The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday - April 1,1991-- Page!
I
In The
I
*U.S. swimming must
respond to foreign foes
by Ken Su giura
Daily Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - To borrow the words of a celebrated wit, strange
things are afoot in American swimming; it's in trouble.
At last weekend's NCAA Championships, a bevy of international
swimmers took home individual swim championships, seven of 13 titles in
all. Florida's Martin Zubero and Anthony Nesty, Iowa's Artur Wojdat,
and UCLA's Andrea Cecchi, who hail from Spain, Surinam, Poland and
Italy, respectively, each won at least one championship.
Texas coach Eddie Reese, coach of the victorious Longhorns, called the
foreign domination "the worst I've ever seen this meet."
What happened was a culmination of primarily one problem: American
swimming's overproduction of sprinters.
The relative dearth of stroke and distance swimmers makes more sense
after a look at the NCAA meet's list of events.
After his maximum three individual events, a sprinter can potentially
swim on five relays, while a long-distance swimmer can hope to swim only
one, and a stroke swimmer two.
Michigan features a classic example of a sprinter's utility. Last season,
the Wolverines had sprinter Brent Lang. Lang swam seven events and won
two, the 50- and 100-yard freestyles.
Meanwhile, Mike Barrowman, perhaps the world's best, swam three
events and won one, the 200 breaststroke. Including the relays, Lang the
sprinter accounted for approximately 76.5 points, while Barrowman the
breaststroker, though NCAA Swimmer-of-the-Year, could only add a
comparatively meager 44 points.
This has led to the present condition, in which only Dave Wharton of
@USC, Jeff Rouse of Stanford, Tennessee's Melvin Stewart, and Barrowman
were the only Americans to win titles at either a distance, stroke, or indi-
vidual medley event.
The new NCAA restrictions will only serve to exacerbate the problem.
The restrictions call for a reduction of practice time to 20 hours per week,
while most programs currently train around 40 hours per week.
Sadly enough, Indiana coach Kris Kirchner believes the reduced training
will most harm the distance swimmers, who need the longest time to train.
Barrowman agrees. "The way the NCAA is going, it's time to get out,"
he said. "They're going the wrong way."
According to Barrowman, poor results will eventually force athletes
with Olympic aspirations to leave school to pursue their training.
"There's nothing easy in the world anymore. At one time, it was easy
for the United States to walk away with anything," Kirchner said.
Kirchner is right on the money. With the '92 Games fast approaching,
United States Swimming (the national governing board) and the NCAA
must respond now, each in its own way.
They must ensure that the United'States, now caught by its interna-
tional competitors, won't be left eating their wake.
SWIMMERS
Continued from page 1
high as I could for team points,"
said Namesnik, who entered the fi-
nals seeded eighth.
A weak first day of competition
necessitated Michigan's recovery.
The Wolverines ended Thursday in
ninth place with 51 points, 109
points behind leader Texas, but just
*25 points behind then fifth-place
SMU.
Eric Wunderlich's stunning
third place in the 200 individual
medley provided the day's only
highlight, finishing in a Big Ten and
school record time of 1:45.97.
"I came in and hopefully wanted
to make the finals if I could. I really
didn't know I had it in me,"
Wunderlich said.
Friday was much better for the
Wolverines, who finished the day
with150 points. It was good enough
to put them in sixth place, 18 points
in front of Tennessee.
In the 400 IM, Eric Namesnik
entered the finals as the top seed,
but lost in the final, when USC's
Dave Wharton dropped four and a
half seconds from his preliminary
time to win his fourth title.
Namesnik ended up in second place,
with a new Big Ten and school-
record time, 3:44.14.
Later, in the 100 breaststroke,
Barrowman also entered the final
ranked No. 1, and also was defeated.
In the final, Barrowman and
Wunderlich chased UCLA's Andrea
Cecchi to victory in :53.50, ahead of
Wunderlich at :53.52 and third-
place Barrowman in :53.56.
"That was my best time,"
Barrowman said. "It was right on
the Big Ten record, and I just missed
winning the thing. That's too bad.
It's really frustrating."
TEAM
Continued from page 4
Senior Andrea Nelson leads the
staff and will attempt to match her
23-win, nine-shutout sophomore
season. She is quickly developing
into the staff's stopper, a role she
has not seen in her years at
Michigan.
"(Nelson) is our most powerful
pitcher," Hutchins said. "We could
save Andrea as our ace in the hole."
She has already picked up five saves
for the season.
