THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEW STUDENT EDITION SPORTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1994

Page 5F

* Wrestlers
excel at
Big Tens,
O .
By RYAN WHITE
Daily Sports Writer
Early in the 1993-94 wrestling sea-
son Michigan senior co-captain Brian
Harper said that the Wolverines were
not a team that would do well in dual
meets, but would be in the thick of
things come playoff time.
He probably had no idea at the time
just how right he was.
Michigan struggled to a 1-7 Big Ten
record and was just 6-9 overall; the
records could be attributed to one thing:
injuries.
On Jan. 8 the Wolverines lost 126
pounder Brandon Howe to a knee in-
jury. Against Michigan State on Jan 18
Jesse Rawls Jr. injured his knee, an
injury that would keep him out of the
lineup until Big Tens.
The Wolverines also lost Jehad
Hamden at 177. "I've never had a year
where so many people have gone down,"
Michigan coach Dale Bahr said after

Field hockey hopes to
build on 1993's lessons

By BRENT McINTOSH
Daily Sports Writer
No postseason play for the Michi-
gan field hockey team. No accolades
garnered for a conference title. No
Player of the Year awards.
None of those came to the Wolver-
ines. They're still smiling, though, be-
cause they know they can play with the
best.
While a finish in the bottom half of
the conference would have most field
hockey teams in the country counting
theirwoes, most field hockey teams in
the country don't play in the Big Ten,
the sport's pre-eminent league. At times
during the season, four of the six Big
Ten field hockey teams were ranked
nationally, with Michigan rising to
eighth, Penn State ranked No. 1 for
much of the season, and Iowa and
Northwestern staking claims to sea-
son-long top-10 spots.
So when the Wolverines capped a
mildly successful season with a 2-0

defeat of No. 5 Northwestern, a team
that had been ranked high all year and
against whom Michigan had an 0-23
series record, it gave at least some
Wolverines a reason to grin.
"It wasso much fun to play," sopho-
more forward Aaleya Koreishi said.
"In games like that you catch yourself
smiling. The first thing (Michigan coach
Patti Smith) said was that we were
making history. The victory lap, sing-
ing 'The Victors,' was great-every-
body really meant it."
There was no victory lap a day later,
though, when No. 1 Penn State tri-
umphed 4-1 over the Wolverines and
ended any slim hope the Wolverines
had of being invited to the NCAA
Championship tournament.
The Wolverines may not have fin-
ished at the top of any polls, but that
won't keep them from smiling-both
reminiscing on a season well-played,
and anticipating more big wins over
the country's top teams.

EVAN
Wolverine Steve King was one of many on the Michigan squad with injury problems during the 1993-94 season.

the loss of Hamden. "Two-thirds of our
team is walk-ons and youjust can'twin
like that."
The regular dual meet season came
to an end two weeks later as the Wolver-
ines lost their final two Big Ten meets,
Indiana and Wisconsin.
It was when the regular season
ended, however, that things began to
look up for Michigan. The Wolverines'
first postseason stop was Iowa City and
the Big Ten Championships.
While the host Hawkeyes were seek-
ing a record 21-straight championships,

the Wolverines were searching for re-
spect.
Both accomplished what they were
looking for. Michigan finished fourth,
above four teams that had beaten them
in dual meets during the regular season.
The Wolverines were helped by the
return of Rawls, who entered the tour-
nament as a No.6 seed, but barnstormed
his way to a third-place finish.
Sean Bormet (158), the squad'sother
captain, won his second-straight Big
Ten championship by defeating Michi-
gan State's Dan Wirnsberger in double

