The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - December 3, 2001- 7B

Sinful! Grapplers win in Las Vegas
despite lackluster performance

By Eric Chan
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team wasn't great, but it was
good enough. At the 53-team Cliff Keen Invitational in
Las Vegas, Nev. this past weekend, the Wolverines did-
n't wrestle at their highest level, but they still managed
to win big. Michigan scored 163 points, with West Vir-
ginia.taking second with 127. The Wolverines have
been attending the tournament for the past 20 years, but
this was their first title.
"Our intensity level is something we have to improve
on," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "We have to
try and score that first takedown, because it sets the
tone for the rest of the match."
To the extent that the relationship between seeding
and finish is a measure of success, the tournament may
be deemed a failure for Michigan; many of its wrestlers
were seeded higher than their finishes. But the fact is
that Michigan still placed seven of its 10 wrestlers in
the top five, despite not wrestling its best.
Michigan's 125-pound All-American A.J. Grant was
seeded second behind defending national champion
Stephen Abas. Last year, Grant wrestled a phenomenal
tournament only to fall to Abas in the finals. Grant
looked to get some payback this year, but couldn't get
past Nebraska's Jason Powell in the semifinals. Powell
pinned Grant in the first period, and knocked him into
the consolation bracket. In his first consolation match,
Grant dropped a tough match to Arizona State fresh-

man Mike Simpson, 2-1 in double overtime.
The 30 seconds of a double overtime match are thi
most intense 30 seconds that a wrestler can experience
One wrestler chooses top or bottom, and the wrestle]
on bottom has to escape while the goal of the tol
wrestler is to keep him on the ground.
"We have to do some work on getting out fron
underneath," McFarland said. "It cost us in a feu
matches."
At 174 pounds, the highly-anticipated match between
No. 1 Josh Koscheck from Edinboro and No. 2 Ott(
Olson from Michigan never came to fruition. Koschecl
did not compete, so Olson became the tournament's No
1 seed. The All-American won the tournament for thf
second straight year, and became just Michigan's secon(
two-time Cliff Keen Invitational champion.
Michigan's only other individual champion was 184.
pounder Andy Hrovat. The All-American had a disap.
pointing loss at the Michigan State Open and looked t(
rebound in Las Vegas. He did so in a big way by win,
ning three of his matches by three points or more an(
by winning his other three matches by fall.
Other tournament placers included Grant (125,
pounds, fifth place), Foley Dowd (133, second), Mik(
Kulczycki (149, fourth), Ryan Bertin (157, third) an(
Kyle Smith (197, fifth). Michigan scored 163 points
with West Virginia taking second with 127.
"I was happy that we won the tournament for the firs
time, but we have some things to work on before thi:
weekend,' McFarland said.

FILE PHOTO
Foley Dowd (pictured above) and the Michigan wrestlers were In Las Vegas In the Cliff Keen Invitational. They won the 53-
team meet despite a criticism from coach Joe McFarland on his team's Intensity.

