12 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, August 1, 2005 Woods wins gold for Canada at Pan-American By Ian Robinson Daily Sports Writer WINDSOR, Ontario - With 200 meters remaining in the "Miracle Mile' Thursday night at the Pan-Ameri- can Junior Athletics Championship, Michigan sophomore Michael Woods took the lead. Woods established a new Canadian junior record in the mile with a second-place time of 3:57.48, his first sub-4:00 mile. But Woods could not hold on to the lead and came in second behind American Adam Goucher in the event, named in honor of the legendary 1954 race where two run- ners ran sub-4:00 miles for the first time in the same race. "Coming down the stretch, all I wanted to do was break the record," Woods said. "When I crossed and saw the time I just wanted to scream." Woods broke the previous record of 3:58.08 - which Mark Olsen set in 1983 - by .60 seconds. Woods continued his strong performance on Sunday afternoon. He won the gold medal and ran a new meet record time of 3:45.72 in the 1500-meter run - beating the old record by .08 seconds, which had been set in 1995 by Brazil's Marco de Silva. "Being the captain of the Canadian team, I really felt I needed to bring home the gold for the team," Woods said. Woods and Michigan coach Ron Warhurst knew that no one could match Woods's finishing speed and strat- egized accordingly. "I told him that there was no point in trying to push the pace," Warhurst said. "I didn't think anybody could out- kick him with 200 meters to go." Woods followed the plan exactly and passed teammate Braden Novakowski with more than 200 meters remain- ing and created a three-second margin between himself and his Canadian teammate. As Woods approached the line, he held up a number one with his finger and blew. a kiss to the crowd before pumping his fist in victory as he crossed the line. When asked where his performance this weekend ranks in his lifetime achievements, Woods believes it is the pin- nacle of his career, so far. Championship "It's definitely at the top," Woods said. Woods was just one of four Michigan track and field athletes to represent Canada at the meet, which was held at the brand-new Windsor Stadium. Michigan athletes captured two of Canada's three gold medals and estab- lished two record times. The other Michigan gold medalist was sophomore Aly- son Kohlmeier, who ran away with the title in the 3,000 meter run and captured the Canadian squad's first gold medal of the championships. Her winning time of 9:25.09 was more than 11 seconds ahead of the second-place run- ner and defending champion from the 2003 Pan-Am Junior Games, Ines Melchor of Peru. After staying with the field through one mile, the Sarni Ontario native took the opportunity to move to the front o the race, and she never looked back. "I saw that the time was a little slow from what I am used to, so I went for it," Kohlmeier said. "If I was going to make a move, it couldn't be just moving to the front. It had to be gapping the field." Kohlmeier secured a lead of 10 seconds within the first 1000 meters of the race. When the race completed, the crowd of 3,200 gave Kohlmeier a standing ovation as she draped a Canadian flag on her back and took a celebration lap with her team- mate Mandy McBean, who finished third. "It's great for our program, but more importantly it's great for her and her country," Michigan cross-country coach Mike McGuire said. Michigan sophomores Lisa Canty and Nicole Edwards also competed in the Pan-Am Junior Games. Both registered disappointing performances according to McGuire. Edwards recorded a fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run and Canty finished seventh in the 3,000- meter run McGuire attributed these poor performances to the long season taking its toll on the athletes, who had been training since the beginning of the cross-country season last August. All of the Wolverines plan on a taking a couple of weeks off before they start training for their cross-country season with Michigan this fall. Michigan sophomore Michael Woods established a new Canadian junior record in the mile with a time of 3:57.48,the first sub-4:00 mile of his career.