The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 18, 1999 - 78 *Women face questions for Big Ten meet By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer Cross country is a fickle sport. In the span of a few weeks, a successful season with a bright future can turn into an unfulfilling season with a lot of questions facing the team. Take this year's Michigan women's cross- 'icountry team. At the start of the season, Michigan coach Mike McGuire fielded a squad with 20 freshmen and only a handful of upper- classmen. With such a young team, the Wolverines knew that they would have their share of ups and downs. The ups came early. After thrashing Michigan State in a dual meet at Buhr Park, the Wolverines easily won the Spiked Shoe Invitational at Penn State. Michigan followed that up with a strong showing at the Sam Bell Invitational in Bloomington, finishing fourth in he field of 23 teams while running right with ational powers Arkansas and North Carolina State. At that point, Michigan was feeling pretty good about itself. Several of the younger run- ners, namely freshmen Lyndsi Gay and Jane Martineau, were starting to step up and distin- guish themselves, and among the veterans, Lisa Ouellet was developing into a star runner. But then, the "downs" hit. It started last week, when the Wolverines went to Jonesville for the Michigan Intercollegiate. While Michigan was able to win the meet handily, its performance was not par- ticularly impressive. McGuire said his team ran "OK". Meanwhile, Ouellet said she wasdisappointed with her run. Sophomore Jeanne Spink was a bright spot for the Wolverines, finishing fifth, but overall, it was quite clear that the Wolverines were not happy with their showing. Fast forward yesterday. Faced with some of their toughest opposition of the season, the young Wolverines struggled, placing fifth on their home course. Once again, Ouellet ran well and finished eighth, but this time there were no other high finishers to help her out. The next best Michigan runner was junior Katie Clifford, who ended up 19th. Part of Michigan's problem has been injuries. At the Interregional, the Wolverines raced with- out several top runners, such as Katy Radkewich and Angie Stanifer, which clearly hurt their team score. Still, injuries aren't the whole story. For some reason, the healthy runners have not produced as well in the last few weeks. This was even more imperative this year with the gradu- ation of last year's NCAA champion, Katie McGregor. Early on this year, the team seemed to be adjusting well, but the last few weeks, the injuries plus the lack of a dominant runner like McGregor have hurt the team's scores. So now, the team has a week off before the Big Ten Championships at Penn State on Oct. 30. Perhaps the rest will help the team recharge their batteries and find that spark that they seemed to have in the first half of the year. Plus, several of the injured runners will have a chance to heal and get into racing shape again. Can Michigan pull off a win in State College? Maybe. They will need to run better than they have in recent weeks, but anything is Junior Usa Ouellet's eighth- place finish was not enough for the Wolverines as they finished a disappointing fifth place overall in the Michigan Interregional yes- terday. LOUIS BROWN/Daily' possible. Remember, cross4 sport. country is a fickle Men quietly exceed expectations By Ryan C. Moloney Daily Sports Writer Judging by the reserved, almost sleepy demeanor of the Michigan men's cross country team after yester- day's win in the Wolverine Interregional, you'd think that a funer- al had just taken place. And in a way, one did. In thoroughly thumping No. 8 ranked James Madison, the Wolverines put in the ground the team that spent most of the season battling the fatigue of hard training and unleashed a team that could shock the world at the upcoming Big Ten meet. But this isn't a team of fist-pumpers. Whatever jubilation followed the race for the Wolverines ran its course by the time they left the chute. And then there's Michigan coach Ron Warhurst. "We're on a roll!" Warhurst said afterward. "One down and three to go - one, two, three!" The three, of course, are the Big Ten meet, the Great Lakes Regional and the NCAA championships. If Michigan continues to progress at their current rate, could a national title be very far away? No one is going that far, but the Wolverines' remarkable ascension - from longshot to surprise to contender to the most dangerous team in the Big Ten-points to a team destined for the glory of each jewel in cross country's triple crown. But even if Michigan took a turn for the worse in the final three meets, the success of this season is already secure. The team was half-decimated by the graduation of three of their top seven after last year, and who picked . up the slack this season? Guys who paid their dues in the four through seven fringe spots of the top seven last FIFH Continued from Page 18 runners," senior Sarah