Tankers fall to Vols despite rst nishes

This past weekend, the women's swimming team traveled to No. 16 Tennessee for its first dual meet of 1999. Despite first-place finishes by junior Shannon Shakespeare and freshman Kerrianne Kalbko, the Wolverines were unable to pull out a victory, falling with a score of 186-109.

The biggest problem that the Wolverines faced in the meet was fatigue, due to a hectic schedule from last week.

The team returned from a training trip in Hawai'i just in time for the start of classes, worn out and riddled with jet lag.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan women's swimming team fell to No. 16 Tennessee, 186-109. The time zone changes from practices in Hawaii may have been a factor for the women.

Just a few days later, it had to make the trip to Knoxville to take on the Volunteers.

"We hadn't got over the time zone change and were still very tired from the trip," Kalbko said.

The lack of rest and fatigue problems were evident in Michigan's swimming as many of the swimmers posted times below what was expected. The meet, however, did allow the Woverines to work on their stamina.

"The meet gave us a chance to swim tired," freshman Andrea Kurrle said. "Now when we swim in the Big Ten championships and NCAA championships we'll be more prepared to know how it feels."

Kalbko finished second in the 200-yard butterfly and along with Kurrle and senior Cathy O'Neill led the Wolverines to a 1-2-3 finish in the 400-yard individual medley.

"It was a longer event that we had to swim when we were tired," Kurrle said. "It showed that our hard work (in Hawai'i) paid off."

Shakespeare won the 100-yard freestyle, finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke, and placed third in the 100-yard butterfly. She also led the 400-yard freestyle relay team to a first place finish.

"I definitely made some improvements over the trip to Hawai'i and saw it in my times," Shakespeare said. "But there is still room for improvement."

Even though the Wolverines didn't perform as well as they may have liked and didn't post the times that they were capable of, they found other aspects of their swimming had improved.

"We did well coming off of the training trip in Hawai'i," Kalbko said. "My times didn't improve because I was tired, but I did see improvements in my swimming technique that didn't show in my times."

Michigan returns home this weekend to face Purdue on Friday afternoon at Ann Arbor Huron High School before traveling to Georgia on Saturday.

01-11-99