4B - Monday, March 5, 2007

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Disappointing
finish for Blue

nabs third
at Big Tens

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By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
All season long the Michigan
wrestling team claimed its lineup
was more conducive to tourna-
ments than dual meets.
Tournament time came.
And an eighth-place finish was
all the 23rd-ranked Wolverines
could muster at the Big Ten Cham-
pionships this past weekend.
But one Wolverine caught fire in
East Lansing.
Third-seeded Steve Luke
emerged as Big Ten Champion in
the 174-pound weight class, beat-
ing top-seeded James Yonushonis
(Penn State) 5-2 in the champion-
ship match.
Despite missing the major-
ity of the season due to injury and
returning just for the team's final
dual meet, the redshirt sophomore
didn't lack confidence going into
the tournament.
"It feels good," Luke said. "I
knew I could win."
Luke capitalized on two take-
downs in the first period - one in
the beginning and one at the end
- to take what proved to be an
insurmountable lead.
But despite Luke's win, Michi-
gan's overall finish was disappoint-
ing.
The Wolverines placed third at
Big Tens the past two seasons, fin-
ishing behind Minnesota and Illi-
nois each year. Michigan coach Joe

McFarland had led just two squads
to finishes lower than fourth
before, but this is Michigan's worst
Big Ten Championship finish ever.
Previously the Wolverines worst
finish at Big Tens was seventh,
which they had done three times
(in 1944-5,1986-7,1995-6).
"I thinkwe could've done a little
better," Luke said. "If a few guys
had won a few more matches, we
could've been up there at third or
fourth."
WhileLukewastheonlyWolver-
ine to win a Big Ten Championship,
five Michigan wrestlers qualified
this past weekend for the NCAA
Championships. Joining Luke in
Auburn Hills for NCAAs will be
co-captains Eric Tannenbaum
(165 pounds) and Josh Churella
(149 pounds), who both fell in the
finals of the Big Ten Champion-
ships. Tyrel Todd (184 pounds),
who finished third, and Nick Roy
(197 pounds), who finished sixth,
will also be there.
Todd was the only Wolverine
besides Luke to leave East Lansing
on a victory, earning a 12-3 major
decision in the third-placebout fol-
lowing his consolation win earlier
in the day against seventh-seeded
John Dergo (3-1).
"I feel like the five guys are going
to have a real good shot," Luke said.
"I think we'll do well. ... We can all
score big points at Nationals."
Churella's toughloss (3-2) to top-
seeded Dustin Schlatter (Minneso-

By HAZEM TABBAA
For the Daily
Despite finishing third and
falling short of qualifying for the
NCAA Indoor Championship, the
No. 11 Michigan men's indoor track
team closed out the Big Ten Indoor
Championships Feb. 23 on a high
note.
Fifth-year senior Andrew Eller-
ton and sophomore Lex Williams
led the Wolverines with first-place
finishes inthe 800-meter and 5,000
meter-runs, respectively, at the
two-day event in Bloomington. The
Wolverines fell short of Wisconsin's
title-winning 120 points despite 16
scoringefforts in 13 of the events.
Ellerton, who had already
notched a win earlier in the week-
end as part of the distance medley
relay team, won the 800-meter run
with a time of 1:50.19. The victory
gave Ellerton his second career title
in the event.
Throughout the race, Ellerton
was shoulder-to-shoulder with the
rest of the field. But with the last
turn approaching, Ellerton separat-
ed himself from the rest of the pack
and took the lead once and for all.
Williams's first-place finish in
the 5,000-meter run earned him
his first conference title, and was
a marked improvement from his
loth-place effort last season. In
the final 1,200 meters of Saturday's

race, the sophomore dominated the
rest of the field, taking the lead and
never looking back.
"My poor performance last year
was still lingering in my mind,"
Williams said. "This (win) helped
to put lastyear's (race) behind me."
Williams was followed closely
by hardworking freshman Brandon
Fellows, who used a late surge to
finish third in 14:19.16.
"It was exciting to have team-
mate Brandon Fellows finishing
third and putting us in contention
to place well as a team going into
the last event of the meet," Wil-
liams said.
Williams and Fellows both
scored for the Wolverines in the
3,000-meter run on Friday as well.
Senior hurdler Jeff Porter came
a mere .019 seconds short of cap-
turing a first-place finish in the 60-
meter hurdles, falling to defending
Big Ten champion Ricky Pinckney
of Purdue. But this past weekend
at the Alex Wilson Invitational in
South Bend, Porter obliterated his
own school record in the event, fin-
ishing in 7.70 seconds, .06 ahead of
Pinckney.
Michigan also received strong
performances at Big Tens from
seniors Michael Whitehead and
Stan Waithe. Whitehead placed
second in the triple jump, while
Waithe finished fourth in the 400-
meter dash.

