12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 5, 1999 Michigan women to fire away at Cannon Captain leads Wildcats . By Arun Gopal For the Daily The No. 5 Michigan women's track and field team will face its biggest challenge of the season, so far, at the Cannon IV Classic today and tomorrow in Indianapolis. The Cannon Classic is one of the top intercollegiate meets year after year. Among the schools participat- ing will be Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois and Tennessee. "This is almost as big as NCAAs for us," Michigan coach James Henry said. "It would be great for us if we win as many events as we've been doing." After giving several athletes last week off in Ypsilanti, the Wolverines will have their entire team compet- ing in Indianapolis. One of the athletes who rested last week was senior Nicole Forrester, who will be competing in the high jump at the Cannon Classic. "I will be participating this week," Forrester said. "My goal is to jump higher than 6-foot-4, and to beat Erin Aldrich from Texas." Aldrich won the NCAA champi- onship in the high jump last year, in just her first year of competition. At last year's Cannon, she tied the national collegiate indoor record, with a jump of 6-5 1/2. This year, Forrester holds the highest mark in the country, a half-inch ahead of Aldrich. The Longhorns, the defending national indoor and outdoor champi- ons, are currently second in the nation behind Louisiana State. Along with Aldrich, Texas has one of the more dominant runners in the country in senior all-America Suziann Reid. Reid, the defending national indoor and outdoor champi- on in the 400 meters, has not lost a race in that event since 1997. No. 11 Wisconsin is led by senior Jenelle Deatherage, who qualified for the NCAA finals with a personal- best time of 4:43.90 in the mile. The Badgers' distance medley relay team, deemed "one of the best in the nation" by Henry, has also qualified for NCAAs with a time of 11:17.35. With four returning all- Americans, Illinois has one of the top groups of sprinters in the coun- try. The Illini also have Stacy Ann Grant, a senior high jumper who fin- ished in the top five nationally, both indoors and outdoors, in her event in 1997. No. 21 Tennessee is also strong in the sprinting events. Senior Kelli White has garnered nine all-America accolades during her time as a Volunteer, and four other runners have won all-America recognition in the relays. Two top teams who have partici- pated in the Cannon in recent years will not be in Indianapolis this year. And although top-ranked Louisiana State and No. 9 Arkansas will be competing elsewhere this weekend, Michigan's task remains formidable. "All of the competitors will be as good as us," Henry said. "We need stiff competition to see where we are as a team. We will need to cone from behind in some events." ESCHMEYER Continued from Page 11 Michigan's big man walked dejected toward his bench with only two points to show for his outing. Eschmeyer's presence was felt on the other end of the court as well. His occu- pancy in the middle forced Michigan into many bad shots and rendered its interior game ineffective. "Whenever we tried to cut through the lane, we would bump into him. He was always causing havoc defen- sively," Young said. Eschmeyer's play in the middle wasn't restricted to the paint area. Halfway through the second half, with Northwestern pulling away, Northwester senior guard Danny Allouche committed a defensive foul on the perimeter. Allouche didn't agree with the call and headed toward the referee to argue his case, but Eschmeyer would have none of it. He would not let a technical foul stop his team's momentum, calming Allouche down, and acting like the leader that a captain is supposed to be. As if the night wasn't complete enough for the sixth-year big ma* he accomplished a couple of person- al goals on the night. Eschmeyer scored his 1,000th Big Ten point dur- ing the game. "It's a great thing, but it doesn't put anything in the win column," Eschmeyer said. He also went 15 for 19 from the foul line, and was proud of the accomplishment. "That was my mission for today," he said. "I let the rest of the te, down if I walk up there and miss shots " Spoken like a true captain. !RANKER EY/'Ihe a&yNort Michigan guard Robbie Reid was blocked all night by both the Northwestern defense and the Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd. He finished with six points. Purdue ends recent skid, tops Iowa 90-75 Special Egg Donor Needed $25,000 We are a loving, infertile couple hoping to find a compassionate woman to help us have a baby. We're looking for a healthy, intelligent college student or college graduate, age 21-33, with blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair. Compensation $25,000 plus expenses. Your gift will bring boundless joy. Please contact us through our -. representative at 1-800-776-7680. WEST LAFAYETTE (AP) - An eight-day break was just what the slumping Purdue Boilermakers need- ed. "It showed what hard work does. The kids worked very hard for the past eight days,' Purdue