6 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 13, 1995
Sullivan runs away
with a pair of titles
By Doug Stevens
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS -Every once in a while,
a special athlete comes to Michigan who is able
to excel in the spotlight and carry his team to
the promised land.
This weekend, Kevin Sullivan did just
that in winning the mile and leading the
men's distance medley relay team to a na-
tional title. In addition, Sullivan played an
integral role in the men's track and field
team's fourth-place finish at the NCAA
Championships.
In a college career in which Sullivan has
earned much respect and conference champi-
onships for his team, a national title has been all
that has eluded him; until Saturday. At the
NCAA National Championships in Indianapo-
lis, Sullivan won two of them.
His first title came in the mile. Sullivan ran
a strategically intelligent race, utilizing his
strong kick to overcome rivals Graham Hood
of Arkansas and Paul McMullen of Eastern
Michigan.
The race started slowly for Sullivan who
ran the first 400 meters in 62.8, eighth place at
the time. By the half, the sophomore was still
laying back in the sixth spot with a time of
2:02.7.
However, at this point the race started to
pick up dramatically as McMullen bolted to
the lead and put the pressure on the rest of the
pack.
Sullivan responded slowly to McMullen's
move, reaching 1200 meters in 2:59.4 and still
in the middle of the pack. But with 150 meters
to go, Sullivan opened stride and passed
McMullen, who does not have a relatively
strong kick, with relative ease.
The race then turned into a two man battle
as Sullivan and Hood sprinted towards the
finish. In a very exciting homestretch,
Sullivan pulled ahead to win with a time of
3:55.33.
"I knew I was close enough and if I kept
working thelast 150, Iwouldcatchthem," Sullivan
said. "I really wanted to stay positive. When Paul
made hismove, it really caught meoffguard. Ijust
wanted to stay in contact with him.
Sullivan's time set a new Canadian na-
tional record and was the second-fastest ever
by a collegian indoors. In beating Hood
(3:55.72), also a Canadian, Sullivan demol-
ished the meet record which had stood for 16
years.
"The jinx is off his third place finishes
(from 1994 NCAA Indoor Championships in
mile, 1994 NCAA Outdoor Championships
in 1500 meters, and 1994 NCAA Cross Coun-
try Championships)," assistant coach Ron
Warhurst said.
"I told Kevin not to get hooked up on the
curb in traffic. This year he just kept his cool."
As if his performance in the mile wasn't
spectacular enough, Sullivan set out to dupli-
cate it less than two hours later in the distance
medley relay.
After strong runs by Nick Karfonta in the
800 meters, Trinity Townsend in the 400,
and captain Ian Forsyth in the 1200, Sullivan
took the baton for the mile anchor leg in fifth
place.
Once again executing a laid back strategy,
Sullivan slowly crept his way up to the lead
with about 300 meters remaining. He then
cruised for the final lap and a half to once again
defeat rivals Hood and McMullen and capture
his second national championship of the
evening.
Sullivan ran his mile leg in 3:57.7, giving
the Wolverines' distance medley team the win
with a time of 9:34.44.
The win wrapped up a national champion-
ship meet in which Michigan finished tied for
fourth with 25 points, 34 points behind an
Arkansas team that won its 12th consecutive
title.
Equally impressive for the Wolverines was
that they were able to capture their third and
fourth individual national titles; Sullivan his
first and second.
"(My performances) felt good," Sullivan
said. "I feel like it justified all of the work I put
in and all of the work (Warhurst) put in."
"I'm not surprised about anything Kevin
Sullivan does," Warhurst said.
TONYA BROAD/Daily
Michigan's Kevin Sullivan captured two titles at the NCAA Championships last weekend.
Gillam
leads Bluf
iNCAA
title chas
By Marc Diller
Daily Sports Writer
In years past, the Michig
women's swimming and diving team
would have been satisfied with Vi-
other Big Ten title.
This year, however, the Wolver;
ines have higher aspirations. Micht
ganisshooting forits first-everNC
championship. 0
Only three days separate the Wo-,y4
verines from their most formidable
run at an NCAA title.
Michigan will send 18 swimmers
- a full squad - to Austin, Tex
this Thursday to compete in th3e
NCAA Championships. Only eight
of them have experience in the
NCAAs.
The second-ranked Wolverines a
fairly unfamiliar with the prospect
garnering the NCAA crown. In facr,
no team has ever ousted perennial
powerhouses Stanford, Texas and
Florida from the top three. Only one
Wolverine knows what it's like to
compete for the title-Megan Gillam.
"Megan is
someone who
has helped give.
a lot of focus to
us since she
knowswhatit's
like to actually
compete for the
champion- -
ship," Michi-
gan co-captain Gilam
A 1 e c i a
Humphrey
said.
Gillam transferred to Ann Arbor
from Texas at the beginning of this
year. The Dearborn native, who earne
three All-American honors, helpei
the Longhorns to a No. 2 and No. ,
overall finish in her freshmanbad
sophomore year, respectively.,
"I try to act like a leader because I
know what it's like to swim for a t
team," Gillam said..
The Wolverines are among the
nation's elite, but haven't seriously
challenged for the national title. So
what brings Gillam back to Michi
gan'? .
"When I chose Texas, I w
younger at the time," Gillam said.
"I got caught up in swimming for
the best team. With the big name
"I try to act like
a leader becauseI
know what it's Iik,
to swim fora top ;"
team."
