12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 24, 2001 Disappointed Wolverines finish in ninth By Matt Kramer Daily Sports Writer This wasn't the way the Michigan golf team wanted to finish its fall season. The Wolverines struggled yesterday with quick greens, slow play and long-par-fours as it fired a two day total of 609 (304-305) to finish tied for ninth place at the 24 team Tillinghast Invitational in Scarsdale, N.Y. Illinois won the tournament with a score of 17-over-par 577, three shots ahead of runner-up Minnesota and 32 shots ahead of the Wolverines. "I'm very disappointed in the way the team played and the way we ended the fall season," Michigan coach Jim Carras said. "What hap- pened to us over the past two days was typical of our entire fall. We are not getting the balance in scores that we need. "One of our players will come in with a low round and then follow it up with a bad round, and that really hurts us." After the first round on Monday was suspend- ed by darkness, Michigan had to come out early yesterday to finish its rounds before teeing off again later to play the second round. The Wolverines were led by senior Andy Matthews who shot rounds of 72 and 78, 10 stokes over par. Matthews finished tied for 28th individually, 12 shots behind medalist Geoff Lound of Illi- nois. Matthews was followed by sophomore Scott Carlton (78-74-152), and seniors Andrew Chap- man and Kyle Kilcherman, who both shot two- day totals of 154. After starting out the year strong with two top- five finishes, the Wolverines have not been able to shoot under 304 in its last four rounds of tour- nament play. And rounds of 304 and 305 did not make Carras happy. "We should have shot under 300 in both rounds," Carras said, "This was a very difficult course to play, but shooting two consecutive rounds over 300 isn't acceptable." While this was the last fall tournament for Michigan - which opens up the spring season March 2nd and 3rd with the Wolverine South Invitational in Savannah, Ga. - Carras still believes that his team can compete with anyone. "Well, we've dug ourselves a little hole and if we want to make it to regionals we have to play very well," he said. "But I haven't lost faith in my guys. "We just need to regroup, get back on track, and be ready when early March rolls around." How they finished Michigan finished in a tie for ninth place out of 24 teams at The Tilinghast tournament held at the Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Here's look at the top-10 team scores for the tournament. FILE PHOTO The Michigan women's swimming team will use this weekend's scrimmage to train. Training a prioty in weekend m-eets Team 1. Illinois 2. Minnesota 3. Texas-Arlington 4. Penn State Northwestern 6. Maryland 7. Indiana 8. Wisconsin 9. Michigan St. John's Total Score 577. 580 589 590 590 593 596 602 609 609 Shots over Par 17 20 29 30 30 33 36 42 49 49 By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Writer To be a part of the Michigan women's swimming and diving team, one must understand that practice never ends. Even going into this weekend's scrimmages against Harvard and Michigan hoping for 'A' game on Sunday By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer For the Michigan women's cross country team, this is it. Sunday morning, the squad will compete at the Big Ten Champi- onships at Illinois' Orange and Blue golf course. The 6-kilome- ter race will serve as an opportunity for the Wolverines CHA to prove that they Who: Michigan in the8 are part of the When: 10:45 a.m. upper echelon of LatestYoung squad sh teams in the con- Big Ten elite. ference. "This is our biggest meet of the year," said Michigan coach Mike McGuire. Because Michigan is young and lacks a strong front-runner to lead it, the Wolverines should have their hands full. Michigan State and Wisconsin are ranked 13th and 14th in the nation, respectively, and are heavily favored to finish one and two. That leaves a five-team battle with Michigan, Pur- due, Northwestern, Minnesota and Penn State competing for the confer- ence's third spot. .MPAIGN Big Ten championships oots for top-3 finish among "Our 'A' game can get us third, our 'A minus' game can get us fourth, and any- thing below an 'A minus' game puts us with five teams in the from its best runner of late, sopho- more Lindsay Gallo. Gallo finished tenth at the Wolver- ine Interregional on Oct. 14 and has been Michigan's top finisher in its last four races. "Gallo has been doing a good job of leading us and I think she's capable of a top-10 finish and maybe even first team All-Big Ten," McGuire said. To make first team All-Big Ten, a top-seven finish is necessary. Michigan also needs big perform- ances out of Jeanne Spink and Rachel Sturtz. Spink has been the Wolverines' most improved and consistent runner over the last month. Sturtz improved tremendously over last season and finished 16th at the Wolverine Inter- regional. A wildcard for Michigan will be whether redshirt Freshman Andrea Parker will be able to compete. She has had an achilles heel problem over the past couple weeks and has been unable to run since the