Tired swimmers cruise to victory over State

The fatigue of intense distance training wasn't enough to slow the Michigan women's swimming and diving team against Michigan State on Saturday. The visiting Wolverines won 12 of 15 events in cruising to a 170-129 victory in a meet that actually served as a break from their draining practice schedule.

"We trained hard all week," said junior Missy Sugar, who won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races. "The meet was sort of a rest."

While the meet may have been a rest by distance standards, the intensity was still there for the weary Wolverines. They opened the meet with a pool-record setting victory in the medley relay. Lindsay Maas, Emily Cocks, Lindsay Carlberg and Shannon Shakespeare combined to cut a half-second off of the Michigan State pool mark.

While the record was an achievement to be proud of, the medley team was quick to put it out of mind and concentrate on swimming even faster.

Admitting that it will be nice to see her name on the Michigan State record board, Maas added that "it's something to look forward to-breaking it again."

Michigan refused to give in to fatigue, winning all but one swimming event. Jennifer Crisman paced the Wolverines with three individual wins, while Sugar and Shakespeare each captured two firsts.

Two Michigan freshmen collected their first career individual wins. Julie Kern and Jenay Karlson won the 1,000- and 500-yard freestyle races, providing depth in the distance events that Michigan coach Jim Richardson was concerned about to begin the year. Another freshman, Traci Valasco, won the 200 breaststroke, and Carlberg finished first in the 200 backstroke.

Although the swimmers considered the meet a break from training, Richardson put them to work often. Even All-Americans like Shakespeare and Crisman were entered in exhibition heats, in which no points are awarded, for an extra workout.

"We'll probably treat most of our dual meets as high-performance workouts," Richardson said.

Remember that strategy in March, when the Wolverines expect to contend for a national championship. What would appear to be an intense competition with a hated rival is just some variety in the middle of a long period of training. Pool records in hand, the Wolverines should be rested for another tough week of workouts.

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