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SPORTS
Tracking 'M' teams
Most of the Michigan fall teams have home contests
this weekend - hockey, soccer, field hockey, volley-
ball and the Big Ten men's and women's cross country
championships are all in Ann Arbor. Keep reading the
Daily for stories and more information.
Tuesday
October 27, 1998
9
tAgr407
0
I
Indiana safety Greg Yeldell intercepts a pass from Michigan tailback Walter
Cross.
B lame for CrOss
as reStS with Carr
BY CHRIS LANGRILL
DAILY SPORTS WRITER C
t all started for John Mortimer, senior co-cap-
tain of Michigan's men's cross country team,
on a fall day way back in fifth grade. He toed
the line - if there even was one - with his tiny
Nikes for his first-ever race as a competitor.
Mortimer was one of many young fifth and sixth
graders from three schools in his Londonderry,
N.H., hometown with hopes of winning this ele-
mentary school mile. When the race was over, the
Il-year-old found himself in second place, having
lost out to a bigger, faster sixth grader. It might have
been the end of any possible running career for the
youngster.
There were other sports to play and have fun with
- football, basketball, baseball and swimming.
Mortimer enjoyed doing all these things at the time.
So there was no expressed focus on running. But
something - maybe just a childhood desire to be
the best amongst friends - brought Mortimer back
to running.
"In sixth grade," Mortimer said with a grin, "I
came back and won the event ... that kind of got me
started."
In time, Mortimer would phase out the other
sports he considered fun, focusing his attentions
more and more on running. Junior high saw a cross
country state championship. High school brought
more accolades, including back-to-back national
championships in the two-mile. Next came a schol-
arship to Michigan.
Now, Mortimer, a senior architecture major, is
one of the finest all-around collegiate runners in the
nation. Last week, in fact, he was named Big Ten
athlete of the week, after he won his third straight
Wolverine Interregional individual title. Along the
way, he helped the team capture its second straight
overall title at the event, run annually on the
Michigan Golf Course.
It's funny how he got here, to this position as a
senior co-captain of one of the nation's elite running
programs. One may think, with all of his high school
(not to mention grade school) accolades, Michigan
men's cross country coach Ron Warhurst would
have been knocking down John Mortimer's door to
offer him a scholarship.
But it didn't happen that way.
"He called me," Warhurst said. "I
knew he was good, but we were look-
ing at other people. He came in for a
visit and he liked the school, the kids
in the program ... eventually, after I
really looked into how good he was,
I offered him a scholarship."
"Yeah," Mortimer reflected, "I was
narrowing it down to a couple of
schools, and I came in for a visit.
Meeting Ron and some of the guys
on the team really inspired me to
want to be a part of Michigan."
Were those the only factors that
affected his decision to leave the
East Coast - home of many
schools, such as Georgetown and
Providence, with great running pro-
grams?
i
i W T d9l
4
By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Editor
There are moments when Lloyd
Carr has to restrain himself from
his own fury.
On Saturday, when freshman
alter Cross - a tailback - lofted
a first-half trick pass into the end
zone, it landed securely in the
hands of Greg Yeldell.
Unfortunately for Michigan,
Yeldell is an Indiana safety and not
a Michigan wide receiver.
,Carr stormed down the sidelines
immediately, away from where
Cross exited the field. Was it a
chance to clear his head? To avoid
confronting a timid freshman?
ot a chance. At that moment,
Cirr was only furious at himself.
°I made the call for Walter Cross
Cwhen he) threw the interception,"
Carr said at yesterday's media lun-
Aeon. "That's why I was so mad
After the game. Seeing as how that's
ene of the few calls I made this
ar, I wanted it to work.
"t didn't, so I'm 0-1."
The play came just one week
Wer Cross fumbled against
Northwestern, so Carr was careful
tQ calm himself down before talk-
ing to Cross about the situation.
"I wanted to murder him at
Northwestern, but his parents were
there," Carr said half-jokingly. "It's
a tough position to be put in. ... I
said you've got to learn from that.
When you put a guy into a pressure
situation," it's tough.
Michi gan
takes 7th
SBonita
By David Alfred
Daily Sports Writer
Usually, a 'Fall Golf Classic' consists
of lower temperatures and a chilly
breeze. But not if it takes place in
Bonita Springs, Fla., the site of this
year's Notre Dame Invitational.
With golf being a warm weather
rt, the Michigan women's golf team
seemed to be at an advantage playing in
a beautiful 70-80 degree climate, instead
of that cold South Bend, Ind. weather.
