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womn pepfor nationals i California
Thursday, April 15, 1999 - The Michigan Daily -11A
B Dona Krischer
Daily Sports Writer
Five days from now, Michigan students and
spectators will be witnessing the spectacle known
s the Naked Mile.
And while Tuesday's runners have been posing
in the mirror all week to find their "best side,"
Michigan's women's track team has been prepar-
ing for something else.
This weekend, the Wolverines head out west for
the second time in two weeks for not one, but two
relays in California.
The team will first compete Friday in Pomona,
Calif. This meet will be a low-key, relaxed
competition in which the Wolverines can prepare
for the Mt. SAC relays the following day.
I And although most of the same teams will be
articipating in both meets, the atmosphere is
much more intense at Mt. SAC.
Mt. SAC "is not a scored meet," senior high
jumper Nicole Forrester said. "It's more of a check
to see where each individual is at. It's not as team-
focused as the others."
Mt. SAC is an invitational elite meet where
nearly 20 teams will be there to gauge where ath-
letes stand in terms of qualifying for nationals.
"Last year, only one out of every five athletes
qualified for nationals," Michigan coach Anne
Marie Takacs said. "This year, UCLA, LSU,
Arizona and Texas are probably the toughest com-
petition."
Will the Wolverines be tough opponents? They
proved themselves this weekend when they came
out on top by one point over three other teams this
past weekend in San Diego, without the aid of
some of their top athletes.
"We have a really strong team," junior sprinter
Lisa Ouellet said. "The coaches always empha-
size that each meet in a stepping stone for the
next. Improvement is what. we want, and this
weekend is a great opportunity to do that. This is
an amazing opportunity, and we're taking advan-
tage of it."
"Last week was a learning experience for us,"
junior sprinter Kenise Bocage said. "There were
only so many people that we could put in and see
how far they've come."
This weekend, Michigan will have to do without
junior distance runners Julie Froud and Elizabeth
Kampfe. Froud has been slowly recovering from a
strained Achilles, and has missed all of the out-
door relays.
After her strong performance in San Diego,
Kampfe is going to be taking the week off to train
for her 10,000-meter race the following weekend
at the Penn Relays, one of the biggest meets of the
season.
"All of the big dogs are going this weekend,"
Takacs said. "The only people who aren't going
are the ones who are redshirted or preparing for
the Penn Relays. It's hard to go to three big pro-
files in a row."
In addition, Michigan junior throwers Julie
Presley and fiance Patrick Johansson will be
returning to Mt. SAC for the first time as Division
I athletes.
The two are junior transfers from Mt. SAC, and
this will be a big homecoming for the both of
them.
DHANI JONES/Dl ya
Although the Mt. SAC relays are not a team scored event, senior high jumper
Nicole Forrester and the rest of the Michigan women's track and field team will
use the event to prepare for nationals.
Jien's track looking to
SAC the competition
Dwight runs for both
kinds of dirty birds
By Ron Garber
Daily Sports Writer
After spending last weekend in San
Diego, several members of Michigan's
men's track and field team are going
' ck to Cali on Friday. They will head
Walnut, Calif. to compete in the Mt.
SAC Relays.
Unfortunately for the team, they
have not been enjoying the beach or
frequenting Disneyland. Instead,
they've been winning track meets.
After two successful tuneup meets
out west earlier in the season, includ-
ing last weekend's victory in San
Diego, the Wolverines will need to be
the top of their game as this meet
ers their toughest competition to
date.
"They have very hard qualifying
standards for this one," assistant coach
Ron Warhurst said. "This will be a
good, high quality meet."
Last year the field included
Olympic silver-medal sprinter Ato
Bolden.
While the sprinters will no doubt
Dave their hands full if Bolden returns,
s the distance runners who are being
counted on to score the bulk of the
Wolverines' points.
And as of late, the talented group of
junior Jay Cantin, junior Steve
Lawrence, and sophomore Mike
Wisniewski have been coming through
with big-time performances.
Last weekend at the San Diego State
Quad, Cantin won the 800- and the
1,500-meters, Lawrence took second
in the 1,500 and was victorious in the
5,000, while Wisniewski placed sec-
ond in the 5,000.
While Cantin and Lawrence are hot
in the 1,500, they will be competing
against a field that will include two of
the NCAA's best. Both Stanford and
Southern Methodist will send runners
who are ranked in the top 10 national-
fy.
"That race will have one hell of a
field," Warhurst said.
It is that kind of tough competition
that the coaching staff is hoping the
team will benefit from this weekend as
they approach the Big Ten
Championships.
While several distance runners and
a 4x100 team will be competing in the
Mt SAC, many Wolverines are taking
a weekend off from the meet circuit.
They will be staying in town to train
for the Penn Relays which take place
next Thursday.
The field event specialists will get
some well deserved time off after a
weekend in San Diego in which they
dominated " their competitors.
Collectively, the group won five of
eight events.
The competition in Penn will offer a
more challenging field, and a weekend
of training rather than travelling to
compete in California should serve the
group well.
B Matt Bowen
e Daily Iowan
IOWA CITY (U-WIRE) - Since
the end of Super Bowl XXXIII,
Hawkeye fans have been asking ques-
tions about Iowa hero Tim Dwight
and not receiving many answers.
Tuesday, Dwight and track coach
Larry Wieczorek spoke out in a press
conference at the Hayden Fry
Football Complex.
"I came back because I want to
compete and I think I'm a team play-
er," Dwight said. "I also missed being
around the guys."'
Wieczorek was the first to com-
ment that the return of Dwight to
Iowa's track and field team is for the
betterment of the team, and not a dis-
traction.
"It is real important to have Tim
back," Wieczorek said. "Just being
around him is a great experience for
our guys."
Wieczorek also stressed the impor-
tance of having Dwight around his
team which consists of mainly
younger athletes.
"Even though it is a younger group,
it is a good group," Dwight said.
Dwight has dropped around eight
pounds to reach 175, and sees his
times in the 200-meter dash around
21 seconds and in the mid 10's in the
100-meter dash.
He has yet to show his newly
refined body and skills. He was
scratched from competition at the
Hayward Relays in Eugene, Ore., due
to cramping in his hamstring before
the meet. "I felt like excess baggage
out in Eugene," Dwight said. "I had a
deep tissue massage two days before
the meet and it should have been
three."
Wieczorek did not want to jeopar-
dize the rest of Dwight's future over
one meet.
"I didn't want (Atlanta Falcons
coach) Dan Reeves calling me up,"
Wieczorek said.
Even though Dwight could not
compete in the meet his impact was
felt by the members of the team.
"After the meet Tim said some very
wise things to our team," Wieczorek
said. "It is just how hard he works and
how disciplined he is."
Dwight will hopefully be in action
this weekend at the Mt. SAC Relays
in Calif., one of the major events in
the country.
"We are hoping he will be ready,"
Wieczorek said. "We will use him in
the 4x 100, 4x400, the 200-meter dash
and the 100-meter dash."
An estimated 4,700 people showed up
in Eugene to watch Dwight and others
run on an unpleasant day. Again, the
impact of Dwight's return is already
being felt.
"Why is it that he is of such interest?"
Wieczorek said. "It is because of his atti-
tude, desire and his aggressiveness."
DHANI JONES/Daily
The Michigan men's track and field team will face tough competition at the Mt.
SAC relays in San Diego this weekend. Last year's field Included sprinter and
Olympic silver medal winner Ato Bolden.