8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 1, 2001
Swimmers not affected by rivalry
By Courtney Lewis
For The Daily
The Michigan men's swimming team
heads to East Lansing this weekend to
take on Michigan State. But it's not a red-
letter date for the Wolverines, and it
won't be an intense, hate-filled battle.
Because swimming is a passive sport,
and competitors race against the clock
more than their opponents, the sport
doesn't create a lot of rivalry In fact,
Michigan doesn't have any rivals in the
Big Ten, not even the traditional intra-
state nemesis Michigan State.
Coach Jon Urbanchek also credits
recruiting for the dilution of the Michigan-
Michigan State rivalry. All but eight
Michigan swimmers are from outside of the
state, so very few competed in high school
against swimmers now in East Lansing.
Add to that Michigan's continual dom-
inance of Michigan State, and the usual-
ly intriguing matchup becomes just
another meet.
But that doesn't mean it's entirely
insignificant.
For the Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 4-4
overall), a winning season is on the line.
Although it's just one meet, the differ-
ence between finishing 5-4 and 4-5 is a
big one.
"We haven't had a losing dual-meet
record since I've been here and this can-
not be the one - not this team,"
Urbanchek said.
In addition to surpassing the .500
mark, a win on Saturday would end the
Wolverines' Big Ten season without a
loss for the second consecutive year.
But Michigan knows there are no
guarantees, and it expects a challenge
from Michigan State.
"Michigan State is a very good team.
They have a new coach and new pride,"
Urbanchek said. "They've shown signs
Search for redemptio
Playtime
r ends with
EAST LANSING
Who: Michigan (30 Big Ten, 44 overall) vs.
Michigan State (0&2, 33)
When: 1 p.m.
Latest: Michigan captain Scott Werner was
named Big TenicoSwimmer of the week.
of tremendous improvement, not neces-
sarily in results but in attitude. They're
definitely a different team."
The teams are well matched in the
sprints and freestyle events, but the
Wolverines are stronger in the back-
stroke, butterfly and individual medley.
Saturday is Michigan's final confer-'
ence meet of the season, and the last
chance to prepare for the Big Ten
Championships, to be held February 22-
24 in Minneapolis.
But their first priority will be finishing
the dual meet season with a winning
record.
Purdue;
women
__V v
THIS WEEKEND IN
MICHIGAN ATHLETICS
I1
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Presented by:
.:.(0 .
Sat. Feb. 3 12:17pm
vs. Wisconsin
Crisler Arena
BRAD QUINN/Daily
The women's track team competes in'the Central Michigan Invitational this weekend.
Challengredb the south
Fri. Feb. 2 7pm
vs. #3 Iowa
*Free t-shirts to first 300 Fans
Sat. Feb. 3 7pm
vs. #21 Wisconsin
Cliff Keen Arena
t
11
Sun. Feb. 4 10:30am
vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
Varsity Tennis Center
Sun. Feb. 4 2pm
vs. DePaul
Varsity Tennis Center
Thur. Feb. 1 7pm
vs. Minnesota
*Free 3 point cards to first
1,000 Fans
LA'RIS kJkf
I
By J. Brady McCollough
For The Daily
This Friday and Saturday, the
Michigan men's track and field
team will travel to South Bend for
the Meyo Invitational hosted by
Notre Dame.
The field of competition should
be the best the Wolverines have
seen this year with top programs
like Tennessee and Miami making
the trip north. Michigan will know
a lot more about its chances to suc-
ceed in the postseason after this
non-scoring meet.
"I think this is the meet that is
going to set the precedent for the
rest of the season - we're going to
see the most competition we've
seen all year," junior sprinter Ike
Okenwa said. "We're going to judge
ourselves for the rest of the season
by what we do this weekend."
Junior sprinter Kevin Lamb, who
won the 400-meter dash at the Red
Simmons Invitational two weeks
ago, looks forward to the competi-
tion the southern schools will
bring.
"You run on your opponents'
level most of the time, so you need
the competition to push you," Lamb
said. "You need them to be a little
out in front of you or on your back.
They (the southern schools) will
bring out the best in us."
The Wolverines had a bye week
last weekend, giving them time to
focus on their workouts rather than
beating their next opponent.
