Michigan football recruit Drew Henson
could be drafted in tomorrow's Major
League Baseball Amateur Draft. Read
The Daily next week for detail.
SPORTS
Monday
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Townsend
final piece
of puzzle
By T.J. Berka
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan men's basketball coach
Brian Ellerbe completed the overhaul of
his coaching staff Friday with the hiring
of Kutis Townsend as an assistant.
Townsend's hiring completes a
month in which the Wolverines saw 10-
year assistant Brian Dutcher resign,
and Ellerbe hire two other assistants,
Lorenzo Neely and Tom Sorboro.
While Neely will be an assistant coach,
Sorboro will serve as an administrative
associate.
"Kurt is a great person who will
bring a lot of knowledge with him,"
said Michigan assistant Scott Trost, the
only full-time assistant retained from
last season.
Townsend was an assistant at Eastern
Kentucky under former Michigan assis-
tant Scott Perry. While Perry's ties to the
Wolverines might have been a factor,
Townsend's reputation was key in his
hiring.
Ellerbe "thought that Kurt was the
best person for the job," Trost said.
"His relationship with Perry might
have helped him, but Ellerbe knew of
him and his talents."
x Townsend's most valuable talent for
the Wolverines is his recruiting.
Townsend, a native of San Jose, has
many contacts on the west coast, an
area from which Michigan hasn't
drawn much talent in the past.
Townsend "has a lot of contacts on
the west coast and is a very skillful
recruiter," Trost said. "We plan on
using him, as well as Neely, Ellerbe and
I, on the road in recruiting."
A graduate of Western Kentucky,
where he played under current Purdue
coach Gene Keady, Townsend played at
Menlo Park Junior College in Menlo
Park, Calif., during his freshman and
sophomore seasons.
After a stint in the CBA, Townsend
was a high school assistant at San Jose
from 1984-90 and a head coach San
Jose from 1990-93. Townsend also
served as an assistant at California
from 1993-96 before being hired by
Eastern Kentucky.
Townsend's California background
has the potential to be a much-needed
boost in Michigan recruiting. Michigan
only received two commitments - both
in the fall - while losing four key con-
tributors in Maceo Baston, Travis
Conlan, Robert Traylor and Jerod Ward.
Townsend "has outstanding interper-
sonal skills and is a very knowledge-
able recruiter," Ellerbe said in a
released statement. "He unquestionably
has all the attributes to be a head coach
in the future and we are lucky to have
him at the University of Michigan."
N g A0,00
lory for blue
Blue finishes fifth
at rowing nationals
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Spots Itor
As the Washington crew crossed the finish line in the
National Rowing Championships at Lake Lanier, ca., yester-
day, Michigan's hopes for the first women's national title in
school history vanished for the second time in as many weeks.
The Michigan rowing team, seeded third finished fifth in
both the first-varsity and second-varsity eight races, and ses
enth in the varsity four race. Michigan's 70 team points were
good enough for fifth place, 21 points behind the Huskies.
Michigan finished behind Washington. Brown (85 points),
Virginia (76) and Massachusetts (72).
Despite being a varsity program for just two years, the fin-
ish was disappointing for the Wolverines, who had their sights
set on a national title. Last week, the Michigan softball team,
also expected to contend for a national title, finished in the
lower tier of the College World Series, leaving Michigan still
searching for its first women's national title after 25 years of
varsity athletics.
"We're not going to be happy with just being there
Michigan coach Mark Rothstein said last week.
Then the Michigan roswers aren't going to be happy at all.
Michigan's first-varsity eight shell started off strong and wsas
in second place, just .60 seconds behind the first-place
lHuskies, after 500 meters.
But as the race wore on, the Wolverines wore down.
Gainesvile, After 1,000 meters, the Wolverines slipped to third as see-
ond-seeded Brown passed them. Michigan wiiould spend the
See ROWERS, Page 11
Michigan's rowing team captured fifth place in the nation yesterday on Lake Lanier in
Both varsity eight boats finished fifth in their races.
Wolverines to Watch
Nine Wolverines will be competing in the NCAA Track and
Field Championship on June 3-6 in Buffalo.
Maria Brown -100 meters
Nicole Forrester - High Jump
Elizabeth Karmpfe - 10.000
Tania Longe - Heptathlon
John Mortimer - 3,000 steeplechase, 5,000
Katie McGregor - 5,000
Kevin Sullivan - 1.500
Brian Thiesen -110 hurdles
0
6
ome people mistake her for an
intense competitor. Some peo-
ple think winning makes her
engine go. Some people think she pur-
sues winning on and off the track, that
everything she does is a fight to come
out on top.
Some people are wrong.
She's always loved to run. Ever
since she first exploded out the door
of her South Euclid, Ohio, home when
she was three years old, she's loved to
run. The winning just comes with the
territory.
It was running, not winning, that
made her feel compelled to join her
middle-school track team. One of her
classmate's parents, though, felt dif-
ferently on the subject. They told their
daughter she had to beat McGregor, or
else she wouldn't get a ride home from
the race.
McGregor let the girl win. After all,
McGregor still got to run.
Since then, she's
come up against oppo-
nents whose lift home
isn't contingent on victo-
ry. Not that McGregor
would be so generous today.
Somewhere along the
way, McGregor found out
sonaething about herself.
She can't stand losing.
"When I win," she said,
"I feel like that was what I
was supposed to do. But
when I lose ... I just hate
losing."
She doesn't spend evenings
polishing her 3,000-meter run
national championship trophy from
this past indoor season. She doesn't
even know most of her personal
records.
Look at her eyes. They don't look
like the eyes of someone who needs to
win, who needs to grab life by the
throat and win in
every way possible.
They look more
like the eyes of
someone who
needs a nap.
'Just doin' my
job,' the look on
her face seems to
say, as she blows
past a pack of run-
ners.
Maybe it's her
cool confidence
that makes her
such a leader on
all three of her
teams.
Whether it's
cross country,
indoor track or
outdoor track,
McGregor's
the one runners
find themselves rallying around -- the
one they call Big Red before a race.
"When Katie talks," teammate
Elizabeth Kampfe said, "people lis-
ten."
But when she readies for the 5,000
meters in Buffalo, this won't be anoth-
er day at the office. This is for the
national title. So maybe she can be
forgiven if she seems a little, wc
geeked.
"She's pretty low-key about it right
now," said Kampfe, who will be run-
ning in the 10,000 in Buffalo.
This, of course, might change once
McGregor arrives in Buffalo. She
might be laid back most of the time,
but come on, a chance to win two
national titles in one year? Anybody
would be a little excited, right?
"I think right before a race she g*
pretty excited," Kampfe said.
OK, maybe she just picks her bat-
tles.