The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 30, 1998 - 15 Blue women's cross country not resting on No. 5 ranking Ryan C. Moloney For the Daily Touting an undefeated record, an impressive performance in last weekend's Sundodger Invitational and a No. 5 ranking in the FinishLynx women's cross country poll, it would seem easy for the dom- inant Wolverines to sit back and coast towards the Big Ten champi- onship on Nov. 1. The talented and experienced team, however, understands the importance of the next few weeks in preparation for the important year- end meets. "We're using each meet as a building block," Michigan senior co- captain Michelle Slater said. "We're really focusing on the Oct. 18 (Michigan Interregional) meet, so the next two weeks we'll do our hard training." Many cross country coaches rely on the method of building a distance base in the summer and early weeks of a season through high mileage workouts, then tapering down with shorter - and faster - distances as, the season progresses. Coach Mike McGuire's training program practices this philosophy. "We're starting to do faster stuff," McGuire said, adding that right now they are doing what he calls "sus- tained-hard effort" workouts. "The biggest thing is we have everybody healthy." On Oct. 9, the Wolverines will travel to the Michigan Intercollegiate in Kalamazoo, Michigan in a meet that will determine the Michigan state champion for this season. Though the Wolverines practically own the meet every year, the team is careful to the competition in per- we've come to expect so far," McGuire said. Although McGuire could have taken the team to a more competitive meet out cast, he said he considers "Michigan to be the flagship school in this state," and it is therefore important to be there. "Michigan State and Eastern Michigan have a couple of good kids so we'll have goals relative to their people," McGuire said. In describing the meet's distinctly local atmosphere, Slater called the Intercollegiate "almost like a family reunion" and said "it's fun to com- pete" with old high school rivals and in front of family. Overall, the season is progressing as well as the team had anticipated. "We have a lot of fun with this group," Slater said. "But we all work hard. "We're good about pushing each other." The talented Michigan women's cross country team is careful to put the season thus far in perspective and look ahead to tougher competi- tion. WARREN ZINN/Daily spective. "We get up for any pete against people," "It's not the level chance to com- Slater said. of competition layoffs open; Yanks, Sox, Padres win NEW YORK (AP) - David Wells delivered a perfect postseason start for the New York Yankees. Playing their most important game in nearly six months, the Yankees looked every bit like the winningest team in AL history, beating the Texas Rangers 2-0, last night in Game 1 of heir division series. Wells pitched eight strong nings as the Yankees, who won their final seven games to finish with 114 victories, picked up exactly where they left off. "Right on the top, get in this situation, play- offs, ain't nothing better, I want the ball," Wells said. "Tonight we had the opportunity to win, that's one for us." SAN DIEGO 2, HOUSTON 1 The marquee matchup between Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown lived up to expecta- tions - close, tense and full of strikeouts. The kicker, though, was that Brown did an awesome imitation of Johnson, showing up the Big Unit in the Astrodome as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 2-1 yesterday in the opening game of their NL division series. Brown struck out 16 and allowed just two hits in eight innings in a brilliant performance as the Padres stole home-field advantage. BOSTON I1, CLEVELAND 3 The last Boston Red Sox first baseman to make such a splash in the postseason did so by letting a ball roll through his legs. Mo Vaughn's only connection with Bill Buckner is that they both play the same posi- tion. What separated the two yesterday was something Boston fans have been waiting 12 tortuous years to see - a postseason win by the Red Sox. Vaughn homered twice and tied a record with seven RBIs as Boston halted a 13-game postseason losing streak that began with Buckner's infamous error, beating Cleveland 11-3 in their AL playoff opener. Nomar Garciaparra hit a three-run homer and Pedro Martinez pitched seven innings. I CHICAGO (89-73) NL Wild Card 1998 BASEBALL PLAYOFFS .. BOSTON (92-70) AL Wild Card ATLANTA (106-56) NL East. N HOUSTON (102-60) NL Central SAN DIEGO (984) NL West 1 7.; CLEVELAND (89-73) AL Central ATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES NEw YORK (114-48) { .; AL East TEXAS (87-74) AL West AP PHOTO Craig Bigglo and the Houston Astros dropped their first game in the National League Division series to the San Diego Padres. WWW.MICHIGANDAIL Y. COM U. 1 UN IT E D STUDENT SPECIALS A U T 0 .Oil Changes *Tune Ups AND *Winterizations F L E E T *Complete Auto Repair *Foreign and Domestics R E PA I R Serviced (hair gels/shampoo) / 2321 Jackson Ave. Ann Arbor 48103 (734) 665-7130 { t MAN 0 o O o O TOWING We make (sungl a lot of things (cosmeis (sports drnks) (in-line skates) (sports apparel) (blue jeans) (sneakers) Especially careers. /- (blueprint paper) (uv sunscreen) (helmet) (tires) AAA Contractors WE DO NOT IMPOUND 2321 Jackson Ave. } Ann Arbor, MI 48103 (734) 761-4343 U I (hiking boots) We're BASF, the company that makes the products you buy better. 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