9,1982 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
CAPTAIN'S CORNER:
Leps Kicks Past Last Season in 880, Mile
Purdue Poses Threat
To OSU in Big Ten Golf
By BOB ZWINCK compete in the tourney, are
The Big Ten Golf Meet at I- schnlatically ineliiihl this yar.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Election to the
captaincy of a Michigan athletic
team is an honor few ever receive.
To the qualities of leadership,
sportsmanship, athletic ability and
intangibles that make a Michigan
captain what he is, The Michigan
Daily pays tribute. This is the eighth
of a series.)
By DAVE GOOD
If ever an athlete was made to
order, for a stereotype, that man
is Ergas Leps, Michigan's 1960
track captain.
That's a name that's not easy to
forget, and for three years track
fans around the country have
automatically associated it with an
icy - emotioned, Lithuanian - born
runner who is as sure as death
and taxes to hang back in every
race and then whiz past everybody
at the last possible moment.
But Ergas Leps is not an expres-
sionless robot. In fact, he's not
even a robot. His teammates will
tell you that he's as loose and full
of horseplay as anybody else.
And he's not from Lithuania,
either, contrary to popular be-
lief.
But Once a Year
"Every year around Penn Relay
time it starts up," sighed Leps,
shaking his head. The truth is
that Leps was born in Estonia, a
little to the northeast of Lithuania
and now a part of the USSR.
Leps fled to Sweden with his
parents when he was five and then
came to Toronto when he was
ten.. He took up running the mile
as a sophomore in high school, and
that brings up the matter of his
being exclusively a stretch-runner.
He is now, although he says that
he doesn't have to be because he
did't use to be. "I started out
being a lead runner, but then when
I came here I started running the
big boys and I could barely keep
up with them," he explained.
He had been running mile races
over 5:00 for his first two high
school years, getting down to
5:02, a school record, when he was
a junior. But working out in the
summer and running harder the
next year got him down to a gaudy
4:13.6, which was not a Canadian
shcoolboy record because he ran
it against seniors.
First Experiment
And that race was the turn-
ing point in his career.
"My 4:13.6 was really the first
'M'Sailors
Finish High
The Michigan Sailing Clubplac-
fourth in the Annual Detroit Sail-
ing Club Regatta held over the
weekend at Belle Isle.
Wayne State, with 102 points,
Indiana and Notre Dame, with
94, and Michigan, with 89, topped
the field of twelve contenders.
The Michigan entry, which sail-
ed in Flying Scots, was skippered
by Paul O'Reilly and Travis Ran-
dolph and crewed by Eric Hall,
Mike Carr; and Eric White.
The Michigan sailors held the
lead after ten of the total of twelve
races, but were disqualified in the
last race for a rule infraction.
The disqualification dropped the m
from first to fourth place.
The scoring system used in the
Regatta was as follows: a school
can get one point for each oppon-
ent beaten (a possible 11 per
race), a point for starting, and a
point for finishing.
race where I tried to stay back
and kick," Leps pointed out.
Then he came to Michigan,
Coach Don Canham changed him
from a front-runner to a stretch-
runner for keeps. "In fact, we tell
him to keep back before every
race," Canham added.
Now, approaching the end of
his last season for the Wolverines,
Leps has made the kick his trade-
mark.
He has anchored six winners at
the Penn Relayg with it. He has
won seven Big Ten mile or half-
mile crowns with it (and is all but
a sure bet for two more next
week at Lafayette). He has set
several varsity records and one
conference mark with it.
And he has become probably
the best half imiler in the coun-
try with it.
Places Third
Last year, Leps placed third in
the NCAA 880-yd. run. This year,
Canham thinks he should win it
and lower his varsity record from
1:49.2 to 1:48.0.
There's a sort of sad story be-
hind that 1:49.2, too-one that
Leps hopes to re-do with a happy
ending this year.
Leps had gone into the NCAA
meet last year co-favored with
Western Michigan's John Bork,
who had defeated Leps badly in
a dual meet several weeks before.
But that was when Leps had just
gotten over a cold and hadn't had
a chance to work himself back in
shape.
Now a healthy Leps tore up the
field in the semi-finals of the
NCAA race, sprinting past Bork
and the rest to a new varsity rec-
. "}h
ord. But Leps called this race
one mistake-"showing him (Bork)
what I had"--and Canham ex-
plained another that was to fol-
low in the finals the next day.
