10- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 4, 1996
Michigan harriers bow to sun gods
Wolverines experience heat exhaustion, poor finishes at NCAA Championship
By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
It's too bad the Michigan men's cross
country team couldn't finish its season
on a high note, on some cool
Midwestern course closer to home.
Instead, the college careers of seniors
Scott MacDonald, Dave Barnett and Jeff
Beuche were left in the Tucson, Ariz.,
desert heat like three lonely cacti.
Circumstances might have been dif-
ferent had last Monday's NCAA
Championship been held in a climate
more to Michigan's liking.
Instead, the Wolverines were forced to
run in 70 degree temperatures all day.
Michigan was shooting for the top
eight overall and hoping to land two run-
ners in the top 10.
But John Mortimer and Scott
MacDonald both suffered from heat
exhaustion, and ran their worst races of
the season.
After winning all but one race in the
regular season, Mortimer fell to 116th
last Monday. H
ing the race.
"At 2,000
m e t e r s,
(Mortimer and
MacDonald)
were in the
20s, but John
looked terri-
ble," Michigan
coach Ron
Warhurst said.
"H a l f way
through the
race he was
still back
there."
Mortimer is
only a sopho-
more, howev-
e almost passed out dur- the race" the senior co-captain said.
"The heat and dry weather hindered
The heat and
dry weeather
Hindered mee. I
didn'T have my
muwl e $ ng like I
wanted therm to."f
- Scott MacDonald
Michigan cross
country runner
me. I didn't have
my muscles firing
like I wanted them
to."
But Monday's
race wasn't
MacDonald's last
major event. He
sees bigger things
on the horizon.
"I'll take a few
years to run inter-
nationally, but I
don't feel I've hit
my peak yet. The
2000 Olympics are
a big goal of mine.'
The last four
have been held in
tions was a mistake' Warhurst said.
"They've got to be considerate of ath-
letes coming from cooler weather."
The top five finishers included teams
like Stanford, Arkansas, Colorado and
Oklahoma State, which are already used
to dry conditions.
"We would have needed a week to get
adjusted to those conditions,"
MacDonald said. "But NCAA rules only
let us arrive two days in advance.'
Steve Lawrence was the only
Michigan runner who ran up to
Warhurst's expectations Monday.
"Steve ran very well. He was the
third or fourth freshman to finish,"
Warhurst said.
Lawrence and freshman Jay Cantin
were pleasant surprises all year.
The Wolverines should have a solid
squad next season with Cantin,
Mortimer and Lawrence returning.
Kevin Sullivan, who redshirted this
season due to injury, will join Mortimer,
Lawrence and Cantin next year.
er, and has two more years to break the
top 10 at nationals.
MacDonald finished 43rd in Tucson,
his last race as a Wolverine.
"I just couldn't move up at the end of
years, the NCAAs1
Bloomington; Lehigh, Penn.; Fayetville,
Ark.; and Ames, Iowa: all towns with
cooler temperatures.
"Holding it under (Monday's) condi-
DAMIAN PETRESCU!Daly
The Michigan men's cross country team, hampered by extreme heat and desert
conditions, suffered its worst performance of the season at NCAAs in Tucson, Ariz.
..
GRAPPLERS
Continued from Page 9
I have seen at any of our tourna-
ments," Bahr said.
"We knew he was extremely tal-
ented when we recruited him, but to
win two of your first three tourna-
ments and finish second at the other
is impressive."
Among the other underclassmen
who wrestled well for the
Wolverines were freshman Otto
Olson and sophomores Corey Grant
and Jeff Reese.
Grant finished fourth after plac-
ing first and second, respectively, in
the Wolverines' previous two meets.
The lone champion for Michigan
was junior Jeff Catrabone, who
defeated Kevin Wilot, 4-0, to capture
the 167-pound title.
Catrabone is ranked third in the
nation. He is unbeaten this season
and needs only three more victories
to amass 100 for his Michigan
career.
"No one has touched Jeff yet,"
Bahr said. "He has the tools to be
one of the top wrestlers at 167
pounds."
Junior Bill Lacure took second in
the tournament despite wrestling up
at 158 pounds. Lacure lost a close 5-
4 match to Matt Hughes of Eastern
Illinois.
"I kind of sat on my lead and lost
control at the end of the match," he
said.
Lacure said it was possible that
moving up a weight class put him at
a disadvantage.
"I don't want to make excuses,
but it might have (played a part in
the loss)," Lacure said. "He was big-
ger than me."
Lacure will move down to his reg-
ular weight of 150 for the dual-meet
season.
Heavyweight Airron Richardson
matched his second-place finish at
the Michigan Open on Nov. 24.
Richardson is ranked fifth in the
nation and has lost only two matches
this season.
Bahr said the only disappointment
of the tournament was that the'
Wolverines only had one champion.
"We wrestled really well all day,
but then lost in the last match," Bahr
said. "We've got to win in the
finals."
There was no team-scoring in the
tournament, and the Wolverines
were allowed to enter an unlimited
number of wrestlers per weight
class.
The Wolverines travel to Lxs
Vegas this weekend for their first
team tournament.
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