- Megan Gillar
Michigan swimme
Texas had, I felt inferior. I just
wanted to come home, and at Michi-
gan, everyone is so supportive of
eachother."
Gillam has adjusted well to the
Michigan system. Over the summer,
she eased the transition when sl,'
trained with the men's coach, Jo'
Urbanchek.
"I trained this summer so Lknew
what to expect," Gillam said. "The
training is so orderly and I trust that it'
will work well."
It didn't take long for the team to
feel comfortable with her as well
Gillam made an immediate impact in
the lineup, strengthening the Wolver-
ines' once-weak sprint events.
Now Michigan boasts one of thW-
premier sprint crews in the country.
Gillam isjoined by freshman standout
Kim Johnson, sophomores Dana
VanSingel and Melisa Stone, the two-
time 50-yard freestyle Big Ten Cham-:
pion.
Together, the foursome garnered"
the sprint relay at the Big Ten Cham-
pionships last month. In the 200-yard
freestyle relay, they established a ne4
Big Ten record time (1:32.21) and
qualified for the NCAAs.
"This team has justas much talent
as any team I've swam on," Gillam
said. "The difference is that there's n o
Michigan's Harvey
successful at nationals
By Chaim Hyman
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS -Satisfaction.
At least for one runner on the
Michigan women's track team this is
the pervading emotion.
Coming into the the NCAA Na-
tional Indoor Championships, Karen
Harvey, a senior on the Wolverine
squad, was not expecting to do well in
the 3,000-meter run finals which she
had previously run in 9:35.7.
The fact that she came in fourth in
the event and had her best time ever at
9:25 is a surprise to her.
"I'm very happy," Harvey said. "I
was shooting for eighth place and I'm
very surprised that I did so well."
For most of the fifteen laps, it didn't
seem that Harvey would be able to
achieveaneighth-place finishthatwould
give her an All-American title.
For the first eight laps, Harvey
remained in 12th position, last place.
With seven laps to go, she was able to
move into 11th place, the start of a
steady increase that would have her in
the seventh position with three laps to
go.
It was with two laps to go that
Harvey began to gain the momentum
that allowed her to move into fourth
place by the race's end. She insists
that staying behind throughout most
of the race was her strategy.
"I wanted to wait," Harvey said.
"As long as everyone was going at the
same pace, I knew patience would
pay off and runners would start drop-
ping off behind me."
Harvey's strategy may have
worked for her, but unfortunately for
the Wolverines, one of the runners to
drop off was Harvey's own team-
mate, freshman Deanna Arnill.
Arnill had previously run the 3,000
in 9:37.06, but coming up on the fifth
lap in tenth position, she was injured
and had to leave the race.
The only other member of the
Michigan team to compete in the meet
was Junior Monika Black. Black was
sick with bronchitis the week previ-
ous to the meet, yet was still able to
jump 5-feet-10 before being elimi-
nated on the third height of 5-11.
Both Black and assistant coach
Mike McGuire feel that she performed
well.
"I was sick before the meet and it
affected me," Black said. "I'm not
really happy, but I'm not disappointed
either."
"The third height was close to her
lifetime best," McGuire said. "We
would have been happier had she com-
pleted it, but I'm pleased with how
she competed."
TRACK
Continued from page 1
tance medley relay team of Nick
Karfonta, Trinity Townsend, Ian
Forsyth and Sullivan, surprised many
as they took home the title with a time
of 9:34.44.
The team was somewhat con-
cerned that Sullivan would be too
tired from the mile to run his best in
the final leg of the relay.
"I had no idea how I'd feel,"
Sullivan said. "I told the the guys not
to expect any miracles."
There were four runners ahead of
Sullivan when he received the baton
for the final leg of the race.
He slowly made his way past all
of them with about a lap and a half
to go and never looked back as he
closed out the race with a time of
9:34.44.
Michigan's only hurdler to qualify
for the meet was Neil Gardner. Un-
fortunately, many athletes, including
Gardner, ran the entire distance of the
heat and did not have all of their
energy back in time for the re-running
of it. Gardner finished with a time of
7.52.
Overall, though, the team was in-
credibly excited about its performance
this weekend. Sullivan summed up
Saturday as being "probably the best
day in Michigan track and field his-
tory."
TONYA BROAD/Daily
Michigan runner Karen HIarvey finished eighth in the 3,000 meter run at.
the NCAA Championships last weekend.
Divers qualify for NCAAs,
improve 'M' ti tle chances
Today in the Union
Glass Blowing Demonstrations
by
Al Hoffman
By Dan McKenzie
Daily Sports Writer
Fate appears to be in the corner of
the Michigan men's swimming and
diving team this year. When the sea-
son began, a national title appeared to
be a realistic goal. As the season pro-
gressed, swimming coach Jon
Urbanchek said, "Everything is fall-
ing into place."
Friday and Saturday, divers Abel
Sanchez and Alex Bogaerts fulfilled
their part of the bargain, both qualify-
have a pretty good average meet and
I think that would have been ok,"
Sanchez said. "Nothing out of the
ordinary really happened."
While qualifying for NCAAs may
have been business-as-usual for
Sanchez, Bogaerts position in the field
had been more of a question mark
coming in.
A month ago at Michigan State, in
the last regular meet of the season, he
had walked away using expletives to
describe a disappointing performance.
ONE, kW
r . . ..;