The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - February 15, 1993 - Page 7
Women take Quadrangular
Strong team effort gives runners easy victory
by Tom Bausano
Daily Sports Writer
The members of the Michigan
women's track team sport the motto
"Go Hard or Go Home" on the backs
of their t-shirts. The team lived up
to its credo by winning the Michi-
gan Quadrangular Saturday.
Ohio State placed se-cond, almost
30 points behind the Wolverines.
Penn State took third, and Michigan
State finished fourth.
The Wolverines charged out to an
early lead, taking both first and sec-
ond place in the first two events of
the day. Ronda Meyers and Julie
Victor swept the shot put, while
Linda Stuck and Monika Black dom-
inated the field in the high jump.
"I won but I threw a foot under
my personal best," Meyers said. "I
think this will help me because I
have been stuck on a plateau all sea-
son. By throwing poorly this week,
it should spring. me to peak next
meet."
Laura Jerman placed third in the
long jump with a personal best of
18-5. She had another personal re-
cord in the shot put and equaled her
best time in the 55-meter hurdles on
her way to a third-place finish. She
also ran on the victorious 4 x 400-
meter relay.
"I was really happy with the
whole meet," Jerman said. "It was a
quick meet so I always felt like I
was doing something."
Molly Lori helped carry the mo-
mentum built by the field event ath-
letes into the running events. Lori
won the 3000-meters in 10 minutes,
1.7 seconds.
Colette Savage and Richelle
Webb went one-two in the 55-meter
dash. Webb had a busy afternoon
placing second in the 200-meters, as
well as anchoring the victorious
mile relay.
"It was exciting and different be-
cause I have never anchored before,"
Webb said.
The proverbial baton was then
placed from the sprint crew to the
distance runners. Molly McClimon
and Karen Harvey doubled in the
mile and the half mile which ended
up being only 20 minutes apart.
McClimon won the mile in 4:46.95,
while Harvey was second, finishing
in 4:47.96.
In the half-mile event, Harvey
out-kicked the field, winning in
2:12.75, with McClimon finishing
third in 2:13.67.
"I was pumped up," Harvey said.
"We just beat a couple of pretty
good teams today. Molly and I had
talked in warm-ups about working
together, and it paid off.
"I really shouldn't have been there
in the end because they didn't ring
the last lap bell," she said. "I was in
a daze and didn't realize that it was
the last lap until there was about
100 meters left."
Several lead changes highlighted
the 5000-mneter race. Courtney Bab-
cock ended up winning the tactical
battle, crossing the finish line in
16:39.12.
With this victory over Big Ten
competition, the team's outlook for
the Big Ten Championships is
bright.
"The emphasis was on beating
the other schools in each race," Mi-
chigan assistant Mike McGuire said.
Michigan long jumper Laura Jerman helped her team to a Michigan Quadrangular victory Saturday.
Key absences weaken men's track results
by Jesse Brouhard
Daily Sports Writer
For the Michigan men's indoor
track and field squad, the goal of ba-
lancing the team's scoring through-
out all of the events continues to be a
problem in need of a remedy.
"There is definitely pressure for
us to get points in the field events.
Traditionally it has been one of our
strongest areas along with the mile,"
junior high jumper Dan Reddan said.
"You feel like you have to keep up
your end of the bargain."
At the Central Collegiate
Championships in East Lansing
Saturday, the squad continued its
streak of competitive performances
in the distance events.
But once again, shaky outings in
the sprints and field events left the
team in fourth place at the end of the
day. Northern Iowa and Western
Michigan took advantage of the
Wolverines' inconsistency to finish
in second and third places, respec-
tively.
"The scoring was really tight for
second place," Michigan men's track
coach Jack Harvey said. "Had we
had better performances, I think we
would have been right there."
By the time second place had
been sorted out, Eastern Michigan
had already won the meet and was as
good as picking out a space in its
trophy case for its new hardware.
mile and mile runs.
Freshman Brian Renaldi had his
strongest performance this season,
posting a time of 1 minute, 21.88
seconds in the 600. Junior Scott
MacDonald placed second in the
mile run.
Illness amongst the distance
corps didn't help matters. Mac-
Donald managed his second-place
'There is definitely pressure for us to get points
in the field events. You feel like you have to
keep up your end of the bargain.'
- Dan Reddan
Michigan high jumper
Felman Malveaux in the sprints. The
Wolverines failed to score any
points in the short sprint events and
were only able to get senior Andy
Schultz's fourth place in the 200-
meter dash.
The field events disappeared with
a transparent outing. The Wolverines
failed to score in the high jump,
which up to this point has been one
of their strongest events.
"Dan Reddan has a knee problem
and will definitely be out until the
conference meet and Jon Royce no-
heighted," Harvey said.
Reddan pronounced his knee as
healthy. But Michigan may have
missed his leadership even more
than his performance.
"I guess my knee is all right,"
Reddan said. "I strained my medial
collateral ligament in my right knee.
I should be back soon.
"Hopefully, I can get back and
provide some leadership,.help some
of the younger guys relax, so we can
do well out there," he said.
"Eastern Michigan is pretty dog-
gone good," Harvey said. "They will
probably score some points at the
NCAA meet. In a dual meet, they
are pretty tough."
For the Wolverines, the bulk of
their scoring occurred in the distance
events - the 600-meter, quarter
finish despite a cold, while both ju-
nior Matt Smith, a 5000-meter run-
ner, and senior Chris Childs, a relay
performer, were out for the entire
meet due to illness.
The most costly illness of the day
was the absence of sophomore
MOLLY S I Tvt:ENS/uaiy
The men's track team finished fourth at the Central Collegiate meet.
GYMNASTS
Continued from page 5
working on our confidence a lot,
especially me," Berman said.
"Before I went out there I felt like I
could do this, and I don't always feel
like that."
That feeling ran through the
entire line-up, as each gymnast built
on the emotion established by the
preceding performance.
"In a meet like today," Berman
said, "I had 12 gymnasts behind me,
and you can really feel that when
you're out there."
Michigan's overall score
replaced the 191.75 it totaled two
weeks ago against Illinois as the
team's top score. Friday night's
193.45, not only crushed the old
record, it leaves the squad in a
precarious situation. What now?
Plocki views this dilemma as a
blessing. She says that reaching this
goal won't inhibit the team's
progress; it will only enhance its
motivation. Rather than becoming
complacent with their
accomplishment, the squad realizes
what it can attain, and it will only
work harder to maintain and surpass
its current level.
"It's easy to go and pick out
where we could add a few tenths,"
Plocki said. "This is a good example
of what we are capable of, but I
think we can do better."
Amazingly, if you looked into
the 193.45, you could in fact find a
few places where the Wolverines
could have scored even higher.
There were slight breaks on the bars
and beam that pushed the individual
scores out of the top five that are
calculated for team overall. Take
away those breaks, and those scores
would have been tacked onto the
already-record score.
But beyond the hindsight what-
could-have-been's, the Wolverines
realize their potential is just
beginning to be reached. Where do
you go from here?
"195's," Plocki said.
WEST
\I n~c .O KTAI
Come and enjoy
Ann Arbor's Best
Chinese Restaurant
2161Stadium 4
769-5722. .
~ k:
r.
.-l1% l ll --i-%.Uas v a.. I
- --- ---u --- --- --- ---wI'l-
T : . ,