4OA - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 18, 2004 Tankers set sights high for NCAAs ,By Anne U le Daily Sports Writer Three weeks ago, the No. 16 Michigan women's swimming and diving team entered the Big Ten Championship and was predicted to fin- ish in fifth place. After overcoming a 36-point deficit in the last two events of the meet, the team walked away with the title. Though they don't expect to earn this week- 'ind's NCAA title, the Wolverines are entering the -meet with the same mentality they had for Big Tens. "We're not going to this meet to count points, and I'm honestly not worried about the place we -come in because it is a waste of effort," coach 'Jim Richardson said. "As long as we keep our minds focused on our attitude and having fast races, there's nothing more to do." Even though the team says it isn't concerned 'with how it places, the athletes are nervous about the intense competition. 1I "Nationals is such a step-up in the competition level," senior captain Sara Johnson said. "As {tough as it is to get there, there's always a voice ,in the back my head asking, 'Can I really swim that fast?"' The Wolverines have nine swimmers and one diver qualified to compete in College Station, Texas, where Texas A&M will host the champi- onships. There were a total of 14 events with automatic qualifications, 10 events with consid- eration qualifications and five relay berths. Senior diver Tealin Kelemen was the final ath- lete to qualify for the meet last week when she placed in the top five of the one-, three- and ten- meter events at the NCAA Zone meet in Bloom- ington. This will mark her first appearance at the NCAA Championships. "It's a great culmination of her hard work over M WRESTUNG Blue ends campaign with trip to St. Louis. Michigan senior Sara Johnson is preparing to lead the No. 16 Wolverines into the NCAA Championships this weekend. the past four years," Michigan diving coach Chris Bergere said. The meet will run from today through Satur- day, with preliminary races taking place in the morning and qualified final races scheduled for the evenings. Michigan has swimmers qualified in all but one individual elent (200-meter butter- fly) "We're swimming all five relays and we have people competing in just about every race," Richardson said. "It's hard to judge which day will be our toughest because any day we're swim- ming, I feel that will be a good day for us." Though the Wolverines haven't competed in three weeks, Richardson feels that the team is much more ready and confident with its speed and strength than it was before the conference competition. "I think the Big Ten Championships has really prepared us for this meet," Richardson said. "We swam through seven sessions without blinking, so I think we'll be able to handle the NCAA Championships. The girls are trained to the best of their ability, and I think they're confident about doing well." Richardson has a few experienced swimmers competing this weekend, but he is excited to see how a pair of freshmen deal with their first NCAA Championship. Lindsey Smith, who has an Olympic Trial cut in the 200-yard freestyle, won this year's Big Ten title in the event. Susan Gilliam also performed well at the conference championships, taking home a second-place fin- ish in the 400-freestyle. Richardson also believes that Johnson will have a great meet. She is one of the more experi- enced NCAA Championship competitors on the Michigan squad and is scheduled to swim the 200-meter individual medley and the 100- and 200-meter backstroke. This is the third year she has qualified for the meet. "Sara will be one of the shortest athletes at the meet," Richardson said. "It's so great to see her compete." By Alex Cummins Daily Sports Writer "Arch madness" is coming to St. Louis this weekend with the NCAA National Wrestling Championships that begin today. The double-elimina- tion tournament will pit Michigan's No. 3 wrestling team against some of the nation's best. After a mediocre fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, the Wolverines hope to bounce back on the biggest stage. Ryan Churella (149 pounds), Foley Dowd (133 pounds) andRyan Bertin (157 pounds) turned in the top per- formances for the Wolverines at the Big Ten Championships. Churella fin- ished first, while Dowd and Bertin both finished second in their respective weight classes. The Wolverines have been firmly placed in the top-10 for most of the sea- son, and the expectations are high for this weekend. After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, junior heavyweight Greg Wagner is itching to make his presence felt in the Show-Me State. "My performance at the Big Tens is definitely motivating me," Wagner said. "I didn't wrestle my best, and lost to the Minnesota heavyweight (Cole Konrad), (whom) I beat two times before. That won't happen again." Overall, the 2003-04 campaign has been a very successful one for the Wolverines, and they are looking to go out in style this weekend. "We're hoping for a top-four finish, which we are very capable of," Wagn- er said. "We have to wrestle better than we did in the Big Tens." While top-three finishes are the goal at the NCAA Championships, Wagner stressed that the wrestlers will not leave with their heads down if things don't pan out. He believes that what happens on the wrestling mat - like all other sports - is sometimes out of the ath- lete's control. "What's hard is that what you do on the mat doesn't always show up on the scoreboard at the end of the day," Wag- ner said. "You can't control everything that goes on, so if everyone wrestles well and does their best, we can't be disappointed." Wagner has been one of the Wolverines' most consistent perform- ers this season, with an overall match record of 32-8, including a win that gave Michigan a much-needed dual match victory over perennial power- house Iowa. "This has definitely been my best season thus far," Wagner said. "I've continued to improve, and I can see how far I've come from last year. We've also brought a lot of respect to this program and we want to keep it in the top five." One of Wagner's favorite memories from this season is the week-long trip that the Wolverines took to Texas and California in January. While memories are nice, Wagner and the Wolverines know that the most important moment of their season is upon them. "That trip was a highlight of my season," Wagner stated. "But after this weekend, I'm hoping for a different highlight." 6 6 6 0 L. 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