10A- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 30, 1997 Big Ten title on minds of 'M' runners* By Nita Srivastava Daily Sports Writer First in the nation, or first in the Big Ten? Take your pick. The Michigan women's cross country team would never want to make that kind of decision. No mat- ter how much others may value national over conference supremacy, Michigan coach Mike McGuire said that there's one, and only one, focus for the Wolverines - the Big Ten championships this Saturday in Columbus. "The mindset at this point is usual- ly predicated on national perfor- mance," McGuire said. "But if you are taking care of business in your own conference, then everything else falls into place. "That is why the Big Ten is the highest priority on our schedule." Michigan's toughest challenge will come from No. 3 Wisconsin, the defending Big Ten champion. The 17th-ranked Wolverines are the only other conference team ranked in the top 25, although it is the lowest the Wolverines have been this season. According to McGuire, Minnesota, Penn State and Michigan all have a chance to dethrone the Badgers, but they will be hard to beat. Wisconsin returns all but one run- ner from last year's championship team. "It's just a matter of keeping everyone rested, sharp and focused because we have a big task at hand," McGuire said. Michigan's strength has been the consistent performances of its top three runners - Katie McGregor, Julie Froud and Elizabeth Kampfe. The trio has raced together in every meet, but the fourth-through- ninth runners have been lagging behind. "We have a good base with the top three," McGregor said. "But you need more than three people to make a team. "The more we break up is when we run our worst races." The Wolverines will need big con- tributions from the rest of the team if they want to compete with Wisconsin. Rounding out the Michigan lineup are Lisa Ouellet, Eileen Fleck, Katie Clifford, Sarah Hamilton, Michelle Slater and Allison Noe. McGuire decided on Noe over Tiffin Goodman based on her perfor- mance at the Eastern Michigan Classic last weekend. "We'll get a great competitive effort out of Allison," McGuire said. "These are the nine best people we are putting on the line this week." Even if the Wolverines cannot stay as close together as McGuire wants, he is confident that McGregor, Kampfe and Froud will place in-the top seven. ''m confident about what we cam do in front," he said. "But our kty is what we do bet ween our tourth :Hd ninth runners - they just need tobe closer to the third, McGuire said the course Columbus is flat and fast, whi cW should be an advantage to the Wolverines, who arc accustomed to running on the slow and -hilly Michigan golf course. Over the past 10 scasons, Michigan has placed in the top three at BigTens each year. The Wolverines won the confer- ence title from 1992-94. The Wolverines have consistent been at the top of the Big Ten., aI the key to maintaining their con is- tency is for the Wolverines to increase their focus and intensity. "We are in the championship pArt of the season now," McG uire said. WARREN ZINN/Daily At this weekend's Big Ten championships, the Michigan women's cross country team will rely on Julie Froud as one of the team's top runners. Help yourself by helping others... Consider a Career ,i Physical Therapy Enrollment every APRIL & OCTOBER Men's tankers open season against Eagles By Jordan Field Daily Sports Writer Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Michigan and Eastern in a dual meet. As the rest of the campus is eating candy and cele- brating Halloween tomorrow, the Michigan mens swim- ming and diving team will open its season at Eastern Michigan University at 7 p.m. But it shouldn't be too scary for the Wolverines because they are 20-0 in head-to-head competition dat- ing back to 1971. "I guess you could say this is a low-key match for us, but by no means do we see Eastern as a push over"said Michigan assistant coach Eric Namesnik, who will coach the Wolverines against Eastern in the absence of head coach Jon Urbanchek. "They have some very strong swimmers and I do not see us winning every event, but I certainly do not see us losing this match either." Urbanchek and swimmer Tom Malchow will both miss the meet because they are members of the USA World championship team competing in Australia in January. This weekend, the two are committed to a meet against Southeastern Conference teams at Auburn. Which leaves first-year assistant coach Namesnik in charge of a team missing its top swimmer. "I feel very comfortable leaving Eric in control," Urbanchek said. "He is an excellent coach, and he knows what he is doing out there. He has an 0-0 record, so hopefully he can get his first win under his belt." Namesnik, who swam at Michigan for four years (1989-91, '93) and has won two Olympic medals, also down-played his position for the weekend. "It really is no big deal," he said. "I'll be doing just about the same things I would have done as an assistant coach. The swimmers have all trained hard, and once we get there, it is their job to win it." "Unless there is some major problem with the scoring or something, my role is basically the same, and I really don't see that happening in our first meet of the year." Namesnik has another special interest in the meet. Besides coaching at Michigan, Namesnik is currently earning his masters in educational leadership at Eastern Michigan. MARGARET MYO