I 1The Michigan Daily -Thursday, October 5, 1995 - 13A aCk stops Babcock; aniers suffer for it Blue heads to Maine Sullivan and eighth-ranked cross country team will look for a win - and maybe some lobster y Nancy Berger or The Daily The wake-up call at the-Creekside nn was not the only shock that the Jniversity of Michigan's cross-coun- ry team received last Saturday morn- ng. Arizona and Brigham Young also ;ae wake-up calls to Mike McGuire nd his harriers at the Mountain West lassic in Missoula, Mont. Michigan relinquished their two- ear reign as invitational champion to krizona, which ran away from the leld with 28 points. The Wolverines laced a disappointing third with 89 ioints, well behind BYU's 42-point ;owing. "We got a bit of a wake-up call and Ne will go from there," McGuire said. We didn't run well and didn't look harp." The Wolverines never got a good hiff of the Montana coffee - except naybe sophomore All-American Pauline Arnill. Arnill was the top Michi- gan performer on the 6,000 meter Bourse. Her time of 21:06 was good ,ough to place her second behind Amy Skieresz of Arizona, who won the indi- vidual title in 20:40. Senior Katy Hollbacher crossed the inish line in 17th place. One ofthe more noticable problems with the meet that McGuire saw was the nability to execute their group pacing trategy. "We are not grouping well," cGuire said. Arizona and BYU were successful n breaking up Michigan's group of unners with their own group. UOur goal is to run together," co- :aptain Kelly Chard said. "We try to alkto each other before and during the meet." The opponents' success in displac- ing Michigan runners was evident in the individual placing of the squad. Freshman Katie McGregor finished in 20th place and sophomore Eileen Fleck came in 24th, while seniors Kelly Chard and Jen Stuht finished 32nd and 58th respectively. Stuht was a last-minute replacement for senior Courtney Babcock. Babcock, who is nursing an ailing back, is not expected to run this coming weekend in Seattle, according to McGuire. Babcock is looked upon as a vital piece of Michigan's puzzle. "We have to have Courtney back in there" McGuire said. Her absence calls for other veter- ans to step up and run better, especially co-captain Kelly Chard. Chard herself is still recovering from injuries that have plagued her. "I am disappointed and hope to im- prove in each race," she said. Last weekend's results jeopar- dized their national ranking. The Wolverines will most likely drop from third to either 10th or 11th. Despite a poor showing at one invitational, Michigan can make up the ground lost at NCAAs, where the pieces of the puzzle will hopefully come to- gether. "We will bounce back," Chard said. "We were all disappointed and will channel the negative energy. We are going to keep doing what we are doing." When the team travels to the Sundodger Invitational, some pieces will remain missing. With the sixth- ranked Washington Huskies calling, the Michigan Wolverines will try to send a message of their own. By James Goldstein Daily Sports Writer If they don't win, says Michigan men's cross country coach Ron Warhurst, they don't get their lobster dinner. The Michigan men's cross country team will compete in Maine Saturday for the first time ever. The Wolverines not only can come away with a victory at the Maine Invitational, they can pos- sibly gain a souvenir lobster bib as well. No.8 Michigan travels to the Univer- sity of Maine in Orono, Maine, as the favorite. No other Big Ten teams will be participating in this weekend's meet. The only other schools in the top 25 competing in this event are William & Mary and Ball State. "If we don't win this weekend, we know that we wouldn't be able to beat Wisconsin," Warhurst said. "But I know that we will win (this weekend)." The Wolverines trail the Badgers in the conference standings. Wisconsin is No. 1 nationally. Michigan will not compete against the Badgers until the Big Ten Champi- onship, Oct. 28, in Bloomington. So in the meets leading up to the conference grand finale, the Wolverines are hoping to accept first place finishes and noth- ing less. Michigan's last meet was three weeks ago at Boston College, where it was victorious. According to the Wolver- ines, however, the rest should not turn them into rust Saturday. "We have to get first place this Saturday," Kevin Sullivan said. "Any- thing less would be a huge disap- pointment." Sullivan, a two-time All-American, should run away with the race. The key question is how the rest of the team will step " up now that senior Scott MacDonald has been red-shirted forthe rest ofthe year due to a stress fracture in his left femur. MacDonald was All-American last year and is Michigan's No. 2 runner behind Sullivan. "With Scott, we had a national cham- pionship team," Sullivan said. "With- out him now for the rest of the year, we have to have people step up if we want to compete for the national champion- ship." Freshmen runners have done their part so far in contributing. Rookies John Mortimer and Todd Snyder have filled in admirably for MacDonald. Mortimer finished second on the team and fourth overall in the Boston College Invita- tional, Sept. 18. Theo Molla, Don McGloughlin, David Barnett, Kris Eggle, Ryan Swan and Cory Brown fill out the Wolver- ines squad. These are the runners Warhurst is counting on to finish up strong. "If there is one thing that I'm con- cerned with for this meet, it is that we need to fill the gaps," Warhurst said. "We need to string the runners behind Kevin closer together. We must have. close to a forty seconds difference' between the first and fifth runners. If we are anywhere near a minute to a- minute and a half, I will be disap- pointed." With Michigan's confidence forthis weekend's meet, it seems as if the, Wolverines have a good shot at a juicy Maine lobster. Maybe going. back to the Northeast for a second time in three weeks won't be so bad. after all. JONAHAN LUI/Daily The women's cross country team lost to Arizona and Brigham Young this weekend despite their then-No. 3 ranking. They next head to Seattle. COURTESY OF PAT MATERKA e new Michigan field hockey field Is named after former women's athletic 'eptor and field hockey coach Phyllis Ocker. DCKER Contenued from Page 10A key player in a time when women's ports were less popular. Though regarded as a visionary in vomen's sports, Ocker modestly says he just did her job. "I don't think I was a key player, but was involved," she said. After becoming the field hockey coach in 1974, Ocker stressed the need For the Athletic Department to remem- ber that the athletes are students. "I started the Academic Hall of Honor," Ocker said. "For me, that was important." Ocker began coaching field hockey after regent approval of varsity women's sports programs. Ocker was a successful coach, lead- ing her team to a 5th place finish in the 1978 Big Ten tournament. In 1977, Ocker's career at Michigan took a monumental turn when she as- sumed the role of interim associate ath- letic director for women's athletics. Gradually, the title "interim" evapo- rated and Ocker stayed for 13 years. "It was very difficult, long hours," Ocker said. "I wanted to retain my ten- ure as a faculty member while still coaching andbeing administrator. Even- tually, I gave up coaching after having been administrator for two years." Amid lawsuits and changing confer- ences, Ocker managed to implement lasting changes without hurting any other sports. "We did not have to deny any men's sports which is a huge credit to the institution," she said. "With the Title IX, many schools had sacrificed men's sports for women's. It speaks well for the administration. Not many schools can say that." Looking at the Athletic Department today, Ocker said that they've made a lot of headway. "Everything I see indicates they are moving forward," Ocker said. "They have added more varsity sports and three of the women's teams were na- tional runner's up." Ocker criticized the lack of media coverage but also explained that men's sports have longer histories. "(Women's athletics) haven't quite caught up to football, but it's chang- ing," she said. "Athletics were men's domain for years and years and fitting into that was very difficult." With the addition of new facilities, including the Phyllis Ocker Field and the new women's soccer field, the Ath- letic Department is well on its way to addressing the issue of inequality in athletics. t;TDx at