12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, March 26, 1997
Michigan men dominate
distance events at Wake
Mortimer returns, wins 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000
By Chad Kujala
Daily Sports Writer
Because Michigan winters don't
always follow the groundhog's advice at
the beginning of February, the Michigan
men's track team has had little practice
outside this season. So last weekend, the
Wolverines traveled to Winston-Salem,
N.C., in search of warm weather, fresh
air and a little competition.
The Wake Forest Invitational consist-
ed of a mutt-like field, as more than 30
universities, colleges and clubs joined
the Wolverines.
The distance runners picked up right
where they left off at the end of the
indoor season and dominated the 1,500-
meter run. More than 70 athletes ran the
race, but the Wolverines took five of the
top six spots, with freshman Jay Cantin
leading the way. Cantin (3:49.41) fin-
ished first, followed by Scott
MacDonald, Don McLaughlin and
Steve Lawrence in the next three spots.
Jeff Beuche finished sixth.
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The same type of dominance also
existed in the 5,000. The Wolverines
took the top four spots - a direct result
of the return of two runners absent from
the indoor roster.
Sophomore John Mortimer was
forced to redshirt this indoor season due
to pneumonia. Mortimer made his
return by winning the 5,000 in a time of
14:30.68.
Senior Kevin Sullivan, who also
missed the indoor season, finished sec-
ond. David Barnett and Todd Snyder
finished third and fourth.
Mortimer completed his return with a
victory in the 3,000 steeplechase.
Mortimer (8:57.04) finished 35 seconds
in front of Wake Forest's Brett Strahan.
McLaughlin continued the strong
running that made him a Big Ten cham-
pion in the mile this indoor season. His
success this Saturday, however, was in
the 800. McLaughlin beat out 91 other
runners to capture first place with an
outstanding time of 1:53.87.
Sophomore Corey Brown and
Beuche finished 13th and 14th, strong
finishes considering the number of
competitors.
The 3,000 did not produce any win-
ners for Michigan, but the Wolverines
Junior outfielder Derek Besco slides into a tag against Detroit Mercy. He leads Michigan with a .434 batting average.
M' hopes to end wet,
did have some strong finishes.
Lawrence finished third, MacDonald
fourth and Snyder ninth.
The sprinters - as a whole - did not
display the same type of dominance, but
they did produce some champions.
Neil Gardner showed his strength in
the hurdles, picking up two victories.
Gardner finished first in the 110 high
hurdles (14.03) and first in the 400
intermediate hurdles.
The Wolverines also showed some
strength in the 200, something they did
not display in the indoor season.
Freshman Steve Jenkins finished
first, Edzra Gibson third, Jeff Wood
fifth and Martin Bowman eighth.
The 100 did not produce any top-
three finishes, but Damon Devasher and
Jenkins finished fourth and fifth.
The Michigan relay teams were suc-
cessful this weekend in both the 4x100
and 4x400.
The 4x400 relay team finished first
ahead of Coppin State. The 4x100 relay
team notched a second-place finish
behind North Carolina A&T State.
The Michigan field events squad is
not the strength of the team, but
Devasher, a high-jumper, is exceptional.
Devasher finished first with a leap of 6-
foot-9.
Brian Wildfong also had a solid per-
formance in the shot put, finishing
fourth.
Bowman finished sixth in the long
jump; Don Stenger finished fifth in the
pole vault; and Taiwo Okusanya fin-
ished seventh in the triple jump.
By Richard Shin
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team expected
to dominate Ball State yesterday at
Fisher Stadium, but Mother Nature
intervened, washing out the first game of
a six-game homestand for the
Wolverines.
Michigan (2-2 Big Ten, 11-9 overall)
experienced the nemesis of outdoor base-
ball - the rainout - for the first time
this season in only its second home
game.
The Wolverines are scheduled to play
today against Western Michigan at 3
p.m. at Fisher Stadium, in a key noncon-
ference matchup. Actually, according to
Michigan captain Kirk Beermann, every
nonconference game is important.
"I think it's good to keep everybody
fresh as far as games go," Beermann
said. "If you just play on the weekends,
you have five days before games.
"It's a long stretch to not have any
ballgames."
It has, however, been a long stretch of
time since Michigan last faced Western
Michigan - two years.
The Wolverines have not played the
Broncos since 1995, when they dropped
a pair of games to Western Michigan, 6-
I and 10-8. Michigan leads the all-time
series, however, posting a 74-60 record
against the Broncos.
Michigan is looking to boost its
record after splitting a four-game series
with Purdue last weekend. In the two
losses, the Wolverines struggled, giving
up 16 and 12 runs, respectively.
Michigan will rely on its offensive
prowess, which helped the Wolverines
forge a nine-game winning streak,
including six consecutive games with a
least 11 runs. The Wolverines are led by
right fielder Derek Besco, who leads the
team with a .455 batting average and has
26 RBI. He is tied with brother Bryan for
the team lead in home runs with four,
and he is one of four Wolverines who
sport a batting average over .400.
Michigan's erratic hitting played a
large part in Michigan's four-game split
last weekend at Purdue.
"Earlier, we were pretty much scoring
so many runs that they really didn't have
a chance," Beermann said. "Lately,
we've been scoring a lot of runs - like
eight or so - but we haven't been able
dry spells
to score 15 runs like we were during our
winning streak.
"We're still hitting good, but people
are starting to cool down."
Against the Broncos, that might not bE
a problem. Western Michigan has strug-
gled from the plate this season, batting a
collective .259 despite clubbing nine
home runs. Western Michigan's pitching
has not fared much better. The' Broncos
have a 3-10 record and a 5.94 ERA.
The Wolverines have had some pitch-
ing woes of their own, giving up 12
home runs on the season with a 6.99
ERA. The numbers drop if the first three
games against Alabama - games iT
which the Michigan pitching staff gave
up a total of 62 runs - are taken out.
At any rate, Michigan will be looking
to pad its win total, especially consider-
ing the tough Big Ten schedule ahead.
"We were disappointed," Beermann
said. "We went in there looking to
sweep, but Purdue played great baseball
all four games, and we just played aver-
age.
"I think everybody knows what the*
have to do for the rest of the Big Ten
games."
game-winning goals.
Should the Tigers defeat North
Dakota and the Wolverines advance,
Michigan would have played the
same three teams that it played in
last year's tournament - Minnesota,
Boston University and Colorado
College - in the same order.
"Boy, the brackets look pretty
familiar," Morrison said.
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Continued from Page 10
The Sioux are making their first
appearance in the'NCAA tournament
since 1990, when they defeated
Boston University in the first round.
"We're glad to be back in the tour-
nament after being out for so long,"
Blais said.
The Sioux's second-leading scorer,
sophomore center and Hobey Baker-
finalist Jason Blake, is expected to
play tomorrow despite nursing an
undisclosed injury.
Blake's 49 points are two less than
sophomore left wing David
Hoogsteen's 51.
Hoogsteen leads the team and
ranks third in the nation with six
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