10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 31, 2002
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Tankers tackle yet-untested Buckeyes
By Melanie Kebler
Daily Sports Writer
The last time the Michigan men's
swimming team faced Ohio State in a
dual meet was two years ago at Canham
Natatorium, when
the Wolverines
cruised to victory, COLL
204-148. This year, Who: Michigan (20 Bi
the Buckeyes return Ohio State
all but two swim- When:1 p.m., Saturda
mers from last Latest: Michigan coach
year's team and tions the Buckeyes' sc
boast an 8-0 record competition against th
(2-0 Big Ten). But Michigan coach Jon
Urbanchek still isn't worried.
"Ohio State has a tendency to sched-
ule meets where they know they can
win," Urbanchek said, referring to the
UN
g
ay
h J
he
hern
Buckeyes' undefeated record. "Our phi-
losophy is a little different: We try to get
the best competition there is."
There's no question that the Wolver-
ines have done that this season. Michi-
gan has already competed against seven
of the top 25 teams
in the nation -
BUS including No. 1
Ten, 6-3 overall) at Stanford and No. 2
Texas - and is 4-3
against them with
on Urbancheck ques- wins over No. 13
dule, which lacks any Georgia, No. 14
ation's elite.Florida, No. 20
Penn State and No. 24 Purdue.
Although his team is not undefeated,
Urbanchek is confident enough about
the way his team is swimming so far to
place some of his top swimmers in
events they don't normally swim.
"We're bringing everyone with us, so
we can give people a chance to swim
some different events," Urbanchek said.
"It's like when you give your bench a
chance to play, but you keep your
starters there just in case you need
them," he said.
Some may be surprised by
Urbanchek's seemingly nonchalant atti-
tude, but the reality of a swimming sea-
son is that dual meets don't count for
much in the long run. More important
are national rankings and, ultimately,
the team's performance at champi-
onship meets.
"You can lose all your dual meets and
you can still go out there and win a con-
ference championship," Urbanchek
said. "Dual meets are just motivation
for the team to get up and compete and
train. The only meet that really counts is
the Big Ten Championship."
Swimming against top competition
and taking a few losses during the sea-
son is usually considered a better way to
improve than padding a team's schedule
with winnable matches. The experience
and confidence Michigan has gained so
far this season could factor greatly into
their performance later this spring.
That's not to say that Michigan won't
be competing to win this weekend. The
Wolverines are looking to notch their
seventh consecutive victory against the
Buckeyes and add another win to their
51-10-2 all time record versus Ohio
State. But at the same time, the team
still has its eyes on the culmination of
the season, the Big Ten Championships.
6
a
DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Senior sprinter Jordan Watland and the Wolverines travel to Columbus to take on
Ohio State. Some swimmers who don't normally line up will have the chance to.
Wildcats,
Irish come *
to Canham
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Writer
Patience is a virtue.
It is a motto that the Michigan
women's swimming and diving team
must live with all season, as winning
must be put on the back-burner during
dual meets so that a greater good can
be accomplished.
For the Wolverines, every day is a
new day to improve, whether in a prac-
tice or in a meet, so that they are at
their best when it matters most - sea-
son's end.
This weekend Michigan will face its
two toughest opponents in a two-day
format as it faces No. 16 Northwestern
Friday and N6. 13 Notre Dame on Sat-
urday. But when it races these top-
ranked foes, the Wolverines will still
only be thinking about how to improve
themselves for their bigger challenges
at the Big Ten Championships (Feb.-20-
23) and especially for the competition
at the NCAA Championships in
March.
"You don't let a dual meet define
who you are," coachJim Richardson
said. "You don't even let how you fin-
ish at Big Tens define who you are. You
define who you are as a team Septem-
ber, October, November, December,
January, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That's
who you are.
"We have the opportunity to win bat-
tles everyday that are really important
to win. I would rather win those battles
everyday and maybe give up a swim
meet here or there, than to be losing
those battles but have a great won-loss
record."
So with the Big Ten meet only three
weekends away, it becomes necessary
for the team to begin training in ways
they haven't before in these types of
dual meets so that they are ready for
the endurance and speed required for a
championship meet.
"We started doing some of the
preparation we do for the champi-
onship season: Reaction drills, relay
take-offs, a few things like that," assis-
tant coach Stefanie Kerska said. "But
they're done more in preparation for
Big Tens and NCAAs."
One who will have a big two-day test
in front of her is sophomore Annie
Weilbacher who will take on North-
western's Carmen Cosgrove in 'a
rematch in the butterfly from the Geor-
gia Invitational (Dec. 1, 2001) where
Cosgrove edged Weilbacher by .11 sec-
onds in the 100-yard race. Northwest-
ern also has two swimmers with top 25
performances in the butterfly in Rachel
Johnson and Merritt Adams.
"Annie is a very competitive person,"
Kerska said. "These are the great races
for her, because she's looking towards
NCAAs now. She's fortunate to have
girls like this to race. If she were out
ahead two or three seconds, it wouldn't
be preparing her well for what she'll
have to face later in the season."
The other heated match in Friday's
meet will be Michigan's Kelli Stein
versus Katie Simmons of Northwestern
in the 200-yard breaststroke. Stein has
the better time in the event of the two
overall this season, but Simmons has
one win where Stein does not. Two
weekends ago Stein raced Kelly
Woodring of Penn State, only to lose to
Woodring after her comeback attempt
in the final 100 yards fell just on8
stroke short. Woodring went on to face
Simmons the next day and lost.
"Kelli will be ready for Simmons,"
Kerska said. "The 200(-yard) breast-
stroke is Kelli's race, and if there were
a 250-yard breaststroke it would proba-
bly be even more her race."
On Saturday against Notre Dame,
Michigan will try to swim successfully
in consecutive days. This isn't the first
time that the imnortance of consistencv
It used to be the end of a great night.
It could soon be the start of a great day.
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