The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 20, 1990 - Page 13
Track in the Heartland
Men runners hope that spring provides lift
by Jared Entin
Daily Sports Writer
In the Heartland of America the
Wolverines will find out just how
much heart they really have when
they face national competition at
the Kansas Relays in Lawrence,
Kansas.
Last weekend, the Michigan
men's track team pulled together
some strong individual perform-
ances to beat Michigan State in
poor weather conditions. "It was
too bad the weather wasn't nice,"
coach Jack Harvey said. "We were
primed and ready to do well." This
weekend the weather looks better
and the Wolverines hope that they
will again be primed for the
competition.
As a matter fact, they will have
to be ready for two competitions.
Part of the team will compete in
the Kansas Relays, while the other
part will return to East Lansing on
Saturday for the Michigan State
Invitational.
Leading the Wolverine squad
Women to go separate ways
Sara Dykesterhouse catches the final out to seal Michigan's 6-0 win over Central on Tuesday. Michigan plays
host to Northwestern in the first of two doubleheaders today at Varsity Field at 3pm.
Be softball squad hopes NU
is elixir for championship jx
by Tom Kent
Daily Sports Writer
Women's track and field coach,
James Henry, has divided duties for
his team this weekend. While cross
country coach Sue Foster and the
distance runners and throwers travel
to Lawrence, Kansas for the Kansas
Relays, the rest of the women's
track team will travel to East
Lansing for the Michigan State
Invitational.
The two sites are just two more
stops on the road leading to the
team's April finale, the Penn
Relays.
After enduring foul weather,
illness, and injury for the first three
weeks of the season, the team is
healthy and in strong mid-season
form. But Henry still believes there
is work to be done.
"I'm somewhat pleased at the
way that the distance kids have been
running," Henry said. "But the
sprinters and quarter milers haven't
quite put it together yet, I hope that
they begin to do that this weekend
at Michigan State."
Because of the extra academic
pressure at this time of year, Henry
has been keeping a close eye on the
team. While the distance runners are
slowly working their way back into
competition, the sprinters and hurd-
lers have been going strong for sev-
eral weeks. "I think this is a good
time for my kids (sprinters and
hurdlers) to use as a break," Henry
will be senior captain Phil Fergu-
son. Though twice missing out on
first place by hundredths of seconds
last weekend, Ferguson has an ex-
cellent chance at qualifying for the
NCAA's and should do very well in
the 100 and 200 meter dashes.
Another team leader will be
javelin thrower Warde Manuel. Al-
though he finished first last week-
end, Manuel will have to make
large improvements if he wishes to
place in the national competition.
this weekend
said. "But we're keeping them
home mainly for academic reasons."
The team competed in the
Dogwood Relays last weekend in
Knoxville, Tennessee against East-
ern Michigan, Indiana and Pitts-
burgh, among others. Once again
some familiar names registered their
usual impressive performances.
Lisa DeVries was the only
individual winner of the day, with a
high jump of 5'7 3/4". Julie Victor
placed second while recording a
personal and career best in the
discus with a throw of 165'5". And
not surprisingly, senior tri-captain
Mindy Rowand gave another
exceptional performance, placing
second in the 3000 meters.
by John Niyo
Daily Sports Writer
Despite a losing record (3-5) in
the Big Ten, Michigan still harbors
aspirations of a Big Ten softball
championship. And these hopes
4would be greatly helped by a string
of victories over last-place North-
western this weekend.
To finally break a championship
jinx that has plagued the Wolverines
for several seasons - they've
finished second for three straight
years - they will have to start
winning this weekend.
"We're not playing that bad, we
just haven't gotten the breaks,"
senior first baseman Sara Dykster-
house said. "Our chances for the title
*',are still there, depending on what
some of the other teams do. But we
have to take a lot of games this
weekend against Northwestern."
The Wildcats have fallen from
their glory days. From 1984-87,
Northwestern dominated the confer-
ence, finishing first each year and
winning over 40 games three times.
They also made three consecutive
$appearances in the College World
Series during that stretch.
Now they are mired in last place
with a 2-8 record in the Big Ten and
a 10-19 mark overall with their only
two wins coming against an equally
hapless Michigan State squad (2-6,
6-24). The two cellar dwellers split a
doubleheader.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines have
been a model of inconsistency -
something that frustrates coach
Carol Hutchins. Hutchins has said
all year that "to win it we have to be
consistent. That's the key for us."
They lost three out of four to
Ohio State last weekend and then
followed that up with a doubleheader
sweep of Central Michigan Wednes-
day.
Earlier this season they stormed
through the Bud Lite Invitational in
California winning the champion-
ship with an 8-0 streak. But
Michigan then lost six out of its
next seven to destroy their momen-
tum and have been looking to regain
it ever since.
One player who has been able to
find a groove is Dyksterhouse. A
second team All-Big Ten selection
last year, she's making a case for
first team honors this year. The
Jenison, Michigan native has blister-
ed opposing pitchers this year,
batting .356 for the season.
"I'm feeling good at the plate,"
Dyksterhouse said. "This is the most
confident I've ever felt."
Taking the mound for Michigan
'We're not playing
that bad, we just
haven't gotten the
breaks'
- Sara Dyksterhouse
Michigan first baseman
this weekend will be Andrea Nelson
(6-5, 1.04 ERA) and Jenny Allard
(6-6, 1.49). Allard, last year's Big
Ten MVP, is also second on the
team in hitting at .304.
Northwestern relies on senior
infielder Chinazo Opia for much of
their offense while Amy Redmer (4-
7 1.67) anchors the pitching staff.
Lacrosse set to take Big Ten
by Rod Loewenthal
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's lacrosse
club defeated the Chippewas of
Western Michigan Wednesday night,
12-7, in what was their last regular
season game before the Big Ten
tournament this weekend at North-
western.
Coach Robert DiGiovanni, how-
ever, was not pleased with the
team's performance. "It was a nice
tune-up going into the tournament,"
he said. "We won but we won ugly.
The team played poorly since they
may have been looking forward to
the tournament."
This Saturday and Sunday, all
seven Big Ten club teams will
compete, but the tourney at North-
western should boil down to a two
team race. "I speculate that Michigan
and Wisconsin will meet in the
finals," DiGiovanni said. "We've al-
ready played everybody and had no
trouble beating any of the other
teams."
Seedings for the tournament are
yet to be determined; nonetheless, it
seems certain that the Wolverines
will be put in one division and
Wisconsin in the other. The winner
of each will meet Sunday afternoon
in Northwestern's Dyche Stadium.
Michigan compiled an impressive
Big Ten record of 5-1 this season,
good enough for a second-place fin-
ish behind Wisconsin. Sophomore
midfielder Denne Reed is confident
about Michigan's chances this week-
end against the Badgers. "I think
we're better coached and a stronger
team than Wisconsin," he said. "We
lost to them two weekends ago but a
lot of our key players were
missing."
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