The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 17, 1999- 11
NCAA swimming title up for grabs
By Ryan C. Moloney
Daily Sports Writer
It's that time of year again in the
NCAA - time to find out who will
wear this year's crown as the No. I team
in the nation.The best team in women's
swimming and diving will be decided
this weekend in Athens, Ga.
Though dozens of schools will be
represented, only Georgia, Stanford,
Arizona and Southern Methodist are
legitimate bets to take the title.
While outmanned in contention for
the title, the eighth ranked Wolverines
have the potential to pull out a top five
finish and be the Cinderella of the
championship.
Here are the contenders at a glance:
GEORGIA: Home pool advantage
should bode well for the Lady Bulldogs
and might be the right intangible to put
them over the top. Having defeated
reigning NCAA champion Stanford ear-
lier in the year, 187-113, the Bulldogs
are the favorites to win the title this year.
Leading the Bulldogs is Olympic
gold medalist and defending national
champion and record holder in the 100-
yard breast stroke (59.05) Kristy Kowal.
The Bulldogs don't boast a champi-
onship history, but they are the best bet
to dethrone the perennial champions.
STANFORD: In terms of coaching
prowess, Stanford is still the best in the
sport. Head coach Richard Quick holds
a total of 12 NCAA titles- seven at
Stanford and five at Texas. The current
coach of the U.S. women's swimming
team, Quick and the Cardinal are fresh
off an 11th-straight Pac-l 0 title.
The top swimmer on the team, and in
the nation for that matter, is sophomore
Misty Hyman who won three events
(the 100-and-200-yard butterfly and the
200 back) and captured NCAA swim-
mer of the year honors at last yearis
meet.
The Cardinal lost badly in duals to
Georgia and Arizona this season, but
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SWEET SIXTEEN
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KRISTIN GOBLE/Daily
Sophomore Missy Sugar and the rest of the Michigan women's swimming team
will hope.to play Cinderella in this weekend's NCAA Championships.
DANA INNANE/Daily
Co-captain Justin Toman leads the top-ranked but injury-riddled Michigan men's gymnastics team this week against No. 2
Michigan State in East Lansing.
G ymnasts don't allow health
Vroblems to -wreck season
they are still capable of their usual dom-
inance.
ARIZONA: Though third-place finish-
ers in the elite Pac-10, Arizona's No. 3
national ranking is no stretch. The
Wildcats posted the nation's top recruit-
ing class last year.
Junior Trina Jackson may be the best
distance swimmer in the country and
should cruise in the 1,650 free.
Otherwise, the freestyle is Arizona's
forte - freshman Sarah Tolar is ranked
first in the country in the 200 free and
sophomore Lindsay Farella teams pro-
vides an excellent compliment in the
400 free relay. The 200 free relay is the
nationis fastest time (1:3 1.78).
Although they will challenge for the
title, Arizona may still be a year or two
away from winning this one.
SOUTHERN METHODIST: The
women's swim team could thrust the
school name back into national favor
with a win at the NCAAs.
The Mustangs are led by one of the
most prolific performers in NCAA his-
tory -- Martina Moravcova. The senior
owns seven individual NCAA titles and
ranks fourth all-time in that category.
She has won the last three straight 200
free titles and will look to make it four
straight this weekend.
SMU features the most formidable 1-
2 diving punch in the NCAA, Jenny
Lingamfelter and Kristin Link.
More importantly, SMU captured all
21 first-place finishes in the WAC con-
ference meet - -a first in NCAA swim-
ming history.
Look for SMU to fire up for this one
and possibly make everybody forget
about Eric Dickerson.
This championships looks to be tle
most wide-open in years. While Georgia
appears to be the easy pick, swimming
at home, any of these teams has the
potential to win the title if they swim at
the tops of their game.
By Dan Dingerson
Daily Sports Writer
'Many teams use injuries as an
xcuse. It can be an excuse for poor
performances, or an underachieving
team. Injuries have the ability to dec-
inate a team, and ruin a season.
The No. 1 Michigan men's gym-
nastics team has had an injury rid-
died season. The team entered its
first dual meet with six of 15 gym-
nasts injured. Five of them were com-
pletely out of action, and one - team
co-captain Justin Toman - was only
able to compete in three events.
Going into a meet with 40 percent
of a team suffering from injuries
seems to be a legitimate excuse to
erform poorly and lose.
'Something happened for the
Wolverines though.
Michigan won its opening dual
meet of the season convincingly over
Illinois-Chicago, and posted a very
strong score. It happened because the
competing gymnasts all stepped up
their performances to make up for
their hurt teammates.
-Toman, although weakened, took
irst-place in one event and two sec-
ond-place finishes. The freshmen on
the team - competing for only the
second time in their collegiate
careers - rose up and took first and
second in the all-around competition.
-The success wasn't limited to only
one meet either, the team continued
to perform well and score high, rising
to the top of the polls. While the team
Cdntinued to succeed in meets, the
injured gymnasts continued to get
healthier.
Toman progressed enough to com-
pete in five events. His return,
marked by consistently high scores,
sparked the team to its highest score
of the season against Massachusetts.
In recent meets, the team has wel-
comed back Brad Kenna and Tim
Dehr. Their return has coincided with
a win over then No. 1 Penn State and
the team's new high score, a 230.4 on
Sunday against Michigan State.
That score makes Michigan one of
only two teams in the nation to break
230 this year, and the Wolverines are
still missing three gymnasts.
The return of the injured gymnasts
has not caused the rest of the team to
let up. Actually, their performances
have strengthened through the sea-
son.
The team has been one of the best
in the nation this season, ranking in
the top five nearly all of the year.
Now, the team is gaining strength
through the return of injured gym-
nasts.
Kenna and Dehr have been com-
peting, and in upcoming meets will
be able to compete in more events.
Kevin Roulston who has been out all
year will be back in the next two
weeks.
Jesse Coleman may return to the
team also in the upcoming meets. The
only gymnast who won't compete for
the Wolverines this season in Bryan
Pascoe.
"Dehr performed a really good
routine last week in practice, and I
think that he is ready to do it in the
meets," Michigan coach Kurt Golder
said. "Kenna is probably going to be
ready to go in the vault, and he is
ready to break out in his other
events."
Toman who has been competing in
five events for the last month will be
able to compete in all six events
either this week at Michigan State, or
at the Big Ten Championships in two
weeks.
For a team that has been successful
all year, the returning gymnasts only
make the team more powerful.
"We're getting stronger," Golder
said. "I don't think that we have hit
our peak yet, and we are getting more
guys healthy which makes us a better
team."
Gyminfo Men's
Gymnastics Top 15
I. Micblganii
2. Michigan State
3. ohio.State
4 Iowa
5. Oklahoma
6. Penn Sete
7. Massachusetts
8. tIlinois
9. New Mexkco
IA Brigham Yurng
Ii. Stanford
12. California
13. Santa Barbara
14, Nebraska
15 Temple
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