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When was the last time
Purdue beat Michigan in
football?
(For answer, see page 2)
Inside Siport"s Monday
ffl 'M' Sports Calendar 2
AP Top 25 2
Griddes
Athlete of the Week
Q&A
Blame it on Niyo
Football
Ice Hockey
Field Hockey
Women's Soccer
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A,
Cross country teams impress at Big
Tens
Men place 2nd to Badgers
Women bring home first conference crown
by Antoine Pitts
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes a winning streak
seems to last forever. That is the
way it probably feels for most of the
cross country teams in the Big Ten.
Michigan and the rest of the con-
ference watched as Wisconsin won
its eighth consecutive Big Ten
men's cross country championship.
For the third straight year. Michigan
finished second.
In the scoring, the first five fin-
ishers for a team were tabulated. The
last four runners' times did not
count.
Wisconsin's five runners placed
in the top 11 to give them 31
points. Michigan's five all finished
in the top 20, but it was not enough
to top the Badgers. The Wolverines
finished with 62 points.
Indiana's Bob Kennedy placed
first overall. His time of 23 minutes
and 31 seconds was 30 seconds faster
than the second-place finisher. This
gave him the honor of Big Ten
Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Indiana, however, finished sixth in
the team standings.
Wisconsin's eighth straight title
earned Martin Smith coach-of-the-
year honors.
Michigan won a few awards of its
own Saturday afternoon.
See MEN, Page 2
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by Tonya Broad
Halloween brought the Michigan
women's cross country team its first-
ever Big Ten title.
Wolverine coach Mike McGuire
was correct in predicting it would be
"a heck of a meet." The Wolverines
finished with 33 points, 40 points
ahead of second-place Iowa.
Six-time defending champion
Wisconsin finished a surprising
fourth, one point behind Penn State.
"People really didn't take us seri-
ously and I think we turned a lot of
heads," said Molly McClimon, who
placed 14th overall.
Chris Szabo, who finished third
overall, was Michigan's top per-
former. She said that pre-race ex-
citement and the speed workouts in
practice last week were the reasons
for her strong effort.
"The team was really pumped
up," Szabo said. "I think that was
real beneficial. I felt really relaxed
running.
"The first and second places were
battling for the lead and there was a
pack behind me with three Michigan
runners in it," she continued. "I was
running alone, but I felt great."
McGuire agreed, saying Szabo
had "a tremendous race."
All-American Amy Buchholz,
who could not run because of knee
problems, traveled with the team and
helped out in another way.
"Amy came and watched and was
a big moral support," McClimon
said. "She was definitely the motiva-
tor all season.
"We wanted her to remain part of
the team so she claimed the trophy
with us," she said.
The team could not leave Buch-
holz out of what coach McGuire
called "the best race the women's
cross country team has ever run."
"It's what we've been training for
all season," Szabo said. "We went
out in a big pack and people were
tripping around corners, so the speed
workouts helped us with fast surges.
See WOMEN, Page 2
Szabo
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. 'M' rally roasts Boilerakers, 24.17
by Jeni Durst
Daily Football Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - There was defi-
nitely something strange afoot in West
Lafayette.
Maybe it was Purdue's Golden Girl
twirler. Maybe it was the magical forces of
Halloween. Maybe it was the duck-meat
bratwursts served in honor of Poultry Day.
Whatever form it took, something lit a fire
under the Boilermakers Saturday.
Purdue (2-3 Big Ten, 3-5 overall) fprced
Michigan (7-0-1, 5-0) to struggle for a 24-17
victory. The two squads decided to honor
Halloween by dressing up as each other in the
first half of Saturday's contest. Or so it
seemed.
Purdue surprised everyone, even them-
selves, by jumping out to an early 10-0 lead in
the first quarter. It was the first time this sea-
son the Wolverines have been outscored in the
initial stanza. The 17-7 halftime count marked
the only time this year Michigan headed into
the lockerroom behind in the scoring.
The Boilermakers scored on each of their
first two possessions while forcing the Wol-
verines to punt on each of theirs. On its first
drive, Purdue moved the ball on the ground
for 56 yards to set up kicker Joe O'Leary for
the field goal. On the third play of the series,
true freshman fullback Mike Alstott rushed
six yards for a first down, marking the first
time in the last three games that Michigan has
allowed its opponent a third-down conver-
sion.
