The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, November 4, 1980-Page 11
Harriers run to success
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Harriers
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NCAA's
By JOHN FITZPATRICK
A Daily Sports Analysis
First of a two-partseries
ich in talent and enthusiastic, the
n's cross-country team is on the
verge of completing one of its most suc-
cessful years ever, with a chance to
score well in the NCAA meet at
Wichita, Kansas on November 24.
The harriers' record thus far com-
prises wins at the Springbank Road
Race, Notre Dame Invitational, the
Michigan State dual meet, and the Big
Ten meet last week; a second-place
finish at the Central Collegiate cham-
pionships rounds out the impressive
son they have enjoyed thus far.
AT NOTRE DAME, Michigan han-
dily overcame two tough foes in Auburn
and Indiana. The Central Collegiate
and Big Ten meets were somewhat
disappointing, as highly-regarded Penn
State triumphed in the former, and
Inidana tied Michigan with 44 points in
the latter. To a team as gifted as the
Wolverines are, these setbacks, though
minor, are discomforting.
'Gifted" is an apt word to describe
e runners on the Michigan team. Dan
Heikkinen is a name well-known in
national track circles, with a pair of
sub-8:30 times in the steeplechase to his
credit this year; he's made a strong
showing this fall. The man who often is
right behind Heikkinen, Brian Diemer,
finished ahead of his teammate with a
sparkling second place at the Big Ten;
is time of 24:16 for the tricky five-mile
layout at the MSU golf course was a
ere nine seconds behind Indiana star
Spivey, a year older than the
sophomore Wolverine.
The Heikkinen-Diemer duo aren't the
only thinclads with talent on the squad.
Dave Lewis, three-mile champion at
last winter's CCC indoor meet, has been
getting better with every race. Dan
Beck, a 4:04 miler, and Bill O'Reilly,
have their ups and downs, but have
shown what they can do on a good day.
DDED TO THIS roster are ex-
Women thinclads end
season fifth in AIAW
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PSPAGHTI MNIH
Tonight order a spaghetti
dinner including a garden
salad & garlic bread & get
another for 1 Q .
Heikkinen
... leads Wolverine harriers
perienced distancemen such as Bill.
Weidenbach, Gary Parenteau and
Steve Brandt, all of whom are familiar
with the stress of championship meets.
With this formidable array of run-
ners, what's to stop Michigan from
waltzing to a national qualifying berth at
the NCAA regional meet on November
15 at Champaign? Nothing, it would
seem, but Lady Fortune, and she has a
lot to do with determining cross-
country champions.
What is this so? Cross-country is a
sport, like many, where a multitude of
variables are constantly at play. How a
runner feels on the day of a race, how
hilly the course is, what the weather is
like; these are but a few of-the things
that could directly effect the outcome of
a meet. For example, if Heikkinen had
not come down with a bout of the flu last
Saturday, Michigan would have un-
doubtedly emerged with a win, rather
than a tie.
In addition, several Wolverine run-
ners had sub-par performances, a usual..
occurrence in a sport like cross-:
country, where a schedule with one
race a week exacts its toll on some.
That's understandable to anyone who's
tried to run six miles "flat-out" over
hills and streams.
The point is, that though Michigan's
chances for victory or doing well are
quite good going into their last two
meets of the season, an injury of illness
at an inopportune moment could turn
Michigan's fortunes upside down-it's
happened before.
Tomorrow: Michigan's chances at
the NCAA meet.
By JOHN FITZPATRICK
Wrapping up the season on a high
note, the Michigan women's cross-
country team finished fifth out of 19
teams in the AIAW Region I meet, held
last Saturday at Wisconsin.
"Considering that we finished fifth
this year, and ninth last year, that's a
tremendous improvement," noted Gach
Red Simmons. "This is the toughest
region in the country, and to finish that
well was quite impressive."
The Wolverines garnered 152 points,
as Purdue handily won the meet with a
total of 43 points, ahead of Michigan
State (71), Ohio State (84), and Wiscon-
sin (87). Central Michigan was seventh
with 179 points,,Eastern Michigan tenth
with 243.
The individual race saw the course
record of 17:29 for the 5,000-meter
distance held by the Badgers' Rose
Thomson shattered by the top six
finishers, one of whom was Michigan's
Malaine Weaver.
She blazed to a 17:27 clocking, good
for sixth place.
"Sixth place is remarkably good for a
meet of this caliber," noted Simmons.
'"Melaine ran a terrific race. She knew
she was as good as anyone in there, but
before the last few meets she's lacked
confidence. She was aggressive-went
all out from the start to finish. An ex-
cellent race." By virtue of having
placed in the top 15, Weaver qualified
for the AIAW national meet November
15 at Seattle.
