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10 - Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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Disappointing nationals end season
By JASON KOHLER
Daily Sports Writer
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A
frustrated Nicole Edwards sat
alone near the starting line for
the NCAA Cross Country Cham-
pionships.
Nearby, Michigan coach Mike
McGuire stared off at the course
where his team had just conclud-
ed its season with an unexpected
21st-place finish - the worst fin-
ish at Nationals in his 16 seasons
at Michigan.
"It was definitely disappoint-
ing," McGuire said. "We lost
track of each other out there,
and you have to have some unity
in a field of this size. It was not a
typical Michigan performance
- that's for sure."
No. 9 Michigan hasn't placed
lower than sixth at Nationals
since 2002. It placed third last
season.
Edwards, who finished 12th
last year, was expected to pro-
vide much-needed experience
for the Wolverines.
The redshirt junior led the
pack of Michigan runners early
in the race, but quickly fell off
the pace.
"I passed her, and it was very
strange because usually when
we see each other and make eye
ALLISON GHAMAN/Daily contact, it's like 'OK we're going
to stick together now,' " fifth-
year Erin Webster said. "But she
never came."
Prior to Nationals, Edwards
had been the top Wolverine run-
ner in every scoring event that
she competed in this season.
"She just didn't have a good
day," McGuire said. "She's been
running well all year, but it didn't
happen today."
Webster, who improved on her
51st-place performance last year,
led the Wolverines, finished 34th
(21:00) in the 6,000-meter race.
"That's a great wayto close out
a career," McGuire said. "She's
had a tremendous impact on the
distance program. It's fittingthat
she had the opportunity to step
up today and getAll-American."
Webster has achieved All-
American in track in 5,000 and
3,000 meters, but this is her first
time receiving the honor in cross
country.
"I'm happy that I'm All-Amer-
ican," Webster said. "But I think
the team finish overshadows my
race. It's hard to be excited when
the team didn't do as good as we
would've liked."
With about 1,000 meters
remaining in the race, Webster
was 21st. But she couldn't sus-
tain her position in the final sec-
tion and fell back 13 spots before
crossing the finish line.
"I think that it went out so
fast that we didn't have anything
in the end," Webster said. "I
was hoping that the race would
not go on any longer, because it
wasn't goingto be pretty."
According to McGuire, the
only runner who sustained her
pace was another senior, Lisa
Uihle, who finished 119th (21:43).
Uible led a corp of Michigan
runners competing in their first
Nationals. Freshman Danielle
Tauro, redshirt sophomores
Geena Gall, Katie Williams
and Kelly Sampson also ran in
Nationals for the first time.
"Nationals is the best of the
best," Tauro said. "It's crazy to
be racing against that many girls
that are as good or better than
you."
The Wolverines were at a loss
to explain their worst finish at
Nationals in Michigan history.
"We had really good workouts
leading up this week," Gall said
"I don't know what happened. A
lot of the girls looked like their
legs were dead."
The disappointing perfor-
mance concludes a lackluster
season for the women's cross
country team.
"This seasonwas like mystock
report," McGuire said. "You're
up one week, and then the next
you're taking on water. But that's
a test of the character of your
program. We have some good
kids, and we'll bounce back."
4
Redshirt junior Nicole Edwards at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. No. 9 Michigan placed 21st.
4
WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Teammates remember Smith
4
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Joi Smith, a junior on the Mich-
igan women's track and field team,
died Saturday after a nine-month
battle with alveolar rhabdomyo-
sarcoma, a rare form of muscle
cancer.
A group, mostly comprised of
Michigan student-athletes, remi-
nisced about Smith for about an
hour and a half last night in the
Ross Academic Center.
"We shared stories; we cried
together; we prayed," said Casey
Taylor, a junior on the women's
track and field team. "Just shared
Joi's life right now, since we'all
hold a piece of her in our heart.
"She was just a joy. Her name
explains who she was."
Every freshman on the team
is paired with older athletes who
they can look to for advice. Smith
was assigned to Jenifer Horn, who
ran track and graduated last year.
Horn, who doesn't have any sis-
ters, really took to the role, picking
on her "little sister" by wearing
her clothes.
Horn hosted Smith on a recruit-
ing visit when the hurdler was in
high school. She pegged Smith as
very popular because of all the
time she spent on the phone and
her "cute clothes."
"We were all like 'Mmm, she's
going to be trouble when she gets
here,' "Horn said. "But she wasn't.
She was just so much fun."
Smith had stomach pains before
competing in the first event of the
pentathlon at the Big Ten Indoor
Championships in Champaign last
February. After an Illinois doctor
diagnosed the pain as a gallstone
problem, Smith competed in the
60-meter hurdles and finished5
with atimeof8.81,just.004behind
her career high. She attempted the
high jump, but couldn't overcome
the pain.
That pain didn't leave when the
team returned to Ann Arbor, so
Smith was taken to the hospital,
where doctors had trouble stop-
ping her internal bleeding.
The doctors removed a lump
from under her arm and diagnosed
her with cancer.
"At one point, she was in such
a critical state that the doctors
called in her parents and a min-
ister, because they were not sure
if she would make it," Michigan
coach James Henry said through
the athletic department in May.
Smith spent two weeks in inten-
sive care before shuttling back and
forth between Michigan and Ohio
for treatment.
"She got out, -and it was like
nothing changed for her," Horn
said. "She wasn't a victim. She
didn't want anybody to feel sorry
for her. She got right back on it,
with everything - classes, hang-
ing outwith her friends. It was just
back to her normal schemes. She
wouldn't let it hold her down."
