18A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 15, 1998

Field hockey ready
to stick it to Spartans

Blue hosts Interregional

By Jason Emeott
Daily Sports Writer
On Sunday. another chapter of the
storied Michigan-Michigan State
rivalry will be written when the
Michigan field hockey team travels
to East Lansing to battle the Spartans
at 1 p.m.
This series has it all. On one side-
line, the No. 11 Wolverines will be
playing to stay on top of the Big Ten
conference standings and defend last
season's conference championship.
On the opposite sideline, the
Spartans are salivating to test their
newly found top 20 national ranking..
In the middle, there is the raw emo-
tion of an intense in-state rivalry -
especially after Michigan's 2-1 over-
tine win on Sep. 24.
"It's pretty big. We need to win the
rest of our games to be conference
champs," Michigan senior captain
Amy Philbrook said. "Beating them
athome would be big."
-hilbrook said that the Wolverines

will focus on playing all 70 minutcs
of Sunday's game. She said the team
wants to play its game early and
avoid a repeat of last month's victory,
which required overtime.
"We have to establish our style
early," freshman Catherine Foreman
said.
Michigan's style will include a
simple passing game to work through
Michigan State's strong defense.
Additionally, the Wolverines will be
emphasizing their press, since the
Spartans like to hit out of the back-
field. Both Philbrook and Foreman
emphasized the importance of having
both the offense and defense play
well together.
"It's a team game," Philbrook said.
"The offense feeds off the defense,*
and the defense feeds off the
offense."
The Michigan offense especially
hopes to benefit from the defense by
turning over a quick transition game
to beat the stingy Spartans.

By Chris Langrill
Daily Sports Writer
Winning. It's the one thing all athletes love.
Pain. It's what most athletes hate.
Usually, it takes some pain to win. And few teams
know that better than the Michigan men's cross
country team.
At home, the sixth-ranked Wolverines run on
what is considered by many to be one of the tough-
est cross country courses in the nation. The course
- the Michigan Golf Course - will be the site of
this weekend's sixth annual Wolverine Interregional,
which begins at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
It consists of several hills, some of which are
short and steep, some of which are long and grad-
ual. The shifting landscape forces runners to adjust
throughout the course of a race. They have to know
where to make their moves, where to run harder and
where to lay off a bit.
In effect, the whole experience can be painful.
"Yeah, unlike most other teams coming in here,
we know how painful it can be," senior All-America
Todd Snyder said.
Snyder has run the course for four years and
knows it well, just like teammate and fellow senior
All-America John Mortimer.
The Wolverines will take their knowledge and
their strength into this week's Interregional, where
they hope to continue their winning ways.
They have at least tied for first in their past two
events -- they won last week's Murray Keatinge

Invitational in Orono, Maine. and tied for first with
rival Michigan State two weeks ago at the Lehigh
Run in Bethlehem, Pa.
Those, however, were away meets. This weekend,
the Wolverines are running on the course they know
better than anyone, in front of family and fans that
want and expect them to win.
As far as being in front of the home crowd, the
team has good incentive to perform well.
History shows that the Wolverines shouldn't need
much in the way of motivation, though. They have
won the event two of the past five times it's been run
(it wasn't held in 1995).
Last year, Mortimer tied former teammate Kevin
Sullivan for the individual title in this 8,000-meter
event with a time of 24:12. The team took home the
overall title as well. Then, the Wolverines went on to
win Big Tens just weeks later.
They are looking for similar results this year. All
along, Michigan coach Ron Warhurst and his play-
ers have been stressing that the most important parts
of the season are Big Tens and the NCAA
Championships, both of which are yet to come.
"Every meet is a stepping stone to those two,"
Mortimer said.
Clearly, the Wolverines are looking ahead to the
big challenges that await them. But they haven't for-
gotten that there's still a job to be done this Sunday.
They host a strong field, among which lurks No. 22
James Madison.
"This race is still a big deal," Snyder said.

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MARGARET MYERS/Oasiy
Recognize this guy yet? It's All-American John Mortimer, in a
strangely familiar pose.



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1.


