The Michigan Qoily-Tuesday, May 18, 1982-Page15
Women tracksters take second
By RON POLLACK
Don't let Michigan State's 10 point victory over
second-place Michigan fool, you, the Wolverine
women tracksters came within an eyelash of winning
the Big Ten Championships this weekend at Cham-
paign, Illinoia.
"We had a bad break when we were in first place in
the sprint medley relay and ran out of our own lane
and were disqualified," said Michigan head coach
Francie Goodridge. "That was a jitters thing. That
was the 10 points that could have put us over the top.
We would have beaten State since we lost 10 points
and State moved from second to first in that race."
Considering this bad break, it would be understan-
dable if Goodridge expressed disappointment at the
outcome of the meet. This was anything but the case.
"I really hadn't expected that we'd do as well as we
did," said Goodridge. "I went in there hoping we'd
get in the top four and I'd be happy. But everything
pulled together." ,
Finishing behind Michigan State (103 points) and
Michigan (92 ), were Wisconsin (92), Purdue (80),
Iowa (72), Illinois and Indiana (66 each) , Ohio State
(26), Minnesota (221/) and Northwestern (0).
After the first of two days of competition, the
Wolverines were in first place with 34.points, followed
closely by the Spartans with 32 points. Michigan held'
the first-day lead on the strength of first place
finishes by Penny Neer in the discus and Melanie
Weaver in the 10,000-meter run. In winning her third
straight discus title with a throw of 178'6", Neer set a
new Big Ten record.
"Penny is so far ahead of everybody that there is no
competition," said Goodridge. "They're always
going for second when they're around her." Neer's
winning toss was 23'2" ahead of Ohio State's Nadine
Cox who finished second inthe discus.
As for Weaver, Goodridge said, "That race had her
name written on it. There's no doubt that she's the
best in the conference in the 10,000. It was windy, so
she stayed with the pack and then outkicked everyone
in the final mile."
On the second day of competition, Michigan got fir-
st-place finishes from Debbie Williams in the javelin,
Joanna Bullard in the high jump and the quartet of
Cathy Sharpe; Renee Turner, Lorrie Thornton and
Brenda Kazinec in the 400-meter relay.
Williams won the javelin competition with a toss of
157'1" and in doing so, became the only woman ever
to win fourstraight Big Ten titles.
"That's a very difficult accomplishment in the Big
Tein," said Goodridge. "She's studied the event-and
she's very talented."
In winning the high jump, Bullard set a new Big
Ten record of 5'10". "Joanna has improved her jum-
ping so much this year, that everyone in the Big Ten
has been chasing after her. She's been so consistent this
year that it didn't surprise me that she broke the
record. She's been jumping around that height all
year," said Goodridge.
Michigan's next meet will be the AIAW's on May
26-29. Those Wolverines who have qualified for this
meet are Bullard, Weaver, Neer, Williams, Sharpe,
Turner, Thornton, Kazinec, Sue Frederick, Lisa Lar-
sen and Melody Middleton.
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