o is onday:Tii 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 2 2 3 3 4-5 6 7 7 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 '" =._y :r; ',, :w" 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 q y ~~s Bl 2 .~; I ue bats away . '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 ;