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Berenson sings 'The Victors' for 400th victory
By Geoff Gagnon "We all really enjoyed that. It was just The Bulldogs took the offensive early
Daily Sports \Xrner a great moment," Pearson said. and bit first as Nick Deschenes beat
As time ticked down in Michigan's 3- "Watching him lead 'The Victors' was Michigan netminder Kevin O'Malley on
2 win over Yale on Saturday, the search really special, and I'm glad our team a power play goal 1:37 into the game.
for a song-leader began in earnest. could share that with him" Michigan responded by remaining ,, $
j
It was a search that was seemingly
over before it started, at least in the eyes
of associate head coach Mel Pearson.
Just as Pearson had leaned over the
boards to tell J.J. Swistak to make sure he
saved the game puck, the 12th-year assis-
tant made sure who would lead the cho-
rus sung after winning weekends.
When the roar of 'The Victors' went
up in the lockerroom, it was led not by a
padded player being honored for his play,
but by a suit-clad general who had just
notched his 400th win at Michigan.
"We always get a player to lead the
song," Pearson said. "After the game Red
was asking me who we should get and I
kept saying I don't know.
"All along I had told Sean Peach to
make sure Coach leads it."
And lead it Red Berenson did, just as
he has led the Wolverines in his 16-year
tenure - in memorable fashion.
Saturday's non-conference win made
Michigan to 5-1, while the milestone win
for Berenson keeps him as the ninth-win-
ningest active coach in college hockey.
"It's a great moment for him," forward
Mike Cammalleri said. "But knowing
Coach, he's not going to stop there, he's
going to keep going for 400 more."
Eager to move past the event, the ever-
modest Berenson dismissed the impor-
tance of the milestone while crediting
those around him.
"I can't tell you it means a lot to me,"
Berenson said. "We're just worried with
game-to-game and the progress that our
team is making. I've been blessed with
real good assistant coaches and good
players. It has been fun and rewarding?'-
Rarely has it been simple, though.
And like the others, the 400th win didn't
come easily for Berenson and the
Wolverines.
penalty-free for the majority of the first
period, while Cammalleri tallied the
equalizer from the left circle at 4:16.
The Wolverines continued to pepper
the Bulldogs, firing 15 shots on goal in
the first period. A pair of those found
their way into the Yale net in succession.
On a give from Mike Comrie and Josh
Langfeld, junior Mark Kosick netted his
fifth score of the season as he poked
home a puck from just outside the crease
at 7:31 of the first. And before the crowd
finished its celebration, senior Andrew
Merrick slipped another through the Yale
pipes as the Wolverines grabbed a 3-1
lead on three straight goals.
The scoring, however, slowed to a stop
after Yale cut the lead to one as both
teams dug in for a defensive dog-fight.
"Both teams played hard and both
teams played well," Berenson said. "Both
See BULLDOGS, Page 68
Senior Andrew Merrick was all over Yale in Michigan's 3.2
victory. For more on Merrick's comeback night, see page 48.
ers-
-m-"
Men take Badgers
down to the wire,
fall by two points
By Jon Schwartz
Daily Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE - It was supposed to be a close race.
The result, though., was closer than anyone could have imag-
ined.
At Saturday's Big Ten Championship, the Michigan's men's
cross country team came within two points of the thvorite, No.
5 Wisconsin, finally losing by a score of 38 to 40. But after the
race, the No. 8 Wolverines didn't look like a team that had just
lost in a heartbreaker.
"I don't know what else we could have done," Michigan
coach Ron Warhurst said. "We couldn't have done much bet-
ter."
Warhurst's reactions were a result of the daunting task that
Wisconsin presented for Michigan. The Badgers' top two run-
ners, Matt Downin and Jay Schoenfelder, placed first and sec-
ond respectively, with times of 24:57 and 25:06.
"Downin was fifth in the NCAA last year," Warhurst said.
"He's a tremendous runner. And I think Schoenfelder was
16th. You're running against two of the top kids in the country."
The two Wisconsin runners were followed closely followed
by Michigan's senior co-captain Jay Cantin.
"I'm very proud of the entire group," Wisconsin coach Jerry
Schumacher said. "Every singly guy, one through seven, did
what they had to do today.:
Following the top three were Indiana's Tom Chorny and
Michigan's Mike Wisniewski. Michigan's other senior co-cap-
tain, Steven Lawrence, expected to finish in the top four, still
posted a respectable 25:34 run, putting him in sixth place.
