Ulje ariditgan adig PORTS ONDAY i me l~idhian f.a,, 2, ;9 I unning the Michigan men seize Big en title on home turf show McGregor captures second Big Ten crown By Josh Borkin Daily Sports Writer For most cross country runners, a first-place finish is a career achieve- ment. But for Michigan's Katie McGregor, it is a weekly event. Yesterday afternoon, McGregor cap- tured her second consecutive Big Ten championship, with a time of 17:16. McGregor has finished first in every race this season, excluding last week's warmup for the Big Tens. Yesterday she dominated from the start. McGregor has a distinct style on the course. She runs with the pack for 800 meters and accelerates after that mark to establish a sizable lead. "People think that I don't pace myself," McGregor said. "I just start off really fast and try to establish a lead. I usually don't vary much with speed." The Michigan course is uncom- promising to runners who lose energy early. The first leg of the course has a large hill at the start. "Some people have a hard time starting out fast on the hill," McGregor said. "I knew that the hill would tire a lot of runners out, but you have to be prepared for it, espe- cially at Big Tens." McGregor had a clear-cut strategy as she reached the final 1,000 meters. "At the 1,000-meter mark I pretty KIND/Daily much have two options," McGregor said. "If I feel that there is someone close enough to challenge, I will take the off with 1,000 left. But if I feel that I have a large enough cushion, I can usually continue at the same pace." To add to the pressure and compe- tition, McGregor experienced stom- ach pain during the race. "Katie had some stomach troubles during and after the race," coach Mike McGuire said. "Today, she literally ran her guts out. See McGREGOR, Page 3B By Raphael Goodstein Deily Sports Writer The Wolverines celebrated coach Ron Warhurst's 25th anniversary the same way they celebrated his first - with a Big Ten champi- onship. Michigan fulfilled the first of their son's goal's yesterday thanks to a team "Collectively we wanted to win this for coach's 25th anniversary," said senior All- America John Mortimer. "This has been our focus all year." The No. 7 Wolverines finished with 50 points, beating No. 10 Michigan State by 14 points. Third-place Wisconsin, ranked 13th, finished with 70 points and No. 18 Minnesota finished with 83 points. Wisconsin's Matt Downin won the event a 24:06 time. Michigan State's Ryan Taylor finished sec- ond in 24:23, edging Michigan's John Mortimer, who finished third. Mortimer finished second last year, but he was hobbled this season with a knee problem. Mortimer did not run at full strength and was able to run just twice this past week. "I was a little bit flat out there," Mortimer said. "I wasn't happy to finish in third, but I r better than I thought a few days ago." VAore than 3,000 fans came out to watch the Wolverines win the Big Ten. "It's really nice to have everyone out here," senior All-America Todd Snyder said. "It helps to have everyone cheering for you." Snyder finished second for the Wolverines and fifth overall with a time of 24:34. But as important as Mortimer and Snyder were, Michigan's pack was the key to the championship. Michigan's Steve Lawrence fin- ished in 1Ith place, clocking a time of 25:08. "We train to run a tight pack. We train together and we are very strong one through seven," said sophomore Mike Wisniewski. Junior Jay Cantin finished in I1th place, passing two Michigan State runners and a Wisconsin runner in the final 1,000 meters. Without Cantin's late-meet heroics, Michigan might not have repeated as Big Ten champion. The last scorer for the Wolverines was senior Don McLaughlin, who finished in 19th place with a time of 25:27. McLaughlin was also a key reason the Wolverines won because he put 15 places between himself and Michigan State's fifth runner. He also beat Wisconsin's fifth runner by 13 places, saving the team key points. Even the non-scorers for Michigan came up big down the stretch. Michigan's sixth-place runner, Mike Wisniewski, beat Michigan State's fifth place runner and, in the process, caused Michigan State to lose points. "Nobody ran super, but our four, five and See CHAMPS, Page 3B Photos by DAVID ROCH Above: Senior Katie McGregor finished out her career at home yesterday, outpacing the field to e Big Ten title in a time of 17:16. Upper left: Senior John Mortimer battles it out with two rivals. Running home Katie McGregor, Michelle Sater Lisa Ouellet Elizabeth Kampfe Sarah Hamilton Katie Clifford Julie Froud Marcy Akard Allison Noe Michigan's runners used the familiar home course to their advantage - women finished second, and the men won the conference crown. Time 17:16 17:53 18:01 18:04 18:25 18:35 18:45 18:48 19:02 1st 6th 7th 8th 14th 20th 28th 29th 41st Me,'s 8,0OO4mtsr John Mortimer Todd Snyder Steve Lawrence Jay Cantin Don McLaughlin Mike Wisniewski Chris Bunt Mark Pi ja Tom Caughlan Tim 24:24 24:34 2508 25:10 25:27 25:42 25:55 26:04 26:33 3rd 5th 11th 12th 19th 33rd 44th 47th 63rd Blue wins ugly again, beats Minnesota, 15-10 Key safety helps down pesky Gophers yMukSnydsr Daily Sports Editor MINNEAPOLIS - If there is one attribute of last season's title team that Lloyd Carr did- n't want to emulate, it had to be the reliance on the defense to win