Page 6 -The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday - September 30, 1991 CROSS COUNTRY EYES TOP 10 Men runners take Dartmouth invite j" 7.S by Bruce Inosencio As most students were enjoying pre-game parties before Saturday's big football game, there was an- other matchup between top-20 teams at Dartmouth. Yes, Dartmouth. The men's cross country team ran its way to a victory at the Darfmouth Invitational Saturday morning. The Wolverines' first- place finish should boost their na- tional ranking, as Michigan defeated many top teams. Ranked 12th going into the meet, Michigan's biggest competition appeared to be Wake Forest, which was ranked sixth. Keeping a tight-knit pack over a difficult course allowed the team to defeat the Demon Deacons by one point. The team results from the in- vitational show just how close the race really was: Michigan (66), Wake Forest (67), Dartmouth (75), Going into Dartmouth, the Wolverines' objective was to place one or two runners in the top five, with only a gap of 30 seconds be- tween the first and fifth finishers for the team. Although unable to place a runner in the top five, Michigan managed to stay close to- gether throughout the 8,000-meter course. At the finish, only 19 sec- onds separated the first and fifth place runners. Michigan's Matt Smith finished seventh overall, finishing in 24 minutes, 47 seconds. Close on Smith's heels were Dan Oden, plac- ing eighth and finishing in 24:50, and Tony Carna, who crossed the line in 12th place at the 24:53 mark. Michigan's fourth runner was Shawn MacKay, who placed 19th with a time of 25:05. MacKay barely finished before teammate Jim Finlayson, who rounded out the top five for Michigan in 25:06. The key to Smith's success, he said, stemmed from coach Ron Warhurst's confidence. "I was a little more focused this weekend," Smith said, "and I ran like I like to run. It was definitely helpful that Coach Warhurst told me to go out and run my own race." "Matt ran really, really well for us this weekend and he did it when we needed it most," Warhurst said. This weekend, the Wolverines look to capture their own invita- tional. The Michigan Invitational will be held Saturday morning, with the women's race starting at 11 a.m., followed by the men's race at 11:30. The race should be excit- ing, as Michigan will host rivals Michigan State, Ohio State, and others. Since the meet is the only home event for the Wolverines, the men's and women's squads are optimistic that spectators will make their way to the varsity golf course to lend strong support. "We think we can win every race we go to," Smith said, "and that's what we strive to do." " WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Women fall to tough Hoya squad by Kimberly DeSempelaere The Michigan women's cross country team stumbled for the first time this season, falling to the Georgetown Hoyas at the Dart- mouth Invitational Saturday. The Hoyas topped the second- place Wolverines by a wide margin, finishing with 22 points to Michigan's 55. Michigan had won its first two meets this year. William & Mary, Dartmouth, Wake Forest, Massachusetts, and Vermont finished third through seventh, respectively. Georgetown dominated the top 10 spots with eight runners. Amy Buchholz, who finished fifth, was the only Michigan runner to place in the top 10. She completed the course in 19 minutes, 23 seconds, about 30 seconds behind the first-place run- ner. Wolverine coach Sue Foster ex- pected Buchholz to strengthen the lineup. "Amy ran really well and con- tinues to improve every week," Foster said. "She didn't feel well before the meet but ran a solid race and competed well anyway." Rookie Kelly Chard ran the course in 19:49, finishing in 11th place. Chard was expected to finish in the top 10 after running a tough race atnthe Michigan State Invitational. "Kelly has been running some great races and is quite a competi- tor," Foster said. "She had a fantas- tic performance this weekend but she is hoping to do even better in the future." Sophomore Chris Szabo crossed the line four seconds after Chard to place 12th. The Michigan coaches anticipated that Szabo would run a better race at Dartmouth than her sixth-place performance at the MSU Invitational. Other Wolver- ines crossing the line in the top 20 were Jessica Kluge in the 14th spot and Carrie Yates in 18th. Rookie Karen Harvey was unable to compete because of a chest cold. Foster said Harvey was having a hard time breathing before the race. Harvey led the cross country team to its second victory last week in East Lansing by finishing third overall. Foster's thoughts on the out- come of the meet seemed mixed be- tween regret and a general feeling of admiration for the Hoya squad. "Georgetown packed their best runners into most of the top 10 po- sitions," she said. "We have a lot of respect for them. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us." Next week, the Wolverines will host Michigan State in their only home meet. At the teams' last matchup in Lansing, the Wolverines overcame the Spartans by 30 points. SPORTS INFORMATION Michigan's Katie Thomas (r) scored three goals in yesterday's victory over long-time nemesis Northern Illinois. Wsildcat powerhouse shuts out stickers,60 Smith William & Mary (77), and Iona (102). Michigan anticipates a top-ten placement when the rankings come out tomorrow. ____Golfers happy with sixth-place finish by Dan Linna Setting goals is an important part of any team's season, but meet- ing these goals is even more important. The Michigan women's golf team met its goal yesterday by card- ing a 941 to finish in a sixth-place tie with Illinois State at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate Tourna- ment in Savoy, Ill. The Wolverines shot 318, 309, and 314 for their 941. Heading into the tournament, Wolverine coach Sue LeClair said, "It is important for us to come in at least the top six so we don't have to tee off from the back-nine in the spring." The tournament scores will be used to determine the seedings for the Big Ten tournament in the spring. That meet will also be held in Savoy, on the University of Illinois' Orange Course. Defending champion Minnesota (919) again finished on top, fol- lowed by Illinois (924), Northern Illinois (924), Ohio State (925), Indiana (926), Michigan, Illinois State (941), Wisconsin (956), and Penn State (960). Purdue (970) finished 11th, Michigan State (980) 13th, and a highly touted Iowa (993) team came in 14th as the low Big Ten team. All of the Big Ten squads teed off together on Friday morning while the rest of the schools played in the afternoon. Illinois coach Paula Smith said this was a "disadvantage for the Big Ten teams as the temperatures were low when they golfed, and it warmed up in the afternoon for the other schools." Michigan finished Friday in a sixth-place tie with Purdue, and then held sixth alone at the end of the day on Saturday. Wolverine Kristin Beilstein (77- 76-78: 231) led the way for Michi- gan, finishing 12th in the individual competition. Wendy Bigler (83-74- 77: 234) finished 16th, closely fol- lowed by Tricia Goode (78-77-80: 235). Erica Zonder (82-82-79: 243), Jenny Zimmerman (81-89-81: 251), and Jenny Boring rounded out the scoring for the Wolverines. "They have a very good team," Illinois' Smith said of Michigan. "A sub-320 round is good and they finished below that each round." by Chris Carr Daily Sports Writer Jinx, hex, or curse. Call it what you will, the Michigan field hockey team hoped to get rid of a thorn in its side when it traveled to DeKalb, Ill., to play 10th-ranked North- western Saturday and Northern Illinois Sunday. At the same time, the Wolverines. were eagerly approaching the start of the conference season with hopes of a championship. While the 16th-ranked Wolverines could not erase the spell Northwestern has cast over them, a victory yesterday against Northern Illinois salvaged what could have been a disastrous start to the conference season and kept them alive in the championship race. Michigan was 0-18. against de- fending conference champion North- western going into Saturday's Midwest Collegiate Field Hockey Conference opener. The Wolverines' luck did not change - the Wildcats won, 6-0. Northwestern (1-0-1 in the MCFHC, 5-2-1 overall) dominated the first half, recording 16 shots on goal to the Wolverines' four, en route to a 5-0 halftime lead. Junior midfielder Kathy Halley recorded three first-half goals for the Wildcats. Senior all-America mid- fielder Colleen Senich converted two penalty corner shots for the Wildcats' other two goals. "For having never beaten Northwestern, we were optimistic going into the game, but we had to control the pace of the game," ju- nior forward Katie Thomas said. "Instead, we were dictated by Northwestern's game. "We did not make enough oppor- tunities for ourselves in getting shots and drawing corners." After allowing two goals early, in the contest, Michigan coach Patti. Smith replaced sophomore goalie Nicole Hoover with rookie Stacy Daly. However, Daly did not fare much better against Northwestern's offense, which was constantly in Michigan's zone. Michigan played better defensd in the second half, holding Northwestern to eight shots orn goal. But the Wolverines could not convert any of their nine shots oii: goal. Halley added her fourth goa on the day, as the Wildcats recorded their fourth shutout in the last six games. Michigan (1-1, 4-4) rebounde4 yesterday with a 3-1 victory over Northern Illinois (0-1-1, 1-5-1),. who was coming off a surprising 2-2 tie with Northwestern Friday: Thomas, one of the team's tri-caps tains, recorded a hat trick for they Wolverines in leading them to th' victory. "Northern Illinois has always been a tough game, and it was a bigR psychological boost to beat them,'Z Thomas said. Although the Huskies outsho( the Wolverines 16 to nine, the score was tied, 1-1, heading into the game's final 10 minutes. Thomas then gave Michigan a 1-0 lead 11:30 into the game. But Northerri Illinois midfielder Danielle Derr tied the game with just over seven minutes to play in the first half. Thomas broke the tie, scoring ad unassisted goal with nine minutcd left in the game. Two minutes later Thomas gave the Wolverines an iP surance goal. "I haven't had a good game irf 4 long time," Thomas said. "I wao able to capitalize on loose balls gir the circle. The key was that our whole team was working together, and the midfielders were getting the ball into the circle, which gave me my opportunities to score." Hoover came back froi Saturday's benching to give Michigan a solid performance-in goal, recording 11 saves, including five during crucial points in the sec- ond half. "Nicole had a great game," Thomas said. "She made some super saves, and she also had some super clears, which made the ball un- playable for Northern Illinois." The Largest Selection of Michigan Sportswear Anywhere. No Books. 1 Athen7''"$435*6 e