"We've had our best two weeks
of practice - the week off last
week was really good for us,"
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said.
"I'm looking for everybody to get
their season's best performance."
The over-sized track at Notre
Dame should help the runners in
their personal events and in the
relays. Okenwa is looking to run a
NCAA qualifying time in the 200-
meter dash. Last year at the Meyo
Invitational, he missed the time
needed by only .05 of a second.
"I'm looking for a little redemp-
tion," Okenwa said. "I feel like I'm
running pretty well, and this is the
meet to (qualify)."
Michigan's 1600-meter relay
team is undefeated so far this year,
but in order to preserve that record,
they must run their season record.
"We haven't lost yet this dear,
and we don't plan on it being this
weekend," Lamb said. "Our main
goal is to try and make it to nation-
als. We know this is a great place to
do it, because of the size of the
track and the competition."
The Wolverines will be full
strength, as pole vaulters Charles
DeWildt and Brent Sheffer return to
action after participating in a vault-
ing seminar in Reno, Nev.
DeWildt, the 2000 Big Ten cham-
pion in the pole vault, feels he and
Sheffer are due for an impressive
performance.
"We're jumping way better than
we did last year - we just haven't
put it together in a meet yet,"
DeWildt said. "It better happen
soon."
first test
By Rhonda Gilmer
Daily Sports Writer
Nabbing its first road win might
have appeared easy for the Michigan
women's track team last weekend
considering the huge point spread
between.the Wolverines and the
remaining teams.
But this week, that might not be
the case.
This Saturday at the Central
Michigan Invitational in Mount
Pleasant, the Wolverines will com-
pete for the first time this season
against a Big Ten team.
The competition will consist of
Purdue, Central Michigan and
Bowling Green.
During the Michigan
Intercollegiate last week, Central
Michigan came in second behind the
Wolverines.
Purdue might stand in the way of
Michigan winning this weekend.
"We are all similar" Michigan
coach James Henry said. "All three
(of the other competing schools) are
balanced teams. We each have two or
three good runners in each event."
Expecting tight competition from
Purdue, the Wolverines are trying to
sharpen their techniques from last
week.
If Michigan continues to have
members achieve personal bests as
they did last week in the 60-meter low
hurdles, 400-meter, 1600-meter relay,
5,000-meter run and triple jump, the
team could have a viable chance at
scooping up a win over Purdue.
Whatever the outcome, the
Wolverines hope to stay in close
range with the other contenders.
"Last week we had seasonal bests
across the board," Henry said. "I
think this week it is going to be a
close meet and it should go down to
the 1600-meter relay."
Field events start at noon, and run
ning begins at 2 p.m.
MOUNT PLEASANT
Who: Michigan, Purdue, Central Michigan,
and Bowling Green
When: Field event's at noon and races
at 2 p.m.
Latest: Michigan needs personal bests
to win against its toughest competi-
tion of the season.
7
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Nebraska coach
breaks promise
The Michigan women's swimm
team will not be attending its sch
uled meet at Nebraska this weekend.
Michigan was expecting for the
University of Nebraska to pay for all
of its travelingexpenses.
However, Nebraska coach Keith
Moore made these promises "to
Michigan coach Jim Richardson
before breaking his affiliation with
the Cornhusker program.
Michigan was asked by*
Nebraska athletic department to rec-
iprocate by paying for the Huskers to
visit Ann Arbor next year.
"That wasn't part of the deal,"
Richardson said. "I told them we
wouldn't. Michigan has never paid
anyone to visit here."
- Steve Jackson
Ingerson eligible after
second suspension *
Santa Barbara high school basket-
ball coach Jeff Lavender has declared
Michigan signee Dommanic Ingerson
eligible to play the rest of the season.
Ingerson was suspended for a second
time this season after he wiped the
ball on his forehead after he was
called for a foul.
He was suspended earlier in the
season when he flashed a sign to
crowd after he drew a personal foul
Ingerson was the first player to
commit to Michigan's 2001 recruit-
ing class. He is generally considered
a top-40 player nationally.
- Staff reports
Internihip rair
Wednesday, February 7, 2001
12noon - 4:00pm
Michigan Union
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