12 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 2, 2003 Brannen, Willis earn event wins at regional meet4 By Ellen McGarrity Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - As the bell rang sig- naling the last lap of the 1500-meter run, freshman Nick Willis was positioned dead last among the pack of eight run- ners racing to get a ticket to the NCAA Championships. Doubt and anxiety cov- ered the faces of the Michigan crowd, but Michigan coach Ron Warhurst seemed calm as his freshman standout trailed during the NCAA Mideast Regionals on Saturday. "I told Nick, 'Stick to our plan. Don't do anything until the 500-meter mark. Then move up, and within that 500-meter mark, you decide when you're going to go,'" Warhurst said. The coach's strategy worked for his young runner as Willis gracefully executed the plan, taking over the lead in a matter of seconds. The New Zualand native not only held on to first-place for the remainder of the race, but managed to finish an amaz- ing 15 meters in front of the pack with a time of 3:45.45. "I looked behind me as I was going down the backstretch to see what the gap was like," Willis said. "And I was quite surprised to see it was a lot bigger than I expected." Although this speedy runner knew exactly what he was doing going into the race, the freshman confessed that even he had his doubts. "Basically I just wanted to get through the race without tripping over," Willis said. "I was pretty confident, but if for some reason I didn't go (to NCAA Nationals), I would feel like a bit of a tool. I wanted to stay out of trouble as much as possible." Willis took the win in the 1,500 at the Big Ten Championships just a few weeks ago and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in both the indoor and outdoor track seasons this year. He will be heading to Sacramento, Calif. in two weeks to compete against other nationally-ranked runners for the NCAA title. Sophomore Nate Brannen will also join Willis in California after triumphing in his specialty event, the 800-meter run. During Friday's preliminaries, Brannen took an early lead, but lagged behind Tennessee's Marc Sylvester as he crossed the finish line in second. For Saturday's finals, the sophomore tried a different style. Brannen pur- posely stayed in the middle of the pack until the last 100 meters, when his hard kick propelled him into first and took him across the line in the winning time of 1:48.35. "I said, 'Don't go until you get to the straightaway - the wind's going to be at your back,"' Warhurst said about his advice to Brannen before the race. "(For preliminaries), I was pretty much just chasing a time," said Brannen, explaining his different racing strategies. "I wanted to be nationally ranked because if I didn't get in the top five on Friday, then I could get to the nationals on my time alone." In the Mideast Regionals, individuals with qualifying times from the outdoor track season competed for a spot at nation- als. The top five in each event as well as the next three fastest runners overall were chosen to move on. Sophomore Rondell Ruff and freshman Andrew Ellerton also came close to earn- ing a spot at nationals. Ruff struck out the first day of competi- tion, finishing fourth in his heat of the 1500-meter preliminaries, missing a chance at Saturday's finals by just seven hundredths of a second. "I kind of fell off the pack with maybe 1100 to go," Ruff said. "Then at 300to go, the lead pack started pulling away so I kicked. I made a good strong move, but I died with 50 meters to go." Ellerton made it to the second day of competition in the 800-meter run, but missed going to Nationals by an even smaller margin than Ruff - two hun- dredths of a second. "Andrew just missed, but he's had a problem with his knee for the past two weeks," Warhurst said. "It's better that he didn't make it so he won't be tempted to go to nationals (with an injury)." Ruff admitted he was just happy that he had the chance to compete at the regional meet. "I was pleased because it's a long sea- son and I wasn't ranked too highly," Ruff said. "I did better than a lot of peo- ple expected - and I've still got two years left." Brannen and Willis now must look to the NCAA Finals on June 11 on their own. "They'll both have an opportunity to get to the finals at nationals, and then any- thing can happen," Warhurst said. "The goal would be to have them in the top three, but obviously Nate and Nick's goal is to win." CAA O'N inued from Page 11 Continue ett captured the top two spots in the improve s of the hammer throw. Phillips, the big c had a winning toss of 1992", also Essentia the shot put title and will compete to Carlis >th events at the NCAA Champi- his VHS ips. Bickett placed second in the was bad s finals with aheave of 167'1" and Super M d a third in the shot put finals. She - it's ju represent Michigan in all three seeming s at the championship meet. should t ashman Rebecca Walter and sopho- I knov Stephanie Linz also qualified for Carlisle CAA Championships. Walter over- most lik the cold weather to finish fourth in have a n 5,000-meter run with a time of of the Pt ), while Linz unexpectedly won the intellige jump with a leap of 5'10 12". thing to 'he four athletes are in a good posi- Scotty B to do well at the national level," stuck-up y said. "It's a chance for them to Dumars individually. I think the throwers, Brown w rticular, will lead the way for us." that hev e four qualifiers will have a week Note: efore they head to Sacramento, Brown it . for the national championships. end, the Freshman Nick Willis took the title In the 1,500-meter run at the Mideast Regionals on Saturday in a come-from-behind fashion. EILL I from Page 11 d their chances of winning one with the hiring of Brown. illy he's the Super Nintendo le's Nintendo, or the DVD to . It's not that the predecessor in any way -- I still play [ario 3 and record on a VCR st that when something ly better comes along, one ake it. w there is a lot of talk of how upset the front office - ely everyone that doesn't umber retired in the rafters alace - but Dumars is too nt to just dump the best happen to Detroit since 3owman because of some high-ranking officials. had to have known that was not only available, but would become a Piston. In the rare chance Larry s a Houston Rocket by week's crawling back to Carlisle would need to begin ASAP, and the tone of this piece of writing would change drastically. In the end I'm not surprised to see Carlisle go. Dumars wasn't known as the tenacious defender that he was for doing the same thing over and over again. He got rid of Jerry Stackhouse because he could get a player of almost equal talent for a cheaper price. Now the Pistons have eight fig- ures of cap room to go after players like Jermaine O'Neal (this year) or Kevin Garnett (last year, maybe this year). He was able to pull a sign-and- 4 trade with Grant Hill. Now the Pis- tons have a solid backup point guard and an all-star power forward. Dumars gets rid of his Xs-and-Os coach. Now he has an experienced and successful coach for reportedly the next five years. The only real amazing thing of all this is how quickly message-board fans have turned their backs on the man who got so much for a soon-to- be defunct Hill. So I say to you that Rick Carlisle was man enough Saturday to sit next to the man who released him and to actually stand by Dumars' decision - though he obviously did not like it. Maybe those who back Carlisle need to follow his direc- tion, put a smile on their face and give Dumars a chance. - Kyle wants to remind you that the Lions made the NFC Championship game in 1991, and topped out when they made no changes. He can be reached at kylero@umich.edu. to the A'qoft? Please call Metro Connection Airport Service 4 =Tp Special Price $39 for UofM students, Ann Arbor Residents and Corporate Accounts We provide luxury Lincoln Town Cars at taxi prices. The same rate applies for one to four people and we do not charge a waiting fee at the airport.A _ We welcome all accounts. Please call for reservations. O .0 (734) 347-4007 or 1-888-706-8080 All Major Credit Cards Accepted: Visa - MasterCard - AmericanExpress