14A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 28, 1999
Blue to host area
schools Saturday
Freshman Okenwa out to fast start
Duke tops 'Heels
By Ron Garber
For the Daily
The state's track and field brag-
ging rights are on the line as the
Michigan Intercollegiate track meet
pits Michigan's six Division I track
teams against each other this
Saturday at the Michigan Indoor
Track Building.
Field events are slated to begin at
4:30 p.m. and running events will
commence an hour later.
Michigan men's;
track and field
coach Ken Harvey n
called the upcom-
ing tilt the "best
quality meet that
(the team) has
seen so far," as
two of the schools
Michigan will
face are Michigan
State and Eastern Harvey
Michigan.
Michigan has competed against
Eastern twice already this year and
Harvey said the Eagles are the
favorite to win the meet.
Eastern's team boasts former
Nigerian Olympic team member
Clement Chikuwu. Chikuwu, the
reigning Mid-American Conference
runner of the week, has had quite a
season to date.
Not only has he run the fastest
400- meter time in the nation, but he
has also turned in the second fastest
200 time in the country.
Chikuwu, however, is not the only
star Nigerian sprinter that will be
competing on Saturday.
Michigan's Ike Okenwa, a fresh-
man and also a native of Nigeria, will
be competing against Chikuwu in the
200 as well as in the 4x400 relay.
Okenwa, who said he is looking
forward to running against Chikuwu,
has enjoyed success of an unexpected
magnitude this year.
He has won his past two individual
races, the 200 two weeks ago at the
Michigan Quadrangle and the 60 last
weekend at the Red Simmons
Invitational.
In addition to having to worry
about Chikuwu, Okenwa also expects
to be pushed hard by teammate Steve
Jenkins, who Okenwa said is "amaz-
ing out of the starting blocks."
Several other Wolverines are com-
ing off impressive finishes at the Red
Simmons Invitational, which
Michigan won, and expect big per-
formances on Saturday.
Patrick Johannson (35 lb. weight
throw), and Josh Sellers (600) both
won their events.
Also notable are the performances
of Chris Dewitt, who took second in
the pole vault, and freshman Derek
Applewhite, Okenwa's roommate,
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - For one
game, Duke-Carolina was replaced by
Avery-Cota.
The point guards stood out in an epic
matchup last night as No. 2 Duke beat
No. 10 North Carolina 89-77 in the lat-
est edition of college basketball's pre-
mier rivalry.
"When you look at the history of this
series, that matchup tonight was a pret-
ty good one," Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said of his William Avery
against North Carolina's Ed Cota.
"Both of them played a great game. You
just saw two of the better point guards
in the country."
Avery barely prevailed in the
matchup with Cota.
Avery finished with 21 points and
five assists, while Cota had 20 points
and seven assists. Avery, who had seven
turnovers in the first half in an overtime
win over St. John's on Sunday, finished
with just one, while Cota, who was
bothered by a pulled muscle in his left
leg, had five.
"I was trying to push him hard the
entire second half," Avery said "His
team feeds off him in so many ways. As
he goes, they go."
Still, Avery said it was never he and
Cota but rather Duke and Carolina.
"Maybe when I was younger I would
have looked at it like that,"said Avery, a
sophomore.
Cota, a junior, had four points over
the final 18 minutes when he was obvi-
ously bothered by the leg cramps.
"Every time I moved I just pulled my
muscle, Cota said. "I was doing a lot
of penetration out there and that kind of
hurt my legs a little bit. I'm not going to
use that as an excuse or anything. Had I
not gotten hurt I know I could have
done some better things out there.
"They were denying me the basket-
ball, Cota said of the deciding stretch.
"I didn't do a good job of freeing
myself up. I really couldn't make any
cuts because of my muscle. We just did-
n't the execution done."
It was the Blue Devils' 15th straight
victory overall and their 33rd in a row
at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
In the rivalry of the schools just eight
miles apart, Duke (20-1, 8-0 Atlantic
Coast Conference) had lost 10 of the
previous 12 meetings, including two of
three last season.
This one was supposed to be a
blowout, as Duke was a 17-point
favorite. The Tar Heels (17-5, 5-3)
stayed right with the Blue Devils until a
dry spell from the field for almost 5 1/2
minutes in the second half allowed
Duke to pull away to its biggest victory
in the series since 1993.
"We certainly don't have any moral
victories," said Tar Heels coach Bill
Guthridge, who now has a 2-2 record
against Duke. "I think we did a lot of
good things and we've been improving.
They played good defense the whole
game and they came up with big plays,
and that is what you have to do to win a
game like this."
Ademola Okulaja scored down low
to give North Carolina a 68-65 lead
with 8:58 to play. Duke went on a 12-1
run as the Tar Heels went 5:27 without
a field goal.
Freshman Kris Lang hit a hook in the
lane to bring North Carolina within 77-
72 with 3:21 left. The Cameron Crazies
were able to explode just 32 seconds
later when Trajan Langdon hit his third
inter of the game to give Duke an 80-72
lead.
