14 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May 22, 1996
SPORTS
'M' women's track places 3rd in Big Tens; men finish 7th.
By Chris Farah
and James Goldstein
Daily Sports Writers
STATE COLLEGE - Coming into
the Big Ten Championship in a rebuild-
ing year after losing much of the talent
that propelled it to conference domi-
nance in 1993 and 1994, the Michigan
women's track team was looking to
place among the top four teams.
.> Last weekend at Penn State, the
Wolverines surpassed these expecta-
tions.
Michigan finished a very strong
third with 95 points. Favorite
Wisconsin beat out Illinois by one point
to capture the team title, 149-148.
"We exceeded our goal in the sense
that we've come in a really respectable
third," Michigan coach James Henry
said.
As for the Michigan men's track and
field team, it wasn't expecting to com-
pete for the team title because of a lack
of depth.
The Wolverines placed seventh with
72 points, yet they were just one point
behind Ohio State and two behind
Illinois. They were only nine points
behind third-place Penn State.
Wisconsin made it a school sweep
by capturing its second consecutive
team title by blowing away the rest of
the field with 147 points. Minnesota
followed far behind with 104.5 points
for second place.
Individually, though, the Wolverines
showed their might.
Hurdles specialist Neil Gardner
highlighted the Wolverines' perfor-
mances. He won the 400-meter hurdles
(50.56 seconds) and took second in the
110-meter hurdles (:13.81). Both times
qualified Gardner for the NCAA
Championships to be held in Eugene,
Or. on May 29-June 1.
of an inch short of Ohio State's
Shandelier Boyd-Pleasant.
Though pleased with her perfor-
mance in the heptathlon. Longe said she
still missed the competition of her main
rival, Purdue's Corissa Yassen.
Heptathlon-favorite Yassen decided
to focus her energies on other events
this year.
"[Winning] feels all right," Longe
said, "but coming in here and winning
with Corissa would have been better."
After a disappointing sixth-place fin-
ish in the 3,000-meter run Saturday.
Babcock came through in the 5,000.
Babcock placed second, behind dis-
tance favorite Kathy Butler of
Wisconsin.
"It was really nice to come back,"
Babcock said. "Obviously I felt bad
about yesterday. Today was a lot closer
(to how I usually perform)."
According to Henry, Babcock's
determination mirrored the team's per-
formance at the championship.
"There would be one athlete who
would do something less respected and
come right back and do it better the next
throw or the next jump, like Courtney,
and redeem themselves," Henry said.
"That was pretty much indicative of
how this team is"
Just like Babcock, Gardner was able
to improve from one event to the next.
The junior from Kingston, Jamaica,
who qualified for this summer's
Olympics earlier this season for the
Jamaican team, said he lost the 110-
meter hurdles at the seventh hurdle. But
in the 400-meter race, everything
worked out.
"What I tried to do was get a good
start so I have the momentum going
into the wind," Gardner said. "The
advantage I had was I was right behind
(second place finisher Indiana's Russ
Pernus), so when he was not making a
move, I could see and react."
Royce, on the other hand, said he felt
his high jump victory was bittersweet*
"Winning was great, but I woul
have preferred to wits and qualify for
nationals as well," Royce said. "I just
wanted to make it to nationals my
senior year and to go to the dance, but I
got left home."
Michigan senior Trinity Townsend
didn't get left home. He automatically
qualified for the NCAAs by finishing
second (1:47.25) in the 800-meter run.
Townsend ran in the 800-meter run for
the first time in the Big Ten tourname
He raced the 1500-meter run in last
year's conference tournament.
The distance squad missed Kevin
Sullivan and Scott MacDonald, who
both red-shirted this year to concentrate
on making the Olympics for the
Canadian team.
But Wolverine freshman John
Mortimer made a name for himself by
placing second in the 3,000-mete
steeplechase (9:08.95) and fifth in t W
5,000-meter run (15:00.40).
Other Michigan scorers include Stan
Johanning, who qualified for nationals
and finished second in the javelin with
a throw of 229-9 feet.
Felman Malveaux placed seventh
(:10.60) in the 100-meter dash. Damon
DeVasher wound up eighth in the high
jump. In the relays, the Wolverines
took third in the 4-x-400-meter relay
and fifth in the 4-x-100-meter relay. r
Michigan senior sprinter Tearza Johnson and the women's track tee
third at the Big Ten Championships. The men's team placed sevens
Also, Michigan's Jon Royce took
first place in the high jump by clearing
the 7-1 1/2-foot bar. He missed qualify-
ing for nationals when he failed to clear
7-1 3/4 feet.
Point scorers for Michigan's women
team included seniors Katy Hollbacher
and Mayrie Richards, who placed third
and fourth in their first-ever shots at the
10,000-meter run.
Senior Monika Black placed fourth
in the high jump, and freshman
Stephanie Wigness placed third in the
discus.
"We demonstrated that we might not
have all the marquee athletes, but we're
a very balanced squad and I think we
overachieved this weekend," Henry
said.
Leading the Wolverines in their bal-
anced attack were sophomore Tania
Longe and senior Courtney Babcock.
Longe finished first in the heptathlon
and second in the long jump, a quarter
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Pusztai set to represent Blue men's1
By Richard Shin earned a berth in the NCAA
Daily Sports Writer Individual Championships with an
The Michigan men's tennis team's impressive 37-14 record. Pusztai is
season is over, but for the team's No. ranked No. 25 in collegiate tennis and
I singles player Peter Pusztai, the end will compete in the 64-player field
of the season is just the beginning. May 22-26 at Athens, Ga.
Pusztai, a native of Ann Arbor, This season as co-captain, Pusztai
tennis at NCAAs
enjoyed his best year, winning the
Big Ten Singles Championship.
He was also honored as the 1996
Conference Player of the Year, and
was named to the All-Big Ten
Conference team for the second con-
secutive year.
lk
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