The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 14, 2005 - 7B
SMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
As a team, Harniers miss NCA~
By Lindsey Ungar
Daily Sports Writer
When the men's cross country team finished a
disappointing fifth place a week ago at the Big Ten
Championship, Michigan coach Ron Warhurst called
out his team.
"We've run the same type of practices here for five
years, and the guys have always responded and came
out and ran well," Warhurst said last week. "Right now,
if we run like we did (this week) at regionals, we won't
be sending anyone to the NCAA Championship."
But didn't seem to make a difference.
The Wolverines stumbled into eighth place at the
NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Saturday in Bloom-
ington, placing six out of seven runners below 40th
place. Wisconsin won the regional, and Notre Dame
took second.
"We expected a top-four finish, if not a top-three
finish," senior Rondell Ruff said. "We wanted to have
most of our guys in the teens, 20s, a couple in the 30s
and just maybe one or two in the 40s - but that obvi-
ously didn't happen."
Ruff finished in 46th place.
One runner - sophomore Mike Woods - man-
aged to rise above the rest of the team and take fourth
place at the Regional. He finished more than a minute
ahead of any other Wolverines, staying at the top of
the pack throughout the entire 10,000-meter race, and
posting a career-best NCAA finish (31:11.7).
"I'm really proud of Woods," Ruff said. "He's step-
ping up as head runner and showing good leadership,
even though he's a young guy. He's been a solid num-
ber one all season."
While Woods has been Michigan's top finisher all
year, a special visit might have prompted his solid
showing at the Regional.
"It was really neat 'cause my dad came up for the
race all the way from Ottawa, Canada," Woods said.
"It's a very rare occasion that my parents can come
and see me race. It was really, exciting to have my dad
up there watching. I really wanted to put on a good
show for him, and I did."
With fourth place, Woods earned an automatic bid to
the NCAA Championships on Nov. 21 in Terre Haute,
Ind. He finished 174th at Nationals last season.
"My goal was to be All American last year, but
unfortunately that didn't come true; I had a horrible
race at Nationals," Woods said. "This weekend, I'm
looking to redeem my performance and show that I
can really race with the best cross country runners in
the nation."
Woods says his preparation won't consist of any
special training this week.
"Maybe just a good plate of spaghetti the night
before the race," Woods said. "Just relaxing and not
doing too much homework."
Although Woods looks ahead to Nationals, the
Regional signals the end of the season for the team
as a whole, as it failed to earn an at-large bid Sun-
day night.
"We had a good performance from Mike
Woods, but after that, everybody else just tanked
in," Ruff said.
Michigan's collapse during this year's postseason
might have been due, in part, to the inexperience of
the team. Five of seven runners are underclassmen.
Woods, a sophomore, is considered a veteran on the
team, and four of the five top runners made their
10,000-meter debut against regional competition.
"I was the only person to make NCAAs last year
who scored in this meet," Woods said. "And I think
that just really shows how inexperienced our team
was. We're a really young team, and that inexperience
and youth really showed this weekend."
Said Ruff: "We lacked toughness yesterday. We
didn't really run with each other. ... It seemed like we
were all on our own mission, running solo."
Michigan failed to qualify for the NCAA champi-
onship for just the second time in 16 years. The only
other time that the Wolverines missed during that span
was in 2000, when the team finished seventh at the
Regional.
"Michigan is one of the powerhouses in cross coun-
try, in distance running, and it's pretty disappoint-
ing that we couldn't prove that and make Nationals,"
Woods said. "Everyone is very disappointed, espe-
cially myself. I think we're a very young team, and we
have a bunch a years ahead of us. The years to come
will be much, much better than this year."
FILE PHOTO
Sophomore Michael Woods is the only Wolverine who qualified for NCAAs.
CHAMPS
Continued from page 1B
"We've been balanced all year,"
McGuire said. "We've been consistent
in our approach."
Up next for the Wolverines is the
NCAA Championships on Nov. 21.
At last year's championships, Mich-
igan finished sixth. Walter and Kohl-
meier led the way with top-50 finishes,
and Field finished 103rd.
The NCAA Championship meet is
often a time for individuals to show-
case their talent. Still, Michigan plans
to run as a team.
"I'm confident that we'll have a
strong seven runners at the top," Wal-
ter said. "We can depend on each
other."
The team's focus for this week is
rest, and the Wolverines will cover less
mileage in practice than normal.
"(It will be important) to keep our
energy and emotions in proper per-
spective," McGuire said.
McGuire points to Duke as this
year's clear-cut favorite to win it all.
Michigan, Stanford, Arizona State,
Brigham Young and defending-cham-
pion Colorado will be chasing the Blue
Devils for the trophy.
"It's been a good year," McGuire
said. "But, at the same time, we'll need
our seasonal best to win or even be in
the top four."
STICKERS
Continued from page 1B
responded well to the cheers of family
and friends, but came up just short in
the end.
Though the players saw their season
end on Sunday, their coach remained
* positive about her first year at the
helm.
"All year our kids worked hard day
in and day out," Cox said. "We exceed-
ed our expectations for the season."
i ____ -
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