88 - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 1, 1999
0
4 Women tak Intercollegiate
Both the xggg
Michigan men
and women's r
track teams were S S
in action this t
weekend. The r
women placed
first in the t._
Michigan
Intercollegiate,n
which the men
finished second.
LOUIS BROWN/Daily
By Arun Gopal
For the Daily
YPSILANTI -- The Michigan
women's track and field team went into
Friday's Michigan Intercollegiate Indoor
Track & Field Championships at Bowen
Field House with a simple goal.
"We want to win;' Michigan coach
James Henry said prior to the meet.
"When there's a team championship at
stake, we expect to win. We want to see
more effort than last week, more team
spirit than last week."
The team didn't let Henry down.
Despite the absence of such standouts as
Nicole Forrester, Katie McGregor and
Michelle Slater, who were all given the
night off, the Wolverines came out victo-
rious in the meet.
The Wolverines amassed 181.5 points
for the victory, outdistancing second-
place Central Michigan by 65 points.
Eastern Michigan came in third.
The Wolverines defeated several
schools from around the state, including
Michigan State, Eastern Michigan,
Western Michigan, Central Michigan,
Detroit Mercy. The Wolverines were
paced by several solid individual perfor-
mances. Maria Brown, Adrienne Hunter
and Lisa Ouellet were all double-win-
ners in the meet.
Brown claimed victories in the 60-
meter dash, with a time of 7.54 seconds,
and in the 200, clocking a 24.43.
"It was pretty good," Brown said of
her performance. "My start was a bit
bad, but I'm working on it."
Meanwhile, Hunter was a winner in
the 800, with a time of 2:11.14, and was
a member of the 1,600-meter relay team,
which topped Central Michigan with a
time of 3:52.96.
Ouellet triumphed in the mile run in a
time of 4:57.21, in addition to contribut-
ing to the 1,600 relay.
"I know I can do better than that,"
Hunter said. "We're halfway into the sea-
son, but we still have chances to get in
faster times"
Other Wolverines capturing first place
included Nikki Keith in the shot put,
Brandi Bentley in the long jump and the
distance medley relay team. The quartet
of Katie Clifford, Heather Burcar, Erica
Murdock and Erin White outsprinted
Central Michigan to win in a time of
12:02.41.
Only one meet record was broken
Friday night, by Hanna Palamaa of
Eastern Michigan in the pole vault withy
a height of 11 feet, 1/4 inch.
Since all ofthe major schools from the
state were participating, winning the title
was still important for bragging rights.
"This confirms that we are the best
team in.the state," Henry said. "It was
close at the end, and Central Michigan'
made it exciting, but our depth and bal-
ance won it for us.
The Wolverines will next be in action
this weekend in Indianapolis, Ind., at the
Cannon Classic.
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Michigan men take second at six-
team Michigan Intercollegiate
Freshmen Padan and Okenwa continue to shine, earn victories
7/
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/i
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By David Moss
Daily-Sports Writer
It was a record-setting weekend
for the Michigan men's track and
field team.
On Saturday, the Wolverines host-
ed the Michigan Intercollegiate, an
event bringing together the major
schools of the state.
As a team, the Wolverines
amassed 123 points, placing second
in the six-team field. Eastern
Michigan lived up to its status as
favorite by running away with the
title, scoring 196 points.
Michigan coach Jack Harvey was
not the least bit surprised with
Eastern Michigan's performance, but
two other schools also caught his
eye.
"Western Michigan and Central
Michigan were much better than I
thought," Harvey said. "The level of
competition was outstanding."
Solid individual performances
complemented the team competition,
as several Wolverines scaled new
heights.
Once again, the freshmen grabbed
the headlines as Oded Padan and Ike
Okenwa continued to emerge as
solid contributors, and Jeremy
Schneider made his first big splash
as a Wolverine.
Padan captured the long jump, set-
ting a meet record of 24 feet, 5 1/4
inches. Padan also won his specialty,
the triple jump, with a meet record of
50 1/2.
"Oded did a real nice job in both
his competitions," said Harvey. "Ike
just keeps getting better with each
meet."
Okenwa set an intercollegiate
record in the 60-meter dash with a
winning time of 6.83, but the sur-
prise was Schneider, who won the
.600.
The victories did not end there for
Michigan. Junior Todd Snyder, a
cross country all-America, placed
first in the 5,000-meter run, edging
out teammate Mike Wisniewski, who
came in third.
In the midst of all the success, one
Wolverine experienced an especially
satisfying victory.
Junior Jay Cantin, mired in a sea-
son-long slump, broke out in style by
capturing the mile run in a dramatic
come-from-behind win. Cantin post-
ed an impressive time of 4:08 for the
victory.
"I tried not do any work early on
and save myself for the finish,"
Cantin said. "Those last two laps I
really turned it on gave it everything
I had."
Cantin's performance drew praise
from Harvey, who was pleased to see
one of his team leaders step up and
excel.
"Jay's victory was the highlight of
the competition for us, because he
hasn't been running all that fast and
really needed this for his confi-
dence." Harvey said.
The Wolverines proved they can
compete with the top schools in the
state.
But, the most impressive individ-
ual feat of the day came from James
Nieto, a star high jumper for-Eastern
Michigan. In his only jump of the
day, Nieto set a meet record and the
second-best jump in the country this
season.
"It was fabulous;' Nieto said. "I
was just going for one jump today;
because I'm gearing for a big meet in
Iowa next week."
As for Michigan, the competition-
marked the last of four straight home
meets to start the season.
The Wolverines will split their
squad next weekend, sending their
athletes to both the Cannon Classic
in Indianapolis, and the Meyo
Invitational in Notre Dame.
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