The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

4B - March 17, 2008

01ii shatters 'M' record again

By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
Before the NCAA Indoor
Championships last weekend, one
could've argued junior Tiffany
Ofili was one of the fastest female
athletes ever to don the Maize and
Blue.
But after the co-captain
smashed her own school record
by one tenth of a second to secure
the 60-meter hurdles title in 7.94
seconds, Ofili proved she might be
one of the greatest Michigan ath-
letes of all time.
"She is the greatest athlete that
we've developed into, I believe, a
world-class performer," Michigan
coach James Henry said.
Ofili now has two NCAA Cham-
pionships under her belt. She also
won the 100-meter hurdles at the
NCAA Outdoor Championship last
spring.
Ofili's All-American perfor-
mance sparked Michigan's best-
ever finish at the NCAAs and
tallied 10 of the team's 39 points in
the Wolverines' third-place finish.
Though Ofili didn't start the day
off the way she would have liked,
finishing third in her qualifying
heat (8.07 seconds), it was nothing
new for the All-American.
"She has a tendency to relax
a little too much in the prelimi-

running the mile more than five
seconds faster (4:35.74) than her
time at Big Tens.
She also ran anchor for the dis-
tance medley relay team and once
again just missed capturing first
place. The team finished .25 sec-
onds behind the winner.
"Nicole felt that she let the team
down," Henry said. "I do think
that she felt she let the team down
because it happened to her twice."
On the positive side, Edwards
received All-American honors in
the mile for the third straight year
and capped off her indoor career
as the school's record holder in the
event.
Prior to this weekend, the Wol-
verines' best finish at the Indoor
Championships was fifth in 1998.
But with Ofili and the three
other All-Americans' effort, the
Wolverines achievedtheir primary
objective of the season - to finish
higher at Nationals than any other
Wolverine team in history.
"Our goal this past year was
to place in the top-four nation-
ally because we thought we had
the personnel for it," Henry said.
"(We also wanted) to win the Big
Ten, but we will sacrifice the Big
Ten to keep people as healthy and
as fresh as possible to go after a
top-four finish. And that's what
we did."

Blue dominant in East
By RYANKARTJE ing fans and player-to-player
Daily Sports Writer smack talk.
"We've had a lot of rivalry out-
Since the beginning of the sea- side the pool," junior Sharayah
son, Michigan water polo coach Hernandez said. "They've said
Matt Anderson insisted that his unsportsmanlike stuff to us after
team would be "the best in the games that's just made us even
east" INDIANA S more pumped to want to beat
despite MICHIGAN 6 them."
its inex- Despite scorching the oppo-
perience. sition for 47 goals in their last 3
On Sunday, the Wolverines matches, the Wolverines knew
took a giant step toward proving that Indiana had the potential to
his point. slow down their potent offensive
No. 12 Michigan beat its big- attack.
gest rival, No. 15 Indiana, in a 6-5 "Defense is what wins
win at Canham Natatorium. With games, and it's clear that that's
the victory, Michigan remained what won it for us today,"
undefeated against Easternoppo- Anderson said.
nents, posting a17-0 record in the The defensive charge was led
region. by junior goalkeeper Brittany
"We've been set on re-estab- May, who made save after save,
lishing ourselves in the east, and deflecting every ball that came
we weren't going to let anything her way.
break our focus," junior captain "I just kept telling myself,
Julie Hyrne said. 'This is our game,' and that I had
That focus was evident from to step up," May said.
the onset, as the Wolverines Anderson called May "the dif-
came out with an intensity char- ference" for Michigan, calling
acteristic of any great Michigan the match "the best performance
rivalry, complete with scream- of her career."

APPHOTO
Junior Tiffany Ofili won the 60-meter hurdles National Championship with a time
of 7.94 seconds this weekend, breaking the school record she previously held. It was
the second championship of Ofili's career.

nary," Henry said. "Her history is
to not give her very best when it's
not the final."
That desperation worked again,
and the rest of the team followed
her lead.
Three more Wolverines walked
away with All-America honors -
junior Bettie Wade (pentathlon),
senior Nicole Edwards (mile run)
and junior Geena Gall (800-meter

run).
Wade placed first in the high
jump (5-111/4 feet) and third in the
shot put (43-3 3/4 feet) to secure a
second-place finish and set a new
personal best in the pentathlon
(4366 points).
Edwards, who won the mile
run at the Big Ten Champion-
ships (4:41.04),.just missed out on
a national title by .44 seconds after

RATKOWIAK
From Page lB
playoff game was still almost as
exciting as their first. A minute
after the Mavericks scored in the
second period to narrow Michi-
gan's lead to one, Aaron Palushaj
leveled Nebraska-Omaha
goalie Jerad Kaufmann and Yost
exploded. Max Pacioretty started
punching forward Nick Von
Bokern. Tristin Llewellyn flipped
a Maverick player skates-over-
head to leave him flat on the ice.
As the melee was subsiding, a
belligerent Michigan fan snuck
into the Nebraska-Omaha par-
ent section. The fight on the ice
shifted to the stands. The crowd
roared. Kolarik, who knew the
Mavericks parent involved in the
fight, stood on the ice alone and
laughed.
"You see one of their parents
getting thrown out, and that's
the fun of college hockey, that's
why they're there," Sauer said.
This weekend was just further
proof that the Wolverines have
thrived on emotional rushes to

win in big games all season.
Yes, Michigan's aggression
was costly. Pacioretty was dis-
qualified from next Friday's
semifnal game at Joe Louis
Arena. More than one player
admitted the team lost some
momentum after the fight. But
the crowd fervor was unmatched.
From the time they cheered loud-
er for Kolarik than Porter during
Friday's introduction, Kolarik
was again the pulse of the Michi-
gan hockey team.
During the second intermis-
sion Saturday, a time usually
reserved for a select few fans to
dance in the stands, the entire
student section rose to its feet
and started dancing wildly.
When the song was done, they
pleaded for the band to play
again.
The crowd got its encore.
On Friday, Kolarik got his.
And if the Wolverines keep
making it this exciting in the
playoffs, they could be riding his
energy all the way to Denver.
- Ratkowiak can be reached
at cratkowi@umich.edu.


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