10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 11, 2001

4

Michigan
runHers at
full health
By Megan Ftzgarald
For the Daily
The Michigan men's cross country
team will be in full force this Sunday
as it competes at home in the Wolver-
ine Interregional. Not since The Great
American Festival on Sept. 21 has the
team shown the strength of its top four
runners, and the depth behind them.
Combining two All-America
seniors, Mark Pilja and Mike Wis-
niewski, with two of the top freshman
recruits in the nation, Alan Webb and
Nathan Brannen, the men's cross
country team has the potential to be a
top team at the NCAAs later this fall.
To do so, however, the runners need
to work on closing the gap between
their first and fifth runners. The
Wolverine Interregional this weekend
is the perfect chance to do so.
This year's race will be smaller than
usual on the men's side, including
only five teams for the Wolverines to
compete with! Among the top compe-
tition are Montana State, Pennsylva-
nia and Purdue.
"We should do well," said coach
Ron Warhurst.
In fact, the Wolverines have the
potential to take the top three to five
spots.
"Its depends who's on that day,"

MICHIGAN GOLF COURSE
Who: Michigan hosts Wolverine Interregional
When: 11:15 a.m. Sunday
Latest: The 8,000 meter race will follow the
10:30 a.m. women's race, and is the only home
meet of the season. Mark Pilja was named Big
Ten Co-Athlete of the Week.
Warhurst added, referring to whether a
runner from an opposing team will
break up his top pack.
Regardless of how the Wolverines
do up front, Michigan should win the
meet with its depth at the five spot.
"We've got a solid top four or five,
and after that it's whoever is there,"
Warhurst said.
This season, the team has done a
good job of having multiple runners
ready to fill in at the fifth spot on
any given day. Sophomores Tom
Greenless, John Hughes, Ryan Hes-
selink, and Nick Stariko, along with
freshman Jason Stover have all run
consistently well for the Wolverines.
"We're a young team", said
Warhurst "We've got two senior All-
Americans, but the other travelers
last week were all freshmen and
sophomores."
The young squad has proven fairly
consistent this year, and the meet
'this Sunday will give it another
chance to work together as a pack,
and make sure they runners keep
themselves close to the team's top
runner.
Michigan's only home meet of the
season will serve as something of a
preview for the Big Ten meet later
this month. The team will compete
and get a chance to see how its
training the last few weeks will
improve performances.

Women harriers look
forward to home meet

Kareem Copeland
Daily Sports Writer
There's no place like home. After a
season of ups and downs, the women's
cross country team is ready for a little
home, court advantage. It will get its
wish - the Michigan Interregional will
be held in Ann Arbor on Sunday at

10:30 a.m.
Fresh off a second
place finish at the Notre MICHIGAN G
Dame Invitational, the Who: MichiganI
Wolverines are ready to ine lnierregiona
keep the momentum When: 10:30 a.
going. The meet in Ann Latest The Wol
Arbor will be the team's hosting six othe
last before the Big Ten seaon.yIhndsa
Tournament. the Michigan in
"We're going in the vious races.
right direction," Michi-
gan coach Mike McGuire said. "We
don't want to be in the situation where
we take two steps forward and two
steps back."
The squad is expecting major chal-
lenges from Wisconsin and North Car-
olina in what looks to be a fast race.
"Our one-to-five gap was lower (last
week) because all of (the Michigan run-
ners) ran harder," McGuire said. "But
we can gap even closer."
The coach's goal is to get his top five
runners - those whose times count
towards the overall score - to finish
within seven to eight seconds from top

OL
hos
al
i
m.
ver
er s
neet
the

to bottom.
For a team with 19 players of either
freshman or sophomore eligibility, that
goal may be a bit lofty. Sophomore
Lindsey Gallo has carried her weight as
she has finished first for the Wolverines
in all three meets this season.
"Lindsey's done a good job with
staying focused," McGuire said.
"There's plenty of room for
improvement, but that will
F COURSE come with training."
sts Wolver- By beating teams that
they lost to earlier in the
Sunday year. The Wolverines
Ines are avenged losses to Miami
thools in (Ohio) and Ball State.
allo has led Redshirt freshman
three pre- Andrea Parker finished sec-
ond on the team at Miami
and Iona, then third last
week. In addition to Gallo, fellow
sophomore Rachel Sturtz has also come
on strong as of late
"The freshmen are coming along
pretty well. Our sophomores are doing
well," senior Katie Ryan said. "They
have improved a lot from last year."
Sunday's meet will be the last race
before the Big Ten Tournament. Illinois
will play host for the 2001 meet, and
the course in Champaign promises to
be the fastest race of the year.
"We're going to make adjustments
after this week," McGuire said. "(We're
going to) get ready to run faster."


£ ca < a ° e a 6' a e v' r> a e .

BRANDON SEDLOFF/Daily
Ortmeyer, a Nebraska native will be returning to his home town of Omaha for a
tournament this weekend.
Ortmeyer returns home
for 'Maverick Stampede'

m