The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - February 24, 1997 - 3B

0Team spirit lifts women's track

BARRY

By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
CHAMPAIGN - The overpowering
sounds of young women's laughter,
excited cheers and general chatter filled
the air, followed by high-fives, hugs
and stomping up and down.
* What does this scene bring to mind?
There are many possibilities - a
birthday party, a sorority initiation, per-
haps even a low-budget slumber party
massacre movie from the mid-'80s.
Don't even think of mentioning any
of these options to someone from the
Michigan women's track team.
Particularly after this weekend's Big
Ten championships, every single
Wolverine would probably name her
Ivn team as the leading candidate to fit
e description above.
Wait a minute - a track team?
Track is notorious for being a sport
that does not promote or demand strong
team unity or morale. Most athletes on
a track team compete in their own spe-
cialty event - distance runners, sprint-
ers and high jumpers all have separate
individual goals. To make matters
worse, many meets are not even scored
O a team basis - individual results are
ept and nothing more.
Besides these general hindrances to a
track team's unity, Michigan did not
have the dream weekend it needed to
pull off the upset over heavily-favored
Wisconsin and garner first-place hon-
ors. True, coming in second is nothing
to cry about, but it was evident that
something was out of sync with
Michigan's performances.
Athletes who had been stepping up at
*actly the right moments throughout
the season were falling short.
Sophomore Nicole Forrester, who
had gone undefeated in the high jump
this season, finished second against a
field she could have beaten on other
weekends. Ereshman Lisa Ouellet, feel-
ing the effects of a throat illness, placed
a disappointing sixth in the 800-meter
run. Freshman Maria Brown, despite
*urth-place finishes in both events,
BIG TENS
Continued from Page 18
win meets all season and this weekend
was no different.
The strength of Michigan's distance
runners was evident this weekend.
Freshman Steve Lawrence was impres-
sive in the 5,000, finishing second, just
ore than 1/10 of a second out of first.
shman Todd Snyder and senior Dave
Barnett managed to finish 13th and
14th, respectively.
Another freshman came up big for the
Wolverines in the 800. Jay Cantin fin-
ished fourth, only one second behind
first place.
The Wolverines put all of their dis-
tance strength together in the Distance
Medley Relay. The team of Jeff Beuche,
ff Wood, Cantin and McLaughlin
otched a second-place finish.
With the distance runners leading the
way, several middle distance and sprint-
ers provided a good supporting cast.
Senior Neil Gardner had a strong sec-
ond-place finish, but had to play second
fiddle, once again, to Reggie Torian
from Wisconsin. With his victory, Torian
set the Big Ten meet record and a con-
ference record for the 55 hurdles.
Torian's time broke last year's Big Ten
*eet record set by none other than him-
self.
Senior Damon Devasher finished
third in the 55, with a time of 6.38, good
enough for third. Devasher finished
behind Torian and Tim Dwight, Iowa's
speedy wide receiver. Devasher's high
jump of 6-feet 10-3/4 inches was good
enough for fourth.
Senior Alex Lengemann, a former

ember of the Michigan basketball
am from 1993-95, finished fourth. He
also was able to place eighth in the indi-
vidual high jump.
Running
Aerobics
Crosstraining
& Volleybal

was well off of her season bests in the
55 and 200.
All of these athletes had solid perfor-
mances - they just didn't have their
best performances, which is what they
would have needed to beat the Badgers.
It was obvious, however, that individ-
ual accomplhments were not the most
important thing for the Wolverines.
Results mattered to Michigan, but what
mattered more was that it achieved
those results as a united team.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of"
Ouellet said. *I'm proud of everybody
on the team. It doesn't matter if you're a
sprinter, a jumper or a thrower -
everybody's out, cheering everybody
on. I think that's what's lacking in a lot
of teams in thus sport - teamwork,
friends and a great atmosphere.
"We came together and worked as
hard as we could, and I don't think
we're ever going to forget this meet."
Because of fatigue from her sickness,
Ouellet had to bow out of the 4 x 400
relay, but she did not respond negative-
ly to the disappointment.
Instead of sulking, she helped cheer
on the Wolverines to a come-from-
behind win in their heat, and subse-
quently, greeted each one of the partici-
pants in the relay with a congratulatory
hug. Her reaction was indicative of the
entire Michigan team's attitude.
Forrester, despite losing in the high
jump for the first time this season, was
also excited about her team's accom-
plishments as a whole.
"We expected and were hoping to
win," Forrester said. "But it's behind us.
The team just makes you stronger. If
everyone works together, you can create
a better effect than just one person
working by themselvs. Even for my
event, I wanted them to be louder today
than usual."
Unfortunately for the Wolverines,
their spirit was not enough to frighten
the Badgers, who easily swept every
distance event. For coach James Henry,
though, Michigan's primary goal had
nothing to do with where the team

