Wednesday, June 11, 1997 - The Michigan Daily - 15 There is I'Tin Longe By Chris Farah Daily Sports Editor On May 24, on the Illinois track eld, there lay an unusual sight. kichigan multi-event star Tania Longe was huddled, the frame of her body-a physique appropriate for great classical Greco-Roman sculpture - shaking as tears ran down her face. She was not crying because she was dissatisfied with her performance at the Big Ten championships that day teed, winning e heptathlon and placing in the. top six in four other events couldn't possibly inspire sorrow. istead, Longe was upset because Michigan coach James Henry refused to let her in another event, the mile relay. Longe was disappointed, not because 0 was tired of doing so much, but because she wanted to do even more. In all, Longe accounted for 29 of Michigan's I l1 points and set a Big Ten record in the long jump, notching a dis- tance of 6.6 meters in the heptathlon. At the NCAA championships a week and a half later, the situation couldn't have been more different. Longe failed to even qualify for the finals in the long jump and placed a diocre 13th in the heptathlon with a re of 5,231 - more than 600 points less than her score at Big Tens. Longe has never had a successful run at NCAAs. She finished 15th in the triple jump in the indoor championships earlier this year, ninth in the heptathlon in the 1996 outdoors and 10th in the 1995 outdoors. And the reason for Longe's problem- atic trend at NCAAs is as clear as the s that ran down her face at Big Tens. As much as it pained her to not be able to give everything she had for her teamat Big Tens, that level of passion- the drive to not let her teammates down - pushed her to the incredible level of success she achieved that weekend. On the other hand, competing on the national level requires a more individual focus, perhaps even selfish one. When it comes down to it, at NCAAs each Wolverine is out there for herself, npeting for personal glory. Don't ink that Longe doesn't want to win on an individual level-to say so wouldbe a discredit to such an intense competitor. But Longe pulls the most out of her- self as an individual when she is fighting for the rest of her team. "Tania is a team person' Henry said. "At the nationals, there's no one there. She's out there on an island by herself, and the team isn't depending on her" *Jntil Longe starts to enjoy being on that island, expect a lot more success at the Big Ten level, but the same lacklus- ter achievement at the national level. Gardner's 'M' career more than last race By Chris Farah Daily Sports Editor Two NCAA championships, one appearance in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles semifinals, three Big Ten out- door championships, one Michigan track and field record ... Aside from turnips and a dash of salt, the recipe for Neil Gardner's accom- plishments as a member of the Michigan track team lacks almost nothing. Gardner, a senior, didn't exactly close out his Michigan career in ideal fashion, finishing only sixth in the 400 hurdles at last week's NCAA championships - an event he won last year. But Gardner said he didn't want his legacy to consist sim- ply of athletics, anyway. "My goal here was not just to run track," Gardner said. "I also wanted to make my academic contributions and extra-curricular as well. I want to be known as a rounded student athlete, as opposed to just a good runner." Gardner also did more for the Michigan men's track team than just add new chapters to the record book. When he came to Michigan from Jamaica as a freshman, the team suffered from poor unity and camaraderie. As a senior co- captain, Gardner worked to change that. "The unity of the team escalated sev- eral-fold," Gardner said. "Now we have guys waking up at 9 a.m. to watch a 5,000-meter run. They're making sacri- fices to make sure they're there for each other, which is a step in the right direc- tion. "It's been a tremendous help to have the team there as a family of friends to support me." Although Gardner left his mark on many things besides statistics sheets -- he maintained a 3.3 GPA while majoring in biochemistry - his extraordinary success on the track will leave the great- est impression on Michigan fans. Gardner said that although he may not have peaked at the right time, his senior year was his best as an athlete. "I don't want to let that isolated bad race hold me back, because I've had only two bad races this year, as opposed to maybe nine last year," Gardner said. "People probably have in mind that I lost the race because the other guys were faster, and I don't think that's entirely true. I lost because I had a bad race.' Some star athletes deal with their suc- cess by becoming arrogant and brash. Gardner's levelheaded approach to his own outstanding career characterizes his stay at Michigan just as well as any laun- dry list of his accomplishments. "When I look back at Michigan, I don't see any negatives as far as how I've progressed through the years; Gardner said. "Even the defeats and the lacklus- ter performances - if it wasn't for those, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good sides as well. I consider my career to be a total success." Michigan junior Tania Longe furthered a streak of poor NCAA cha mances last week, placing 13th In the heptathlon. NCAA Continued from Page 13 said that bad weather conditions - par- ticularly the rain - hurt her jumping. "It's not an excuse, but I totally lost focus when it rained," Forrester said. "Last year at Olympic trials, it started raining and I slipped. I have a problem whenever it rains because of that.' The Michigan women's other star athlete didn't have as much good for- tune, however. After setting a Michigan record in the heptathlon and a Big Ten champi- onship record in the long jump a week and a half earlier, Tania Longe finished 13th in the heptathlon while failing to even make the finals of the long jump at NCAAs. Longe said her impressive perfor- mance at Big Tens and her intense train- ing afterwards may have led to her poor showing at the national meet. "I definitely didn't have the same snap that I had at Big Tens," Longe said. "I can't say that I wasn't competitive, because I was, but it just wasn't there. I guess I was tired from Big Tens - I hadn't recuperated enough?' Michigan women's coach James Henry said he regretted working Longe in practice the week after Big Tens. "Longe's such a competitor that as soon as she finished Big Tens, she said, 'Well, I need to do this and work on this,"' Henry said. "She got right back into training, and that took its toll on her. 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