" Compensating for the wind factor,
the Wolverines ended their fall season
in dramatic fashion, putting together
what coach Kathy Teichert called, "the
best two rounds of golf the team has
lyed all season:'
ompeting against 12 other teams,
the Wolverines finished the tournament
in-seventh place, shooting a final team
score of 631. Michigan State finished
second, and eventual winner Wisconsin
concluded the two-day competition
wiTh a team score of 615.
Michigan State was by far the best
THREE STRIKES: Reflecting on
the victory over Indiana didn't hurt
Carr quite as much after having
time to stew, but problems still
remain.
The team's schizophrenic tenden-
cies on third down are Carr's pri-
mary concern.
Though Michigan has improved
its performance in the crucial situa-
tions - on the season the
Wolverines' have converted 43 per-
cent of their third downs - the dis-
tance to travel is still too much for
this offense to consistently over-
come.
"We want to be in third-and-three
and third-and-four," Carr said. "But
that's not the way we played."
The way they played was for
Streets to bail them out of those
jams. On three separate occasions
- two for touchdown catches and
once for a 20-yard possession pat-
tern - he was Michigan's savior.
How the Wolverines get into the
frustrating third-and-long situa-
tions is the problem.
Early penalties - especially.
those before the whistle - have
Carr on edge, waiting for mistake-
free football. But with a recent rash
of jumping-before-the-whistle and
holding calls, Carr's sympathy rope
is at its end.
"It's inexcusable," he said. "Guys
simply aren't concentrating. Those
are things that are concentration
mistakes that keep us from being a
better football team than we are."
Not exactly. See, Mortimer isn't
your average star athlete. He was
actually looking for a school that had great acade-
mics, as well.
"There's not too many top 25 cross country and
track programs that have architecture. So between
the academics and athletics, it was definitely a
match."
And what a match it has been. As a freshman in
1995, he found immediate success, on the cross
country team, earning the honor of Big Ten fresh-
man of the year, and All-America status, with a
37th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
"He was mature coming in," Warhurst said.
"Distance running is a head trip, and it takes more
than natural ability ... he was able to overcome
adversity quickly."
It didn't hurt that Mortimer had Kevin Sullivan,
who was two years ahead of him, as a training part-
ner. Sullivan graduated last year as one of the
University's most accomplished athletes ever - he
set Michigan records in the 1500-meters in track
and won numerous All-America honors in both
track and cross-country.
"I was second man on the team, next to Kevin,
and he served as a role model to me, obviously,"
Mortimer said.
In '96, with an injured Sullivan sitting out, sopho-
more Mortimer was allowed to, as he says, "open up
my wings and flourish as a runner." In other words.
Mortimer was the one getting the headlines.
He definitely took advantage of the opportunity,
winning Big Tens and NCAA Districts in cross
country for '96. In addition to this, he began to add
track accolades to his already growing list of accom-
plishments. Winning the Big Ten 3,000-metei
steeplechase and 10K earned him All-America hon-
ors for outdoor track. All this added up to a Big Ten
athlete of the year award for Mortimer.
Last year, according to Mortimer, Sullivan's
return for a fifth and final season helped him mature
as a runner even more.
"Our timing was really good and we ran well
together. We actually encouraged each other a lot,
Mortimer said.
At more than one meet last year, Mortimer and
Sullivan approached the finish-tape with no one
around them. Depending on whose parents were in
attendance, one would let the other jog ahead for the
win. Or, as they did at the Wolverine Interregional,
they finished with identical times, sharing a title.
See MORTIMER, Page 10
~1
TIPOFF '98.
IN THE DAILY
ON Nov. Ia.
WHEN AND WHERE.
October 29
Ann Arbor Theater H
WHAT.
Cardmembers get two compli-
mentary passes to a preview
screening of Universal Pictures
new film Meet Joe Black to be
released November 13th.
HOW.
Just bring your American
Expresso Card and your
student ID to the location
listed below to pick up your
passes.
SPECIAL OFFER
JUST FOR APPLYING.
Receive 2 complimentary pass-
es when you apply for the new
American Express Credit Card
for Students (stop by the loca-
tion listed below).
MORE TO COME.
Meet Joe Black is one in a
series of three major motion pic-
tures to be previewed on your
camntjs this vear cnmnliments
"Her active working relationship with the
University, combined with her great acces-
sibility, are two compelling reasons to give
her another term."
--Michigan Daily, I I-1-96
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