Page 18 -The Michigan Daily - Thursday, May 19, 1983 Thinclads go to Big ens 4 Fiel events aid men By JEFF FAYE "When it rains, it pours." That has been more or less the motto of this outdoor season for Big Ten track. Every team has been rained on all through the season, and going into this weekend's championships in West Lafayette there are hopes that it will stop soon. DESPITE THE WEATHER, the favorite going into the meet has got to be indoor season champ Indiana by vir- tue of that victory and having a fairly healthy squad. That, at least is the con- tention of Hoosier coach Sam Bell. "We're well in every event, but there's no easy route to the champion- ship, he said. "Seven teams have a shot at placing in. the top five, and three have a chance at the title." Those three squads are Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, who happened to place in the top three indoors. Ac- tually, there are only two teams in the race. The Badgers are destined to finish behind the Wolverines. THE REASON for this is that in in- door track there is no discus event and Michigan has the favorite in Scott Erikson (182'10"). The Wolverines also have the third best height in the pole vault. Last week, Dave Woolley set a personal record of 16'6" and appears to be peaking at just the right time. In ad- dition, Jack Harvey's squad also has long jumper Derek Harper, who could repeat his blue-ribbon finish in the In- diana Invitational two weeks ago to boost them into the top spot in the con- ference. In the distance events, the Blue's highest hopes are carried by Brian Deimer and Gerard Donakowski, the third- and fourth-place finishers in the NCAA indoor two-mile. Their top races are the 3,000 meter steeplechase and 10,000 meters, respectively. Deimer's 8:36.80 in the steeplechase is the best in the conference's outdoor season, as is Donakowski's 28:53.6 in the 10,000. For the Wolverines to do well, these two must set an example for the rest of Michigan's distance runners to follow. Assistant coach Ron Warhurst ex- plained, "We just have to hope that the distance and field events save us and the other teams knock each other out in the other races." Women need distane to uset Badgers By JEFF FAYE The word around the Big Ten is that the women's track championships this weekend is more or less a two-team race - Michigan versus Wisconsin. For that matter, if you ask anyone who will win, they say "Michigan". Anyone, that is, except Blue coach Francie Goodridge. According to Goodridge, the Wolverines have one major flaw. "Our throwers," she says. "In the indoors there weren't as many throwing events and that helped us. Our strength is the distance events, just like Wisconsin, and we may cancel each other out. I'd have to pick Wisconsin to win it." FOR THE DISTANCE people to guide Michigan to the top, senior Sue Frederick-Foster must lead the way. The defending indoor mile champion holds the league's top time in the 3,000 meters (9:18.6), third-best time in the 800 meters (2:07.6) and fourth-best in the 1,500 meter run (4:32.11). The 3,000 should be Michigan's event, because after Frederick-Foster comes Melanie Weaver with a time of 9:22.3 and Sue Schroeder at 9:23.6 to round out the top three. In addition to her time in the 3,000, Weaver has the fastest 10,000 meters (33:57.66) of the year. Although the Wolverines are weak in throwing, they are solid in the long and high jumps. Lorri Thornton won the in- door crown in the long and will be in contention in the outdoors, as well. Joanna Bullard won the high title inside and is a strong favorite to finish first again. GOODRIDGE DOES not expect to get a great deal out of the sprints and mid- dle-distance races, but the two team members to watch are freshman Joyce Wilson and senior Brenda Kazinec. Their clockings in the 400-meter run are second (:53.57) and fourth (:55.42), respectively, in the conference. Wilson is also number four in the 800 at 2:08.08. The coach suggests that it is a wide open contest, with seven teams having a shot at the top five spots. She adds that three teams could win the title (the third is Indiana). While her last statement is questionable, Goodridge is right about one thing. It may be a cliche, but, she says, "We have our work cut out for us." 4 4 Elway can't be blamed .. . HE._SPORTINGVIEWS_. . .Irsay should know better By JEFF FAYE FOOTBALL is beautiful. NCAA, NFL or USFL, it doesn't matter. I love it. But lately it has started to look like the (yuck) New York Yankees circa 1979, during the Billy Martin scandal Take this John Elway-Baltimore