Tankers
'booking
trip s to
Austin
r
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Writer
The members of the Michigan
women's swimming and diving team
have had the same goal since the first
day of practice - to qualify for the
NCAA Championships.
Two swimmers, Lindsay Carlberg
and Annie Weilbacher, did just that at
the Georgia Invitational this past
weekend with times good enough to
earn automatic bids to the champi-
onship meet in Austin, Texas on
March 21-23.
"Overall I was very pleased with
our effort," said swimming coach Jim
Richardson. "The team had a good
mindset and gave a great effort.
There were a "good number of
swimmers" who finished with
NCAA consideration times that are
most likely to become automatic bids
by the end of the season.
Carlberg, who has dominated the
200-yard backstroke all season, fin-
ished first in the event yesterday with
an NCAA-qualifying time of
1:58.63.
In the first two days of competi-
tion, Carlberg helped the Wolverines
with lifetime bests in both the 100
backstroke and the 200 individual
medley.
Also finding success in individual
events was Weilbacher. She, despite
finishing second in the event, earned
an NCAA berth with a time of 58.63
in the 100-yard butterfly. The sopho-
more also found success helping the
200 freestyle relay finish fourth and
with an NCAA-consideration time.
"To know that (going to NCAAs)
is set, it'll be easier going into the
end of the season," Weilbacher said.
Both Weilbacher and Carlberg will
be on a set training regimen to pre-
pare them for theJNCAAs, meaning
they can ignore resting for the Big
Ten Championship in February and
use it as regular training.
Those who haven't automatically
qualified are going to have to peak
twice in the winter, according to
Richardson - once at the Big Ten
Championships to make it to Austin,
and the second time in Texas to per-
form well at NCAAs.
This was the first time all season
that the entire team was swimming at
its fastest, and Michigan had much
success in its third-place finish at the
Georgia Invitational. In fact, it was
able to avenge a previous loss to
Minnesota, finishing three spots and
70 points higher than the Golden
Gophers.
iGeorgia (813.5 points) ran away
with the event, finishing first in
seven of the 18 swimming events.
Michigan may have gained a new
rival in second-place Northwestern,
which finished better than Michigan
in six events and was 100 points
ahead of Michigan's 511.
Even though the Wolverines did
not have many individual qualifiers,
it did have success in numerous
swimmers earning NCAA-considera-

NCAA Contenders
This past weekend at the Georgia
Invitational, the Wolverines had two
swimmers automatically qualify for
the NCAA tournament and 16 finish
in the top ten of the invitational and
have NCAA consideration times.
1,650-yard freestyle: Emily-Clare
Fenn (1st), Amy McCullough (2nd)
500 free: McCullough (2nd)
200 free: McCullough (5th)
100 free: Annie Weilbacher (4th)
200 Indvidual medley: Sara John-
son (2nd), Annie Weilbacher (5th),
Lindsay Carlberg (10th)
400 IM: Johnson (5th)
200 backstroke: Carlberg (1st-
NCAA qualifier, Erin Abbey (3rd),
Johnson (5th)
100 backstroke: Laura Kaznecki
(3rd), Carlberg (4th), Abbey (6th)
100 butterfly: Weilbacher (2nd-
NCAA qualifier)
200 breaststroke: Stein (2nd)
100 breaststroke: Stein (3rd)
in the event since her sixth-place fin-
ish at NCAAs last year that earned
her a spot on the All-America team.
McCullough was five seconds
away from first-place finishes in the
1,650-yard freestyle and the 500
free, where she finished with an
NCAA consideration time of
4:52.15.
In the 200 free, she had another
close call, finishing fifth - two sec-
onds back from a NCAA automatic
bid.
Another multi-top-five finisher was
Sara Johnson, who finished fourth in
the 200-yard individual medley and
fifth in both the 400 IM and the 200
backstroke.
"I like where we are as a team.
After this first period of training,
we've got another two months to
enhance ourselves in time for Big Ten
Championships and NCAAs,"
Richardson said.
For the Wolverines (0-3), the Geor-
gia Invitational was the last event for
the 2001 fall season. Their next stop
will be Hawaii for their training trip in
Honolulu from Dec. 22-Jan. 6.
The Hawaii trip is their designated
time to make sure they don't fall off
their work schedule. The Wolverines
will be able to use their dual meets as
extra practice time for January and
February as they effectively used their
time to prepare in November.
Michigan will resume its competi-
tion on Jan. 18 as it begins the Big
Ten season. The Wolverines open at
home against Penn State.
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golused .corn

