:Ie £tgIn)u Tilg A g Sports Desk: 647-3336 N - R4 ', ' . ' 3 a y 1.v , ' z ' ~ x , ' ' ; c. MdcGregor records top mark At Spartan By Rick Freeman Forthe Daily Going into this weekend, Michigan women's cross country coach Mike M'uire ventured that the firm, flat fairways of the Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing might help the ~vernes improve on their individual times. But he also expected them to produce a good effort in the first road meet of the season. The Wolverines got the best of both worlds. A fast course combined with a team that came ready to run helped the Wolverines grab the top three spots in the Spartan Invitational this weekend, led by junior Katie McGregor, sopho- more Elizabeth Kampfe, and redshirt freghman Julie Froud. The Wolverines dated second-place finisher Ball state by 18 points as well as outlasting Toledo, Ohio State, Macomb Community College and host Michigan State. McGregor set an example for her team on Saturday, establishing a course record with a blistering pace of 17:20.1. "Katie really made a statement t y," McGuire said. nfortunately, no one was close enough to hear it, because she finished 20 seconds ahead of teammate Kampfe, and 45 seconds ahead of the nearest non-Michigan finisher - Shannon Dye of Ball Sate. Junior Eileen Fleck and redshirt freshman Lisa Ouellet rounded out the Wolverines' top five, finishing seventh and ninth overall. .McGuire was pleased by both indi- al efforts and the team as a whole. Across the board, I thought we improved," he said. "Going into this race we needed to improve and we did." He still feels that there is plenty of room for improvement, but is confident about the team's chances at the Big Ten Championships as well as at NCAAs. McGuire's team shares his confi- dence. "As far as we're concerned, we're Aiy to win the Big Ten,' McGregor said, "If we keep focused, keep doing what we're doing, we'll definitely get there." McGuire agrees, but softens his enthusiasm by noting that the differ- ence in times between first and fifth place was 1:10. In cross country, only the top five runners' places count towards the team score, so it is impor- tant to have as many high finishers as sible. McGuire feels that his team uld reduce this gap to 45 seconds or less, in order to achieve that goal. Nevertheless, room for improvement is a good thing this early in the season. McGuire pointed out that many of his runners are still improving. Ouellet, a middle-distance runner who normally runs the 800- and the 1500-meter races during both track seasons finished fifth for the Wolverines in Saturday's five- meter race. '(Ouellet) could be a big-time cross- country runner" said McGuire who is looking to Ouellet to contribute this 'season. MGuire also pointed out the improvement of redshirt junior Michelle Slater, who finished 15th, as the biggest improvement on the team from the prior race two weeks ago. "She'll only continue to get better" McGuire said. The entire team looks prepared for a Eat season. The Wolverines are focused, confident, and despite being a young team with no seniors, can rely on See SPARTAN, Page 8B U Michigan has no problems, whp BSaylor I4 0 By Danielle Rumore Daily Sports Editor It turned out that a letdown was not a worry for Michigan. After beating up Colorado last week, there was -. talk of a possible letdown against a lesser opponent, talk of playing down after a big win. It had happened so many times in the past, but it was not to be this weekend. The eighth-ranked Wolverines (2-0) played with a sim- ilar defensive intensity from last week and corrected some of the mistakes that ailed { t : Michigan 39 them against the Buffaloes, mainly the running game, to Baylor 3 roll to a 38-3 victory over Baylor (1-2) in front of 106,041 " ~at Michigan Stadium. Baylor quarterback Jeff Watson ran the option over and over again which kept the Wolverines' defense at bay early on. But the Wolverines' defense adjusted, especial- ly along the line of scrimmage, and dominated an under- sized Baylor team for the rest of the game. * "Our goal was to improve this week," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We were, as coaches, concerned about a letdown. It is the kind of game where we knew we had the better team, but sometimes when you have the better team you play to the level of your competition. I am very pleased that we played very hard." Michigan's defense has not given up a touchdown or 100 yards rushing in either of the first two games. The Wolverines were just too big and too fast for the Bears, especially along the sidelines where they were stuffed on almost every drive. The Wolverines'defense gave up just 92 yards on the 'm< ground, 43 more than last week, and 62 yards in the air. In fact, Michigan's defense limited the Bears to just 52 3 offensive plays; the Wolverines ran 89 plays. Baylor only converted three of 14 third down opportunities - com- pared to Michigan's eight of 14 - and was forced to punt WARREN ZINN/Daily nine times. Michigan tailback Chris Howard ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 38.3 blowout of Baylor. Howard, along with Clarence Williams "I think they're a great football team," Baylor coach and Anthony Thomas, led a rushing attack that piled up 344 yards on the ground. See BEARS, Page 58 Cante capccn an hlofonte Pwr top it. Please. If there is anything Michigan fans should know from expe- rience, it's that cappuccino stands don't belong at a football stadium and that a couple of early-season