Sophomore Steve Luke won the Big Ten Championship at the 174-pound weig
class yesterday. His win was the bright spot of Michigan's eighth-place finish.

ta) came down to riding time, just
as it had in their earlier match-up
in the dual-meet season. Tannen-
baum suffered his first loss of the
year (5-2) to second-seeded Mark
Perry, who the top-ranked Tan-
nenbaum beat (6-2) in overtime in
their previous match.
But despite placing four wres-
tlers in the top-three, the team was
still disappointed with its inabil-
ity to finish higher than eighth
place. Only 11.5 points separated

Michigan from third-place Iowa,
making the team's finish even
more frustrating. All three of the
team's lightweights, along with
heavyweight Casey White, were
eliminated after the first day of
competition.
Michigan's weakness - lack of
depth - followed the team to the
post-season.
"There were a few matches that
could've gone either way," Luke
said. "We were right in there."

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Women's track can't defend title

By ANDY REID well in each event. Even though
Daily Sports Writer Michigan took home a tournament-
high seven event titles, including six
The Michigan women's track and individual crowns, it wasn't enough
field team hasn't dealt with much to keep up with the Gophers' consis-
disappointment over the past five tency.
years. "We had agood day and Minneso-
But that's exactly what the Wol- ta is agood and well-rounded team,"
verines are now faced with after senior Katie Erdman said. "The last
failing to win their third straight few days they were just the better
Big Ten Championship, placing see- team. I think we brought it and we
and behind Minnesota on Feb. 25 in competed well, and I can't be sorry
Champaign, Ill. about that, but I will always prefer to
Michigan will have plenty of win. So at the outdoors, we're going
motivation to erase any lingering for it again."
discontent with the outdoor season Erdman scorched through the
fast approaching. 600-meter run on her wayto becom-
Entering the meet, the Wolver- ing the first female athlete to win
ines had every right to be confident four Big Ten titles in that race. Her
after taking home four of the last five time of 1:28.38 broke the ten-year
conference indoor championships. old facility record at Armory Track.
However, that assurance didn't help Coming into the last half of the
the Wolverines overcome a tough final lap, Erdman blazed past Illi-
Golden Gopher squad. nois' Carlene Robinson and outlast-
Minnesota had just three individ- ed Heather Dorniden of Minnesota
ual winners, but consistently scored to take home the hardware.

"I knew going in that this was
the most talented field I've faced in
the 600-meter at Big Tens," Erdman
said. "So there was a lot of pressure
attached to that. I think I ran well
and I'm really excited about it." .
Sophomore Tiffany Ofili was
another important contributor to
the Wolverines' effort. She won her
first ever Big Ten title with a time
of 8.10 in the 60-meter hurdles and
added points with a fourth place fin-
ish in the 60-meter dash.
No runner in maize and blue
had ever taken a 60-meter hurdles
race in the Big Ten Championships
before Ofili crossed the line.
Although Ofili had a career day,
she still seemed let down that Mich-
igan didn't continue its conference
dominance.
"I was pretty good in my perfor-
mances, but I'm not completely sat-
isfied because the team didn't finish
where I thoughtwe should've," Ofili
said.

Other Wolverines that collected
first-place finishes were sophomore
Geena Gall in the 800-meter run
(2:06.22), senior Erin Webster in the
5,000-meter run (16:19.07) and in
the 3,000-meter run (9:25.49) and
junior Nicole Edwards in the mile
run (4:37.92). The Wolverines also
took the distance medley relay with
a time of 11:19.68.
Even though Michigan failed to
finish the indoor season with a ring,
it will have a crack at winning the
outdoor championships in just over
two months. And the Wolverines
willbe ready forit,accordingtoasso-
ciate head coach Mike McGuire.
"I thought we had an outstanding
weekend and we just got beat by a
better team," McGuire said. "At the
same time, we have another chance
at the outdoor Big Tens and we have
a few athletes back that we didn't
have for the indoor season. We'll
reconvene and see what happens at
the outdoor meet."

4


LONG SHOT
From page 1B
the same situation) - they're on
that bubble," senior Brent Petway
said. "We just have to do our thing
at the Big Ten Tournament."
Shouldthe Wolverines failtowin
in the conference tournament, their
credentials heading into Selection

Sunday won't be impressive.
According to ESPN.com's RPI
rankings, Michigan is No. 52 with a
decent strength of schedule at No.
39. In 14 games against the RPI top
50, the Wolverines are 5-9 and their
record against teams ranked lower
than 150 in the RPI (13-0) doesn't
make their 20 overall wins look
that extraordinary.
Michigan's resume isn't entirely

negative. Wins over Illinois, Indi-
ana and Michigan State are nota-
ble, and with Davidson punching
its ticket to the Tournament after
winning the Southern Conference
Tournament Championship, the
Wolverines's 10-point win over the
Wildcats helps.
Still, Michigan lacks a signifi-
cant road win, something that hurt
the team's resume last year despite

three wins over ranked conference
opponents.
"We're in the (same) situation as
a lot of other teams in our league,"
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker
said. "I'm sure everybody is going
into the (Big Ten) Tournament
with the attitude that victories are
crucial and games are crucial, and
certainly we're going to be one of
those teams."

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