10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 22, 2006
E MEN'S SWIMMING
Bowman confident in NCAA team
* WOMEN'S TRACK
Doubles team a
pair for the ages
By Anne Ule
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan men's swimming coach Bob Bowman
doesn't like to discuss goals that deal with how a swim-
mer or how the team will place in meets. When asked
specifically about objec-
tives, he goes with a cli- _
che one-liner: "We want
to swim fast." THURSDAY
In a sport where podi- Michigan at
um dwellers are decided NCAA Championship
by partial seconds, Noon
Bowman knows that it's a Tech Aquatic
impossible to predict the G Cenhr t
upsets and victories that
come along with the rush
of racing.
"I don't want to say if a swimmer will get first or sec-
ond or third," Bowman said. "It's up to them to fight it
out."
Starting Thursday and running through Saturday, the
eighth-ranked Wolverines will get their chance to fight
for a place on the podium at the NCAA Championships
in Atlanta.
"My favorite part of the NCAA Championships is
seeing someone do something they didn't think they
could do," Bowman said. "I like seeing people step up
to another level. I hope that I see that with our team this
weekend."
With seven swimmers, including, two 2005 NCAA
individual champions, senior co-captains Peter
Vanderkaay and Davis Tarwater, qualifying for the meet,
Michigan is predicted to place in the top 10. But with a
smaller-sized roster as compared with squads like 2005
NCAA Champion Auburn, which has 18 swimmers, and
No. 6 Arizona with nine athletes, Michigan will have a
tough time putting enough points on the board to be a
solid top-five competitor.
"I was a little surprised that we couldn't get more of
our swimmers qualified," Bowman said. "We had some
guys that we really needed get cut from the list."
The marginalization of several Wolverines, including
sophomore Dane Grenda, who qualified for the Champi-
onships last year, came from a decision the NCAA Rules
and Regulations Committee made that allows just 21
swimmers in each event. Last year, 29 were allowed to
compete in each event. This was done to add more relays
to the lineup of events.
"The number of swimmers has fluctuated over the past
,
By Ian Robinson
Daily Sports Writer
freshman's lack of collegiate expe-
rience affects her ability to succeed
in doubles.
Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said
the relationship between teammates
creates a good doubles team.
It's often said that we should
look to the younger generation for
answers.
For Michigan tennis senior Nina
Yaftali, she found the
answer to her doubles ....--._
woes in freshman Lind-
sey Howard. TO
Yaftali, who prefers Mic
to stay back and hit Michi
ground strokes from 6
the baseline, is comple- MSU In
mented by Howard's Fa
ability to attack the net.O
Recently, they have
combined for four
"When
NIGHT
Lhigan at
gan State
p.m.
door Tennis
cility
you complement each
other in terms of ener-
gy and communica-
tion and personality,
you can play well right
away," Ritt said.
Ritt stresses the
importance of win-
ning the doubles point
in dual meets, which
will make the pairing
of Howard and Yaftali
even more crucial in
EMMA NOLAN-ABRAHAMIAN/Daily
Senior Chris Deoong begins his quest for NCAA Championship glory on Thursday.
few years," Bowman said. "But it's never gone below 24.
I don't think many coaches think the decision is a very
good one. There aren't many spaces available, and we
need all the swimmers we can get"
Although the team lacks quantity, Bowman says it has
quality.
"The team is prepared," Bowman said. "Most of them
have focused solely on this meet, so their training has
been well directed and they've put in the work. They're
fit, they're at their peak speed, and they have good atti-
tudes. Now, they just have to put it into action."
Bowman is counting on the leadership of his three
captains - Vanderkaay, Tarwater and senior Chris
DeJong - to set the tone of the meet. All three are seed-
ed in the top-15 in their three respective events.
"I think of all the people that are competing this week,
I am most looking forward to watching Chris swim,"
Bowman said. "He's had a great year of consistent train-
ing, and he's had the best racing season of his career. His
performance this week will be fun to watch."
DeJong, the Big Ten Champion in the 200-yard back-
stroke, is scheduled to swim the 200-yard freestyle as
well as the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. Seeded
third in the 200-yard backstroke, DeJong will compete
against 2005 NCAA Ryan Lochte of Florida.
"Chris is seeded in a good place," Bowman said. "I
think that based on the way he's been swimming recently
he has a lot of energy going into this meet"
Bowman is also hopeful that his lone qualify-
ing sophomore, Alex Vanderkaay, will continue the
impressive streak of fast swims he's had since the Big
Ten Championships three weeks ago, when he won
the 400-yard individual medley title.
"Alex has really come a long way this season,"
Bowman said. "He has worked towards his potential
and really surpassed so many expectations that we set
for him."
Having had the experience of racing at the 2005
NCAA Championships, Alex feels prepared for the meet
ahead of him this weekend.