coach Gene Keady said after his 18th-ranked Boilermakers withstood a second- half rally by No. 14 Iowa for a 90-75 victory yesterday night. "It was great for our confidence, which had been a little shaky." Carson Cunningham scored 23 points and Jaraan Cornell had 22 for Purdue, which had lost three of its previous four conference games. "We think we are capable of play- ing like that. We just need everyone to come out and play with the intensi- ty that they did," Cunningham said. Purdue built a 23-point lead in the first half, but the Hawkeyes cut the deficit to seven twice in the second half before Cornell helped the Boilermakers pull away with 12 points in the final 10 minutes. "We knew they were going to make a run, but we were confident we could hold them off," Purdue forward Brian Cardinal said. J.R. Koch led Iowa (6-4 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) with 20 points. Dean Oliver added 15, including 9-of-10 from the foul line. "Purdue came out ready to roll. They were very aggressive," Iowa coach Tom Davis said. "They had a number of players step up, they have really good depth." Purdue (4-4, 16-6) forced 12 turnovers in the first 10 minutes and broke the game open with a 17-1 run. During one stretch, Iowa went more than five minutes without a field goal. "Our biggest problem tonight was the fouls," Davis said. "We sent them to the line 36 times, just way too many times." The Boilermakers, who scored only 50 points in a loss to Northwestern last Wednesday, made 17 of their first 23 shots, with many coming on fast-break layups after turnovers. Purdue shot 60 percent in the first half and led 52-38 at the break. The Boilermakers shot 57 percent for the game, matching their best mark of the season. "We came out and showed a lot of intensity at the start," Cardinal said. "We knew we weren't playing to our potential and worked on some things to get us going during our layoff. We capitalized on a lot of things that forced them into turnovers." After Iowa closed to 65-58 midway through the second half, Purdue's Alan Eldridge blocked an attempted layup by Jacob Jaacks and Cornell followed with a 3-pointer for Purdue. Cunningham and Cornell scored 17 of Purdue's final 20 points in the final 6:45 of the game. AP PHOTO No. 18 Purdue broke out of a recent slump by jumping out to a 23-point lead in the first half against No. 14 Iowa yesterday night. The Boilermakers survived two Iowa runs to win at Mackey Arena, 90-75. Blue endures rocky road BLOWOUT Continued from Page 11 "He's definitely a lot stronger than I am," Young said. And since Eschmeyer has been wearing purple since Young was in junior high, he had a bit of an advan- tage. "That's just unfair, for Chris and Esch," O'Neill said. "If Esch had played as a frosh against a six-year guy, the same thing would have hap- pened. "Chris will be a guy who, when he's a senior, will dominate some people, too." But that day, like the day when Michigan might be on the rise again, instead of rebuilding, seems a long way off right now. JOIN DAILY SPORTS. SEE THE BIG TEN. CALL 647-3336. Elderly Eschmeyer Northwestern center Evan Eschmeyer returned for a sixth season, after a career plagued with injuries. And it's paid off for the "old man." With his 29 points yesterday night against Michigan, Eschmeyer surpassed the 1,000 point mark in Big Ten play. Who says college is just four years long? MICHIGAN (34 MIN *-A M-A O-T A F PTA Asselin 23 1-6 4-4 3-10 0 5°6 Smith 32 5-12 0.3 1-6 3 2 10 Vignier 27 1-5 0-0 3-6 0 5 2 Reid 32 3410 0-0 0-3 1 2 6 Bullock 29 2-11 4-4 0-0 1 0 8 Jones 17 0-4 2-4 0-2 0 1 2 Taylor 6 0-4 0-0 3-4 0 1 0 Oliver 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Young 24 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 4 0 Totals 200 125410-15 1437 s 20 34 FG%: .222. FT%: .667. 3-point FG: 0-11, .000 (Reid 0-4, Smith 0-3, Jones 0-2, Bullock 0-1, Taylor 0-1). Blocks: 3 (Asselin, Smith, Bullock) Steals: 4 (Bullock 2, Smith, Reid). Turnovers: 9 (Reid 3, Asselin 2, Bullock 2, Jones, Taylor). Technical Fouls: none. NORTHWESTERN (58) FQ FT RES MIN *-A M-A O-T A F PTS Hardy 27 3-6 0-0 0-3 1 1 6 E. Eschmeyer 27 7-11 15-19 5-15 2 4 29 Bonner 29 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Wink 20 1-7 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 Newman 30 3-6 0-0 0-1 2 0 9 Harmsen 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 Kammrath 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Allouche 13 1-2 1-2 0-2 3 2 4 Lepore 24 1-5 2-2 0-5 4 3 5 Molnar 19 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 3 2 J. Eschmeyer 2 0.1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 200 17.43 18-23 6.36 14 17 FG%: .395. FT%: .783. 3-point FG: 6-18, .333. (Newman 3-5, Wink 1-6, Lepore 1-5, Allouche 1 Blocks: 6 (Hardy 2, E. Eschmeyer 2, Harmsen, Molnar). Steals: 3 (E. Eschmeyer, Bonner, Allouche). Turnovers: 10 (E. Eschmeyer 5, Hardy 2, Newman 2, Lepore). Technical Fouls: none. Michigan....................22 12 - 34 Northwestern...............30 28 - 58 At: Welsh-Ryan Arena Attendance: 6,017 I I 41 -mbk c 1.1 8- 1 ~ A p - ~ a. a ~ -