The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 26, 1996 - 38
M' men take 6th in
track at Big Tens
By Kim Hart
For the Daily
It was a disappointing weekend in Co-
bus for the Michigan men's track and
ieldteam. The Wolverines finished sixth
at the Big Ten Championships.
After the first day of competition the
Wolverines were in seventh place with 6
points, and six men headed to the finals of
their respective contests.
The first event was the heptathlon,
where Alex Lengemann was in ninth
place after the first four events. He fin-
ished day one with 2,647 points, 471
oints behind the leader James
unkleberger of Wisconsin, and hoped
for more success on day two.
a The 55-meter dash was the fourth
event of the day, and the team might have
?md a better chance with the presence of
Felman Malveaux, who posted the sec-
ond-best time in the Big Ten before frac-
turing his right foot.
Damon DeVasher came in 16th place
with a time of 6.59 seconds, and Kevin
owman had22nd place with 6.81, keep-
gMichigan out of the finals of the 55.
The results of the preliminaries for the
200-meter run were tight, but the Wolver-
ines were .4 seconds from tying for the
fanal spot with the time posted by Andy
Schoelch of 22.54.
The highlights of the first day's com-
petitions should not go unrecognized.
Neil Gardner leaped into a third-place
finish in the long jump with a distance of
7.37 meters and won his heat of the 55-
eter high hurdles with a time of 7.44
seconds, qualifying for the finals.
Todd Bumham was a qualifier for the
600-meter run with a time of 1:21.18, and
returning Big Ten champion Kevin
Sullivan (4:12.37) qualified for the finals
ofthe mile run along with teammate Scott
MacDonald (4:10.58).
Trinity Townsend headed to the finals
inthe800-meterrunrwithatimeofl:54.84,
and Jeff Wood posted a time of 49.60
econds in the 400-meter run to give the
Wolverines hopes in Sunday's competi-
tions.
"It's hard to say how things are going,"
Michigan coach Jack Harvey said after
day one. "We're hanging in there, but it's
going to be tough."
The standings after the first day of
events showed Wisconsin with 49 points,
Purdue with 14.5, host Ohio State with 14,
Minnesota with 12, Iowa and Illinois tied
with 8, Michigan, Penn State and Indiana
each with six and Michigan State none.
The second day ofcompetition sent the
men on a roller coaster ride in the stand-
ings. In the high jump, Damon DeVasher
marked at 6-feet-9 1/2 for eighth place
and Alex Lengemann at 6-feet- 9 1/2 for
ninth place, just shy of earning points.
At the end of five events the Wolver-
ines moved down to ninth place still at 6.5
points. Neil Gardner's time of 7.30 sec-
onds in the finals of the 55 high hurdles
put him in second place and the team in
fourth.
Kevin Sullivan repeated as the Big Ten
champion in the mile run with a time of
4:12.18. Teammate ScottMacDonaldfin-
ished fifth with a time of4:13.56, earning
Michigan a combined 12 points in the
event while moving the Wolverines up to
third place.
Jeff Wood finished in fifth place in the
400 with a time of 49.07 seconds and the
Wolverines slipped to fifth place after
seven events.
Trinity Townsend sprinted his way to a
second place finish in the 800-meter run,
but as a team the Wolverines kept falling
and were then in sixth place. Todd
Bumham finished eighth in the 600-meter
run (1:22.18), and Brian Wildfongplaced
eighth in the shot put with a mark of 52-
feet-10.
Taiwo Okusanya came in 12th place of
the triple jump at a distance of over 44-
feet, and Alex Lengemann finished the
heptathlon in eight place with a total of
4,684 points, but Michigan was still fight-
ing. The Wolverines made a short climb
to fifth place and desperately tried to hang
on. In the final event, the 1600 relay,
Michigan finished in sixth place with a
time of 3:18.87, clinching a tie with Indi-
ana for sixth place overall with 37 points.
Wisconsin repeated as Big Ten cham-
pions with atotal ofl23 points. Ohio State
was second with 78, Minnesota finished
third with 66, followed by Illinois with
61, Purdue with 41, Indiana and Michi-
gan both with 37, Iowa with 31, Michigan
State with 27 and Penn State with 25.