victories - no matter how big or impressive - do little more than make SportsCenter fun to watch. This is not the time to be looking at the polls, and it's surely not the time to be talking about Rose Bowls and Pasadena and - gulp! - contending for the national championship. Whoever held up that sign in the stands Saturday that had the P-word on it ought to put down his mocha and have the frappe kicked out of him. For a school so steeped in tradition, it is amazing how poor people's memories are around here. Last year, the Wolverines began the season ranked 12th. They beat Colorado, which was ranked fifth at the time, and jumped to eighth afterward. A few weeks later, they were 4-0 and ranked sixth entering a game against Northwestern no one thought they could lose. Then came the P-word. And they lost. We all know what hap- pened after that. They 1' bounced around, the bandwagon got square wheels, the cappuccino got cold, and after they crept back into the top NICHOLAS J. 10, pesky Purdue stung COTSONIKA them to expedite the slide to another four-loss sea- The Greek son. Speaks So here we are again. The Wolverines began the season ranked 14th. They beat Colorado, which was ranked eighth at the time, and jumped to eighth themselves afterward. Then they beat Baylor on Saturday, and now find themselves ranked sixth in the nation. Here comes the P-word. Cornerback Charles Woodson said Saturday that the Wolverines "will be up - way up - to play" a downtrodden Notre Dame team this weekend. And if they do play well and win, it is possible that this whole thing could get out of hand. Again. And it is possible all the hype could collapse on itself. Again. Here's the deal: A month ago, the consen- sus across Ann Arbor was that the Wolverines' played far too difficult a sched- ule to be successful this season, no matter how much they had improved as a team. Now, that talk has been twisted, and people are say- ing Michigan is the toughest team on its schedule, as if only the Wolverines can beat themselves. There is some truth to that. The Wolverines are sometimes their own worst enemies, as they were last year in their losses to Northwestern and Purdue. But at least for one game, they seemed to have learned their les- son. After the game Saturday, coach Lloyd Carr and his players supported with words what they have shown on the field. So far, they haven't given up a touchdown, have allowed their opponent in the red zone once (once!), haven't made any costly errors, have been able to cover up problems (kicking game) by being so dominant, three points don't make a difference. And the best part, the greatest improvement, has been attitude. This is a methodical, machine-like football team that has not stopped rolling. There was no letdown against Baylor, and that killer instinct the Wolverines said they lacked last year seems to be back. There is almost a champion's serenity about them, an even-keel confidence that will be critical to keep if they are to survive the weeks to come and finish the season with a better record than 8-4. Carr acknowledged that his players' emo- tions will fluctuate this year like the hormones See COTSONIKA, Page 48 'M' soccer topples conference rivals in opener By Jacob R. Wheeler Daily Sports Writer To be the best you've got to beat the best, and knocking the king off the throne is a pretty good start. Only two years after finishing at the bottom of the Big Ten standings with a lone conference victory, the Michigan women's soccer team finds itself at the head of the pack, cruising to what could be Michigan's first-ever Big Ten champi- onship. The Wolverines, 2-0 in conference play, are sitting pretty after disposing of defending-champion Indiana, 1-0, on Friday, and Ohio State, 4-1, yesterday. "Friday's victory was huge, it was a great feeling" Michigan leading-scorer Amber Berendowsky said. Michigan (7-1) strutted into Bloomington and dethroned upstart Indiana, 1-0, behind senior Karen twice as many shots on goal and control- ling the game's tempo. "Our team dominated the whole game," Berendowsky said. "Everyone was on and we came out strong." Yesterday's home matchup presented another important conference battle, although Ohio State didn't quite fill the giant shoes of the Hoosiers. Michigan dominated from the begin- ning, tallying two goals before the match was 15 minutes old. Freshman Kacy Beitel delivered on a centering cross from Berendowsky just six minutes into the match. Berendowsky then netted her own goal to put the Wolverines out of reach. All in all, 90 minutes of relentless pressure from the left side of the offense resulted in two more second-half goals in the Michigan victory. Shannon Poole and Ruth Poulin deliv- forward assisted Beitel and Poole's scores in addition to her own goal. "Our game plan was to get one early and take advantage of our team speed," Michigan coach Debbie Belkin said. "We were trying to take control of the transi- tion and once we did that, we just kept the pressure on." Once again, Michigan dominated the game's tempo from start to finish, using team speed and Berendowsky's creativity to subdue the Buckeyes. "It's hard to control the tempo for all 90 minutes," Belkin said. "We try to eliminate the letdowns and today we did that, except for the goal we allowed at the end." Their won't be much room for errors in the coming weeks, either. This week- end was Michigan's' orientation session. for the season-long dogfight that will eventually determine a Big Ten champi- U I