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SPORTS
Ellerton ready for Olympic run'
By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Editor
Before Saturday's 800-meter race at the
Len Paddock Invitational all eyes at Ferry
Field were on Nate Brannen and Kevin Sulli-
van. It was a chance to see where Brannen,
who is redshirting the outdoor season, and
Sullivan, the former Wolverine who took
fifth place in the 1,500 meters in the 2000
Olympics, stand in their quest to compete in
the Olympics in Athens.
Michigan sophomore Andrew Ellerton was
well aware of the top competition that would be
in Ann Arbor this weekend, and was filled with
confidence after setting a personal-best time in
last weekend's Jesse Owens Classic. ,
"I'd hyped this race up for a while,"
Ellerton said. "I knew all the big names
that would be here."
Ellerton may soon be an equally big name if
his rapid improvement continues. The Windsor
native nipped Brannen, who has won two
NCAA Indoor Championships in the event,
with a time of 1:46.56. It was the third time in
four weeks he ran a personal-best time and
1.57 seconds faster than his time last weekend.
"I had been stuck at 1:49 since high school
- I'd run it a dozen times - so finally break-
ing that time last weekend was important, and
this was the next step," Ellerton said.
His sudden breakthrough has also altered his
plans for the summer. Ellerton's time on Satur-
day eclipsed the Olympic 'B' qualifying stan-
dard and was just 0.85 seconds short of the 'A'
standard necessary to qualify for the Olympics.
"The Olympics were a back-in-the-mind
goal," Ellerton said. "I had confidence in my
talent that I could do it someday, but I didn't
really think it could happen this year. The goals
have definitely changed a little bit now."
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst joked after
the race that he's going to need to find some
money to send Ellerton to the Canadian
National Championships, where a top-four fin-
ish would clinch an Olympic berth.
"It's got to be a goal now," Warhurst said.
"He's got as good a chance of qualifying for
the Canadian Olympic team as Brannen does."
Unlike Brannen and Nick Willis, Ellerton
chose not to sit out the outdoor season.
Warhurst says he's loaded with "raw talent,"
but because the Olympics are just now becom-
ing a goal, the two saw no reason for Ellerton
to redshirt.
"Last year I was positive I would redshirt,"
Ellerton said. "But my season hadn't been
going well. My times in workouts weren't indi-
cating I'd be running these kinds of times now"
Now that his ultimate goal is Athens, a con-
cern may be how Ellerton feels when the
NCAA season ends. Brannen and Willis are
redshirting to avoid the week-to-week grind of
the outdoor season in order to fully devote time
to their Olympic goals.
"The collegiate season is very long and tir-
ing," Ellerton said. "It's hard mentally to race at
such a high level for so long. In July I'll proba-
bly say, 'Yeah, redshirting would have made
this a lot easier.'
Ellerton and his teammates will compete in
the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette
this weekend. Though Warhurst has not yet set
up a schedule to have Ellerton best prepared
for his run to Athens, he believes Ellerton may
be able to go after the 'A' standard at NCAA
Championships on June 12.
But no matter what the rest of the summer
holds, after the way he ran down Brannen on
Saturday, at least some of the focus will be on
Ellerton the next time he's on the track.
TONY DING/Daily
After eclipsing his personal-best time in the 800-meters by 1.57
seconds, Andrew Ellerton has Athens in the back of his mind.
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'M NOTE
'M' Nine fails to sweep despite
desperate seventh-inning rally
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School fGeneral Studies
After laying dormant the entire game, the
Michigan baseball team's offense finally woke
up in the final inning of yesterday's double-
header. Despite a three-run surge off of Pur-
due starter Brian Karpel, the Wolverines
found themselves at the short end of yester-
day's nightcap, 4-3.
Sophomore A.J. Scheidt, the only Wolverine
with a multi-hit performance in the second
game started the seventh-inning rally with a
single. Freshman Brad Roblin and sophomore
Michael Schmidt followed with a pair of
pinch-hit one-baggers before sophomore
Chris Getz singled Scheidt and Roblin home.
With his two-run single in the seventh, Getz
maintained a .378 batting average in confer-
ence play.
Before the rally, Karpel had scattered just
three hits. Junior Matt Butler's fourth inning
double, the teams only extra-base hit,
accounted for one of only two Wolverines
making it into scoring position in the game's
first six innings.
The middle of Michigan's line-up had a
tough day at the plate during both of Sunday's
games, batting a combined 2-for-18. Junior
Kyle Bohm and senior Brandon Roberts,
Michigan's top two hitters, were both held hit-
less in yesterday's contests.
Continuing his comeback from an ankle
injury, sophomore Jeremy Goldschmeding
made his first career start in left field during
the three-game series after starting every
game of his career at shortstop. He went 1-
for-8 against Purdue pitching; a singl!in yes-
terday's early contest marks his lone hit.
Redshirt sophomore Paul Hammond, who holds
a 1.70 ERA in Big Ten play, continued his domi-
nance against conference foes. During Michigan's
4-2 win in Sunday's early contest, Hammond
hurled his second complete game in three contests
since being moved from the bullpen to the starting
rotation.
The Wolverines complete the four-game set
with Purdue this afternoon. A Michigan win
in the finale would mark its fourth split in six
Big Ten four-game series.
- Ryan Sosin
01
Redshirt sophomore Paul Hammond was impressive in his
second complete-game for the Wolverines on the season.
"Don't let your
get ahead of
A you
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eee 9329
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BIG TENS
Continued from Page 11
the Wolverines with a final-round
68 on Sunday. Dore's three-under-
par effort was the best round of his
Wolverine career.
"I just tried to relax and have fun
out there," Dore said. "It was a fun
atmosphere because there were a lot
of people on the course watching.
It's a great way to end the season."
Dore's combined tournament
score of 214 was tied for the tenth-
best individual effort.
Michigan's Vozza finished with a
five-over 218, Rob Tighe carded a
219 and Dave Nichols and Scott
Carleton finished with scores of 224
and 226, respectively, for the
Wolverines.
Carlton, playing in his final tourna-
ment as a Wolverine, showed the most
improvement of any player. After a
first-round 80 and a second round 75,
Carlton set a goal for yesterday's final
round - and achieved it.
"I told myself at the beginning of
the day that I wanted to birdie the last
hole of the day to finish out my col-
lege career," Carlton said "To birdie
the last two (holes) and get back to
even - that was pretty great."
Carlton's final round 71 was his
lowest score since a 70 at the Marshall
Invitational his freshman year. It was
his third-consecutive year he carded a
71 at the Big Ten Championships.
The Wolverines had heightened
expectations coming into the week-
end. As host, Michigan hoped to
finish in the top half of the field.
"We came in seeded ninth, and I
hoped the home-course advantage
would get us through the top five or
so," Sapp said. "We just got off to a
rough start yesterday morning, which
prevented us from doing that."
Despite a disappointing season -
the team had just one top-five finish
- the Wolverines were happy the
way their season ended.
"If we played (on Saturday) the
way that we had played (yesterday),
we would have had a shot at making
the top three," Vozza said.
Ohio State's Kevin Hall placed
first at the tournament with a 54-
hole tournament record 199 and led
Ohio State to the team champi-
onship. The Buckeyes finished 55
strokes ahead of las-place finisher
Wisconsin.