Smith, who placed a priority on
academics, took two classes last
spring, but occasionally missed
them to receive treatment. At
times, teachers didn't understand.
"She was like 'I told them I was
going to miss class,' " Horn said.
"But she was like, 'Whatever,
I'm going to get an A on the next
paper.'"
Charne6 Lumbus, who runs
track at Michigan and attended
the same highschool as Smith, cre-
ated a facebook.com group called
"In Support of Joi R. Smith." The
group had 896 members as of 11
p.m. last night.
Some of the Michigan fans in
attendance at yesterday's NCAA
Cross Country Championships in
Terre Haute, Ind., wore black rib-
bons in memory of Smith.
"She was just that joyous type
of person to be around," Taylor
said. "She liked to have fun, liked
to smile, liked to laugh. She was
like that until the end."
4
4
Blue notches another
road win, off to best
start in five years
Junior Lex Williams led Michigan with a 66th-place finish at the NCAA Cham-
pionships. The 11th-ranked Wolverines finished 24th.
Newcomers fall
short on top stage
.
ByALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
The Big Ten is undefeated in
the history of the Big Ten/ACC
Wom-
en's Bas- MICHIGAN 65
ketball MIAMI (FLA.) 50
Chal-
lenge. Then again, the Michigan
women's basketball team's 65-50
victory over Miami (Fla.) last
nightwas the Challenge's inaugu-
ral game.
This is the first time in five
years Michigan has started a sea-
son with three straight wins.
Senior Janelle Cooper hit two
3-pointers to bring Michigan out
to an early 10-6 lead, but the Hur-
ricanes rallied over the next four
minutes to take a 17-10 advantage.
Then came the run.
Michigan outscored the Hurri-
canes 29-5 in the final 11:29 of the
first half
"(Michigan) coach (Kevin)
Borseth was just telling us to
keep the ball on the block," senior
Ta'Shia Walker said. "Our main
focus was on defense to make sure
they don't drive the lane on us. We
really worked hard to try to fulfill
his philosophy."
While Michigan (3-0) shot 60
percent from the floor and hit 7-
of-11 3-pointers in the first half,
the Hurricanes went 9-for-25
from the field.
"We did a real good job defen-
sively against a team that was
really athletic," Borseth said. "On
the offensive end of the court, we
were real efficient inthe first half.
Particularly, we moved the ball
well."
Cooper's 13 points, seven
rebounds and five assists led the
Wolverines. Walker, who Borseth
considered not starting, was effi-
cient, scoring 17 points in just 20
minutes.
Michigan's first-half run
allowed the Wolverines to skate
by with a less proficient second
half, as Miami (1-2) outscored
Michigan, 28-26.
One of the biggest improve-
ments the Wolverines made from
their previous game against Cin-
cinnati was the ability to mini-
mize their long-range shots. After
launching 29 3-point attempts
against the Bearcats, Michigan
limited its efforts from behind the
arc to 19, and it paid off.
"We had good rhythm on the
shots that we took," Borseth said.
"Of the threes that we took, prob-
ably only one of them was out of
rhythm."
Sophomore Krista Phillips and
junior Stephany Skrba were the
only two Wolverines to play sig-
nificant minutes off the bench,
but the duo combined for 11 points
and eight rebounds.
Michigan now has four games
left on its 20-day stint away from
Ann Arbor.
"Each game now is going to
get a little more difficult because
the teams we play now are very
good," Borseth said. "We're play-
ing some teams that are very suc-
cessful."
By RUTH LINCOLN
Daily Sports Writer
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - To
the Michigan men's cross coun-
try team, stepping up to the start
line packed with some of the fast-
est men in the nation was more of
an accomplishment than the final
results suggest.
No. 11 Michigan finished a
disappointing 24th at the NCAA
Championships Monday on
Indiana State's LaVern Gibson
championship course.
"They could have raced bet-
ter," Michigan coach Ron War-
hurst said. "I thought with an
average race we could at least
made the top 20, but we ran a
little below average."
The Wolverines qualified for
Nationals behind their unex-
pected first-place finish at the
Great Lakes Regional last week.
Yesterday's race was Michigan's
first team appearance at Nation-
als since 2004 and the first
Nationals race for all participat-
ing Wolverines.
"Everyone who raced for our
team, it was our first race at
Nationals," junior John Black
said. "It was good to get some
experience."
The men's race featured the
country's powerhouse cross
country programs including
four Big Ten teams and even-
tual National Champion Oregon,
which entered Nationals as the
nation's top-ranked squad.
The Wolverines had difficul-
ty establishing strong position
early in a fast field. They contin-
ued to struggle, steadily losing
position throughout the race.
Michigan found a bright spot
in Lex Williams's performance.
The junior finished 66th (31:00)
to lead the Wolverines.
Williams fought his way near
the top 30 in the first few thou-
sandmeters,butfellbackaround
the eight-kilometer mark.
"Lex really ran a tough race,"
Black said. "He really pushed it
forward. He definitely put it on
the line going out hard."
Sophomore Brandon Fellows
(31:18), freshman Craig Forys
(31:20), Black (31:27) and junior
Victor Gras (31:30) rounded out
Michigan's top scorers.
The Wolverines suffered
another setback when they lost
their No. 2 runner, Sean McNa-
mara, to injury. The sophomore
got caught in a tangle when two
runners fell in his path at the
3,000-meter mark. McNamara
turned an ankle trying to dodge
the duo and was forced to drop
out at 5,000 meters.
Despite a mediocre perfor-
mance, Warhurst was pleased
his team participated in the
National meet.
"We got here, and the whole
team's coming back for next year
so we've got experience," War-
hurst said.
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