SOLLEN BERGER
Sollenberger in Paradiseu.
Urbranczek rikht to put'
y.
the T ahead of 'team'
on Urbanchek is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Big Ten men's swimming.
He is The Terminator.
Okay, okay. Perhaps that's a stretch. Maybe The Dominator is a better title
for the Michigan coach. Because in his 15 years in Ann Arbor, Urbanchek has
dominated the Big Ten.
His conference record is an astounding 71-2. He has coached 97 individual
Big Ten champions, and he has won 10 conference titles.
With these accomplishments, nobody should question Urbanchek's coaching
philosophy, and yet, some still do. Why?
Because last season Michigan did not win the Big Ten for the first time since
1985. The Wolverines finished second to Minnesota.
But you know what? They could have won the title, but they decided to focus
on the Olympic trials instead.
This created quite a stir, because Urbanchek encouraged Michigan to place
individual goals ahead of team goals, and by doing so, people said he went
against that old adage. You know, the one that says there's no "I"in "team."
Through it all, Urbanchek did more for Michigan swimming by not winning
- or at least not focusing on - the Big Ten title.
He brought great acclaim to the Michigan program.
His swimmers won five medals, and one of them, Tom Dolan, won the United
States' first gold medal of the 1996 Olympics.
Still, this wasn't enough for the critics.
They argued that Urbanchek's emphasis was wrong. Never mind that Dolan
and Tom Malchow won medals. They were on scholarship to compete for
Michigan, and they should have been focused on the Big Ten, right?
Wrong.
"There was no issue," he said. "I made the best decision for Michigan swim-
ming in the long run. It's not that we didn't want to win the Big Ten champi-
onships. We just didn't want to win the Big Ten at any cost, especially, at the cost
of making the Olympic team."
Still, some people didn't understand. It's not like the Olympic trials and the
Big Ten championships overlapped. The trials were held between the Big Tens
and NCAAs (in which Michigan finished third).
Why couldn't the Wolverines go all out for all three competitions?
Swimming doesn't work like that. It's an aerobic sport. Swimmers need much
more than a day or even a week to prepare for a major meet. They begin training
seriously perhaps six months inadvance.
It's not like football, basketball or hockey.
You can't expect to do your best every time out.
"It was unfortunate that the Olympic trials came at the worst place - halfvvay
between the Big Tens and the NCAAs," Urbanchek said. "It was just a stupid
arrangement. It worked out well for the Olympic trials, but everything else was
sort of out of focus."
Urbanchek made the right decision concerning the Olympics. They are the ulti-
mate goal for all swimmers. He took a lot of heat for losing the Big Ten, but it:
was unwarranted.
Think about it.
The Big Ten title simply does not compare to an Olympic medal.
Michigan's conference streak ended last season, but it doesn't matter. The
See PARADISE, Page'8B

FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan woman's track team lifted itself to a second place finish at the Big
Ten Indoor Championship meet through strong team spirit and morale.

placed or how well it performed.
Even the coach felt that the qualita-
tive experience of being part of a team
was more important than beating
Wisconsin. If a coach puts something
above winning, you know it's big.
"Competition's important and win-
ning's important," Henry said. "But I

keep reminding the kids that this is a
game. Let's develop friendship, let's
develop teamwork - that will be life-
long, and then let's compete well. We
were singing the Michigan songs,
cheering and going into it as a family -
I'm more impressed with that. The end
results take care of themselves."


LONGE
Continued from Page 18
you just never know how it's going to
end up," Longe said. "Being that (Reid)
high-jumped that well, and that it all
depended on the 800, 1 just thought
'OK, I'll just have to go with second
place,' but during the run I felt strong so
I was like 'I can do this."'
At times, Longe was competing in
two events simultaneously.
On Saturday, Longe ran in the semi-
finals of the 55 hurdles between pre-
liminaries for the long jump final.
Sunday, Longe ran in the final of the 55
hurdles just minutes before competing
in the triple jump final.
Despite her hectic schedule, Longe
was able to jump a season's best of
12.55 meters in the triple jump and to
run a Michigan indoor track record
time of 7.94 seconds in the 55 hurdles.
"I told myself that I can't get upset by
having to run back and forth (between
events)," Longe said. "I just stayed
focused."
In the high jump, Michigan sopho-
more Nicole Forrester's jump of 5-foot-
10 was good enough for second place.
The second place finish was only the
first time this season that Forrester did
not win the high jump.
Henry blamed Forrester's sub-par
performance on pressure.

"(Winning) turns into a must, and she
closes down by trying too hard," Henry
said.
Forrester struggled all afternoon,
missing her first two attempts at 5-foot-
10. On her final attempt, her leg grazed
the bar, but despite bouncing up and
down, the bar didn't fall.
Forrester's jump tied her with
Illinois' Stacy Ann Grant and Indiana's
Nathalie Belfort, but because Grant had
needed fewer attempts to clear a lower
height, she was victorious.
"The positive was that she was still
the runner up and jumped as high as
everyone else" Henry said. "But every-
one else looked pretty good jumping,
but - and I'll say it in the paper and in
public - she looked terrible jumping."
The Wolverines struggled in both the
sprints and the distance events.
Freshman Maria Brown finished a dis-
appointing fourth in the 55 and the 200.
"Personally, I feel like I could have
done better," Brown said. "The times
were a little bit slower than I (expected)."
In the 400 and 600, no Wolverine
could do better than eighth place. The
Wolverines didn't fair much better in
the distance events. Marcy Akard's
fifth-place finish in the 5,000 was
Michigan's highest placing in a distance
event.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin dominated
the long-distance races. Wisconsin's

All-American Kathy Butler lead the
badgers, winning the mile run, 3,000
and 5,000.
Wisconsin's distance runners took
the top three places in the 800 and the
3,000, as well as the top two places in
the mile and the 5,000. All told,
Wisconsin's distance runners accounted
for 94 of the Badger's 119 total points.
"We would have needed to compete
phenomenally - compared to
Wisconsin just shutting down - in
order to beat them," Henry said. "They
were just way out there."

I ,

The University of Michigan Departnent of Recreational Sports
MICHIGAN CLASSICS'

~AU
7/44,

Top 10 Things Overheard
Late Night at Panchero 's
10. Hey man, you guys got a bathroom?
9. You should open one of these in
(insert town here).
8. How big is the 2 LB. burrito anyway?
7. What's a torta?
6. A friend of mine can eat two of these.
5. Man, this is awesome.
4. Hey, no cutting in line.

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1997
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