8B, The Michigan Daily -- SPORTSMonday - February 2, 1998

SWIMMING



Richardson eclipses 100 as
Blue sinks Hoosiers, Irish.

SWIMMERS
Continued from Page 11B
More important than any personal
record, at least Richardson is his interest
in the performance of his swimmers.
"I think those things (records) other
people make a big deal of, but I'm more
interested in how we swim and how we
train leading into the meet:? Richardson
said. "I want every season -- at the end
of the season - to be able to walk away
from the season and look ourselves in
the mirror, and feel like we did it the
right way and ve did it the best way.
And if we can do that, I'm willing to let
the results fall where they may."
Richardson's efforts have paid off.
Michigan is undefeated this season and
ranked sixth in the nation. Against
Indiana, the Wolverines took first in all
but three events.
While the team has slowed training in
order to prepare for the Big Ten champi-
onships, several team members man-
aged to earn NCAA consideration
times.
While he was pleased with the
Indiana results, Richardson merely had
hoped to survive against No. 24 Notre
Dame. On Saturday, the Wolverines did
more than that - they put on a strong
showing defeating the Fighting Irish
166-124.
The dual meet was the last home meet

for Michigan's senior class.
They alwavs w ant to do well in the
last meet and y ou have that balanced
with wOhat you're trying to accomplish
three weeks from now (at the Big Ten
championships) and seven weeks from
now (at the NCAA championships),"
Richardson said.
Though they were swimming without
Bendel .who was resting after an
impressive performance Friday, the
Wolverines still had three double-event
winners in Shannon Shakespeare,
Jennifer Crisman and Linda Gallo.
Crisman, a freshman, swam to her
first consideration time in the 100-back-
stroke, with a time of 56.58 seconds.
This was especially impressive because
Crisman suffered from mononucleosis
in the fell and wasn't expected to swim
this year.
Notre Dame was led by the Big East
Conference's top middle- and long-dis-
tance swimmer, Linda Gallo, who won
the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle events.
Though the meet was another victory
for the Wolverines, for the seniors it
was truly special.
"Today was just kind of a reflective
meet," said senior Kern HMale, an Ann
Arbor native. "It was nice just to put in
a solid 400 IM. It was an emotional
race. To have all ny friends and family
come watch my last race, I couldn't
imagine anything better than that."

At the end of Friday's meet, Bendel
reflected on her last meet and the past
four years suimming under
Richardson.
"This is awesome:' said Bendel
"It's pretty exciting that he got this
record. IHe's a pretty amazing coach, he
leaves a lot up to us, which is really cool.
le shows us the way, gives us guidance,
and then lets us make adjustments with
what we need to do individually. So, it's
a pretty cool setup and I've really
enjoyed it."
Friday, Bendel (1:50.45). Linda
Riker (1:51.20) and Kasey Harris
(1:51.49) all earned consideration times
in the 200-yard freestyle. Harris als4
earned a consideration in the 200-yard
butterfly with a time of 2:01.29.
While these times aid the swimmers'
rankings, these three, as well as
Shannon Shakespeare, had previously
qualified for the tournament.
In the 400-yard individual medley,
Michigan turned in some impressive
times. While none were NCAA consid-
eration times, Richardson said th
swims were "exceptional."
Junior Jennifer Kurth, swimming in
her first meet since she separated her
shoulder in December, took third in the
event with a time of 4:32.59. Cathy
O'Neill (4:26.39) and Stephanie
Armstrong (4:26.79) took first and sec-
ond, respectively, in the event.

V LOUIS BROWN/Daily
The Michigan men's swimming and diving team had no trouble sending Indiana home with a 154-86 dual meet loss on
Saturday. The Wolverines kicked off their home season at Canham Natatorium with the victory.
Men's swimming downs Indlana

By Jacob R. Wheeler
Daily SportsWriter
Saturday was a homecoming reunion
of sorts for the Michigan men's swim-
ming team.
The Wolverines were home for the
first time this season and together as a
team for the first time in aWmost three
months.
Only Michigan's top swimmers have
seen action the Ipast two months - in
individual-oriented competitions like the
U.S. Open and the World Swimming
Championships. So it's safe to say
Indiana didn't pose much of a challenge
compared to the United States' best.
Michigan kicked off its ruby slippers,
jumped into the pool and proved there is
no place like home, soundly spanking
the Hoosiers, 154-86.
The Wolverines won every single
swimming event and swept the top three
places in the 200, 500 and 1000 meter
freestyle events.
Five race winners set NCAA consid-
eration times including senior Owen von
Richter and junior Toni Malchow, who
won two races apiece for the second
straight week.
"We had some real good swims and I
think it's a good sign that everybody was
fired up for the meet," Malchow said.
"The team's been doing about two
months of hard training with no meet to
show for it until now."
Unlike some of his teammates,

Malchow has seen plenty of action
recently. The former Olympian compet-
ed with the world's best at the World
Championships in Australia and then
faced the country's best on only three
hours of sleep last weekend in Dallas.
Fatigue like that is a yearly obstacle
for Malchow. Michigan annually sched-
ules many of its meets against top-notch
competition on the other side of the
country because Big Ten swimming just
isn't very strong.
In fact, the Wolverines have only two
full-squad meets in Canham Natatorium
this year- last Saturday's matchup and
this Friday's showdown against
Michigan State.
The Hoosiers took advantage of
Michigan's weak diving squad, placing
first and third Saturday. Michigan's Brett
Wilmot finished second. But that wasn't
enough to overcome Indiana's swim-
ming woes and it certainly didn't
improve the mood of the Hoosiers'
coaching staff.
"You don't want comments from me,"
Indiana assistant coach Bruce
Zimmerman said immediately following
the meet. "You couldn't print them."
What you could print, however, was
how close Michigan freshman Chris
Thompson came to breaking the record
former Wolverine Tom Dolan set as a
freshman. Thompson finished just 2.5
seconds from history in the 1000 free.
Thompson's swim and the five NCAA

consideration times were even more
impressive because swimmers are not
supposed to be at their best at this point
in the season.
The Wolverines are gearing up for the
Big Ten championships at the end of this
month.
"We're coming into the fine-tuning
part of the season,' Michigan coach Jon
Urbanchek said. "All the hard work is
done. Now we have to work on the
details - not as much conditioning, but
little things like improving our times."
Urbanchek hardly stressed Saturday's
meet against Indiana.
But the 16th-year coach nervously
squirmed in his chair, when asked about
the conference championship coming up
in Minneapolis.
His Wolverines have won I I of the
past 12 Big Ten titles, but the next one
could be more difficult.
Michigan just lost one of its most
accomplished senior classes to gradua-
tion, and Minnesota - which nips on
the Wolverines heels' almost every year
will - host the climactic meet.
"We didn't talk about the Indiana meet
until five minutes before it started lie
said. "In swimming, we don't want to
waste too much emotional energy.
"If we can do it physically and not
have to worry about getting mentally
picked-up for a meet like this, we can
save the mental energy for the Big Ten
championships."


WARREN ZINN/Daily
Michigan's victories over Indiana and Notre Dame this weekend were especially meaningful to Kerri Hale. All of the seniors on
the team, including Hale, swam in their last home meet on Saturday.

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