12 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 16, 2005 WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD Two individual titles not enough for Blue By Ian Robinson Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - Winning a conference cham- pionship in any sport requires a total team effort with everybody contributing to the overall finish. No team knows that better than the women's track and field team. Entering this weekend's Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Colum- bus, Michigan was in position to become the fourth team in the program's history to achieve the confer- ence triple crown - winning the conference title in cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track. Despite two individual conference titles and three runner-up honors, the Wolverines fell short of their triple crown hopes by 24.5 points and finished in third place, behind Penn State and conference champion Illinois. It was the first time in four years that Michigan failed to win the conference championship. "Overall, I think the team did as well as we could with the combination of Illinois doing very well - they did some things that we didn't expect - and us not doing some things we (expected to do)," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We just didn't get enough people to scrap out those other points." Michigan's two individual victories came in the 1,500-meter run and the 800-meter run. Gallo won the 1,500-meters for the second year in a row. After staying with the lead pack for the first 800 meters of the race, Gallo moved around teammate Theresa Feldkamp and Indiana's Larra Overton on the backstretch to take the lead. After making her move to first, Gallo was all alone at the front and cruised through the next 700 meters to claim the victory with a time of 4:21.48 - three seconds ahead of her closest competition. Feldkamp finished in fourth-place nearly five seconds behind Gallo. In the 800-meter run, Erdman stayed near the front of the pack through the first 600 meters of the race before passing Illinios's Carlene Robinson. Robinson responded and appeared to be in a posi- tion to make it a close finish. But in the final 100 meters, Erdman drifted away from Robinson to earn her first individual Big Ten title. "I cannot believe I won," Erdman said. "I didn't really do anything different than I have done all year. I just found my stride and kept a good pace." The busiest Wolverine on Sunday was senior Sierra Hauser-Price, who competed in four events and whose efforts contributed 20 points to the team's total. "I'm more disappointed than anything else," Hauser-Price said. "You always come out here to win. That didn't quite happen today." She was the runner-up in both the 100 and 200- meter dashes and lost the two races by a combined .34 seconds. In the 100-meter dash, she was neck-and-neck at the finish line with Ohio State's Jenna Harris. Both finished with times of 11.61, but the video replay revealed that Harris had edged Hauser-Price by two one-thousandths of a second. In addition to her two second-place honors, Hauser-Price also anchored the 4x400 and 4x100- 4 meter relays. While the Big Ten championships marked the end of the season for much of the team, athletes who qualified for the NCAA regional meet will compete in Bloomington on May 27-28. 'M' Nine sweeps Hoosiers Left-hander Drew Taylor earned his third win of the season against Indiana on Sunday. By Pete Sneider Daily Sports Writer The Nielsen ratings took a dive in yester- day's series finale against Indiana. The Wolverines (14-11 Big Ten, 35-14 overall) piled up seven runs in the bottom of the first inning against Indiana starter Steve Nielsen en route to a 9-4 win. Nielsen recorded just two outs and was credited with six of the seven runs. The victory completed a four-game sweep overIndiana (8-20,25-27) in Michi- gan's final home series of the season. Itwas the seventh straight win for the Wolverines, who have won 16 of their last 18 games. "We've been battling all year," coach Rich Maloney said. "To finally get over .500 is refreshing considering the 1-8 start. When you struggle as we did early on, a lot of teams would fold, but we didn't." Junior Chris Getz led off the first inning with a bunt single, and sopho- more Eric Rose was plunked in the f Voted Best Used CDs 2005 RECORDS & USED CDS 617 Packard Upstairs from Subway Paying $4 to $6 for top CD's in top condition. Also buying premium LP's and cassettes. Open 7 days 663-3441 The selection is ENDLESS next at-bat to give Michigan runners on first and second with no outs. Senior Kyle Bohm lined a single to right field, scoring Getz to tie the game at one. A four-pitch walk to senior Matt Butler preceded a chopper up the middle by soph- omore Brad Roblin. The single brought in Bohm while Butler and Roblin advanced on an errant throw by centerfielder Reggie Watson. A triple by junior A.J. Scheidt and a double by freshman Doug Pickens added four more runs. Senior Drew Taylor got the start for the Wolverines and took full advantage of the early run support. The imposing left- hander yielded three earned runs on a sea- son-high 7 2/3 innings while notching his third win of the year. Taylor - who was sidelined last season with a severe shoulder injury - threw his second quality start in as many games and looks to be returning to his 2003 form when he was 9-1 with a 3.97 ERA. "This was the first time in a long time that I've thrown into the eighth inning;," Taylor said. "It seems like every time I go out there I gain some more arm strength." Sophomore Clayton Richard got the final four outs, posting a team-best fifth save of the season. Bohm went 3-for-5 with four RBI, including a two-out, two-RBI single in the eighth inning - the senior's final at-bat at the Fish. Bohm was dominant all week- end for Michigan, batting 8-for-15 with six RBI. "I haven't really felt like I've been hot all year, so I'm really trying to work towards that as we get closer to the (Big Ten) tour- nament," Bohm said. "I'm really trying to be a little more aggressive down the stretch because the scouting report on me is that I take a lot of pitches." Even though Michigan set the tone early in the fourth game, it was the pitching staff that carried them on Saturday's twinbill. With Friday's game postponed due to rain, the Wolverines played four games in approximately 27 hours. Unable to squander relievers, Maloney needed his first two starters to go deep, and they answered the call. In the first two games, both Jim Brauer and Michael Penn threw complete games, 4 allowing just two runs apiece. The Wolver- ines swept the doubleheader, winning by scores of 6-2 and 5-2, respectively. The Wolverines' hurlers weren't as sharp in the first game of Sunday's double- header, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks. But the Michigan offense took advantage of Indiana's sloppy defense 4 - the Hoosiers amassed four errors, two coming in the five-run fifth inning. Junior Derek Feldkamp got the win - his fourth in nine appearances since being sent to the bullpen - as Michigan beat Indiana 8-5. Richard recorded the save, retiring all five batters he faced. Michigan's four-game sweep puts them comfortably in sixth place in the Big Ten standings - a crucial position since only the top six qualify for the Big Ten tournament. (ARBOR computers, LLC Residential - Commercial " Certified Technicians " Laptop/Desktop Repair P " PC Hardware & Software o Upgrades & Installation a " DatatBack-Up & Recovery - Virus Detection & Removal " Wireless Network - Mention this Ad and Receive 10% Off Repair or Upgrade WE WARRANTY OUR WORK 734.262.9512 www.arborcomputers.com A S Ann Arbor