Notre Dame Invite back on Oct. 5. But the team does expect her to be ready to go on Sunday morning. Michigan expects the flat terrain on the Orange and Blue Golf Course to be an advantage. Because the course should not pose any challenges to the runners, they could post the personal- best finishes that they are striving for. "If the course is dry it will run extremely fast," McGuire said. Despite the teams that they will be up against, the Wolverines should be up to the challenge, returning to the site where they won their first confer- ence title 11 years ago. "For us to be a top-three team we're going to have kids come up with life- time bests, and I think we'll be able to do that," McGuire said. now will make all the difference later. "In all honesty, win-loss records don't mean anything in swimming," Richardson said. "We were 4-5 last sea- son and we still were Big Ten champi- ons. "We care about the national champi- onships at the end of the year. So you don't want to be swimming your best times in October and November, because if you are then you are in trou- ble." For their dual meets this season, the Wolverines' times will be slower than what one might expect. But in reality, their Friday and Saturday meets will be days five and six in their weekly train- ing, meaning that they won't have the Brown, the Wolverines will only be concerned with how they race and not the points that they can earn. While it is tough to grasp that winning is not impor- tant at this point, Michigan coach Jim Richardson knows that in the long run, how his team conditions _O0T Who: Michigan Harvard (0-0) When: 5 p.m. Latest: Michiga few individual n petitors over th two days rest that most teams have. "If you spend your whole time wor- rying about dual meets and trying to swim extremely fast in them, and you do that instead of spending your time focusing on the integrity of your train- ing, you're going to be in trouble at the end of the season; Richardson said. Although'he and his team " will not be concerned with ?oN the outcomes of the upcom- (0.1) vs. ing scrimmages, they will get some challenges, which are always welcomed. an will face a Michigan's first meet on ationai com the weekend will pit senior e weekend. against senior as well as sophomore against sopho- more. Senior co-captain Lindsay Carl- berg will face the Crimson's All-Ivy League swimmer Janna McDougall in the 100-yard backstroke in what could be one of the closest matches of the weekend. Michigan Sophomore Sara Johnson will have to deal with one of Harvard's best returning swimmers from last year in the individual medley events, Katie Wilbur. Wilbur returns for Harvard as one of its best chances on the team to earn a NCAA qualifying time in the 400-yard IM. "We treat swim meets like high quali- ty workouts," Richardson said. "And we want to try to be as competitive as we can be." Michigan's Webb set for big one By Daniel Bremmer Daily Sports Writer hopper," McGuire said. Because of this log-jam after the top two teams, Michigan will need to run its best meet of the year in order to finish in the top three. This would include a top-10 finish Led by two veteran seniors and a world-class freshman, the Michigan men's cross country team looks to improve on last season's finish in the Big Ten Championship. "We were seventh last year and we will improve," said Michigan coach Ron Warhurst, who expects the team to finish in the top three along with favorite Wisconsin 'and rival Michigan State. Freshman Alan Webb - who many consider the nation's best distance run- ner - has won all three collegiate races he has run. If the past is any indication of what's to come, Webb will have a strong showing this week- end. Seniors Mark Pilja and Mike Wis- niewski have both been running well and should strengthen the team's per- formance. Pilja finished in the top five in all his races this season, including second-place finishes at the Wolverine Interregional and the Great American Festival. Wisniewski's season has been high- lighted by a second-place finish at the Wolverine Invitational and a third- place finish at the Wolverine Interre- gional. The Wolverines are familiar with Wisconsin. On Sept. 29, Michigan ran in the Roy Griak Invitational in Min- neapojis. Wisconsin won the event while Michigan placed seventh out of 36 teams. The Wolverines, however, were without Webb. According to Warhurst, the Wolver- ines will need to run man-for-man with Wisconsin in order to win the meet on Sunday. If a Wisconsin runner places first, a Michigan runner has to finish second, and if a Wisconsin runner fin- ishes third, a Michigan runner has to place fourth. This pattern must contin- ue through the top three runners on both teams. "We have to beat them with the fourth and fifth men. They are critical to the meet," Warhurst said. Another critical aspect for the Wolverines is the mental aspect. "At this point it's probably 50 per- cent in their heads," Warhurst said. "Don't panic, and keep your compo- sure. That's very important." Above all, this weekend's Big Ten Championship event will come down to which team runs better on that given .. Ah.