Leps Holds Back
In this race Leps was following
his usual policy-keeping in touch
with the leader and running sec-
ond going into the backstretch of
the second lap. Then Bork tried
a bold maneuver. "He started
sprinting from 300 yds. out," ex-
plained Leps. "I tried to stay with
him but I really didn't start
sprinting all out until it was too
late."
By this time Bork, a skinny sen-
ior with a driving arm motion, was
far gone, and to add insult to in-
jury, Oregon's Sig Ohlemann
passed Leps for second in the last
few yards. of the race. Bork had
run the best time of his life, 1:48.3,
and Leps still did a creditable
1:49.8.
"That's the only race I can re-
member that he made a tactical
mistake in," Canham commented.
"He let Bork get away from him
and that was it. But other than
that Ergas just doesn't make mis-
takes and everybody knows it.
"And he's so much better his
year. He's a year older-stronger,
facter, more racing experience and
more confidence. I think he can
run the quarter in :47 and out-
side of (Oregon's Dyrol) Burle-
son, he's the only miler in the
country who can.
Best in Nation
"I think he's the best half-miler
in the country right now. If he
ran Burleson, it would be one
hell of a race and I don't know
who would win, but I feel sure that
Ergas could beat him.
"The only way.he can be beaten
is to run away from him. A guy
like (New Zealand's world record-
holder Peter) Snell could beat
Ergas because he'd run a 2:58 for
three quarters and take all the
kick out of him. But Ergas knows
that when there are no Snell's in
the race he can stay up and then
kick."
Ironically enough, Leps has al-
ready had the experience of racing
Snell. Back in 1960 when the
Michigan sophomore was repre-
senting Canada in the Olympic
Games,s he was ousted from his
quarter-final heat of the 800-
meter run, which was won by
Snell.
Snell, then a nobody, went on
to defeat Belgium's Roger Moens
in the finals. And if it was a sur-
prise to the world, it was a sur-
prise to Leps. "I didn't think any-
body could beat (ex-Illinois run-
ner George) Kerr. I think what
hurt Kerr was running the four
heats. A guy like Snell is strong
and can take it," Leps remarked.
Now Leps is looking toward the
Big Ten meet, the NCAA meet,
and farther ahead still, the 1964
Olympics at Toyko. He plans to
teach physical education in Toron-
to after graduation, and chances
are that he's going to be remem-
bering the name of Peter Snell all
the while.
linois two weeks
may well yield a
pion this year.
from Saturday,
different cham-
Last year's Big Ten Champions,
Ohio State, took the title with a
1527 team score, winning by nine
strokes. However, their top three
shooters are no longer around.
Jack Nicklaus was the medalist
with a brilliant 283, but he now
shoots for money.
Mike Podolski, who finished
third on a 299 card, and Dave
Daniels, a 311 golfers, have both
graduated.
Nevertheless, Joe Coleburn, who
shot a 314, Chuck Meek, who card-
ed a 320, and Russ Jimeson, with
a 321, all will be back.
Two others from last year's
squad, Frank Kurtz and Fred
Hamilton, but they were not in
the Big Ten's last year.
Purdue has a solid team of
veterans. Every linksman who
competed in the Big Ten's is back,
an dlast year they came in fourth
with a 1544 aggregate.
Jerry Jackson led the team and
placed fifth overall with 304.
In addition, Howard Klein and
John Thorington will be available,
but of course neither saw action
last year.
Michigan State will be without
the services of four of their third
place team. They finished with a
total of 1539 strokes.
Gone via graduation are two
three-year lettermen, C. A. Smith,
whose 305 took sixth in the Big
Ten, and Tad Schmidt, who fired
a 311. Marty Kleva, who also
graduated, shot a 335.
Both Gene Hunt, a 307 scorer,
and Larry McMillan, who didn't
BILL NEWCOMB
... team captain
Big Ten Scores
BASEBALL
Illinois 9, Indiana State 8 (10 inn.)
Indiana 9, Miami 4
Wisconsin 3, Notre Dame 2
Michigan State 7, Detroit 3
TENNIS
Northwestern 8, Notre Dame 1
Iowa 8, Minnesota 1
-Daily-Bruce Taylor
ANOTHER RACE, ANOTHER VICTIM- When Ergas Leps wins
a race, which is nearly always, somebody has to be the victim of
his strong stretch run. This time it's Indiana's Steve Hibler and
Michigan's Jim Neahusan in the mile run last Saturday.
ERGAS LEPS
... man with kick
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