After the Wolverines could only muster
five yards on its initial possession and were
forced to punt, the Boilermakers traveled 68
yards for the touchdown without finding
themselves at less than second down.
"We rose to the occasion, I guess," said
Alstott, who, with 101 rushing yards, was the
first player to surpass the century mark
against Michigan since Notre Dame's Reggie
Brooks. "We had nothing to lose. We moved
the ball down the field and thought 'Hey, we
can move the ball down the field against the
No. 3 team in'the country."'
Michigan finally struck at the start of the
second quarter, highlighted by a 19-yard catch
by wide receiver Derrick Alexander. Both
Purdue's Chad Buckland and Thomas Adams
got a piece of the Elvis Grbac pass up the mid-
dle. Alexander bobbled the ball four times be-
fore gaining possession at the Boilermaker 48-
yard line.
The Alexander grab set up another
Michigan wideout, Walter Smith, for a 43-
yard touchdown reception. Grbac dropped a
short pass to Smith in midfield; Smith got a
block, and he charged the rest of the way to the
endzone.
"It was a great call by the coaches," Smith
said. "Really the only hard part was catching
the ball. I believe anybody could have scored a
touchdown on that play."
Smith's score brought the Wolverines
See PURDUE, Page 4
* Mike Alstott and the rest of the Boilermakers made a valiant effort to upset Michigan Saturday, but the Wolverines would not fold.
Icers disappoint,
against Western
Playing
for
by Jesse Brouhard
Daily Sports Writer
S Brett Forrest
ily Hockey Writer
The Michigan hockey team
should have known it was going to
be a difficult weekend trying to cor-
ral the Broncos of Western Mich-
igan. Even before the puck was
dropped Friday evening- in Kala-
mazoo, the Wolverines were behind
the eight ball. They never escaped
this malaise, tying, 2-2, Friday and
losing at home Saturday, 8-4.
Senior defenseman Pat Neaton
was with his family following the
passing of his grandmother Friday
morning. Forward Dan Stiver was
still out of the lineup with the sepa-
rated shoulder he suffered against
Ferris State. To make matters worse,
the team was assessed a delay of
game penalty prior to Friday's first
period for failing to hit the ice punc-
tually at gametime.
Despite these setbacks, the
muster only one goal. In fact, they
nearly exited the stanza with a tie as
Bronco forward Colin Ward went in
alone on goalie Steve Shields from
the red line with seven seconds re-
maining. Ward missed the net and
Michigan left the ice with a frustrat-
ing one-goal lead.
"Our power play sputtered, our
offense sputtered," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "When we get
opportunities, we have to put them
in. We did not capitalize on our
chances."
The Broncos tied the game seven
minutes in on a power play point
shot by Scott Chartier that found its
way through a crowd in front of the
net and past Shields.
"We came out very flat (for the
second period)," center Mark
Ouimet said. "They were outplaying
us. It's always tough to come into
somebody else's barn."
Being in charge of fundraising,
recruiting, hiring the coach and,
on top of it all, leading a team is
an imposing task to overcome, to
say the least. These are the
obstacles senior Shannon Loper
faces as both the team captain and
president of the Michigan
women's soccer team.
Loper, a center forward, is
finishing up her fourth year with
the soccer team in what has been a
steady progression from the
team's disappointing first
campaign.
"As a freshman, we were really
bad," Loper said. "The coach left
us in the middle of the season. The
team was terrible."
In contrast, last year the
Wolverines had their best finish
ever, coming up short of their goal
of winning nationals. Loper
entered her final season with an
Loper gives kicker
leadershi and0 mc
Pride
team leader and player who
always finds a way to get
teammates the ball where they can
attack the goal most effectively.
"I've always enjoyed the team
aspects of the game," Loper said.
"You start on defense and move
the ball all the way to the
forwards. It takes good passing to
get the ball up the field."
An example of Loper's passing
and leadership skills meshing
occurred in the a match against
Valparaiso on a very cold Sunday
morning earlier this season.
Michigan was locked in a 1-1 tie
in a game that really shouldn't
have been that close. After a
Valparaiso player went down with
an injury, Loper pulled the team
together. Following the break in
the action, she proceeded to feed
Lisa Ashton for a score. Getting
the team focused and operating
smoothly is one of the pleasures
and pains of being the captain.
M . ME ;