioned as rash and many thought would upset a very good Michigan team. Without a doubt, though, the move was bold. It was the eve of the 1989 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Wolverines' coach, Bill Frieder, had announced that he was leaving his post effective the end of Michigan's run in the tournament to take the same job at Arizona State, albeit with a meatier salary and less snow on his doorstep. But the greedy Frieder was hit with a sharp message from the Michigan Athletic Department. Schembechler dismissed Frieder, forcing him to begin his tenure in Tempe a little bit earlier than he wanted. "I did not want someone from ASU," said Schembechler, March 15, 1989. "I wanted a Michigan man on the bench, not an ASU coach:' We all know what Frieder's replacement, Steve Fisher, did with the Wolverines i the two weeks following that announcement. This decision surprised people because taking a new job before the current ones duties were completed was commonplace. When Schembechler put his foot down and deemed loyalty more important than victories, the public was thrown for a loop Luckily, for Schembechler and Michigan, they got both. Now, 8 1/2 years after the fact, Schembechler, if given the opportunity to be a North Carolina man, would give Tar Heels head football coach Mack Brown a piece of his mind. Something, in fact, that is a little more piercing since both cone from the school of the gridiron. s Brown has had a remarkable career in Chapel Hill, taking a pulseless team that won only two games his first two seasons to a 65-35-1 mark in the next seven years. This season was by far the most succesful in North Carolina football history,' as the Tar Heels went 10-1, finished No. 7 in the AP poll and are headed to a berih$ in the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day. But last Thursday, Brown accepted the recently vacated head coaching job at Texas, a program with a prestigious past but a perilous present, going just 4-7 this year, its worst mark since 1956. The past, as well as the $600,000-a-year salary, were enough to encourage Brown to flee westward. Yet "his" decision on whether to coach the Tar Heels in their season finale is still up in the air. "What I have to do is to decide whether or not I will be a distraction by coming back to North Carolina,' Brown said at his press conference in Austin. "The only: thing that matters is that the Tar Heels get l I wins and finish in the top five." Where's Bo when you need him to lay down the law? North Carolina Athletic Director Dick Baddour should have told Brown not to bother coming back to Chapel Hill on the basis of that comment alone. Talk about a warped sense of loyalty. Brown says he "only" cares about the Tar Heels winning 11 games and a top-five finish. But then he goes and jumps ship. "We hated to leave Chapel Hill because we loved Chapel Hill and we were so close to that team,' the backstabbing Brown said. "It was hard to leave, but that's a good thing." So what if North Carolina doesn't win the Gator Bowl. No 11 victories. No top- five finish. Does Brown still care? Nope. Brown should be the absolute last person to decide whether he has a last hurrah in the baby blue. As far as Baddour is concerned, he should be telling his offensive and defensive coordinators to come up with a plan for their next game because it sure isn't going to be Brown doing that. But just when we see a turncoat like Brown, someone from the Schembechler school of loyalty steps forward. Georgia coach Jim Donnan, whose Bulldogs have an Outback Bowl appointment See GOLDENBACH, Page 8 FILE PHOTO Mike McWha took third in the 1500-meter freestyle: at this weekend's U.S. Open, but still failed to qualify for next month's World Chamiponships in Australia. ers blow competition out of water Harris becomes first Wolverine to qualify for NCAA championships with record swim By Uma Subramanian Daily Sports Writer Talk about starting out with a bang. Last weekend, at the Notre Dame swimming and diving invitation- al, Kasey Harris was the first Michigan swimmer to qualify for the NCAA championships in March. In addition to qualifying, her ; ime of 1:58.72 in the 200-yard s butterfly places her in the Big< Ten record books with the fourth-fastest time in conference history. She also set pool and meet ecords in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys as well as swimming on the record-break- ing relay teams. For Michigan, the best part is Harris hat she's only a freshman. Her performance helped Michigan finish in first place overall in the meet with 1,035 points. The Wolverines set meet and pool records in almost every event in which they were entered. The only events in which they didn't set records were the 200 freestyle, 500 free, and the 1,650 free. While Harris began the domination, seniors Linda Riker, Rachel Gustin, and Talor Bendel completed it. The foursome won 10 events; the culmination being * Women's swimming statistics i i 1 1 1 the 400 medley relay (3:47.36), where they won the event by eight seconds and broke the pool record by five seconds. "We had probably our best effort of the season," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "Considering nearly everyone was ill coming into the meet, we were merely hoping to compete. But, we had a great meet." Depth was a big factor for the Wolverines. Although several of the star swimmers struggled, freshmen like Jennifer Crisman and Stephanie Armstrong stepped in and contributed. This could be an indication of the quality of this season's Michigan team. Seriously weakened due to the flu, the Wolverines were able to overcome the illnesses and swim with enthusiasm. "There was so much spirit," Harris said. "I think that was one of the things that was definitely pushing me during the race. We knew we could struggle, but we came out with a winners' mentality." That winners' mentality is what has allowed Harris to already make her mark on the Michigan team. "I think she ranks up there with some of the very best swimmers we've had come to the program," Richardson said. All season long, Harris had been very close to qualifying for the NCAAs. Her drive for succe ;s is what appears to have pro- pelled her toward her ;goal. "I really wanted to ;et the automatic (bid)," Harris said. "I came into this meet determined to get it, and I did. Between now aid then, I'd really like to lower my time a lot more." It i every swimme r's dream to qualify and swim in the Olympic Games. Michigan has two fbrmer swimmers and one cur- rent, Shannon Shakespeare, who have reached that ultimate goal. Perhaps Harris will be the next to join those ranks. "She definitely ha:. the potential to get there," Richardson said. "She's already on the U.S. Sydney 2000 team, which is t group of kids tracked by the U.S. Swimming organization to make the Olympic team." But for Hearris, the rost important thing that is her motivation is her love of the sport. "I'm not only swimiming just to get there," Harris said. "I just want to keep swimming and just enjoy it. As long as it's fun, I'll keep going." The Wolverines are: next headed to Hawaii where they will have an intensive three-week training peri- od. During this time, the other swimmers who are very close to qualifying fo r the NCAAs, will try to shave the remaining few seconds off their times. ,.. ----- Michigan set pool and meet records in all but three events in South Bend over the weekend. .3 This occurred while more than half of the team was suffering ! from various illnesses. 4? LIKE NORTH CAMPUS? YOU'LL LOVE .WILLOW TREE! : 1 and 2 bedrooms : Plenty of Free parking Now leasing for Winter, spring, Summer and Fall TWILLOW TREE APARTMENTS 769-1313 ;Look for us at the U-M Housing Fair! EHO /'' it ,k ;9 . ~ -ks-. *I,~ , .r:.