- ----- - ---
SO-0 .6 , t t 6ini CAPS
MEN'S COLLEGE (16) W. KENTUCKY 89
BASKETBALL New Orleans 60
(22) Xavier 91, PRO
LaSalle 59 BASKETBALL
(7) CONNECTICUT 90 WASHINGTON 113,
Villanova 65 Detroit 101
WOMEN'S CLEVELAND 109,
BASKETBALL Minnesota 99
(15) DUKE 79 MIAMI 90.
Wake Forest 55 Atlanta 83
Pboen x 106.
PHILADELPHIA 97
PRO
HOCKEY
NY Islanders 4.
PITTSBURGH 2
New Jersey 1
OTTAWA 0
Buffalo 7,
Toronto 3
S11e idkjx sl
Tracking 'M' teams
All Michigan varsity teams get a rest today. The
Michigan wrestling team takes on Michigan State
tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
February 3, 1998 ..
D
F eshman
Freshman
flirts with
personal
record
B Rick Freeman
DAily Sports Writer
Chris Thompson hauled himself
out of the water, dripping with dis-
appointment.
Well, not completely - he just
won the 1,000-yard freestyle for
Michigan in Saturday's dual meet
with Indiana, but he missed his per-
sonal best by the slimmest of mar-
gins - three-tenths of a second.
In mid-season, laid-back dual
meets, especially against weak Big
Ten foes, swimmers sometimes have
to find other things to compete
against besides the other swim-
mers.
Thompson was very pleased with
his swimming in practice the week
before the meet, and he wanted that
to carry over into his race - which
it did. Just not enough.
Unseen by anyone else,
Thompson made a few small errors
that, all tolled, probably amounted
to around .3 seconds. A few turns
too far from the wall to allow a
good push. A sporadic breathing
pattern.
And the hope for a personal best
eas dashed, dissipated like a kick
that only finds water.
M As he walked to the warm-down
jool he passed Michigan coach Jon
Urbanchek.
"Hey, don't worry about it, people
don't know your personal best,"
Urbanchek said. "At least show
some sign of outward happiness,
though."
"l'm'ri wxorking on it." Thompson
said.
Tl he little mistakes he niade
See THOMPSON Page 12
Filling
the seats
- , :..
, __
J f
'
'M' hopes new marketing tactics
will draw more to women's hoops
0
By Tracy Sandler
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan has a plan. Whether or
not it is going to work remains to be
seen. Nonetheless, the plan is in place
and the preparations have begun.
What is this plan, you ask? It's a
plan to make women's basketball a
premiere sport at the University of
Michigan. You may be thinking to
yourself - not a chance.
Mi c hi g a n ,
under the direc- The Plan
tion of Athletic
Director 'Tom Michigan's plant
Goss, has basketball a pre
installed a multi-
year plan to U This year, Mic
increase interest ed members of t
in women's bas- through mail ma
ketball. Michigan et giveaways an
Director of advertising.
Marketing Jody V Next year, Mi
Humphries said. the free ticket d
The plan was put offer discount tic
into effect at the
beginning of this
season.
Other schools have done it - it is
possible.
Tennessee's average home atten-
dance is 13,936. On Jan. 3. in a game
against Connecticut, the Lady
Volunteers drew a crowd of 24,597
fans.
A little closer to home and in the
Big Ten. Wisconsin has also made
similar strides in the sport. For the
Badgers, the change began during the
1994-95 season, when current coach
Jane Albright-Dieterle hit the scene
in Madison.
First of all ,Wisconsin Sportt
Information Director Tamara Flarup
a,
i
f
li
said that Albright-Dieterle requires
her players to do six hours a month of
community service during the season
and three hours a month during the
offseason.
Aside from community service,
Flarup also said the marketing, which
is targeted toward families, has
kicked in. The school's average atten-
dance for women's games has jumped
from 1.770 in 1993-94 to 9,485
through the first
eight home games
this season.
to make women's "Michigan has
miere sport: an energetic new
coach in Sue
higan has target- Guevara, as We
he community do," Flarup said,
rketing, free tick- "Our closest pro-
d newspaper. tessional team is
75 miles away
chigan will stop whereas yours is
istribution and 45 miles away. So,
icket'packages.there are similari-
ties between the
two programs."
In this first year. Michigan's main
targets have been families and mem-
bers of the community. The
University has a mailing list of one
million people who have beef
exposed to the school's marketing so
far.
Humphries also said that Michigan
has a huge number of direct ticket,
mailings and that the university has
sent information and a large number
of complimentary tickets to Junior
high schools, high schools, girl
scouts and boy scouts, church groups!
and summer basketball leagues.
"We have promotional items, such
See SEATS, Page *12
JOHN KRAFT ~ad
Michigan women's basketball coach Sue Guevara would like the fans to have just as much enthusiasm for her team as she
does. The program hopes to attract more attention and bigger crowds with a new marketing strategy.
Catrabone, Richardson go down
Little Caesas
P ilzflSTflhIOM®
\'
~, ~,<
~ K
Every Wednesday
By Evan Braunstein
Daily Sports Wnitcr
There was some rIumbling in
Buffalo last night.
The titans of college \\wrestling facedr
one another in the 1998 National
Wrestling Coaches Association All-
Star Classic at the University of
Buffalo last night.
The tournament selects the top two
wrestlers in each weight class to face
off against each other in a dual meet of
mammoth proportions.
Michigan sent its two top grapplers
- No. 2 Airron Richardson at heavy-
weight and No. 3 Jeff Catrabone at 167
pounds.
Catrabone, who was not scheduled
to compete, was able to wrestle in the
meet when top-ranked Joe Williams of
Iowa pulled out with an injury.
Catrabone faced fourth-ranked
Brandon Slay of Pennsylvania, who
wrestled in place of No. 2 Mark Smith
of Oklahoma State.
These two All-Stars had met only
once before - in last year's NCAA
national championship tournament,
when Slav defeated Catrabone.
Favored in the match, Catrabone
hoped to avoid a similar result this
time around.
But he did not succeed, losing a
close 3-1 decision in the final seconds
of the bout.
Dead-even throughout most of the
match, Slay managed an escape in the
second period to take the lead, 1-0.
Catrabone evened the score at one
point apiece in the third period, but
Slay scored a takedown with two see-
onds remaining in regulation to take
the victory.
It was one of only three upsets in the
meet, and Catrabones second loss of
the season.
Richardson suffered the same fate -
as his teammate, losing 3-1 to top-*
ranked Stephen Neal of Cal-State.
Bakersfield.
Neal scored early in the match with
a takedown in the first period, and an
escape in the second period put him
up 3-0. Richardson'\ third-period
escape 'was the only point he could
muster.
The loss also was only Richardson's
second on the season, w ith both
defeats coming at the hands of Neal.
Catrabone, Richardson and the rest@
of the Wolverines will take on
Michigan State tomorrow night in
Last Lansing.
Michigan's Airron
Richardson (22-
2) fell to Cal-
Bakersfield's
Stephen Neal
(24-0) in a 3-1
decision yester-
day night at the
NWCA All-Star
Classic hosted by.
the University of
Buffalo .
&4
0
FILE PHOTO
I
-1 1
T
'he Daily's books are in
A limited-edition first printing of The Michigan
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Championship Season," is now available at the
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coverage available of Michigan's football season
along with breathtaking photography.
I!
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