Hamilton said. "There were more good people at this meet than we've been used to." A fifth-place finish was not what the Wolverines had in mind going into the meet, despite the tough level of compe- tition. Afterwards, it was evident that the team sensed quite a bit of room for improvement in the weeks ahead. "We definitely can do better," Ouellet said. "Obviously, it has to hap- pen soon, but I think we can do it." "We can still get it together," McGuire added. "If we get a little fired up in the next few weeks, I definitely think we can have a respectable show- ing at Big Tens." One of the interesting aspects of cross-country is the unpredictability from meet to meet. It is difficult to tell in advance how a team will fare a few weeks down the road, because of how quickly injuries can strike. With that in mind, the Michigan runners remained optimistic about their chances in State College. "It's hard to say how this meet would place us, Hamilton said. "I don't really keep track that well of how the other Big Ten teams are doing, so I just don't know how it's going to go at Penn State." Ouellet agreed with her teammate's sentiments and emphasized the need for the runners to take control of their own destiny. "We've got two weeks. It's just a question of how badly do we want the Big Ten title," Ouellet said. "We're run- ning out of time, but if we get Katy Radkewich and the other girls back, we can get it done. You never know what is going to happen." For his part, McGuire was not nearly as optimistic as his runners. The Michigan coach included his Wolverines in a group with several other teams who he felt will be fighting it out for second place at the Big Ten Championships. "Wisconsin is head and shoulders above everyone else in this conference," McGuire said. "Then, I would put us behind them in a group with schools like Minnesota and Michigan State. "We just have to keep improving, but right now, I don't think we have any shot at the Big Ten Championship. If we don't come ready to Penn State, we might have trouble finishing in the upper division of the conference this year." T-SHIRT *PRINTING'* LOWEST PRICES! 1 HIGHEST QUALITY! FASTEST SER VICE! * 1002 PONTIAC TR. g 994-1367 0U,,,., UW Chun-Ma Taekwondo o Kickboxing Acadamy (734) 994-0400 }4 ye LOUI"B"OWN/"Day Jay Cantin was dominant this weekend, finishing 100 meters ahead of the pack. L. year. There is an expression in cross country called "running out of your head." This happens when you exceed all expectations for your performance, including your own. A great example of this is co-captain Jay Cantin. Even he would admit that he is a miler first, cross country runner second. But yesterday there was no doubt as to who would cross the line first, a full 100 meters ahead of the second place runner. "I've said it before, I just take it one week at a time," Cantin said. "We're right where we want to be right now in terms of training and confidence." Cantin ran 24:43 for the race. Pretty good, until you consider the facts - Cantin ran virtually unchallenged for the last two miles of the race on a course which destroys times and self- esteem. As Warhurst pointed out, "Anybody with an ego never ran a heartbeat on this course." Even the bottom of the top five, Mark Pilja, Mike Wisniewski and John Butsic scrappily gutted it out in spite of having what Warhurst termed as "heavy legs." But the Wolverines remained unfet- tered, preferring to talk about the work still to be done instead of the work that has paid off. Why get excited? Nobody picked the Wolverines to get this far in the first place. Receive instruction in: Taekwondo Kickboxing Hapkido Judo Our Cardio-Fit Kickboxing pro- gram takes the music, excitement and energy of aerobics but adds important self-defense techniques like jabbing kicking, punching and blocking. You learn-while you burn at 800 calories per hour! * +:_: - Travel 'REVENGE Continued from Page IB after holding such a commanding :lead for so long. "Running up the big hill the last oe, I thought I had gotten myself ito trouble. I thought that I took the lead too early," Cantin said. Despite the convincing victory, there is still obvious room for ;improvement before the Wolverines :hallenge the nation's top teams in th~e upcoming weeks. "We're not going to get cocky about this," Warhurst said. He felt that Pilja, Wisniewski, and r*utsic all ran tired runs, something Mat he said will be solved before the gig Ten Championships in State College on Oct. 30. Walk-On Try-Outs for the Michigan BASKETBAIL. TEAM Monday, October IS, 1999 - 7:00 P.M. at Crisler Arena You must be a full-time student registered for a minimum of 12 credits and you must have proof of a physical signed by a doctor within the past 6 months. Call 763-5504 with questions. Reservations/payments must be made Oct.19-22 only! Over 21 cities in Europe, Central and South America to choose from! Call Council today! __ Interested in Sales or Marketing? 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