Sports Monday Trivia When was the last time the Michigan football team tied a Big Ten team? Inside Sports Monday (For answer, see page 2) 'M' Sports Calendar AP Top 25 Griddes Athlete of the Week Volleyball Q&A Blame it on Niyo Men's Swimming Footbal Ice Hockey 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4-5 6 The Michigan Daily -Sports Monday November 16, 1992 Page 1 Wolverines earn wilted bouquet, 22-22 Pistol Pete silences critics with tying kick The sounds emanating from Michigan Stadium Saturday were far from positive. Basically, they were boos. The last home game for hordes of fourth- and fifth-year seniors, and it had to end this way. A trip to Pasadena in the bag, but also excess mental baggage - the thought of 309 yards of offense in the first half, yet only seven points; a defense that held strong before intermission, then was sim- ply mezzo-mezzo afterward; and most of all, a ghastly total of 11 fumbles, nine coming in the first 30 minutes. An esteemed colleague once remarked during an- Albert other cold, wintry football game, "Gee, the ball's Ljn like an ice cube out there." Let's just say he was the brunt of many a joke. But his comment was more than applicable this weekend. The 11 fumbles did not set a school record - the 1946 Wolverines coughed the ball up 12 times. Also at home, also against Illinois. But that Michigan team was not as fortunate, dropping a 13-9 loss to the forefathers of Saturday's opponents. The Wolverines of today seemed destined to fol- low that same road, until a young gunslinger stepped onto the field with 19 ticks left on the clock. Pistol Pete Elezovic, as he is known in some circles, then calmly pulled the trigger - throwing his arms up in celebra- tion as soon as his foot made contact - and sent the pigskin 39 yards through the air and dead between the uprights. "It was the best field goal I ever hit," The Pistol said, perhaps in an understatement. The kick salvaged a bittersweet day for the Wolverines. The tie clinched their fourth outright Big Ten title in five years and the Rose Bowl berth, but it also knocked Michigan out of the national champi- See LIN, Page 4 Fumbles, lagging by Josh Dubow Daily Football Writer This weekend, the Michigan football team dropped in the polls. The Wolverines dropped out of the national title race. They almost dropped their first Big Ten game in over two years. All of this be- cause they couldn't hold on to the ball. Michigan (6-0-1 Big Ten, 8-0- 2 overall) fumbled the ball 11 times on the day (losing four) and also dropped a few key passes in its 22-22 tie with Illinois (3-3-1, 5-4-1). "Basically it came down to the fumbles," Michigan coach Gary Moeller said. "How sickening. How sickening. You've got to handle the ball. It was very disap- pointing." Despite a mistake-filled after- noon which featured six Michigan See ILLINOIS, Page 5 AP PHOTO Michigan kicker Pete Elezovic boots the ball through the uprights sending the Wolverines on their way to Pasadena with a 22-22 tie against Illinois. The 39-yard field goal was the longest of Elezovic's career. Women runners qualify for NCAAs despite lacklust by Tonya Broad The women's cross country team was assured its destiny in the NCAA Champ- ionships next Monday in Bloomington by placing second in the District IV Champ- ionships Saturday. * Wisconsin, who Michigan upset two weeks ago during the Big Ten Champ- ionships, won the District title. Michigan finished in second place, 19 points behind the Badgers. Michigan's Karen Harvey placed third overall with a time of 17 £minutes and 43 seconds. Molly McClimon (17:44) placed fourth and Courtney Babcock (17:58) was tenth . Teaming up for the last 300 meters, McClimon and Harvey put on a surge to close the gap between themselves and the lead pack.. "Four or five people were spread out ahead of us," Harvey said. "Molly and I knew we had to pass them because some- thing wasn't right with our teammates be- hind us. We started to kick and worked well with each other on the straightaway. The one thing I've learned from experience is never stop kicking at the end of a race or twelve people could pass you." The main reasons given for the "let down" were hard practices the previous week, lack of motivation after Big Tens (which is now restored) and the weather conditions. The course at Bloomington was hard, hilly, windy and cold (27 degrees Fahrenheit). In the coming week the squad will begin tapering workouts for the upcoming nation- als. Hopefully, this will alleviate the fatigue shown at the district meet due to the difficult practices of the preceding week. Michigan coach Mike McGuire believes improving the performances of the bottom half of the squad will be a key ingredient to the Wolverines fate at the national meet. "We still have key practices to get in this week," said McGuire. "Karen and Molly ran