Colts fiasco. To me, this is Baltimore owner Robert Irsay playing the part of George Steinbrenner. The problem arose when the aforementioned Yankees offered Elway megabucks to play for them. Armed with a bargaining position like that, he told the NFL he wouldn't play in Houston or Baltimore. Irsay drafted Elway first anyway, and when he wouldn't sign he was traded to Denver. By the next night he had signed a contract reputed to be one of the best in football. At that point the problems should have been over. Life, of course, isn't that easy - especially if an organization with a large bruised ego is involved. Last week, Irsay released a press announcement concerning Elway. He saidthe Colts will "get" the rookie back. "We also signed up a couple of boys who are looking for Elway. We are going to get Elway." As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Irsay is reacting to the situation like a spoiled child. Certainly John Elway wasn't completely in the right, but it wasn't really his fault. Throughout the last four years, everyone told Elway how great he was. No offensive player received as much recognition as he. There was not a person alive who could touch his statistics. As more and more praise was heaped upon him, something happened. He started to believe what he heard. It is completely understandable, Anyone would have done the same. Unfortunately, it happened at a time when the "money" players in professional sports have been dictating where they wanted to play and have been receiving huge salaries for their services. Taking all this to heart, Elway decided that he should tell the Oilers and Colts he didn't want to play for them. He wanted to play on a team with an offensive line to protect him. Who can blame him? Simple - Irsay. "Elway got his way, but didn't get his way. He wanted to play on the West Coast, and we put him 500 miles from the West Coast." Apparently there is at least some malice on the part of the Colts' owner. The man acts like all his problems during the past few years were Elway's doing. I'm afraid I can't sympathize with him. Irsay should never have drafted Elway after the Stanford graduate said he wouldn't sign with the Colts. He was lucky that the Yankees didn't sign Elway before the trade with Denver was completed. As it is, he should be happy with Mark Herrmann and Chris Hinton, especially since, according to his own words, "Elway will never be any good." What I cannot see is why Irsay was so stubborn that he had to draft Elway. Perhaps he thought the rookie was bluffing, that he would sign with whoeverwdrafted him. If that is what he thought, I wonder how he became wealthy enough to own a football team. His horse sense must be grazing in some pasture. Elway had a baseball contract waiting for him. All he had to do was give the word and he would be a Yankee. Would a player of his caliber bluff just to toy with the masterminds of the NFL? The answer is a resounding "No Way!" Irsay just was plain naive to think Elway would bend to his wishes. Then, after he was humiliated (at least in his own eyes) he tried to cover up for it and published threats and predictions. To make matters worse, he brought his new players into the act. Irsay deserves to be reprimanded and fined by the league for his remarks on the Elway situation. As for Elway, in the past he might have been at- tacked from all sides for his behavior, but because of the environment he was brought up in he shouldn't be blamed. He just did what he saw others do for years. The blame should fall on the system. The system breeds greed. Now that I think of it, Ir- say is probably a product of the system, too. But he should know better. He's seen the good ol' days. Hair Styling Pacers nix With A Flair DASCOLA STYLISTS raft East U, at So. U. ...... ...664-0354 Liberty off State ........66x-9529 Maple Village ...........2761-733 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Pacers have rejected a deal proposed by the Houston Rockets for the Pacers to bow out of today's coin flip to determine the No. 1 pick in June's National Basketball Association draft, a Pacer spokesman said yesterday. The No. 1 pick most likely will be Virginia's 7-4 Ralph Sampson. The Rockets offered Indiana their second pick in the draft No. 3 overall, their No. 1 pick in the 1984 draft and Indiana's choice of either Caldwell Jones or Allen Leavell in exchange for the Pacers bowing out of the coin flip. "We're still listening to offers, but that offer I guess you could say we turned down," Packer spokesman Dave Paitson said.