DHANI JONES/Daily
Michigan hurdler Derek Applewhite and the rest of the Wolverines will battle for
state bragging rights Saturday at the Michigan intercollegiate.
who placed third in the 60-meter hur-
dles.
These athletes will need similar
finishes for the team to challenge
Eastern Michigan and fend off
Michigan State, which Harvey
expects will pose stiff competition.
Okenwa thinks that the Michigan
Intercollegiate promises to be an
exciting meet.
"Michigan has a lot of talent and
we are looking at this as a pretty big
meet," he said.
"This is the starting point of the
rest of the season. We need to start
knocking out some first places."
'Canham Cathedral' ready
Vignier's presence an asset to Wolverines
CANHAM
Continued from Page UOA
weather of late.
-"I think we did the best we could
with the facilities that were avail-
able in Ann Arbor," women's coach
Jim Richardson said.
"I won't say woulda, coulda,
shoulda. Everybody involved did
the best they could to provide the
best training environment for us
and in retrospect, there isn't any-
thing I would have done different-
ly."
team's training regiment.
"From a training standpoint, it's
better than it was when it opened
the first time;' Richardson said of
Michigan's facility.
"The air is much better, the
lighting is much better. I think
overall, the facility is one of the
best training environments in the
country."
If nothing else, the new natatori-
um will provide a picturesque set-
ting for swimming and diving
spectators for years to come.
"If I were to rename it, I would
call it the Canham Cathedral for
Swimming and Diving," Lambert
said.
VIGNIER
Continued from Page 10A
(for a big man) from outside, or the
Tractor's rim-bending bulk.
"At the beginning of the season, he
was kinda like, 'OK, I think I can do
it,"' Young said. "But now he's like,
he gets the ball and he's going to the
basket."
Against Minnesota last week,
Vignier owned the low post in the
first half. He would catch a pass,
dribble once, and loft up a jump
hook that found twine every time.
In another game, against Michigan
State on Jan. 9, two passes bounced
off his hands and out of bounds.
Before, he might have let that rattle
him. But against the Gophers, when
the ball squirted out of his hands as
he rose up for another jump hook
against the Golden Gophers, he
calmly collected the errant ball and
sank the shot.
Loud or not, that's the kind of con-
fidence that makes for presence in
the post.
"When he gets the ball in the post,
he just takes that one little dribble
and goes up and shoots his jump
hook," Young said. "He doesn't even
think about it.
"If you think about kicking it back
out or anything, they'll just double-
team or triple-team you," Young said.
As Tom Cruise's character,
Maverick, in "Top Gun" would have
put it had he been a center in the Big
Ten instead of a fighter pilot in the
Navy: There's no time to think in the
low post. If you think, you're dead.
The post, like any dangerous
place, demands presence and confi-
dence, most of all from its chal-
lengers. The kind of people who
"just go up and down the court and
play and they can help their team-
mates out."
The kind of people like Vignier.
Nevertheless, Richardson
encouraged by the stability
building will lend toward
is
the
the
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DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
Michigan center Peter Vignier has quietly helped the Michigan men's basketball
team overachieve this season.
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Blue swimmers top Spe
place finishes in the:
SPARTANS 200 freestyle, and th
Continued from Page 14A medley. Shakespeare
Despite swimming a meet in the the first-place 200 fr
middle of the week and being plagued the end of the meet th
with injuries and illnesses leaving the victory for the Wolver
team fatigued, the Wolverines main- Junior Jenny Arn
tained their normal workout routine major factor for Mic
for the week. both the 100 freestyle
"We decided to swim it straight up stroke.
and went regular workouts this morn- Contributions als
ing and just did the things we normal- sophomore Missy Sug
ly do," Michigan coach Jim 500 freestyle with th
Richardson said. her career, and Crisma
The fast start from Michigan State 100-yard butterfly an
forced the Wolverines to make some ond in the 500 freesty
lineup changes in the middle of the competed for the 20
meet to get the win. They pulled 200 individual medl
sophomore Jen Crisman out of the which both took first1
200-yard backstroke and switched her "This was a great
with freshman Lindsay Carlberg in some of our less exp
the 100 butterfly. mers to have to step
"Those were both pivotal moves where the meet was ti
because they gave us a chance to win said. "Jenny Arndt d:
both events," Richardson said. "If we job of stepping uj
had gone with the people we original- freestyle."
ly had, it could have made the meet The Wolverines wil
even closer" dual meet of the st
Junior Shannon Shakespeare led when they take on No.
the way for the Wolverines with first- at 4 p.m. at Canham N
CJL U.SPORTS@UMICH.EDU
artans
50 freestyle, the
e 200 individual
also anchored
ieestyle relay at
at locked up the
rines.
dt was also a
chigan, winning
e and 100 back*
o came from
gar, who won the
e fastest time of
an, who won the
nd finished sec-
Ile. Crisman also
0 freestyle and
ey relay teams,
place.
opportunity forW
erienced swim-
up at a point
ed," Richardson
id a really nice
p in the 100
l host their final
eason Saturday
22 Notre Dame
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