Thomson, the Kenyan mainstay of
Wisconsin's team for the past two
years, won the race in a new record of
17:06. Aside from Weaver, several
Wolverine harriers ran to some solid
performances. One place shy of joining
Weaver at the nationals was Sue
Frederick, who ran a fast 17:53 in 16th
place: Other Michigan finishers in-
cluded Lisa Larsen in 24th (18:06),
Josie VonVoightlander in 47th (18:38),
Annette Penilo in 59th (18:53), and
Carol Lam'in61st (18:54).
Michigan's performance at this meet
might very well be called "impressive"
by Simmons for a number of reasons.
The most obvious is the team's finish it-
self, as Wisconsin, a team that placed
fourth at the national meet last year,
and according to Track and Field News
" . . could hold that position or even
move up (this year) . . .," was only one
place ahead of the Wolverines.
Sports On Tap
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Nov. 7-8 SMAIAW, at East Lansing
MEN'S HOCKEY
Nov. 7 vs. Michigan State,
at East Lansing
Nov. 8 Michigan State
FOOTBALL
Nov. 8 vs. Wisconsin, at Madison, WI
GRIDDE PICKS
Our election workers stayed up all
night counting the votes, and we finally
came up with the winner. Actually,
there was a tie for the top spot, as Louie
Frango of Markley and Kip Litton of
1001 E. University both missed only one
game and predicted the same score for
the Michigan-Indiana score.
If you would like to engage in a con-
structive activity to take your mind off
the election, then take a look at this
week's games, pick the winners, and
then get them down to the Daily at 420
Maynard before midnight Friday. A
free one-item pizza from Pizza Bob's
awaits the top forecaster.
1. MICHIGN at Wisconsin
(pick score)
2. Illinois at Ohio St.
3. Iowa at Purdue
4. Northwestern at Michigan St.'
5. Indiana at Wisconsin
6. LSU at Alabama
7. Houston at Texas
8. Georgia at Florida
9. Arkansas at Baylor
10. SMU at Rice
it. Southern Cal at Stanford
12. Arizona at Washington
13. Wake Forest at Duke
14. Air Force at Army
15. Colgate at Bucknell
16. Gramblingat Alabama. t
17. S. Dakota St. at S. Dakota
18. Illinois St. at Eastern Michigan
19. Shippensburg St. at Slippery Rock
20. DAILY LIBELS at Electoral
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Ji michigan
men's
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CELEBRATES
THE
f r iars'
s Ive r anniversary
FEAT U RING
Sp ikers crunch Eastern
By JOHN KERK
The Michigan women's volleyball
team started off slowly but came
around in the final two games to rip
Eastern Michigan 16-14, 15-6, 15-6 last
night. The victory boosted the
Wolverines record to 23-13.
In the contest's opening game,
ichigan quickly fell behind 11-5. The
Wolverines chipped away at Eastern's
lead but still trailed 14-12 with the
Hurons serving for the game. However,
Michigan staved off two game points
and then freshman Alison Noble served
four straight points and Michigan had
come back to take a 16-14 victory.
"FOR SOME reason the girls are
ery nervous at home," said coach
ndy Vong explaining Michigan's slow
start. "We expected them to hit a lot
harder but they didn't."
Michigan's comeback seemned to take
the fight out of Eastern as the
Wolverines coasted through the next
two games by identical 15-6 tallies.
The Wolverines jumped out to an
early 7-2 lead in the second game and
when the Hurons narrowed the gap to 7-
6, Michigan went to work and tallied the
next eight points to wrap up the game.
THE THIRD GAME was much the
same as the second. Michigan led 6-4
and what began as a close game
became no contest as Eastern's offense
went to sleep and garnered only two
more points the rest of the way.
Michigan scored the last four points of
the third game and locked up the mat-
ch.
The spikers next match will be an
exhibition Wednesday against the
University of Winnipeg. That will be
followed by the Michigan state tour-
nament which will take place Novem-
ber 7-8 in East Lansing. Vong said that
he "feels good" about Michigan's chan-
ces in the tournament and that
Michigan is "capable of beating some
good teams."
I - 1 -1. .11-1.1
p, ;t f r iars from the last 25 years"
concert
SAT NOV. 15, 8:00 PM. H I L L A UD.
Tic Iloets: $4.50, $3.50, $2.50, $1.50 (stu.dents)
HF L L BOX OFF ICE OPENS NOV. 10, R5PM.
HAVE DINNER WITH
Charley THIS WEEK
' A bowl of chili, a slice of corn-
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$1.50
Special is from 6-8 pm, M-F
Good Time Charleys
k 1140 South University-668-8411
Concerned about
THE
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