THE MIUIGUAN DAILY MONDAY, SEPT
ck Team's Two-Year Dynasty Comes to an F

EMBER 16, 1951
nid

And south of Ann Arbor - from
Bloomington and from Columbus
O.-came ominous rumblings.
Indiana, led by Olympian Greg
Bell, and Ohio State, sparked by
the awesome Glen Davis, were
hanging up impressive perform-
ances in field houses around the
country.
As time for the Big Ten indoor
final drew near it seemed as if
either of these two teams could
lift the crown from Michigan's
head.
Doggedly, in the face of adverse
reports, most of the experts stuck
to their guns. "Sure it will be
close," they intoned, "Ohio State
and Indiana will be right up there,
so will Michigan State . . . sure
Michigan looks weak, but they've
looked weak before and they've
won ... and theyl win again."
One week before the indoor fi-
nals, the feeling that the Wolver-
ines would conquer was given
added impetus when a supposed-
ly strong Illinois team reported to
Yost Field House for action.
'Very Close Meet'
Canham compared the Michi-
gan and Illinois squads and pre-
dicted "a very close meet that
could go either way." The Wolver-
ines won by a crushing 30-pt
margin to run a dual-triangular
win streak to 20.
Still Canham refused to be
swayed from his earlier predic-
tion that a new champion would
be crowned in Columbus.
The Wolverines, he claimed,
lacked the necessary first-place
strength to capture the Confer-
ence crown Captain Dave Owen,
who had been busy re-writing rec-
ord books with his 16-lb. lead ball,
was the only sure first place
Michigan had.
In the hurdles, the Wolverines
had one great big cipher. Simi-
lar holes appeared in the middle
distances and in the broadjump. It
would take a miracle of major
proportions, Canham felt, to en-
able his men to win.
Canham was right.
One week after the Illinois
meet Canham and the Michigan
track team returned to Ann Arbor
from Columbus . .. minus their
title.
There had been no miracle and
now a new champion, Indiana, sat
on the throne. The Wolverines
had finished a close fourth, but
the fact remained that Canham
had, after a two-year wait, been
right - Michigan had not won
the crown as predicted.
From the indoor until the out-
door finals at Evanston in May,
it was all downhill for the Wol-
verines.
No Miracle
There were three more dual-tri-
angular-meet wins to bolster the
streak to 23, but disaster lay ahead
and everyone, including the ex-
perts, now knew it.
The predictions that Canham
had made in December could now
be seen in the light of the indoor
season and the revelations were,
to Michigan fans, shocking.
There just were no hurdlers on
the Wolverine squad. Scholastic
ineligibility had taken Pete Stang-
er and injuries took Bob Rude-
sill, a highly-respected competi-
tor, and Jan Carlson. Sophomore
Chuck Belknap was still, in Can-
ham's words, "a year away."
Bad Enough
This one deficit was bad enough
but it was not the only one the
Wolverines were forced to face.
The middle-distance runners,
Robin Varian, Ernie Sims and
Milt Robinson were either injured
or performing below par. Dick

IRELAND'S BEST-Michigan track team captain-elect, Brendan
O'Reilly, soars over the crossbar in the high-jump event, his
specialty. O'Reilly is the Irish high-jump champion, and can also
hurdle with some talent when needed.

I

FLYING WOLVERINE - John Magnuson, laborous Michigan
sprinter, hard at work in practice to improve his times. Magnuson,
a junior from Compton, Cal., placed fourth in the 60-yd. dash in
the Big Ten indoor championships.

Flodin was having a bad senior
year and there was no one around
to throw the discus in the out-
door meets.
It was apparent that Michigan
would not be able to win the out-
door crown. The only real ques-
tion was whether or not they
would be able to stay in the first
division.
Two weeks before the outdoor
finals the Wolverines traveled
down to Champaign for a re-
match with Illinois. But this time
there was no 30-pt. victory for
the Blue.
A renovated Illini squad ran all
over Michigan and snapped the
Wolverines' long winning streak
by better than a 20-pt. margin.
The following week Ohio State
made it two straight defeats for
Michigan and hopes of a first-
division finish in the finals began
to fade.
But with the chips down, and
with the possibility of losing all
staring them in the face, the Wol-
verines caught fire. ,
There was not enough strength
to catch the favored Indiana
squad, which made a complete

runaway of the meet, nor was
there power to catch Glen Davis
and his company of Buckeyes,
who captured second place, but
the Michigan team had more than
enough to avoid the depths of the
second division.
Paced by Owen's first place in
the shot put and sophomore Lou
Williams' surprising third place in
the broadjump with a leap. of
23' 11%", the Wolverines piled
up more than enough points to
entrench themselves solidly In
third place.
There is some rebuilding to be
done. Graduation takes Owen and
Flodin, but there are several good
juniors on the squad and some
sophomores to help ease this loss.
Canham is expecting great
things from Williams next year,
as he is from dashman John Mag-
nuson and pole vaulter Mamon
Gibson.
Add these boys to veterans
Laird Sloan in the 440-yo. dash,
Helmar Dollwet in the mile and
captain Brendan O'Reilly in the
high jump and with a few good
freshmen the Wolverines could
pose a definite threat next year.

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