I 14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 0 MEN'S TRACK Woods receives auto bid; teammate waits for commitee -SPORTS By Jeremy Davidson Editor in Chief Even though sophomore Mike Woods claimed a spot at the NCAA outdoor national championships on Saturday, he said he was disappoint- ed with his performance. "I'm obviously relieved that I got into the NCAAs, but it was some- thing that I felt was more or less a given," Woods said through the ath- letic department. "I'm disappointed that I didn't win, because that was really my goal coming into the race - to build some confidence." Woods earned his trip to the finals after placing fourth in the 1,500- meter run at the Mideast Regional in Knoxville, Tenn. Woods struggled at the start of the race, but claimed the lead early in the last lap. Coming around the final bend, a pair of runners passed him just before the straightaway. Woods lost one more position in the final 10 meters of the race, and finished just more than a sec- ond behind the first place runner, South Alabama's Vincent Rono. Woods was the lone Wolverine to qual- ify automatically for the finals, but the team had some incredibly close finishes. After fighting an intense battle for a coveted top-five finish in the triple jump for the entire meet, junior Michael Whitehead fell just short, taking sev- enth place. Even though Whitehead was beaten out for an automatic qualifying spot, because of his 18th-best mark in the nation coming into the tourna- ment, he's in good standing for earn- ing an at-large selection to the NCAA championships. Whitehead will find out his ultimate fate this evening when the championship field is announced. Senior Brad Miller nearly qualified for the finals in the high jump, but fin- ished just short after failing to clear the 6-11 bar, which only the top five finish- ers were able to overcome. The Wolverine captain, who started his career as a walk-on and finished as a regional qualifier, said he was ecstatic with his performance. "If you would have told me (at the start) that I'd be doing as well as I have, especially this year, I would have said you were crazy," Miller said through the athletic department. "That's probably the thing I'm most proud of from my whole career. I did make the improve- ments, and I reached this level. Maybe I'm not a top-20 guy nationally, but I'm really pleased to be where I am at." I Sophomore Nicole Edwards was the only Wolverine to finish in first place over the weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. ive q f for championship By Daniel Bromwich Daily Sports Writer The women's track and field team left the Mideast Regional in Knox- ville, Tenn., on Saturday with five runners advancing to the National Outdoor Championships in Sacra- mento in two weeks. After junior Erin Webster and sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier received automatic bids on Friday for their performance in the 5,000- meters, they were joined on Saturday by senior Arianne Field (3,000-meter steeplechase), sophomore Nicole Edwards (1,500-meters) and fresh- man Geena Gall (800-meters). Edwards was the standout as the sole Wolverine to claim a first-place finish on the weekend. After quali- fying for Saturday's final with a time of 4:25.24, she cut almost eight seconds off her time in the final, finishing in 4:17.73. She stayed in the middle of the pack throughout the entire race, and did not make her push until she rounded the final turn. With just 100 meters remain- ing, Edwards made an enormous kick and broke away from her com- petitors, winning the race by .37 seconds over Marquette's Michaela Courtney. Gall tried to run a similar race in the 800-meters, and very nearly suc- ceeded. After spending the majority of the race in third or fourth place, the Grand Blanc native tried to turn it on. But she was unable to pass Mis- souri's Ashley Patten, and finished in second place by .25 seconds. But most impressive might have been the race run by Field. The Kal- amazoo native has shown steady improvement throughout her career at Michigan, and is peaking at the exact right time. After recording a personal-best time at the Big Ten Championships, she bettered that time by .07 seconds in the steeple- chase on Saturday, claiming an automatic bid to Sacramento in the process. But given the hot and humid weather conditions, Field's perfor- mance was even more outstanding. "This is someone that developed and persevered throughout the Michigan program," associate head coach Mike McGuire said through the athletic department. "She ran a time very close to her time at the Big Tens, but she fought extremely hard, racing with these kinds of conditions. She actually did better than what she did at the Big Tens." On Friday, the big race for the Wolverines was the 5,000-meter run. Michigan saw Kohlmeier and Webster both qualify for the nation- al championships. Webster crossed the finish line in second place, less than a second behind winner, Notre Dame's Molly Huddle. Webster's finish (16:25.48) came just before Kohlmeier crossed the finished line less than two seconds later (16:27.12). The Wolverines' domination of the 5,000-meters contributed to what McGuire called "an outstand- ing weekend." But Michigan does not plan to do anything special to prepare for Sacramento. "It's not much preparation at this point," McGuire said through the athletic department. "There's no magical workouts between now and then; we just have to sharpen a few things. We also have some recovery to do after dealing with the heat and traveling, but ... everybody still has plenty of gas left in their tanks." second annual ak e a i%!~test*