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Page 10 -The Michigan Daily- Friday, April 5, 1985
'M' track transfer meets the challenge
By JIM GINDIN '
About the toughest part of being a
student is, meeting the challenges a
university has to offer. Cathy Schmidt
seeks out these challenges at Michigan
both on the track and in the classroom.
Schmidt, a junior accounting major,
transferred here after spending two
years at Saginaw Valley State College.
In her first season as a Wolverine, she's
run quite well on the cross country
team and reached All-America status
through her school-record time of
2:44.15 in the 1000 meter run at the
NCAA indoor championships in
Syracuse last month. She also holds the
school record of 2:10.40 in the 800
meters.
"SHE AND Sue Schroeder are the
core of the distance team," said distan-
ce runner coach Sue Parks. "Both of
them can run anything from the 800 to
the 3000."
"She's (Schmidt) very outgoing, very
competitive. She sets a goal and doesn't
give up on it," said Schroeder. "She had
a goal of becoming All-American. Once
in the national meet she was very inten-
se, mentally into it."
Schmidt went to Grosse Pointe North
High School where she won the Class A
state championship in the mile her
senior year. She continued running at
Saginaw and set two NAIA national in-
door records while winning the half-
mile and 1000 meter national races both
years of competition.
A SCHOLAR ATHLETE in high
school, Schmidt said she wasn't
academically challenged at Saginaw
and so decided to transfer to Michigan.
"At Saginaw if you studied, you were
fine-here you have to understand
everything real well," she said.
Another factor in her decision was the
lack of other quality runners in the
NAIA meets. "She was beyond the level
of competition there," said Parks.
"This is the first year she's been able to
compete against top people. It's made a
difference already."
"AT SAGINAW there was one star, at
Michigan we have a lot of talent. I can't
even be sure at a meet that I can beat
all my teammates. The same goes for
workouts. It was good that I went to
Saginaw-I got sick of being number
one," said Schmidt.
Schmidt has met the challenge of
being part of a competitive team quite
well. "A lot of people can run fpst times
on their own, but not in the big races.
Cathy's just the opposite," said Parks.
"If I get tired I try to push myself
harder," Schmidt said. "I keep pushin
until I achieve. It's not hard with a
team like ours. You look back and con-
vince yourself that the others aren't
even breathing hard. I'm sure that if I
were alone and felt pain, I'd stop."
SHE HAS learned to balance her
athletic and academic life at Michigan
too. In the demanding business school,
she is leaning towards a career as an
accountant, but is considering taking
the law school entrance exams. At th
national meet in Syracuse, her coac
had to administer an accounting exam
she was unable to reschedule.
"In a year I quit running. Track will
not make my living, so academics are
very important. If I had to pick (bet-
ween running and academics), I'd pick
academics. If I didn't, ten years from
now when I look back, it's going to be like
'why didn't I try'," said Schmidt.
She looks forward to the challenges
ahead in accounting and law an
possibly competing in a marathon after
graduation.
"I have goals but I don't vocalize
them. If I don't run well I literally hate
myself," said Schmidt. "But I don't
vocalize them because you tend to get
too concerned with the goal. With a goal
you have to be so exact with a certain
place or a certain time-who knows?
You might do better than that."
Schmidt
...paces distance corps
L
Philling it Up
I
By Phil Nussel
-t
Tennis team is young...
but they're learning from the best
There is no doubt in my mind that the top active coach at Michigan today
is mens tennis coach Brian Eisner. That's a tough proclamation to make
with the likes of Bo Schembechler, Bud Middaugh and Bill Frieder on hand.
But then again, none of these coaches can claim to have won 14 straight Big
Ten titles.
Eisner took his Wolverine squads to the Big Ten championship from 1970-
1983. After that; he took these teams to the NCAA tournament-all 14 years.
What happened in '84 you ask? Well, as the cliche says, all good things
must come to an end. The '84 Wolverines had to settle for a humbling 5th-
place finish.
This year, Eisner has the task of rebuilding the Michigan tennis program
back into a Big Ten champion. It probably won't happen this year, but the
players on the '85 squad are certainly the ones who can win a Big Ten title in
future seasons.
The reason for pessimism this year and optimism about the following years
is the youth in the program. Eisner has no less than five freshmen capable of
starting in singles or doubles. Four of them-Jon Morris, Brad Koontz,
Franz Geiger, and John Solik-have already played key roles this season.
The fifth, Tomas Anderson, gets his shot today when the Wolverines meet
a tough Northwestern team at Northwestern.
But the youth doesn't end there. Ed Filer and John Royer, both
sophomores, should be around for two more years. The only upperclassman
that will figure in Eisner's plans is first singles player Jim Sharton, a junior.
Now, there is surely nothing wrong with this movement. As a matter of
fact, I would even venture to say that this could be one of the finest crops of
freshmen that this tennis team has had in quite some time. But at least this
year everybody, especially the players, will have to be patient. Success and
Big Ten titles will come with experience.
"Part of the problem with a very young team is that they've never been
through this before," Eisner explained. "They're nervous as a result, which
was what our problem was in our first Big Ten weekend."
Along with nervousness, the Wolverines have had to deal with a lot of ad-
versity. Morris' tendonitis-plagued knees have kept him out of action in the
early matches, forcing Eisner to juggle the lineup every match.
There have also been problems with Royer. Nobody is saying exactly
what's going on, but Royer sat out of the Eastern Michigan match last Sun-
day for disciplinary reasons.
"I'd rather not get into the details, but that particular problem is one
that's being solved and is being solved positively," Eisner commented. "I'm
sure it'll never come up again. It's something really that is a personal
problem that John has had that we're going to get solved for him."
The solution is unclear, but it may involve moving Roger from third
singles to fourth, which is what Eisner is planning to do, at least for today's
match.
All this adversity seems to be behind the team now, at least Eisner thinks
so., This road trip should be the frue indicator of just how well this year's
team should fare. The results of the first road trip (a loss to Illinois, a win
over Purdue) can be discounted since it was the first league exposure for
most of the team. The Wolverines were also without Morris in the singles
lineup.
It's quite evident that Eisner has tried to take the pressure off of his team.
He doesn't want them to even think aboutthe team's record or a Big Ten
title-he wants them to think about one point at a time.
"Somethimes we're trying too hard and as a result, they're not performing
well and that's where experience comes in," Eisner said. "We don't want
players losing confidence becuase they're losing a match or two."
Life can only improve for this young squad. It could even improve today-
a win over the veteran-filled Northwestern team would show that the
Wolverines are for real. Eisner said, "Everybody is excited to play. Our
practices this week have been sensational and I just think that it really now
is evident to everyone exactly what has to be done for us to be as successful
as we want to be by the time we get to the end of the season."
T
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