Kevin Sullivan won the mile at this weekend's Big Ten Championships.
TRACK
Continued from Page 1B
McGuire.
Babcock was also impressive in the
mile, earning another second-place fin-
ish with an NCAA provisional-qualify-
ing 4:46.61. Once again, Butlergrabbed
the gold, coasting to a 4:40.80 first-
place crown.
Freshman Angie Stanifer established
a new lifetime best in the 600 with a
time of 1:32.84, good enough for third
place.
Fellow freshman Katie McGregor re-
corded yet another NCAA provisional-
qualifying mark in the mile with her
sixth-place time of 4:50.51.
Sophomore Tania Longe accumu-
lated 4,112 points in the pentathlon,
including a 5-feet-10 1/2 second-place
mark in the high jump. Longe leaped to
18-feet-6 and fifth place in the long
jump, as well as 40-feet-5 1/2" in the
triple jump.
Tearza Johnson, the reigning Big Ten
champion in the 200, was denied the
opportunity to defend hertitle. The senior
sprinter was disqualified after a lane-line
violation, but went on to a sixth-place
finish in the 55 with a 7:15 effort.
In the 3000, sophomore Michelle
Slater took sixth at 9:47.03. Again, it
was Wisconsin's Butler who dominated
the field with her third first-place finish
(9:38.09).
Michigan's distance medley squad
of McGregor, Babcock, freshman Sa-
rah Hamilton andjuniorLamika Harper
teamed up for a second-place finish
with their NCAA provisional-qualify-
ing effort of 11:30.23.
Overall, McGuire notes, there were
no real surprises.
"We had a couple of bad breaks," he
said, "but those things can happen in a
meet."
The team now turns its attention to
the outdoor season beginning in late
March.
"We know we have a lot of work to
do," McGuire said. "We're going to put
our nose to the grindstone and get that
done."
Anti~ Zkkan 'pa Ze
campusp neradmore
t won't be long now: just six more months and four more days.
It's not too far off- Aug. 31, that is. No, it's not my birthday. It's not
graduation. Ostensibly, it's just another day in the life of an astoundingly
mediocre columnist.
But to the 'U' - and all you associated with the 'U' - Aug. 31 shall be
quite a special day indeed.
The last day of August is the first day of the Michigan football season, as the
Wolverines host Illinois. And with that begins an entirely different season, a
season that encompasses several sports, a season that endures for almost a full
year - namely, hunting season.
Aug. 31 is the day students, media and people spanning practically the entire
globe begin taking their shots at Michigan athletic teams, coaches and players.
They'll start with the football team, end with the hoops team and nail everyone
who claims to be a Wolverine along the way.
It'll be here soon enough, no doubt. But when it comes, I just hope the
naysayers have something new to ... well, to naysay, because the present
storylines are getting old.
Anti-Michiganism was quite high during football season, beginning with the
many boos voiced at Michigan Stadium at the season-opening Virginia game.
It continued throughout the year, as the Wolverines never threw, scored or won
enough to please anyone.
But just as Albert White's vertical leap carries him to a level a bit higher
than Will Carr's does, scrutiny of the Wolverines has reached an all-new
plateau with the change from football to basketball season.
These guys can't shoot straight ... Fisher can't coach ... the Wolverines
don't play smart and as'a team ...
You hear the criticisms so often, they resonate in your brain to no end,
causing you sleeplessness and nausea and robbing you of the ability to
concentrate in class, on a book or even on tying your shoelaces.
Or maybe that's just me.
Still, these are all criticisms we've heard before - heard often before. The
players seemingly are never safe from the endless faultfinding.
And nowadays, neither are the fans. They're not loud enough, we write in
the paper - or in some cases, we write that to the paper.
It's bad enough when your team is in sixth place in the conference. Being
subjected to all of this negativity makes following the season all the less
enjoyable.
But wait: there's more. There's the issue of that car accident, the one
Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor and a few other players got into Feb. 17. Why
didn't the coach suspend them ... what were they doing out that late ...
What were they doing out that late? They were probably the same thing the
rest of the University population was, except they weren't even drunk.