well. We need to get Chris (Szabo), Courtney and Kelly (Chard) to continue a solid race and finish closer up front." McGuire was happy his team advanced, but felt they did not run at the level they.had at Big Tens. "Wisconsin had something to prove," he said. "They ran an excellent race. There was a little bit of a let down after Big Tens. We need to run at the performance level of Big Tens to place in the top five at the NCAAs, I know it and the team knows it." McGuire feels there are still some key practices to get in and tapering the workouts er showing will definitely help rest the team. McGuire is looking to firm up the second half of the team to allow them to finish closer with the first half of the team. Once again, the women harriers will be faced with the challenge of outrunning Wisconsin. Although the respect for the Badgers is definite, by no means do the Wolverines feel they performed as well as they can against their Big Ten foes. "We're upset that we lost to Wisconsin," Harvey said. "You can't take anything away from them, they ran hard, but it was hard to get motivated after the emotional Big ten meet. We're mad now." Men harriers advance to NCAAs by Antoine Pitts Daily Sports Writer Favorites don't always live up to their advance billing. Going into Saturday's NCAA District IV Championship in Bloomington the Michigan men's cross country was looking at three tough teams: Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Eastern Michigan. Wisconsin and Notre Dame did what they were supposed to do but a strong Michigan finish allowed the Wolverines to place ahead of Eastern Michigan in third place to auto- matically qualify for the NCAA Championship next Monday in Bloomington. Michigan finished with 92 points, 23 more than Eastern Mich- igan. Wisconsin finished first with 52 points and Notre Dame was second with 78 points. The Wolverines placed two run- ners in the top five, meaning those two would have gone on to the na- tionals whether or not Michigan qualified as a team. Senior Matt Smith finished in second place overall with a time of 31 minutes and 2 seconds. He was 14 seconds behind first place finisher Rob Kennedy of Indiana. "Individually, I had a great race," said Smith. "Kennedy and I were running together alone from 3000 (meters) on. We were talking and I just asked him to take me with him." "(Smith) came by me with about 600 yards to go and I told him to just relax because he had about a 100-yard lead on everyone else and he wasn't going to catch Kennedy," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said. Freshman Scott MacDonald out ran a large pack at the finish line to gain third place with a time of 31:20. "It was unbelievable seeing Scott MacDonald coming in right behind me," Smith said. "I looked back in the chute and I could see him but I couldn't see what place he was in, but he finally got third and that was pretty amazing." Good finishes by Michigan's middle runners helped hold off Eastern Michigan. "Jim Finlayson ran a real solid steady race, and (Theo) Molla had another good one, and Shawn Mackay started to come on," War- hurst said. Finlayson was 21st overall with a time of 32:26. Molla (32.44) fin- ished 32nd and Mackay (32:53) was 37th. Michigan now gets ready for the championship next Monday. "It's the same course, hills, cold; we should do fine", Smith said. "We're looking to finish in the top ten," Warhurst said. "As high as we can go is probably fourth." Michigan forward Dan Stiver takes a shot on Miami goalie Kevin Deschambeault Saturday night. The Wolverines salvaged the weekend series against the Redskins with a 4-2 victory following a 2-2 tie Friday. Future Scooter Michigan frosh Derek Jeter dreams of returning Yankee pride to the Bronx M' icers rebound with a fervor by Tim Rardin Daily Hockey Writer For the Michigan hockey team, the difference between Friday's 2- 2 overtime tie and Saturday's 4-1 vinc nr _ s _ i_ _ .. . ,. ._. jumped on us and put us on our heels. Tonight, we jumped on them and put them on their heels." Indeed, that intensity was evident from the start Saturday, as R .- IA 'e a -Co'uA J_ goalie Kevin Deschambeault at 5:02 of the first period. That was the first of two goals on the night for Knuble, and his eighth of the season. "Tnuh1P fvP U a lift " by Michael Rosenberg Daily Sports Writer Mention the words "first-round pick" around the Michigan campus these days, and chances ue someone mi ri mieling to vau about happy to go that high," Jeter said. "I had been told that I would go that high but you never really believe it until it happens." After signing a letter of intent with Michigan, Jeter had his sights New York's offer ($700,000 plus the cost of attending college, plus other bonuses, with the whole . package totaling $800,000) was too much for Jeter to turn down. Jeter went to high school in