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MAX COLLNS/Daily
Lex Williams led the Wolverines at the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals with a
seventh-place finish.
1C hian ties for
first at Reg ional
Juior
claims
top
honors
By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
For Nicole Edwards, teamwork
is key to an outstanding individual
effort.
The junior repeated as indi-
vidual champion Saturday to
lead the No. 9 Michigan women's
cross country team to a second-
place finish at the
NCAA Great
Lakes Regional Michigan at
Championships Regionals
in Bloomington. Top finishers:
The finish was
enough to qual- t. Nicole
ify the team for Edwards
Nationals next (20:30.76)
Monday. 3. trio
Monday. Webster
Edwards (20:47.23)
attributed much 16. Geena
of her perfor- Gall
mance to the sup- (21:30.35)
port from fellow
teammate, senior Erin Webster.
Edwards and Webster led the first
group of runners side-by-side for
the first 5,000 meters.
"It is just so encouraging to have
(Erin) nearby in races," Edwards
said. "Whether I see her right
beside me or I can recognize her
breathing right behind me, I feel
like this is what we do day in and
day out in workouts."
Edwards (20:36) finished four
seconds ahead of Michigan State
junior Nicole Bush, and Webster
followed in third (20:47). Michi-
gan finished with 63 points, just
three behind Regional Champion
No. 8 Michigan State (60).
The early conservative pace
allowed the Wolverines to main-
tain composure and competitive-
ness throughout the entire race.
"In terms of staying in a group
and trying to run together as a
team, I think that it worked out
well because it was just more
relaxed," Webster said.
Racing conditions couldn't
have been more ideal for the late
November day. Due to rain show-
By MACKENZIE MELVIN
Daily Sports Writer
The No. 23 Michigan men's
cross country team tied for first
place with No. 4 Wisconsin at the
NCAA Great Lakes Regionals in
Indiana on Saturday. By finish-
ing within the top two spots, the
Wolverines qual-
ified for the 2007 Michigan at
NCAA Champi-
onships. Regionals
The victory Top finishers:
comes on the
heals of a their Liams
disappointing (30:53.27)
fifth-place fin- 11. Craig
ish at the Big Ten Forys
Championships. (31:07.73)
"We knew we 13. Brandon
were not going (3:.t1)
to the NCAA
Championships
if we didn't respond," Michigan
coach Ron Warhust said. "We had
a tremendous comeback from the
Big Ten."
The Wolverines did more than
just respond. Three Michigan
runners finished in the top 15
for individuals. Junior Lex Wil-
liams placed seventh with a time
of 30:53.27, and freshman Craig
Forys and sophomore Brandon
Fellows finished 11th and 13th,
respectively.
The team also showed tremen-
dous depth. Six of Michigan's
runners placed in the top 20, and
Michigan's seventh man, fresh-
man Ciaran O'Lionaird, placed
27th.
"We had our seventh man in
front of Wisconsin's fifth," War-
hurst said. "That just shows you
how fantastic we ran."
Michigan's runners also
showed tremendous heart by
overcoming the various health
issues that plagued them at the
Big Ten Championships. Senior
captain Mike Woods couldn't
compete because of a broken foot.
He will have surgery tomorrow.
Williams suffered fromvarious
illnesses during the Big Tens and
couldn'tcompete athisusualstan-
dard. SophomoreSeanMcNamara
also experienced health problems
when he sprained - his ankle in
practice early in the week.
"As of this morning, I wasn't
sure if he was even going to run,"
said Warhurst after the match.
McNamara placed18th overall.
After bouncing back from dis-
appointment and injuries, War-
hurst was extremely pleased with
his entire team's effort.
"The kids ran great," Warhust
said. "They ran in a pack and
finally ran together as a group
they way we had been planning
and hoping all year. If we run the
way we did today, with a little
improvement we can make the
top 10 (at the NCAA Champion-
ships)."
The NCAAChampionshipswill
be held Nov. 19 in Terre Haute,
tnd.
Junior Nicole Edwards won the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships to pace Michigan's
Wolverines will advance to NCAA Nationals next weekend in Terre Haute, Ind.
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Sauer smashes personal goalless streak
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Editor
MidwaythroughSaturdaynight's
4-2 win over Alaska, Michigan
goalie Billy Sauer
felt his clock tick- NOTEBOOK
ing longer than
ever before.
Sauer set a new personal shutout
streak over the weekend. The junior
went 128:30 without giving up a
goal, more than 30 minutes longer
than his previous best.
"Going all week, then having
a Friday shutout makes it seem
longer," Sauer said. "I was kind of
thinking about it. It just makes the
next goal feel even worse when you
do let it in. I was pretty happy with
my play."
Before Dion Knelsen got the
Nanooks on the board late in Sat-
urday night's second period, Sauer
hadn't allowed a goal since the mid-
dle of the second period of a 3-2 win
over Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 3.
Sauer's shutout performance
Friday night made up the bulk of
Sauer's streak. In the game, Sauer
faced just 15 shots, making the feat
even more difficult because he was
so rarely tested.
"It is a tough game when you
only get 15 shots," Sauer said Friday
night. "It is hard to stay in the game
and stay focused."
The goalless streak is the most
concrete example yet of Sauer's
consistency this season. The Wal-
worth, N.Y., native has played a big
role in his team's 9-1-0 start, Michi-
gan's best start since the 1999-2000
season (10-1-0).
After the weekend, Sauer's goals
against average stands at 2.19 and
his save percentage is.904.
THE SLOWSKY'S: Though Com-
cast claims to provide the fastest
Internet possible, it doesn't keep
up the pace when televising college
hockey games.
Comcast Local televised Friday
BEN SIMON/
Junior goalie Billy Sauer continues having a strong season. He held a shutout streak that lasted 128:30 over the weekend.
night's game and the length of its
commercial breaks drew the ire of
both players and fans.
"The TV timeouts last night, I
think they were like a minute and
a half long each time," senior Chad
Kolarik said Saturday night. "So
that definitely killed the momen-
tum."
The Michigan student section
was even more vocal in its displea-
sure, utilizing a, "We hate Com-
cast," chant to voice frustration
with the lengthy timeouts.
Saturday night's game, con-
versely, wasn't televised and was
the quickest of Michigan's season,
wrappingup in just over two hours.
But the Yost crowd should get
used to the wait - nine of the Wol-
verines' remaining 12 home games
will be televised, two on Comcast.
FEELING RUSTY: Michigan
freshman Matt Rust was a scratch
from Saturday night's game
because of flu-like symptoms. Rust
was actually sick on Friday, too, but
played through the illness.
"You could see last night he
wasn't himself and he was worse
today," Michigan coach Red Beren-
son said Saturday. "He would've
played, and it was my decision to
not play him."
Rust watched the game in street
clothes and said after the game he
t