The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 17, 2006 - 3B

'M'
pre

performs relay well,
ares for Big Tens

Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines haven't fielded a very good track record against Ohio State or Notre Dame in recent
years. But the football team's struggles are just one example of the state of Michigan athletics.
wager and titles sorely
. " "
miassing in Ann Arbor

By Daniel Bromwich
Daily Sports Writer
With just three meets remaining before
Big Ten Championships, the women's
track and field team wanted to use this
past weekend as a checkpoint. At this
time of the year, the Wolverines expect to
gather momentum, record personal and
season bests and make sure everything is
running smoothly.
On Friday and Saturday, Michigan con-
firmed all of these things. The Wolverines
split up, with part of the team traveling to
East Lansing for the Spartan Invitational
and the rest heading down to Knoxville,
Tenn., for the Sea Ray Relays.
At the Relays, Michigan claimed
two titles and broke a school record
in the process. The 4x800-meter
team of freshman Geena Gall,
sophomore Nicole Edwards, junior
Katie Erdman and senior Theresa
Feldkamp finished more than three
seconds in front of the second-place
team from Villanova and broke the
school-record time by almost the
same amount, finishing in 8:30.65.
Erdman and Edwards also partici-
pated on last year's record-setting
team, which established a mark of
8:33.36 at the Drake Relays.
The Wolverines also set the stan-
dard in the distance medley relay,
an event in which Michigan won the
indoor national championship last
year. This year's team featured a
totally different cast - as none of
its members ran on last year's squad
- but finished with the same result.
Sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier start-
ed the race and ran the 1,200-meter
leg. She was followed by junior
Chanelle Campbell and freshman
Amber Hay, who ran the 400- and
800-meter distances, respectively.
Junior Erin Webster ran the 1,600-
meter anchor leg, and the team fin-
ished in a time of 11:29.59.
"Winning (the) relays was a neat thing
to do, and I thought the conditions on
Friday were not the greatest;" associate
head coach Mike McGuire said through
the athletic department. "It was hot and
windy, but it didn't detract from our
efforts, and I was pleased in that regard.
Then, today, the conditions were a little
better, and, in the DMR, Aly Kohlmeier
got us off to a great lead. It gave Erin and
Aly a chance to run on the relay, and they
did a good job."
The Wolverines also passed their
checkup in the field events: Freshmen
Casey Taylor and Tiffany Ofili both
reached personal bests in the long jump
- Taylor with a jump of 19-5 1/2 and
Ofili with a distance of 19-1 1/2.

'm supposed to use this space
to reminisce about my time
in Ann
Arbor, and,
more specifi-
cally, my time
at the Daily.
I'm supposed
to mention thev
road trips and
late nights,k
and all the
great people
I've worked SHARAD
with. I'm sup- MATTU
posed to joke
about how The 4ortsJoda
Lloyd Carr, Co"mn
Red Berenson
and Carol Hutchins were surpris-
ingly all right to deal with.
But I can't, so I won't ... even
though I sort of just did.
Many of us were Michigan fans
before we were students, and, hope-
fully, all of us will bleed Maize
and Blue when we leave. But while
we're here, it's different. For many
reasons, the wins lift us higher and
the losses sink us lower when we're
students.
And the truth is, the last few
years have been a disappoint-
ment. It's too late for things to turn
around while I'm here, but there's
still time for three-quarters of you.
We just need to make sure that
those in charge understand the trou-
ble that Michigan athletics are in.
HAVE QUESTIONS
FOR OUR FOOTBALL
WRITERS?
SEND THEM
TO SPORTS
MICHIGANDAILY.
COM-.
THEN, CHECK OUT
"THE GAME" BLOG
AT MICHIGANDAILY.
COM
FOR OUR
RESPONSES.

First, a quick refresher: Since
2001, the football team hasn't made
it out of September without a loss
and has gone 1-4 against Ohio
State, 1-3 against Notre Dame and
1-4 in bowl games. Not even two
Rose Bowls can offset that.
And that only scratches the
surface of last season, when the
Wolverines finished with five
losses and about as many coaching
changes.
While it's unlikely we'll have to
get used to losing to Minnesota and
Wisconsin, the Wolverines can't
be considered among the elite until
they beat the Buckeyes and Fight-
ing Irish. Last season, both teams
marched into Michigan Stadium.
Both gutted out victories. So break-
ing the losing streaks on the road
this coming fall will be about as
easy as tackling Ted Ginn, Jr.
So why has Michigan struggled
in its biggest games? I think it's
because when the Wolverines take
the field, they lack the swagger
that all the other top teams have.
Playing for Michigan seems to be a
burden, and they seem to be over-
coached. I know very little about
football coaching, but "letting the
players play" is definitely not the
Michigan way. Can't you imagine
Vince Young on Michigan, scram-
bling out of the pocket for a 70-yard
touchdown run, and, as he returns
to the sideline, hears from Carr,
"Tyler Ecker was open in the flat?"

As for the basketball team, we've
learned that it's not that easy to
build a successful program without
cheating.
Two years ago, we believed the
NIT championship was the turning
point. It wasn't. This year, we know
making the NIT finals meant noth-
ing. Without Daniel Horton, Gra-
ham Brown and Chris Hunter, even
the most optimistic fan has to take
a wait-and-see approach.
These Wolverines have too many
problems to count. Why haven't
Dion Harris and Courtney Sims
improved since their freshman
year? If Brent Petway learned just
one post move, how could he be
stopped? Are top recruits even con-
sidering us anymore?
The difference between the
Rose Bowl and the Alamo Bowl,
the NCAAs and NIT, can be very
small. Thankfully, I'll have two
games to think back to: the foot-
ball team's win over Ohio State to
go to the Rose Bowl in 2003 and
the comeback overtime win over
Michigan State the following year.
Hopefully, the freshmen will have
games like that to remember when
they leave.
- All that said, Sharad would
like to thank the Daily and everyone
at the Daily for four fantastic years.
And now, he has one last thing to
say: Nets over Pistons. He can be
reached at smattu@umich.edu.

RYAN WEIN
Junior Katie Erdman led the 4x800-meter relay team to a record-breaking
performance on Saturday at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville,;Tenn.

At the Ralph Young Track and
Field Facility in East Lansing,
junior Kelly Catino won the pole
vault, reaching an NCAA Regional
qualifying mark with a clearance
of 12-5 1/2. It was a career best for
Catino. Junior Kristen Pearson and
freshman Lisa Sonntag finished
right behind, tying for second with
career-best clearances of 11-7 3/4.
Junior Jamie Barbour was up to the
task in three impressive events. Barbour
took second, fifth and seventh place in the
hammer, shot put and discus, respective-
ly. Her distance of 168-0 in the hammer-

throw was a career best, and her throw of
137-0 in the discus was a season best.
"It's important for us right now
because we have basically three meets
left before the Big Tens," assistant coach
Anne Takacs said through the athletic
department. "It's important that they're
stepping up in each performance that
they have and getting closer to regional
marks; that's what we're looking for.
The fact that we're having personal
bests and season bests is good."
The Wolverines will compete at
the EMU Twilight next weekend in
Ypsilanti.

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