'M' streak ends, but heroes persevere

The streak began to crumble after the first day - the rest was mere formality.

The Minnesota women's swimming and diving team - so often the bridesmaid but never the bride - had claimed 181.5 points to Michigan's 134 when all was said and done.

With two more days of competition left, and Minnesota's strongest events still to come, the Fat Lady didn't need to sing in order to recognize the inevitable.

The magic that guided Michigan's run of dominance atop the Big Ten - 12 years, 12 titles -would finally disappear into the cold darkness of the Minnesota night.

While it wouldn't have been admirable for the Wolverines to roll over and die, it would have been understandable.

Minnesota enjoyed all the luxuries of a host team - the convenience of a familiar pool, a raucous crowd fueled by the Minnesota marching band, a fan-friendly public address announcer and above all, the incentive of dethroning the perennial champion in the Gophers' own arena.

Even the Gophers themselves played up their advantage to the fullest-they brazenly sported T-shirts after the first day stating in noticeable bold letters: "IT'S OUR TIME."

The eternally optimistic coach Jim Richardson wouldn't sugar coat the obvious: "We knew what the math was after we graduated one of the best classes in the country last year.

You just can't replace them with freshmen and expect them to compete at that level-we're in a rebuilding mode."

In swimming, depth pays the bills. The Gophers only had two first- place finishes for the weekend, but dressed more than 20 swimmers to Michigan's eight.

Then something happened. Whatever dread comes with the inevitability of loss was lost on the Wolverines.

In nearly every event they entered over the remaining two days the Wolverines dominated - from their impressive relay victories to their sweep in the 100 freestyle.

But what will remain and endure in the memories of all who attended these championships, was the cast of favorites and unlikely heroes who swam up to their capabilities, and in some cases, past them.

One of those, Michigan's Cathy O'Neill, was the patron saint of swimming hard luck for most of her career - always the next swimmer to go to the big meets and always coming just short of the standard in spite of her reputation as the hardest worker on the team.

In one breathtaking moment, O'Neill shed all the doubts and disappointments and captured a Big Ten title in the 400-meter individual medley - her first Big Ten title in four tries.

Another hero? How about Jennie Eberwein? Also a senior, her name became synonymous with her famous "Epstein-Barr" syndrome which knocked her out for the latter half of the season.

Who could have guessed she'd return from the form of mononucleosis, much less perform up to her All-American standards?

Yet there she was on Saturday, defending her Big Ten title in the 100 free and swimming on all the freestyle relays.

The usual suspects - Shannon Shakespeare, Missy Sugar, Jenny Crisman and Lindsay Carlberg exceeded their usual high expectations, shouldering the burden of racing in numerous events on all three days without a single complaint - no matter how painful it became.

In fact, if it weren't for the scoreboard there would be little dispute as to who the real winners of the Big Ten meet were.

"Not all winners are champions," Richardson said. "This is a championship team - they get the big picture and they see what's really important."

Perhaps it was time for the Wolverines as well.

02-22-99