The Michigan Daily -Friday, September 24, 1993 -13

Mountain

West Classic calls all 'M'runners

*Women look for high
road in Big Sky country

'Champions of the West' title looms
large for men harriers in Montana

By TOM BAUSANO
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
After resting its big guns last week-
end, the Michigan women's cross
country team wants to show the rest of
the field at the Mountain West Classic
at the University of Montana
(Missoula) "How the West was Won."
Coach Mike McGuire elected to
rest three of his top "seven runners for
the Miami Invitational in order to pre-
pare some of the less experienced
runners for the pressure they are go-
ing to face tomorrow.
"This is going to be a good test,"
McGuire said. "Oregon is a peren-
nial national power, BYU has a lot
of power in its line-up, and Arizona
is the defending national champion.
It will give us a pretty good measur-
ing stick against the rest of the na-
tion."
The Mountain Classic West is
one of the premiere invitationals in
the country. Along with the colle-
t giate teams, many of the top indi-
vidual runners in the country will be
present.
After the race, the sponsors will
hold both a coaches and athletes din-
ner which will give the teams a chance
to get to know one another away from
the heat of battle.
"Its a great reward for a lot of
weeks ofhard training," McGuire said.
"I am looking forward to the meet,
because I have never been to Montana
before. I would doubt if anyone on the
team has been there. This trip gives
them the opportunity to do a little
sight seeing."

Tomorrow's course is going to be
six kilometer instead of the regular
five kilometer, and will be a much
different course in structure than the
team has seen all year.
"I did a little extra mileage last
week which should help me with the
longer course," Karen Harvey said.
"I'm more concerned with the alti-
tude than anything else.
"It's critical that we don't go too
fast that first mile. It's a technical
course with a lot of different surfaces
both hard packed dirt and grass. The
hard packed dirt should make it fast,
but its real hilly so we will just have to
wait and see." -
Senior Molly McClimon has won
both of her meets this season, but is
going to face much tougher competi-
tion tomorrow.
"It's going to be a very competi-
tive meet," McClimon said. "It's go-
ing to be a higher level of pressure
than in the earlier two meets.
"Brenda Sleeuwenhoek from Ari-
zona, who was one place behind me at
nationals in outdoor track, and Carman
Trancoso from Nike, Texas will both
be out there. I'm just going to wait and
see how I feel."
Michigan's top four runners -
McClimon, Harvey, Chris Szabo and
Courtney Babcock - have all proven
that they can compete at the top na-
tional level. McGuire hopes that the
rest of the team can work towards
closing the gap between the fourth
and fifth runner.
"I think the first four runners are
pretty established," McGuire said. "I

can't tell you who will be first and
who will be fourth though. I like the
progress everyone is making, espe-
cially the younger people."
Sophomore Katy Hollbacher is
coming off two very solid races, and
has asserted herself as one of the run-
ners who can place for the Wolver-
ines.
"I'm really excited about the meet,"
Hollbacher said. "I'm going to work
with the teammates around me and
see what I can do. Wehad agood week
of training. We cut back on the mile-
age a little bit so we are feeling fresh
for the meet."
Although this meet will give the
team a great opportunity to see how
they stack up to the better teams in the
nation, it is not critical that they beat
every team.
"I'm confident that we are putting
nine good people on the line,"
McGuire said. "It's the most impor-
tant meet to date, but not our most
important meet. It's just a stepping
stone to what we want to do at the
championship races."

By TOM BAUSANO
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
The Michigan men's cross country
team wants to show the 18 other squads
competing in the Mountain West Clas-
sic, held in Missoula, Montana, why
the Wolverines are still the "Champi-
ons of the West."
"It will be the first chance to see
some really good competition," se-
nior Matt Schroeder said. "There are
going to be four top-20 teams besides
us and a whole ton of good individual
runners from Nike."
Among some of the outstanding
individual runners scheduled to com-
pete are former Michigan runner John
Scherer, former Arkansas runner Joe
Falcon and and former Adamf State
runner Pat Porter.
Scherer was a three time all-Ameri-
can, the 1987 NCAA cross country
runner-up and the 1988 and 1989
NCAA 10,000 meter outdoor cham-
pion. Falcon has established himself
as one of the finest middle distance
runners in the world. Porter has won
eight U.S. cross country champion-
ships.
This will be the toughest competion
that the Wolverines have faced thus
far, but the team has not placed an
exorbitant amount of pressure on this
meet. Michigan's main focus still re-
mains on the Big Ten and NCAA
finals.
Coach Ron Warhurst has been
pleased with the performance of the
runners in practice over the last two
weeks.
"I haven't had as many guys to-
gether in workouts ever before,"

Warhurst said. "Jim Finlayson (who
has yet to run due to injury) is ready to
run, but I'm going to give him two
more weeks to get ready. He ran with
Kevin (Sullivan, the Wolverine's No.
1 runner) on a timed seven miler. He
would have added another dimension
to the team, but we are looking toward
the Big Ten meet."
For the last ten years, Coach
Warhurst has used one specifically
designed workout to prepare his team
to race. The workout, called the
"Michigan", enables him to see just
how prepared his team has become.
The workout is seven miles in total
length, and there is no stopping from
start to finish. It begins with a timed
mile run at a faster pace then to be
followed in a race.
After finishing the mile, the run-
ners head off the track and run a mile
and a half loop -at about a 5 minute-
per-mile pace - around Michigan's
football stadium rightback to the track.
The team then immediately runs a
timed three quaters of a mile, and
repeats the mile and a half loop.
Following the second loop, they
run a half mile on the track and head
back out around the stadium. After
this third and final trip around the
stadium the team runs an all-out quar-
ter mile.
This workout has become a tradi-
tion at Michigan, and it goes a long
way towards building team unity. This
week, seven runners banded together
to run one of the finest "Michigan"
workouts. They ran the first mile in
four minutes and 27 seconds, the three
quaters at 3:27, the half mile in 2:12,

