10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 31, 2002 0 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. FORTNE* 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR At Ernst & Young, we believe that when you wake up in the morning, you should be excited about the day ahead. The challenges of the workplace should keep you stimulated, your capabilities should be stretched, and your horizons continually broadened. Because only when our people grow, both, professionally and personally, do we grow as a company. Oh happy day! * I I