Still, the accident has been portrayed as an incident, and it's become an
indictment of the players and coach Steve Fisher.
In short, it's all gotten way out of hand.
That's why I can't wait for Aug. 31, when the new season begins. Hopefully,
that day will be the start of a yearlong string of Michigan successes.
Now, I don't wish for this because I'm a Michigan fan. I just wish it because
it'll give people around here something different to talk about.
Instead of treating Aug. 31 as the first day of hunting season, maybe
Michigan students and fans can designate that day as the one on which they
start truly backing their team.
It shouldn't be too long 'til then - six months and four days, to be exact.
Hopefully that day will come sooner than that.
--Darren Everson can be reached over e-mail at evey@umich.edu.
Next week ...
Read "White on Target"
Wresters down Eagles in dual meet
y Wil McCahill
Daily Sports Writer
YPSILANTI - Road kill.
To most of us, the phrase brings to
mind flat, dead animals. To the Michi-
gan wrestling team, it is also an apt
description of what they did to Eastern
Michigan last night.
The No. 13 Wolverines dismantled
.the Eagles in Ypsilanti as they jumped
Out to an early 16-0 lead, before beating
the Eagles by 22 points.
The 28-6 final marked the most
points the Wolverines have put on the
board since a Jan. 12 pounding of
Edinboro.
The victory over the Eagles brought
Michigan's regular season to an end.
The Wolverines finished 12-5-1 over-
all. and 6-2-1 in the Big Ten.
Earlieryesterday, Michigan upset No.
4 Indiana by the skin of its collective
ngs, 19-17, in a dual meet at Cliff
Keen Arena.
- The highlight of the day for the Wol-
verines came against Indiana, as 190-
pound Michigan senior Lanre Olabisi
upset the Hoosiers' 13th-ranked wres-
tler, Ben Nachtrieb.
After racing to a 9-0 lead after two
matches, the Wolverines allowed Indi..
ana to reel off 10 unanswered points in
e next three.
Sophomore Jeff Catrabone managed
to stop the bleeding somewhat with a
decision at 158,which put Michigan
back in front at 12-10, only to have the
Hoosiers win the next two.
With the Wolverines desperately in
need of a win to retain any hope of
victory, Olabisi hung tough against his
ranked opponent and gained a 4-1 vic-
tory. Michigan was within two points at
17-15, easily in striking distance going
'to the final bout.
As usual, sophomore heavyweight
Airron Richardson was able to put the
lid onthe opposition, recording an 8-0
major decision over Hoosier Jason
DeVries to put another 'W' into the
books for Michigan.
"Lanre has got to be the star today,"
Michigan coach Dale Bahr sajd after
the first victory of the day. "When you
e a couple guys you depend on go
own (150-pounder Bill Lacure and
177-pounder Jesse Rawls Jr.), then
somebody else has got to step up, and I
think that's been a key to this team all
year long."
The loss was Indiana's first in the Big
Ten, and it came at the hands of a red-
._
here it's just like, 'Well, let's just go
and get the job done.' It's like going to
the office and working the three hours
you need to work."
"Basically, we wanted to get through
this and get ready for (the Big Ten
tournament, to be held March 9 and 10
at East Lansing)," Bahr added.
A couple of highlights did indeed
come out of the clipping of the Eagles,
despite the lackluster atmosphere sur-
rounding the meet.
Freshman Jeff Reese recorded his
first career dual meet victory at 142
pounds, by romping to a 16-3 major
decision over Eastern's Noah
Delaney.
Catrabone's two victories on the day
allowed him to finish the dual-meet
season undefeated, having reeled off 18
consecutive wins.
"I was happy to have a perfect season
in dual meets," Catrabone said.
"I was really nervous (before the
6Basically, we
wanted to get
through this and
get ready for (the
Big Ten meet3)"
- Dale Bahr
Michigan wrestling coach
Indiana and Eastern Michigan matches)
thinking, 'Don't let me screw it up."'
The team will now turn its attention
to the upcoming Big Ten and NCAA
tournaments.
"The weather's getting nice out,"
Bahr said. "It's time not to have duals
anymore.
"It's time for the Big Tens and
NCAAs."
______________________________________ '4
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