14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 16, 1999 Stayin' alive McGuire's grin gives it away: They're in 4. By David Horn Daily Sports Writer At 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon the sun began to set on Ann Arbor. At the Indoor Track Building, the women's cross country runners chattered nervously amongst them- selves as they waited for coach Mike McGuire to arrive. The Wolverines had been waiting since Saturday, when a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional in Terre Haute, Ind., left the continuation of their season depen- dent on the NCAA selection committee. They would not have to wait any longer." Coach McGuire walked into the cavernous track building, struggling to keep the smile from spreading across his face. The team knew - the sun may be setting in Ann Arbor, but it will rise again on them for one more race. "Mike is a lot happier than he's letting on,, said a relieved Elizabeth Kampfe, Michigan's No. 2 runner on Saturday. "Just the way he walked in - he had that cheesy grin on his face - I think he would have liked to sit us down and tell us, but he just couldn't hold it in." Michigan will be one of four teams rep- resenting the Great Lakes Region at the national meet next Monday in Bloomington. Wisconsin and Michigan State secured automatic bids via their first- and second-place finishes, respectively. Michigan and Notre Dame earned two of the 13 at-large bids that were awarded yes- terday. Joining Wisconsin, Michigan State and Michigan from the Big Ten will be Minnesota, which runs in the Midwest Region. "We have to go in with a blue-collar men- tality," McGuire said. "We have to have a fight- and-scratch mentality, and just go out and battle for 5,000 meters. If we're only going to battle for a few thousand meters, we're not going to do very well." The Wolverines rank No. 17 in the latest poll, released yesterday. McGuire and his team expect to place ahead of a number of teams that received automatic bids, as well as most of the at-large teams. Of the at- large teams, only Arizona State is ranked higher than Michigan. "We would have liked to be automatic, and not have to worry these past two days," Kampfe said. "But we're still confident (with the at-large bid). We've beaten Michigan State (at the Big Ten Championship), and a few others, and we can do it at nationals." Last year, Michigan placed 11th at nationals behind an individual first-place performance by current assistant coach Katie McGregor. It is unlikely that any Michigan runner will place in the top 10, but McGuire hopes that the team can meet or surpass last year's finish. "It will take career races from every- body," McGuire said. "When you talk abo the top 10 teams in the nation, you talk about us. "This year we may have struggled a little. But you don't get back by wishing and hop- ing. You get back by doing. "Our two seniors (Kampfe and Marcy Akard) have done a good job finishing races. It's difficult for young kids to keep their composure and focus in a race like this. It's overwhelming. But we have people who have been tested." The team had recovery workouts yeste# day and Sunday, and will run its hard prac- tice on Friday. The spirits at the Indoor Track Building yesterday were high, as the runners joked about their now-relieved nerves, and analyzed their competition. This is the first time in McGuire's seven year tenure at Michigan that his team has advanced to nationals via an at-large bid. A difficult regular season has made the post- season successes particularly rewarding. The Wolverines - with their seconO place finish at the Big Ten Championships and third-place finish last Saturday - have worked just hard enough to keep their heads above water and keep their season alive. Just as it looked like the sun would set and bring the darkness of the off-season to Ann Arbor, McGuire's 'cheesy grin' brings one more week of daylight. Clifford leads 'M' to NCAA Tourney By David Horn Daily Sports Writer For all the talk of cross country being a team sport, this is sometimes hard to realize. In meets that seem to pit individual against individual, the true concept of a cross coun- try 'team' isn't always so clear. At the Great Lakes Regional in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, that concept was realized by the Wolverines - in particular junior Katie Clifford. She led a courageous team performance in the face of season-long No. I runner Lisa Ouellet's fight with the flu. "I had a rough week," Ouellet said. "It's taken me a lot longer to get better than I had hoped. I missed workouts. I was running dehydrated. But I hate to make excuses for myself. Fortunately, the team came through." For a team that has been crippled by injury all season, Saturday was a chance to follow up the surprising success of a sec- ond-place finish at the Big Ten Championship two weeks ago. But Ouellet was not able to lead her team on Saturday, and her 23rd-place individual finish, third overall for Michigan, left the top spot for the Wolverines open for the taking. Clifford claimed it, and did so with her finest race of the season. "I wanted to