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 :Y.? 39 " , .' ., y' 'S ? : fi'A.f./f+ '35>' 'id 'r r w . ..... .,cuti r «-. ,: r:r ..- ;,.. ;" . y, s. _. , ,:. :. t tis,',: r . >7.. 3.. ., «. ,: ... ;z ! ... : .. -..,, S ,.,.::.., ;,t.: ara r % n, hYhyvl.. , , .. 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.