Tuesday
May 3, 2005
sports.michigandaily.com
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SPORTS
13
Penn-cl it in: Blue wins
three distance relay titles
By Ian Robinson Michael Woods. Michigan's win in the mile relay was its
Daily Sports Writer For the first 800 meters of the second leg, first win in the event since 1962 at the Penn
Woods moved between second and fourth Relays.
PHILADELPHIA - The only word position. On the final turn of his third lap, On Friday afternoon, the Wolverines won
that could describe Michigan's record-set- Flordia's tried to pass Woods on the outside, the distance medley relay and set the school
ring performance at the 11lth running of the but Woods made an inside move into second outdoor record with a time of 9:22.57. The
Penn Relays - the world's largest annual while Inidana's Sean Jefferson drifted to the last time Michigan competed in the DMR at
track meet - is dominance. The team cap- outside. the NCAA Indoor National Championships,
tured all three Championship of America "The last time I took the move on the the Wolverines won after Arkansas was dis-
distance relay titles - the distance medley inside was at Big Tens, and that didn't end qualified. This time around, Michigan beat
relay, the 4x800-meter relay and the 4xMile up so well," Woods said. "This time, I took the Razorbacks by more than six seconds.
relay. The Wolverines are just the second the chance again, and it worked out great." "We're 4-1 against (Arkansas) - with
team in the past 25 years to accomplish this On the backstretch of his final lap, Woods this team," Brannen said. "Everyone keeps
feat and the first Michigan team to do so moved into first place, and the Wolverines talking about a rivalry. I don't really see it."
since 1943. never looked back. Brannen started the DMR for the Wolver-
Three Michigan athletes ran on all Willis received the baton with a slight ines second from the rail and moved to the
three championship relay teams - junior lead over Arkansas but opened a lead of middle of the highly-bunched pack. After
Andrew Ellerton, junior Nate Brannen and more than 100 yards. Willis proceeded to 1000 meters, Brannen moved to the front
sophomore Nick Willis. Willis's efforts in run a 3:56.1 mile, 8.5 seconds faster than the of the race with Arkansas's Adam Perkins
the events earned him his second college second-place team. of Arkansas on his shoulder. With a strong
men's athlete of the relays award. When Willis handed the baton to Bran- closing 200 meters, Brannen gave Michigan
In the 4xMile relay, the Wolverines nen, it seemed like Michigan's only com- a lead of two seconds over the second-place
set a new collegiate record with a time of petition was the clock. Brannen needed team and handed the baton to sophomore
16:04.54, beating the previous record by to run a 4:02 split to break the collegiate Stann Waithe.
more than three seconds. record. After an opening 800 of 1:59, Bran- The Razorbacks fell 10 meters behind
Ellerton started the race for Michigan and nen allowed the raucous crowd of 44,612 to Ellerton as he ran the 800-meter leg.
quickly moved, moving to the front of the cheer him to the finish line. On the mile leg, Willis ran a 3:55.1 split,
pack. After Ellerton won the opening 800 "This was the first time I've actually extending Michigan's lead by five seconds.
meters with time of 2:02, the pace began absorbed everything surrounding me and After competing in the DMR on Friday
to increase. Ellerton dropped to third place took it all in instead of just running and zon- and the mile relay early Saturday afternoon,
before he handed the baton to freshman ing everything out,"Brannen said. See PENN, page 16
Seddon downs Michigan State
TONY DING/Daily
Junior Andrew Ellerton contributed to all three of Michigan's relay championships.
By Pete Sneider
Daily Sports Writer
LANSING - Gritty relief pitching by sophomore Brad
Seddon and a potent seventh inning propelled Michigan to a
13-5 victory and a weekend sweep against Michigan State at
Lansing's Oldsmobile Park on Sunday.
The four-game throttle puts Michigan (8-9 Big Ten, 26-12
overall) in seventh place in the Big Ten.
Michigan used its typical "small ball" style to manufac-
ture its first three runs in Sunday's game. But in the seventh
inning, the Wolverines went big.
Kyle Bohm started the inning with a double off the glove
of Spartan third basemen Alan Cattrysse. Junior Jeff Kunkel
blasted the next pitch over 400 feet to right-centerfield for a
triple, knotting the game at four. Then, junior Mike Schmidt
crushed the following pitch to the same spot for another triple,
pushing the Wolverines ahead 5-4.
Bohm added a two-RBI single, and Kunkel blasted
a two-run dinger over the right field fence, before the
inning finally ended.
1 But it was Seddon who ultimately kept Michigan alive,
relieving junior Drew Taylor in the third inning. Taylor sur-
rendered just one hit but walked four batters and plunked two,
creating a 4-0 deficit for Seddon.
Seddon, who had pitched just 5 2/3 innings all season,
mowedethrough the Spartan lineup. He went six innings,
yielding just four hits and one run on the way to his first
career win.
"It's the first time in a long time I've thrown that many
pitches," Seddon said. "My arm feels good right now, but it
will probably be a little sore tomorrow morning."
Michigan State had no answers for Seddon's nasty array of
off-speed pitches.
"They were having a lot of trouble with my changeups and
sliders," Seddon said.
With a team-best 1.56 ERA, Seddon is a viable option out
of a bullpen that has struggled mightily in conference play.
"I didn't get many chances early on in the season," Sed-
don said. "I just waited for an opportunity, and today I made
the most of it. Hopefully, I'll get some more innings in the
See SPARTANS, page 15