start out the season slowly," Clifford said after the race. "I wanted to gradually improve with every race." Clifford's wish materialized fully in Terre Haute. A time of 17:22:00 earned her the fifth individual place. Senior Elizabeth Kampfe, senior Marcy Akard, and sopho- more Katie Ryan finished 13th, 30th, and 42nd, respectively. In doing so, the Michigan women dismissed any claims that their success is reliant on a top finish by Ouellet. Michigan ran well enough to come to within two points of second-place Michigan State. Their third-place finish was enough to earn the Wolverines an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships in Bloomington a week from yesterday. They found out Sunday afternoon. "Clifford, Akard, and Kampfe all ran real- ly well, "Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "Clifford ran hard, and closed very well." On Saturday morning Wisconsin coacg Peter Tegan pulled the Badgers' No. 3 runner, sophomore Bethany Brewster from the race She, like Ouellet, was not in top physical form. Wisconsin's dominance over Saturday'4 field was such that her absence was not missed, but the Wolverines were not in a posi- tion where they could afford the loss of and one. They needed to run as a team. "Clifford has always been there,' Michigan assistant coach Katie McGrego4 said. "Today she gave it that little extra - she had that look of determination on her face." "For Katie, we've all just been waiting for this to happen," Ouellet said. The Michigan women's cross country team was just that in Terre Haute - a team. The effort during the race and support o the course define teamwork, and dispel tlW misunderstanding of cross country as an individual sport. Yesterday's call from Indianapolis prolongs this emotional season one more week, and speaks for Clifford's leadership of a successful team - in every sense of the word. LOUIS BROWN/Daily Women's coach Mike McGuire couldn't hide a joyful grin when he learned that Sarah Hamilton (above) and the Wolverines will return to the NCAA Tournament. "Mike is a lot happier than he's letting on," said a relieved Elizabeth Kampfe, Michigan's No. 2 runner on Saturday. Team Deep WOMEN'Sd ~ish Top Individual Year Fin 1998 - Year Fini 1I KATiE McGREGOR 1 998 "I'D LOVE TO HELP YOU CRAM FOR YOUR HUMAN SEXUALITYQUIZ, BUT I'M GOING BACK TO MY ROOM TO CHECK MY EMAIL:' 1997 -1996 1995' 1994 199.3 .7. KATIE' McGREGQF rR D.N.Q. MARCY-AKARD 7 PAULINE ARNILL ' 2 DEANNA ARNILL 6 MOLLY MCCLUMA 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 MEN'S sh Top Individual 10 TODDSNYDER 4 KEVIN SULLIVAN, 14 ,. Scam McDONALD 11KEVIN $ULWIAN>,! 7. KEVIN SULLIVAN . 10 ~ ,. KEVIN SULLIVAN Tournament berth nothing new By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer There is something glamorous about an NCAA Tournament. Having your team face schools from all over the coun- try hoping to progress is fun to watch. Watching an underdog score a last sec- ond goal, or heave the half court shot to win the game is almost as good as it gets. In cross-country, things aren't so melodramatic. Monday's NCAA Championship in cross-country is not likely to be the type of event that draws crowds from all corners of the country. If anything,- the streets of host-town Bloomington will be packed with foot- ball fans heading for the game between Indiana and Purdue. But for the Michigan men's cross country team, the time that the Wolverines will spend on the Indiana University cross-county track, this com- ing Monday, will be all that matters. Yesterday, coach Ron Warhurst received a phone call that would have sent some other coaches around the country into a joyous frenzy. The call was from the NCAA rules committee informing him of the selection commit- tee's choice to give Michigan one of the 13 at-large bids in the nation. "You get one chance," he said. "These kids have a half hour to show what they've practiced for six months. That's drama, isn't it?" Cross-country running is not the most spectator-friendly sport in the NCAA. The races last just thirty minutes or so and, unless you're one of the fools that tries to run along with the racers, you might see action only five times. Those who cheer loudest are the parents. "I think that you have to be a follow- er, senior co-captain Jay Cantin said. "It's not like hockey where you can just turn on the TV and see bodies cracking. You have to understand what the athlete is going through." But Michigan's coach feels that the drama comes from the lack of room for error. In other sports, there is halftime or., a time-out to change the pace of the game. In cross-country, once the race begins, the coach can scream at his run- ners from the side as much as he wants, but the outcome is in their hands. "Once the gun goes off, you have no control over them;' Warhurst said. "Who knows how they slept last night or what they feel like today. "Nobody knows. That's why we go and run" Cantin attributes the dramatic LOUIS BROWN/Daily Cracking the NCAA Tournament - the season's climax - Is nothing new to veteran coach Ron Warhurst. after a victorious cross-country effort as they would over a football game.