Rookie Julie Clarkson is devel-
oping into the stingiest pitcher on
the Michigan staff, at 3-2 with an
0.84 ERA.
"Julie's thrown outstanding for
us," Hutchins said. "She's just get-
ting better and better."
Sophomore Kelly Forbis rounds
out the rotation, leading the team
with five wins.
CATCHERS: Senior co-captain
Julie Cooper commands the Wol-
verine pitching staff while provid-
ing strong offense. After batting
.293 last season, she is now hitting
.315. Cooper also provides the di-
versity of playing another position,
left field.
Sophomore Karla Kunnen will
also see action behind the plate.
After batting .143 in limited action
her rookie season, she has improved
to .279 this year, and leads the team
in RBIs.
INFIELDERS: At first base,
junior Heather Lyke has the diffi-.
cult task of replacing the graduated
Sara Dyksterhouse, who finished
third in Big Ten hitting. Lyke has
developed into a solid player and is
batting .277.
Senior co-captain shortstop
Bonnie Tholl anchors the Wolverine
defense. After finishing First-Team
Big Ten last year, Tholl has strug-
gled this year, batting .200.
Rookies Mary Campana and Tina
Martin will start at second base and
third base, respectively.
OUTFIELDERS: After win-
ning the 1990 Freshman-of-the-Year
award, left fielder Patti Benedict
has developed into one of the pre-
mier players in the country. She
leads the team in hitting with a .321
average.
in her Nicinity, according jo
Hutchins. Her defensive prowess,
combined with strong power hit-
ting, makes Hearns one of the
Wolverines' better overall players:
Sophomore Kari Kunnen will
start in center field.
OUTLOOK: Hutchins' philoso-
phy for the season is very simple:
Come out to play hard every day,
and good things will happen.
Without intensity and focus, the
Wolverines will repeat their 1990
campaign.
"We've shown we can play aw-
ful and we've shown we can play
like the best in the countryj"
Hutchins said.
The pendulum swing of consis-
tent performance will be the differ-
ence between a middle-of-the-pack
Big Ten finish, and Michigan's first
Big Ten title.
team. Hutchins believes her three
main pitchers need sub-1.00 ERAs
for the team to contend for the Big
Ten title.
Hutchins
Junior right fielder Stacey
Hearns the team's defensive stand-
out, catching almost everything hit
CONFERENCE
Continued from page 4
Among the teams with a
lost a heartbreaker, 1-0, to Iowa last
realistic chance at dethroning the
champions is Minnesota. Playing a
taxing spring schedule of 35 games,
the Golden Gophers have showed
signs of improving on last year's
fourth place finish. They defeated
fifth-ranked UNLV last weekend,
and while their 18-17 record may
not frighten many opponents, coach
Teresa Wilson feels confident about
her team.
"We need to improve every
weekend," Wilson said. "We have
won 16 of our last 21 games but we
still need to continue to improve."
Along with Minnesota, Indiana,
who finished one game behind last
year's co-champions, has an eye on
the crown. The Hoosiers (14-14) are
young, returning only six letter-
winners and fielding eight new-
comers. Despite this fact, Stephen-
son is excited about her team thus
far.
"I have really been happy with
our upperclassmen, so far," Stephen-
son said. "They are going to have to
contribute a lot this year because we
do have such a young team."
A strong Michigan. squad will
make the Big Ten season a close,
four-team race. Led by a deep
pitching staff, the Wolverines have
already proven they can play with
the elite softball teams, defeating
No. 18 New Mexico, 3-0, and No. 11
San Jose State, 2-1. Michigan then
weekend.
"The reason Michigan has not
won the Big Ten Championship in
the past," Hutchins said, "is that we
have only focused on the top team
and not been prepared for the others.
We must play every series like its
the Big Ten championship."
Ohio State, which shared the Big
Ten title last season with Iowa, is a
Jekyll and Hyde type of team. The
Buckeyes have started poorly,
winning three of their first 16
games.
Erratic hitting has been a key
problem for the Buckeyes. Ohio
State posts a .190 team average,
with only two batters hitting over
.244. Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year
Gail Davenport may need another
outstanding effort for Ohio State to
contend.
This leaves Michigan State and
Northwestern, who tied for last
place a year ago. The Spartans,
coming off their worst season in
history, returni10letterwinners,
including six starters.
"We just want to improve,"
coach Gloria Becksford said. With a
4-7 record to date, the Spartans seem
to be on the road for another sub-
.500 season.
The Wildcats, who have won the
Big Ten title five times, four in a
row, have also stumbled with a 1-8
record. In order to survive the Big
Ten season they must improve on
their .219 batting average.
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