"I'm excited and nervous at the same time,"Vanderkaay
said. "It's one of the only things I've been thinking about
for the past few months. I think it will almost be a relief
for it to be over so I don't have to keep thinking about it."
straight wins, clinched the doubles
point in three of those matches and
amassed a 6-3 record in dual meets.
Last year - in her first year com-
peting at Michigan after transferring
from UCLA - Yaftali was never a
mainstay in the doubles lineup. She
compiled a record of just 4-5 with
junior Elizabeth Exon.
The Westland Village, Calif.
native found the solution at the
Michigan Invitational on Jan. 15.,
when she teamed up with Howard.
There, the duo defeated the No. 3
doubles team of then-17th-ranked
California.
"We hit it off immediately on the
spot," Yaftali said. "We have been
able to click on and off the court."
Yaftali normally plays No. 1 or
2 singles in dual matches, while
Howard competes at No. 6 singles.
But success at singles does not also
make for a good doubles player.
"Doubles is a different ballgame,"
Howard said.
Yaftali does not think that the
PINEHURST
Continued from page 9
Schaetzel said. "I couldn't seem to find
anything to go right.... Of all of us, I felt
like I had the most incentive to go out and
play well. It's disappointing to not go out
and get that chance."
Led by sophomore Brian Otenweller,
who rebounded from an opening-round
81 with a second-round 72, the Wolver-
ines shaved 15 strokes off of their first-
round total to climb into 16th place.
Their second-round 301 was equal to
first-place Southern Methodist's total for
that round.
"It's definitely a disappointment (not to
get to tee off yesterday)," Schaetzel said.
"We were all ready to play. We could've
caught some teams."
Despite Schaetzel's sentiment, the
early ending of the tournament may have
the Big Ten season. The team starts
the conference season tonight at
Michigan State.
"It's always been an intense rival-
ry, and we always look forward to
playing them," Ritt said.
She said that her squad needs to be
ready to match the Spartan's inten-
sity, but she thinks that her team's
nonconference schedule - which
featured four top-25 opponents -
has prepared it for the Big Ten.
Yaftali believes it's how the 27th-
ranked Wolverines handled their
stiff nonconference schedule that
groomed them for Big Ten play.
"We saw a lot of tough competi-
tion, and we were in every match,"
Yaftali said.
Although the Spartans enter the
match with a 9-3 record in the dual-
meet season, their schedule features
just one team in the Fila Collegiate
Tennis Ranking Top 75.
The Wolverines just hope young
and old will continue to work well
together in the Big Ten season.
been a blessing in disguise for the Wol-
verines. In both of their last two tourna-
ments, they scored lower in the second
round than in the first round, only to see
their third-round score increase.
Unlike the rest of their tournaments,
freshman Bill Rankin led Michigan. His
two-round total of 152 made him the fifth
different player to lead the Wolverines
this season.
The individual scoring reversal con-
tinued to the bottom of the Wolverines'
leaderboard. Schaetzel finished last on
the team, while senior Brandon Duff
- the best Wolverine golfer of the spring
season - tied for third on the team along
with senior Christian Vozza, shooting a
156.
Since yesterday's round was cancelled,
the Wolverines' next chance to continue
their improvement is delayed until the
Boilermaker Invitational on April 8.
SioUX
Continued from page 9
freshmen - didn't respond well to the
pressure of a playoff game at an NHL
arena and lost 4-1. But the confidence
the team had after sweeping Ferris
State must have made Michigan feel
like it had a good matchup with the
Spartans.
This time, there is no questioning
Michigan's role as the underdog. But
that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If
everyone is counting the Wolverines
out, they might go to North Dakota
and play like a team with nothing to
lose and everything to gain. A care-
free approach might allow some of the
younger players to display the talent
that brought them to Michigan in the
first place, instead of worrying about
losing or making mistakes.
"(The freshman) have had a lot of
pressure on them all year to perform,"
Ruden said. "They might have felt that
pressure this weekend against (Michi-
gan) State at Joe Louis, and, hopefully
they don't feel it out there, because no
one is really focusing on us to win."
Meanwhile, North Dakota has
everything to lose, which can put them
in a tough position. It is a home game
for them, and they are expected to beat
a struggling Michigan club.
The Wolverines have shown all sea-
son that, when they can find ways to
build momentum, they start playing
like the team that earned the No. 1
ranking at two different times earlier
this year. If Michigan shakes off its
nerves, and North Dakota comes out
tight, or even overlooks its opponent,
the Wolverines might just get the good
start they need to find that momentum
and shock the Fighting Sioux.
"No one is looking at us," Ruden
said. "You read any of the papers from
out there, they're looking at Minnesota
in the next game. It's a big situation,
so the least amount of pressure we can
put on ourselves, the better it is for our
guys to perform."
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