and the quarter in 56 seconds.
The Wolverines hope that these
two solid weeks of training since com-
peting at the Lehigh Invitational will
enable them to run together as a group.
"This week has been a good week
of training," senior Jay Schemanske
said. "We have been staying together
in the workouts. I'm looking forward
to the meet, it should be a good test for
our ability as a team."
Sophomore Scott MacDonald
has gained the most from having
these two weeks without competi-
tion. MacDonald had to take most
of the summer off in order to rest
his knees.
"This is a big one," MacDonald
said. "I'm in a lot better shape then I
was at Lehigh so hopefully I'm ready
to go."
Team morale is at an all-time high,
and Warhurst attributes much of the
excitement to freshman Kevin
Sullivan. Sullivan is a world-class
middle distance runner who placed
first for the Wolverines at the Lehigh
Invitational.
"Sullivan's presence has raised the
anticipation to have a strong team,"
Warhurst said. Kevin has fit right into
the team, he doesn't expect any spe-
cial treatment. He is so coachable."
"Everyone is excited about run-
ning this weekend," Sullivan said. "It
will be a good test for how we stack up
against the rest of the nation. I'm not
really sure what kind of shape I'm in,
but I'm looking to be up with the top
collegiate runners. I don't know if I'm
ready to run with Scherer, Falcon, and
Porter.

ADAM MILLER
Miller's Crossing

Without question,
Sydney is genuine

Safety first.
That was the rule the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) followed
yesterday afternoon in awarding the
2000 Olympic Games to Sydney, Aus-
tralia, over' Beijing.
Beijing, with its history of human
rights violations committed by the
Chinese government, and with a coun-
try in transition, was the risky choice.
Sydney was safe. It's big, it's on the
water, it has excellent facilities... and
who doesn't like The Land Down
Under?
Of course, now we'll have to pre-
pare for Bryant Gumbel in a Croco-
dile Dundee sun hat, but I can live
with that.
You can't blame the IOC for
choosing the safer route. Enough
controversy may result from this
choice (remember Athens' protest
after Atlanta won the 1996 Games?)
and with the threat of boycotts in the
air, no one can fault Juan Antonio
Samaranch and his colleagues for
their decision.
Besides, the recent developments
in Beijing's bid had an unpleasant
aroma around them. Coincidentally,
many of China's political prisoners
were to be released this week, mere
days before the decision.
There are two ways to look at
this. One way is to call it a sincere
gesture on the part of the Chinese
government, demonstrating its will-
ingness to change both now and in
* the future.
The other is to call it buttering up
the IOC, a neatly timed token be-
stowed to win favors. Kind of like the
failing student who begins bestowing

praise on his teacher two weeks be-
fore the final.
Which one was it really, genuine
or false? The problem is that, right
now, there is no way to know. Reform
comes over years, and indications of it
are not immediate.
One can't help but think that had
China really wanted to impress the
world with its change, it would have
started in the 1980s.
Another development that stuck
out like a dead skunk in the center of
the road: as the United States threat-
ened boycott and Congress passed a
resolution against the choice of
Beijing, the committee members ac-
tually started favoring Beijing more.
Why? To spite the U.S.? To show
who's "really in charge?" To try to
force Congress to rescind the resolu-
tion?
OK, there's three purposes. But
none of them are productive, or mean-
ingful. In fact, they're rather imma-
ture.
But in the end, the other rule of
child's play - safety first - won.
This is not to say that Beijing didn't
hold its attractions for the IOC. The
world's most populous nation had lit
up advertisers' eyes like the prover-
bial pinball machine. And China rou-
tinely has one of the top Summer
Olympic teams.
And this is not to cast a negative
light on the Chinese people. The Chi-
nese people are fine people, and this
decision had nothing to do with them.
It had everything to do with the politi-
cal climate of the Chinese govern-
ment.
So the safer choice, Sydney, wins.

What everyone shouldn't overlook is
that Beijing didn't lose to just any
city: Sydney was an excellent choice.
The location, right on the water, is a
definite plus. And the infrastructure is
already there to provide great facili-
ties.
Besides, any Olympic site from
Michigan swimmer Lara Hooiveld's
home country can't be that bad.
Finally, you should realize that, in
the end, rational reasoning won out
over the emotional battling that had
been the basis of the considerations.
Safety of political climate, loca-
tion, infrastructure, sites - these are
all rational reasons to choose Sydney,
against any other city. Sydney, re-
member, beat several other competi-
tors, not just Beijing.
Still, those who had focused on the
drive to bring the Olympics to Beijing
will be left wondering: Had the politi-
cal situation, and history, been differ-
ent in China, would that have made a
difference?
Possibly. There's only one real way
for China to find out: continue the
reforms for another four years ...
And try again in 1997, for the 2004
Games.

After a long battle, Syndey, Australia, was selected as site of 2000 Olympic Summer Games. Bejing, Berlin, Istanbul, Turkey, and
Manchester, England were among the other countries scouted during the election process by the Intemational Olympic Committee.

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