Chorny's excellent race was not enough to pull his Hoosiers
higher than the fifth team spot. At the four-mile mark, he was
leading Cantin and the rest of the Michigan pack before being
overcome. Most, including Warhurst, were surprised to find
his name among the top five.
Ian Conner, the junior out of Ohio State, did not perform as
well as expected. Picked to finish in the top five, Conner, who
led the early miles of the race, fell to 20th place by the end. His
team finished fourth, behind Minnesota's third-place perfor-
mance.
As the race reached its climax, it appeared as though
Wisconsin was on its way to proving with little question how
they had reached such a high ranking. Unfortunately for them,
Michigan wasn't about to die quietly.
Michigan's final two scorers, Mark Pilja and Tom Caughlan,
crossed the finish line after having blown past several runners
in the homestretch. For Caughlan, the 15th-place finish was
See SECOND, Page 7B
Seconda*'y defens
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LOOMINGTON - Hayden Epstein's 20-yard field
goal sailed through the uprights with 18 seconds left
on Saturday, securing Michigan's 34-31 squeaker over
Indiana and snapping the Wolverines' two-game losing
streak.
But the victory hides a fact that has become readily appar-
ent over the last three weeks: Michigan's defense, particular-
ly its secondary, is in deep trouble.
Slowly but surely, the Wolverines are
putting together one of the worst defen- Josh
sittretches in Michigan history. Kleinbaum
Consider this:
.-Before this season, in the 119-year
history of Michigan football, the only
quarterback to throw four touchdown
passes against Michigan was Purdue's
Eric Hunter in 1989. In the past two
weeks, Illinois' Kurt Kittner and
Indiana's Antwaan Randle El both
accomplished the feat.
The 20-point lead Michigan blew
ag~st Illinois is the third-largest such
margin in program history, and the largest since 1982. Twice,
Michigan blew 21-point leads.
0 By allowing 34 points to Michigan State, 35 to Illinois
and 31 to Indiana over the last three weeks, Michigan has
allowed 30 or more points in three straight games for the
first time ever.
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LOUISBRW/aily
Jay Cantin's third-place finish certainly helped, but it was the strength of Michigan's pack that allowed the Wolverines to
come within two points of top dog Wisconsin at the Big Ten Championships in State College on Saturday.
Women pleased with second ce
By Arun Gopal
Daily Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE - A few years
ago, No Fear clothing put out a popular
series of t-shirts, one of which read
"Second Place Is The First Loser."
This line would not apply to the
Michigan women's cross country team,
which finished second at the Big Ten
Championships on Saturday at Penn
State. Contrary to what the people at
No Fear would think, the Wolverines
were definitely not losers on this day.
The meet was won handily by fifth-
ranked Wisconsin. Wisconsin was led
by sophomore Erica Palmer, who
blazed to victory in a season-best time
of 16:46.93. Palmer, who finished sec-
nnitorhicrbn,,'r. 1nta MrC a
looked back towards the end, and the
next person (fellow teammate) Erin
Aufderheide) was about 50 meters
behind me."
Led by Palmer, Aufderheide, and
sophomore Bethany Brewster, who
finished third, Wisconsin tallied 25
points, while Michigan was second
with 95 points. The 70-point margin of
victory was one of the largest in cham-
pionship history. Nevertheless, the
Wolverines were ecstatic after the
meet.
"We ran a lot better than we had
been running recently," Michigan
coach Mike McGuire said. "We've
handled a lot of misfortune this year,
and we really competed hard today."
A z 1up" e r inra all Iran,. the
to earning first-team all-Big Ten hon-
ors.
"I was dying towards the end, but I
managed to hang in there," Ouellet
said. "What I'm happiest about is the
team's success. We really wanted it
today, and we ran great."
In order to place highly at Big Tens,
the Wolverines knew that they would
need strong showings from runners
other than Ouellet. Michigan got those
performances from junior Katie
Clifford and senior Elizabeth Kampfe,
who finished 12th and 14th and earned
second-team all-conference recogni-
tion.
"I've really wanted to improve every
meet," Clifford said. "My first race
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