Page 12-Tuesday, June 5, 1979-The Michigan Daily Lattany flies up short in NCAA's But 7-2 leap is good for sixth place By GEOFF LARCOM Last weekend at the NCAA Track Championships in Champaign, Ill., Michigan's mighty mite high jumper, 5- 7 Mike Lattany found out how much dif- ference two weeks can make. Just about an inch. After clearing 7-3% and flying to the Big Ten championship in Ann Arbor on May 19, the best Lattany could manage Saturday was 7-21/4. That jump netted him sixth place in the meet and gave the Wolverines their only point in the competition, putting them in a tie for 51st place. LATTANY CLEARED 7-0 and 7-1 on his first two jumps, but missed twice at 7-2/2 before clearing the bar. The Blue leaper then missed each of his three tries at 7-3% to finish his Michigan competition for this season. Nat Page of Missouri won the event with a leap of 7-41/, while James Pringle of Florida and Gail Olson of the host Illini cleared the same height as Lattany, but placed fourth and fifth respectively with fewer misses. Ironically, it was Olson, the sen- sational Illinois freshman, who suffered the same fate at the Big Ten's. Lattany cleared the bar at 7-31/ on his first try in Ann Arbor, while it took Olson three, thus giving Lattany his second straight conference crown. MICHIGAN COACH Jack Harvey wasn't disappointed with Lattany's per- formance, stressing the iffiness of the competition at those heights. "It could have gone either way," said Harvey. "We figured Mike would score in the top three. He'd beaten most of his competition in the regular season, but Page jumped exceptionally well." However, if Harvey was somewhat pleased with Lattany's finish, he must have been downright delighted with the race run by steeplechaser Dan Heikkinen, Michigan's other NCAA qualifier. After grinding out a second place finish in the Big Ten's with a time of 8:45.3, Heikkinen chopped nearly eight seconds off his time, clocking an 8:37.9. "HEIKKINEN ran very well," Harvey said. "He has the strength and en- durance to run the steeplechase as a result of his running on the cross coun- try team in the fall." Heikkinen is only a sophomore this year, Harvey happily reports, so he'll be back in the fall to lead the cross country squad. But for now, his goal is to bring his time below the Olympic trial standard of 8:33. Texas-El Paso walked away with the NCAA team title for the second time in four years, taking a 34-point lead after the first day of competition, which was highlighted by Maryland Hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah's 12.91 in the 110- meter event. The sophomore gazelle did not get credit for breaking his own record due to a tail wind. THE SPORTING VIEWS State's success.. . _. .swe et but short In The Daily's May 26 edition, sportswriter Dan Perrin suggested Michigan State's athletic program is "on the rise. " He supported this argument by citing MSU's "Triple Crown" of major sports championships in the Big Ten this year. In today's column, Perrin's colleague Alan Fanger presents a differing opinion. By ALAN FANGER Surely Don Canham was disturbed by Michigan State's athletic superiority during the 1978-79 season. When you're running a big-time program and your arch rival slams it to you in the major sports (hockey included), one wonders whether such superiority is real. But there exists a more plausible explanation for the Spartans' four-for-four mark against the Wolverines this past year. It revolves around a "random chance" element - the intertwining of scheduling and recruiting at crucial times which produces misleading results. Of course, one cannot totally rid the Wolverine teams of fault during the recent course of events. Indeed, this year was perhaps the worst for Michigan's major sports teams in the last five years. Only the football team engaged in post- season play, compared to the 1976-77 season, when all four teams were competing after season's end. The Spartans' road to each championship was by no means easy, however. And the possibility of MSU retaining even one Big Ten crown in the next year looks somewhat slim. Take football, for example. MSU finished the season with a commendable 8-3 record and their first conference title since 1966. They also had the good fortune of not playing Ohio State. Granted, the Buckeyes fielded one of their weakest teams in quite a while, but that shouldn't dilute the fact that of the three prime contenders for the title - Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue - the Spartans played the weakest conference schedule. The forecast for MSU this season doesn't look nearly as bright. Although Ohio State remains off the schedule, Coach Darryl Rogers will be working without the base for a strong passing game. The two stalwarts of last year's aerial at- tack, quarterback Eddie Smith and tight end Kirk Gibson, have graduated. That leaves either Bert Vaughn or Bruce Clark, both inexperienced in game play, to call the signals. The Spartans also lost two solid defensive players in tackle Melvin Land and safety Tom Graves. Magic tricks Meanwhile, Jud Heathcote will have to prevent the "return to Earth" syndrome from overcoming his national champion cagers. Greg Kelser's graduation and Earvin Johnson's early jump to the professional ranks will no doubt damage his team's title hopes next season. The Spartans are going to be leaderless until they can find someone to take charge of their fast breaking attack. The assembled talent is reasonable - Ron Charles, Terry Donnelly, Jay Vincent, and Mike Brkovich are all sound ballplayers - but the level of play drops off steeply after those four. Look at the most recent NCAA basketball champions. Kentucky, Marquette, and Indiana utilized a collective effort to reach the top. Nobody among those three teams received the acclaim and attention which "Magic" received this winter. That was more than just a credit to Johnson's talents; it was indicative of the fact that without Earvin Johnson, Michigan State would have been a good basketball team, but not a great one. Two years ago, sans Magic, MSU finished with a 10-17 record. MSU's baseball team can thank Mother Nature for its second conference title in 25 years. The Spartan batsmen sported an 11-4 conference mark, 11 percentage points better than runner-up Wisconsin. That statistic is misleading, however, when you examine the role rain played in shaping the final outcome. Michigan played 14 of its 18 scheduled conferen- ce games. Four contests - doubleheaders with doormats Indiana and Northwestern-were rained out. Thus the-Wolverines came into the season's final series with Michigan Statehaving to win both games, only because the Spartans had played one more game and won it. Wolverine coach Moby Benedict doesn't like to blame the rain for his team's misfortunes, but when you end up playing everyone in your league except the two patsies, those final standings are going to be somewhat tainted. So with the aid of both the schedule-maker and Mother Nature, Michigan State captured Big Ten titles in the three major sports. And though it's improper to knock the Spartans for their stellar athletic year, perhaps the folks in East Lansing will be more modest in their expectations for the coming year.