games. rtunately for him, this defense still is that g And in front of 41,310 fans in the Halloween-themed Metrodome on Saturday, it was Michigan's 'D' that defeated Minnesota. James Hall's sack of Minnesota quarterback Billy Cockerham in the end zone with Mg Id- 1 10:42 left squeezed Michigan into its Minnesota 10 first lead since the first quarter. ,ter, Jay Feely added a field goal, but the s , and the stingy Michigan defense, proved to be an effective Ziploc. "It's a big play," said Hall, who had six tack- les' in the victory. "The defense hadn't scored in a long time." While safeties are becoming commonplace for the Michigan defense - the three thus far tie'the 1976 team for the most in a season - the unwillingness to yield is becoming a hall- mark of the Jim Herrmann regime. tde from the initial familiarity stage ch allowed a Minnesota field goal early, the Michigan defense - ranked No. 1 in Big Ten games - held to form. Herrmann's outfit kept Minnesota scoreless the rest of the way, ending with late intercep- tions by William Peterson and James Whitley. The stat sheet contradicts such a theory. i with just nine tackles, and in the first half Michigan's bend-but-don't-break defense was in full force. The game just reinforced the power of the concept of team defense and not one individual. "The thing that we have is kids who are smart and are able to adjust," Herrmann said. "There were adjustments in there that helped us shut them down. That's the key thing." Numbers place Brady as the bionic man, throwing long and longer, eventually compil- ing an impressive 282-yard performance. But Brady took four sacks, and the ground game was nonexistent, losing 23 yards on the day. But from the beginning, Michigan planned to attack through the air- and that game plan was executed perfectly via Tai Streets. Etching his name into the record books as he went, Streets grabbed only six balls but totaled a Michigan road record 192 yards through the air - the highest total by a Wolverine any- where since 1966. On the first play of Michigan's second drive, Brady went with what worked last week -the bomb to Streets. And, just as he did against Indiana, Streets reached for a beautiful ball, maintaining his balance before sprinting into the end zone to stun the opposition. This time, the pass went for 76 yards and, on one play, established Michigan's air attack -and Brady's arm. Can's assertion has been that Michigan passes just to keep defenses honest. Unable to move the ball the rest of the first half on the ground-Anthony Thomas led Michigan with just 24 yards on the ground - the air attack was the only source of pride for the Wolverines. Stickers fail to gamn share of4 Big Ten title By Dui Digsoan Daiy Sports Writer The Big Ten regular season title for field hockey wasn't decided until the final day. Michigan and Penn State entered yesterday tied atop the conference at 7-2. Both teams were facing ranked opponents, at home, on Senior Day. Both teams felt they needed to win to have a chance at the title. One team succeeded, and one failed. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they lost, and Penn State didn't. Michigan knew that it was going to face a tough challenge in an Iowa team that had been on fire recently. Iowa had won three of four games, including wins against ranked foes Penn State and Ohio State. The Hawkeyes were looking to regain some of the pride that they had lost in recent seasons. After defeating the Wolverines 31 straight times, they had since lost three straight to Michigan, including a 2-0 loss earlier this season in Iowa City. Ironically, Senior Day lived up to its name, as the Iowa seniors were able to take over the game. Iowa dominated the Wolverines yesterday at Ocker Field, winning 3-0. The game was highlighted by thestrong play of Iowa goalkeeper Lisa Cellucci. The senior made save after save to deny the Wolverines any chance to stay in the game. The Hawkeyes' offense was lead by senior forwards Quan Nim and Kerry Lessard. Nim scored the first goal of the game with 19:07 left in the first half, providing all of the scoring that the Hawkeyes would need. Nim also assisted on the second goal of the game, scored by freshman Gina Carr. The score that sealed the game was netted with only 2:28 left to play by Lessard, assisted by Natalie Dawson and Alycyn Freet. Michigan's seniors came out to play yesterday, but they just couldn't get it done. Seniors Amy Philbrook, Loveita Wilkinson and Lindsay Babbitt all had decent scoring chances WARREN ZINN/Daily Sam Sword and the Wolverines kept possession of the Uttle Brown Jug with a 15.0 win. after a 13-yard gain was negated by a Jeff Backus face mask penalty, Brady threw a ball only Streets could catch. Thirty-nine yards later, Streets secured the toss and Michigan was marching again. Overcoming their rushing deficiencies proved to be the most difficult task for the Wolverines. The drive continued as Thomas struggled to gain two and three yards on each So Brady went back to Old Reliable, Streets, who hauled in a 23-yard pass to bring Michigan within a breath of the end zone at the four yard line. But what would a Michigan offense be without mistakes near the goal line? Last week's halfback pass by Walter Cross became this week's Brady fumble on the one, but fortunately for the Wolverines, they cov-