Wolverines invite
top cross country
teams to Invitational
Ryan C. Moloney the front with McGregor and Kamp
For the Daily also.
When you're the No. 3 team in the "You narrow your split off by 15 or
country, sometimes it takes a little intan- seconds in a big race, you're going
gible- like running on your home take 30 or 40 points off your sco
course- to push your team even further That's what we're looking for."
over the top. Georgetown has won the meet for t
The Wolverines are looking to capital- past two years and will probably pose t
ize on this advantage Sunday in the biggest threat to the Wolverines. Oth
Wolverine Interregional. contenders include Wake Fore
In hopes of getting a leg up on the Bowling Green and Washington.
competition, the team has spent most of McGuire said the eighth-rank
their time preparing at the Michigan Hoyas are "way under-ranked" and w
Golf Course. prove to be a "formidable" opponent f
"We've been running our morning the team.
runs at 6:45," Allison Noe said. "We've The Wolverines are also looking fc
been running workouts there, as well." ward to running in their first offic
As if getting up early wasn't enough meet of the season with their male cou
of a challenge, the workouts have also terparts.
been tough. "I think the kids will be fired UI
"We do a lot of hills," Katie McGuire said. "It's a home meet andi
McGregor said, not on a work day so I think there'll b
Most of the first mile consists of a lot of support."
gradual upward incline, which tends to Though the Wolverines are favored
separate the contenders from the pre- the race, the emphasis on stayit
tenders. focused and performing up to par is n
Michigan coach Mike McGuire said lost on the team.
the team must limit the time interval "Without question, this is our stiffi
between them and the front-running duo test," McGuire said. "We need a rea
of McGregor and Elizabeth Kampfe. good effort. If it comes up short then
"Our fourth or fifth will have to run better team beat us. Effort is the consta
30 seconds better than last year," in sport."
McGuire said. "We think we'll impact
'M' crew paddles
for national title

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By Steven Kyritz
For the Daily
Three years ago, the University of
Michigan did not have a varsity
women's crew team. They didn't have a
team invitation to the NCAA
Championships, and didn't have a top
10 ranking because they simply didn't
exist at the varsity level.
Since that time, the program has
grown with leaps and bounds and is
now considered to be on the threshold
of joining numerous other Michigan
teams as a dominant force within its
sport.
Last year, the crew team powered its
way to a team invitation to the NCAA
Championships. This honor, the
Wolverines' first, is particularly impres-
sive because just eight teams receive it.
"Last year was a big transition year in
terms of getting everyone on the same
page;' Michigan coach Mark Rothstein
said. "This year, we have a core group
that understands what we have to do."
Besides a change in attitude, the crew
team will also feature some different
personnel.
Three rowers from last year's first
boat have graduated, to be replaced by a
freshman class considered one of the
nation's finest.
Regardless of the turnover, Michigan
still has an extremely formidable line-
up.
"So far, I've been pleasantly sur-
prised by a lot of people," said
Rothstein, assessing his team. "We
TOLEDO'
Continued from Page 13A

have a lot of good rowers, but we need
them to become great."
Among the crew members who hav$
flashed greatness is sophomore Kate
Johnson. Over the summer, Johnson
honed her skills by rowing for the
United States national team.
"We're really getting good leadership
from (Johnson)," Rothstein said. "She
had a very good summer."
Leadership will be extremely impor-
tant for Michigan this year, as the com-
petition has not only improved, but also
increased in number.
"It's going to be a lot tighter this
year," Rothstein said. "Last year, there
were six or seven teams really compet-
ing at the national level. This year, there
are 12 to 15."
The first test for the No. 8 ranked
Wolverines will come on Oct. 18 when
the crew team travels to Boston for the
Head of the Charles.
This is followed by the Head of the
Schukyhill in Philadelphia, tho
Princeton Chase at Princeton, N.J., and
the Head of the Elk in Indiana.
If all goes well, Michigan should be
in a position for another appearance in
the championships. But merely repeat-
ing last year's success isn't enough for
Rothstein. .
"We're going to try to improve this
year," Rothstein said.
"We have a different team, so we'rt
not going to focus on last year. There's
no reason why we can't do better this
year."
DEFENSE
Continued from Page 13