Monday, May 11, 1998 - The Michigan Daily - 19
Men's track comes home
By Chris Langrill
For the Daily
In its first home meet of the outdoor season, the
Michigan men's track team garnered some impres-
sive victories at the Phil Diamond Invitational this
past weekend. With strong showings from teams
such as Ohio State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and
Siena Heights, the two-day invitational was well
contested.
Both days saw a mix of sun and clouds, as brief
rays of sunshine were quickly covered by gray,
sweeping clouds every time they peeked through.
The victories and bright spots for the Wolverines
were just as intermittent - the wins were there,
but there just weren't many of them to bask under.
Saturday, the final day of competition,
Michigan came away with one win - the 4x100
meter relay. The relay team, made up of Steven
Jenkins, Martin and Kevin Bowman and Brian
Theisen, won its second straight Diamond
Invitational and its first outdoor race of the season
with a pace of 41.29.
Aside from this victory though, Saturday was
relatively quiet for the Wolverines. Theisen also
came away with his best 110-meter hurdle effort of
the outdoor season with a second-place time of
14.29.
Kevin Bowman also had a strong individual
effort in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.86.
This time earned Bowman a victory in his heat but
only placed him third overall. The other highlight
for the team came from RickyTurner, who won his
heat of the 400-meter dash, placing him sixth over-
all.
Friday afternoon provided the bulk of the
Michigan victories in the Invitational, with three
coming the Wolverines' way. The most exciting
race came in the 1,500-meter run. With the clouds
hanging ominously and the wind picking up as
runners warmed up for the race, the conditions
didn't seem like the backdrop for a great result.
But little seemed to bother any of the Michigan
runners competing in the event.
NCAA mile champion Kevin Sullivan, running
to cheers of "Sully," led from start to finish with a
final time of 3:44.69. He was joined by three other
Wolverines in the top five - Jay Cantin finished
third with a time of 3:46.39, his best finish as a
Wolverine. John Mortimer and Don McLaughlin
came in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The other two wins on Friday came from Todd
Snyder and Charles Dewildt. Snyder won the
5,000-meter run with a time of 14:25.44. This was
Snyder's first victory of the season after only fin-
ishing second at the recent Jesse Owens Classic
and at an earlier meet against Ohio State, USC and
Arizona.
Dewildt's victory in the pole vault, a 16-foot-6
effort, was his second in three weeks. Freshman
Andy Derr also impressed with his best javelin
throw as a Wolverine. His toss of 191-2 earned
Derr a second-place finish.
Michigan's three Friday wins were more than it
earned during last year's Diamond Invitational.
0 MARGARET MYERS/Dtly
John Mortimer didn't win any races at this weekend's Phil Diamond invitational, but he's probably proud
that his teammates won three events Friday, more than they did at last year's Phil Diamond invitational.
Women
strive to
*qualify
By Rick Freeman
Daily Sports Editor
Katie McGregor hates to lose. But
when she wins, she says she feels like
she's done what she was supposed to do.
Hand the good conduct ribbon her
way. The 1998 indoor national champion
*n the 3,000 meters just might have a
chance to do it outdoors, too. Her 9:28.46
finish in the 3,000 at the Cardinal
Twilight in Palo Alto, Calif, provisional-
ly qualified her to race in the 3,000 at the
NCAA Championships from June 3-6 in
Buffalo, N.Y. McGregor had already
automatically qualified in the 5,000.
Also qualifying provisionally, albeit
2,000 miles closer to home, was Nicole
Forrester. Her high jump of six feet at the
Phil Diamond Invitational was a Ferry
4eield and Michigan record. The victory
was Forrester's sixth in seven attempts
this season.
McGregor's victory was the only one
the distance runners pulled out at
Stanford, but two other Wolverines
struck gold at home.
Sarah Clauw's heave of 44.42 meters
was good enough for her first victory of
1998, and freshman Regine Caruthers
took first, too. Caruthers' first was on the
rack, as her finish of 55.68 in the 400
outpaced the rest of the field.
Michigan added a flurry of second-
place finishes to its three chart-toppers at
the Diamond, which, like the Twilight,
Women's golf staggers
to new lows this spring
By Jon Zanies
Dai y Sports Writer
To say that the Michigan women's golf
team's season was disappointing would
be putting it nice-
ly. Saying that
Golf Michigan just did-
Commentary n't play well
. would be realistic.
Stating that they
did play well would be an outright lie.
The season went well beyond disap-
pointment and mediocrity, straight to
rock bottom. The Wolverines just didn't
play up to par.
The Wolverines started out rurming
last fall at the Michigan State
Invitational, finishing in the top third of
the teams with fifth place. Sharon Park
led the team, as she has for most of the
season, by firing a 236, giving her a sev-
enth-place finish.
The Wolverines stumbled and fell for
the rest of the season, with finishes in the
middle or back of the pack. These
include 14th place out of 16 at the Lady
Northern Intercollegiate Invitational,
13th out of 18 while hosting the
Wolverine Invitational and a 10th out of
18 in the Lady Kat Invitational to close
out the fall season.
Spring meant a time of rebirth for the
Wolverines, because they needed to learn
how to walk again as far as golf went.
They finished dead last out of 18 at the
Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes,
Calif., and eighth place out of nine at the
Midwest Classic in Phoenix.
The Wolverines began to crawl into
mediocrity by finishing 11th at the Ben
Hogan Intercollegiate Invitational and
13th at the River Wilderness Invitational.
Park lead the team in both of these tour-
naments with 18th and 38th placings,
respectively. At the Indiana Invitational,
the team began to take its first baby steps
by producing a top-ten finish.
But with all first steps there is the
inevitable fall. Point in case -
Michigan's showing at the Big Ten
Championships. The Wolverines fin-
ished dead last yet again, cementing their
free fall into the basement of the Big Ten
standings.
One of the bright spots in this other-
wise bleak season was the near-consis-
tent team finishes of Park and Nicole
Green.
After hitting bottom, the only direction
for the Wolverines to go is up. That's
exactly where Park hopes they will go.
With the departures of seniors Green and
Hess, the team will likely be centered
around Park.
"She should be one of the best
returnees for next year," Michigan coach
Kathy Teichert said.
The Wolverines hope they won't have
to deal with the same growing pains as
they had this year and they'll return with
a more experienced team ready to com-
pete. With a quality player such as Park,
this could be possible, but if Park does-
n't get the help to back her up, this young
Michigan team will never learn how to
talk the talk, let alone walk the walk.
MARGARET MYERS/Da4
Katie McGregor qualified provisionally for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000
meters with a time of 9:28.46 at the Cardinal Twilight this past weekend.
was scored individuals-only. Michigan finisher Amy Johnson at 113-
Olive Ikeh finished second in the 400 4 - good enough for fifth overall.
hurdles with a time of 59.90. Also finish- Nicole Proulx finished eighth in the
ing second was Maria Brown in the 100 discus at 37.40.
at 11.71. Both sprint relays, the 400 and The distance squad placed four of
the 100, finished in the silver spot as well. their own in the top 10 in California.
Ikeh also placed eighth in the javelin Elizabeth Kampfe, an All-American in
- throwing 86 feet. She finished the indoor season, took seventh in the
behind teammates Tiffany Hodge, at 5,000 with a time of 17:06.95, ahead of
seventh with a heave of 93-6, and top Allison Noe's ninth-place effort.