With the Thanksgiving break fast approaching, many students are probably thinking ahead to a festive homecoming and a hearty turkey feast.
The Michigan women's swimming and diving team is thinking ahead as well, but the Wolverines have more than a good home-cooked meal on their mind.
Even though No. 2 Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 3-0 overall) is competing against No. 24 at Penn State (1-1 Big Ten, 2-1 overall) tomorrow, the Wolverines are making plans for the meet after the Lady Lions - the Miami Invitational that is more than two weeks away.
"We are in a normal pre-meet training cycle and also getting ready for Miami Invitational," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "(Penn State) is a good tune-up for us, a last meet evaluation."
Richardson isn't stressing the importance of Friday's meet, because he has just put his team through a second week of grueling training. His swimmers are feeling the effects of the high-impact workouts, which they have been building up to over the past two months.
"We just came off our second set of hell week," Michigan co-captain Anne Kampfe said.
Richardson credits junior Karin Bunting as well as Kampfe and fellow captain Melisa Stone with doing a great job of training.
The tired and weary swimmers won't have to endure much more of the intensely demanding practices. They will start to gradually back down on the yardage in order to rest and be prepared to swim fast times at the Invitational.
"We are going to try to get as many people to qualify for the NCAAs through (Miami Invitational)," Kampfe said. "Our goal for this half of the season is this meet."
Not all of the Wolverines will be able to compete against Penn State, the last dual meet of the semester, because of travel restrictions placed on the team.
Since Michigan won't be bringing its full team, this might be the only area of relief that the Lady Lions will have. The Wolverines are probably the toughest competition Penn State will have to face all season. To score a major and a highly unlikely upset, Penn State will need flawless swims and boisterous support from the home crowd.
"There was a larger-than-normal crowd at our last meet, and we could use more of that same support against Michigan," Penn State coach Bob Krimmel said. "When you want to be the best, you have to race against the best, and Michigan and their staff certainly fit into that category. We will have to swim extremely well if we're going to win."
The last time Penn State beat Michigan was in 1993, which was also the last time the Wolverines lost a Big Ten dual meet.
There is no pressure on Michigan to extend its 20-meet winning streak against Big Ten opponents. The only thing that is giving the swimmers real pressure currently is school, according to Kampfe.
For the Michigan swimmers, the Thanksgiving break won't be just about filling the stomach with food and sitting on the couch watching football. Richardson also gives his swimmers workouts to do over the break.
Jonathan SUMMER/Daily
The No. 2 Michigan women's swimming team can't stretch into Thanksgiving yet. It hosts No. 24 Penn State tomorrow.