Webb named VerizonYouth Athlete of the Year

By Melanie Kebler
Daily Sports Writer

To say that the past year has been a
successful one for Michigan freshman
runner Alan Webb would be an acute
understatement. It would be more accu-
rate to say that 2001 was "The Year" for
Webb, the year in which he set numer-
ous prep records, won a state title in the
800 meters, finished first at the Big Ten
Cross Country Championships, and was

named an All-American after finishing
eleventh at the NCAA Championships.
As if that's not enough, last week
USA Track and Field named Webb the
Verizon Youth Athlete of the Year.
"Alan represents the best and bright-
est of our young athletes," said Bruce
Gordon, Verizon's president for Retail
Services. "His accomplishments on the
track are unparalleled, and he has distin-
guished himself in the classroom as
well. He is a deserving recipient of the

first Verizon Youth Athlete of the Year
Award."
The freshman began the year by post-
ing a mile time of 3:59.86 at the New
Balance Games in New York City. His
time made him the first high school
runner to break the four-minute mile
mark indoors. Then, on May 27 at the
prestigious Prefontaine Classic in
Eugene, Ore., Webb made history by
breaking the national high school
record set by Jim Ryun in 1965 with a
mile time of 3:53.43. The 18-year-old
finished fourth in a field of internation-
al stars and counts his feat of breaking
Ryun's record as one of his greatest
accomplishments of the year.
Also during the season Webb led his
South Lakes, Virginia high school team
to victory at the Penn Relays and the
National Scholastics meet. The team
won two titles at both meets, with Webb
anchoring the team to a national prep
record-breaking time of 9:49.78 in the
distance medley at the National
Scholastics.
At the Virginia high school state
meet, Webb ran a scorching 47.4 sec-
ond leg on the South Lakes 400-meter
relay team and also took the state title in
the 800-meter. He finished the 800-
meter in a time of 1:47.74, the fourth
fastest prep time in history.
At Michigan this fall, Webb excelled
as part of the men's cross-country team,
taking first place in four out of eight
meets. The freshman led the team to an
11th place finish at the national cham-
pionships, placing 11th individually as
well.
He was named an All-American
along with Michigan senior Mike Wis-
niewski.
After a year like that, it is not too sur-
prising for Webb to be named an athlete
of the year. The talented runner has
been heralded as one of running's
brightest new stars and has not only
gained personal fame but has also

helped bring his sport into the national
spotlight.
"This was just an incredible year
that I'll never forget," Webb said. "It
was a thrill for me to be part of -rais-
ing the profile of our sport, and I
couldn't have done it without the help
and support from my coach, family,
teammates and friends."
Webb now has his sights set on the
upcoming indoor track season, and
the talented runner is hoping to con-
tinue his incredible success of the past
year.
"I'm excited about racing indoors,"
he said. "I'm going to start racing and
see where I'm at in terms of fitness."
Webb has high goals for himself,
especially for the NCAA champi-
onships, which will be his final meet
of the indoor season.
"I just want to get in there and
compete, Webb said. "I know I can
compete with anyone in the country."
That, too, could be an understate-
ment.
Youth is served
Alan Webb currently holds the
fastest times for indoor and outdoor
miles by a high schooler. Here are
some of his 2001 accomplish-
ments.
New Balance Games, New York:
Webb became the first high school run-
ner to run an indoor mile in under four
minutes with a time of 3:59.86.
Prefontaine Classic, Eugene, Ore.:
Webb shattered Jim Ryun's 36-year-old
high school mile record, recording a
time of 3:53.43. His performance was
the fastest mile time by an American on
U.S. soil since 1998.
Virginia State High School Meet,
Virginia:
In the 800 meters, Webb ran a 1:47.74
to become the fourth-fastest high
schooler ever at the distance.

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ALYSSA WOUD/Daily
Alan Webb has been outstanding for the Wolverines, but it was primarily his high
school accomplishments that earned him Verizon Youth Athlete of the Year honors.
ukdong
University Codes and
Change in a Mexican
Textile Factory
In January, Mexican workers staged a strike to
protest conditions in a Kukdong factory where
University of Michigan sweatshirts were
manufactured. In the months that followed,
workers, student activists, university groups,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), individual
experts, and transnational companies were
involved in seeking solutions.This presentation,
organized by the Worker Rights Consortium
(WRC), brings Mexican participants in this

www.universitysecrets.com