Men's track runs to Big Ten title

overtime.
The performances of Rawls and
Bormet qualified them for the NCAA
Championships. Three other Wolver-
ines would also qualify, Harper, Steve
King and Chad Biggert.
At the NCAA tournament in Chapel
Hill, N.C., Michigan finished fifth, and
came away with three All-Americans.
Both Harper and Bormet reached
the championship matches. Harper lost
to Iowa's Lincoln McIllravy and Bormet
lost a close match to four-time national
champion Pat Smith of Oklahoma State.
The two garnered All-American status
for their finishes.
Rawls also made All-American with
.his seventh-place finish.
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By TOM SEELEY
Daily Sports Writer
When the Michigan men's track
and field team began the 1994 season
they knew that the year was going to
be different, but they didn't know
how different.
A core of seasoned sophomores
and one of the best recruiting classes
in recent memory promised an im-
provement over last year's eighth-
place finish in the Indoor Big Ten
Championships andseventh-place fin-
ish at the outdoor championships.
The scale of that improvement was
unknown, however, as the team
headed into its first meets of the in-
door season.
After victories over Penn State
and Michigan State in a meet at East
Lansing, the team hosted the Michi-
gan Relays at the Track and Tennis
Building.
At this meet, the quartet of junior
Nick Karfonta, sophomores Trinity
Townsend and Scott MacDonald, and
freshman Kevin Sullivan set new col-
legiate and world records in the dis-
tance medley relay.
Their time of 9:33.72 broke the
mark set in 1985 by Arkansas (9:35.6).
Karfonta's opening performance in
Men's rugby
posts 1-2
record in '94
By RAVI GOPAL
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's rugby team's
mixtureof youth and experience helped
it along to a very successful year.
The Wolverines' collegiate squad,
composed primarily of freshmen and
sophomores, gained valuable experi-
ence through their its few games of the
season.
The team's first attempt at playing
competitive rugby came at the St.
Patrick's Day Invitational in Washing-
ton. Although they posted only a 1-2
record, Michigan Rugby Club Presi-
dent Tom Warburton felt his collegiate
squad gained valuable experience from
the tournament.
"With the undergrad (college) team,
half of them hadn't even played before
this weekend," he said. "We're going to
try (to work) on the all-around im-
provement of the youngerguys' skills."
With the tournament experience
under their belt, the team improved its
play and won the next three games over
club teams from Toronto, Cleveland
and Sarnia.
Michigan's club rugby team, the
defending Michigan Cup junior club
champions, had a fine year as well.
After notching only one win in Wash-
ington, the Wolverines came back to
dominate their next three opponents.
Michigan outscored Toronto, Cleve-
land and Sarnia by a score of 144-17.
Backs Sean Knight and Mike Carter
led the club team: Carter was the high

the 800-meter leg of the event set the
stage for something big.
"After Nick ran the half (mile), we
were well on pace," Michigan coach
Jack Harvey said. "And then it just
kept getting better and better."
The Wolverines soon became rec-
ognized as a force, to reckon with as
the squad prepared to host both the
Central Collegiate and Big Ten Cham-
pionships.
At the Central Collegiate Cham-
pionships the Wolverines battled the
Eastern Michigan team before finally
falling one point short of the champi-
onship. However, Harvey and sopho-
more high jumper Jon Royce did gar-
ner Coach of the Year and Athlete of
the Year honors, respectively.
When the Big Ten Championships
arrived, the opportunity for the Wol-
verines to avenge their finishes of a
year ago also arrived.
Led by Sullivan --who won both
the mile and 3000-meter run -and a
one-two finish in the high jump by
Royce and junior Ben Ludka, the Wol-
verines captured their first Big Ten
title since 1982.
"(The victory) has been great be-
cause it's beenso long," Harvey said.

"We thought, coming into the meet,
we had a chance to do it, but you never
know."
At the NCAA Indoor Track Cham-
pionships the Wolverines did not fare
as well, however, as they witnessed
their world record in the distance med-
ley relay shattered by the eventual
national champion: the Arkansas Ra-
zorbacks. Sullivan, Karfonta,
Townsend and MacDonald all re-
ceived All-American recognition for
their performances.
From the outset, the outdoor sea-
son proved to be much more tumultu-
ous than the indoor season was.
Poor weather conditions prevented
the Wolverines from getting much
practice outdoors.
But by the end of the season, the
Wolverines were ready for the Big Ten
Outdoor Championships in Madison.
Michigan found itself in ninth
place after the first day of the tourna-
ment but rebounded to finish fourth.
With the core of this team still
having at least two years of collegiate
competition remaining, championship
memories are bound to drive any rec-
ollections of seventh and eighth place
finishes deep into the folds of history.

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