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Tankers: It's not in the bag yet

Men's fall won't deter women from quest for 10th straight title

By Marc Lightdale
Daily Sports Writer

After watching Minnesota upstage Michigan in the men's Big Ten meet, the women's swimming team realized that a Big Ten Championship is not necessarily inevitable.

"Nothing is going to be given to us," Michigan freshman Cathy O'Neill said.

Both the men's and women's swim teams have cruised through the regular season right near the top of the NCAA rankings.

The Wolverines look to grab their 10th consecutive Big Ten title in Minneapolis.

Michigan coach Jim Richardson likes the current position of the team after a season steeped with adversity due to injuries and illness. Senior All-American backstroker, Beth Jackson, is about 75- to 80-percent recovered from mononucleosis, while junior Rachel Gustin's shoulder has gotten much better.

"We've worked ourselves back into a position to swim fast," Richardson said.

The Big Ten Championships serve an important role in determining the number of swimmers who qualify for NCAAs.

Richardson hopes to qualify approximately a dozen swimmers to give the team a number of scoring opportunities for the NCAAs.

"The Big Tens is a meet unto itself, not a stepping stone for the next meet," Richardson said.

"You have to swim well to get to the NCAAs."

At this crucial juncture, the Wolverines have begun to taper.

In the tapering process, the idea is to reduce the volume of training preparation in order to save energy for big events.

After an arduous practice regimen, the team brings the training to a halt, hoping to elicit its best performance. The volume of training has gone down as the team attempts to fine-tune its starts and develop its speed.

Gustin, a breaststroker, looks forward to an opportunity for the meet to provide team unity.

"It's a great way to bring the team together for the NCAAs," Gustin said.

Minnesota and Michigan appear to be the favorites in this year's Big Tens, along with Wisconsin, which owns what Richardson calls a "dominant group of five freestylers." In addition, Northwestern has some talented individual swimmers, although the team lacks depth.

The much-improved Purdue and Illinois squads should also be very competitive.

Richardson looks forward to the team's opportunity to swim in Minnesota's first-class arena.

"They have one of the best facilities in the world," Richardson said.

The swimmers are optimistically awaiting the Big Ten Championships, despite the rough week that the team went through after a swimmer's father passed away.

"We're ready to swim fast," Michigan junior Melissa Stone said. "We're positive. (The death) pulled us together. It made us realize how much we mean to each other, how much we are a family."

Junior Lidia Szabo emphasized the importance of the meet for the team.

"We've really been giving each other lots of support," Szabo said. "After the guys' meet, we realized that things are not guaranteed to go our way."