8 — Friday, February 26, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan’s DMR team: 
‘How did this happen?’

Four-man group 
recalls school-

record performance 

last weekend

By SYLVANNA GROSS

Daily Sports Writer

Mike McGuire was standing 

at the finish line of the men’s 
distance medley relay. His arms 
were crossed, and he was staring 
at a stopwatch. He was chuckling. 

“Wait until you see how fast 

you ran,” said McGuire, the 
assistant coach of the Michigan 
women’s track and field team, to 
Mason Ferlic.

The fifth-year senior — who 

had just finished the anchor 
1,600-meter leg — had caught up 
to the lead runners and put the 
Wolverines in third place after 
the pack had trailed for most of 
the race.

“3:55,” McGuire said. 
Overhead on the board, the 

final time of 9:27.67 flashed. It 
was good enough to qualify for 
nationals and three seconds 
better than their goal of 9:30. 
And, even though nobody knew 
it at the time, they broke the 
school record made in 2004 
by national champions Nate 
Brennan, 
DarNell 
Talbert, 

Andrew 
Ellerton 
and 
Nick 

Willis. Both Brennan and Willis 
went on to be Olympians. 

All Ferlic could respond was, 

“How did this happen?” 

* * * 

In the Alex Wilson Invitational 

last weekend in South Bend, Ind., 
the Michigan distance medley 
relay team was run by, in order, 
sophomore 
Chase Barnett 
in the 1,200-
meter 
leg, 

fifth-year 
senior 
Phil 

Washington 
III in the 400-
meter segment, 
sophomore 
Brennan 
Munley in the 
800-meter portion and Ferlic. 

Originally, 
however, 

Washington was only considered 
an alternate. Freshman Taylor 
McLaughlin was set to run just 
that morning. 

“I actually came to the track 

in khakis and (Timberlands) 
so I was really not prepared to 
run,” Washington said. “But 
(McLaughlin) said, ‘Oh, I threw 
up this morning,’ so I was like, 
‘All right.’ I just started warming 
up with him, and throughout 
the warmup, he was filling me 
in and saying he felt queasy, but 
he wasn’t sure if it was nerves 
or not. So I told him to keep on 
warming up because this was a 
huge opportunity.

“(Assistant 
coach 
Kevin 

Sullivan) made the call 10 
minutes before (that I was 
running) and at that point I 
was freaking out. Outside I was 
like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready,’ but on the 
inside I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ ”

Washington — who has been 

plagued by injuries for the past 
two seasons — has been struggling 
to regain footing as a competitor 
for the Wolverines. Going into 
the meet, he was divided between 
cheering for his teammates and 
being disappointed in potentially 
only riding his teammate’s success 
to championship season without 
contributing. 

“I had to start stretching and 

doing some sprints,” Washington 
said. “Normally, I think about my 
race, but this was a lot different 
because I didn’t have to think. I 
just went right in, and when I got 
the baton, I kind of blanked out 
and just went for it.”

The rest of his teammates had 

the same “go for it,” attitude. 
Program 
history 
dictates 

Michigan has been a formidable 
opponent in the distance medley 
relay event, but Michigan coach 
Jerry Clayton and Sullivan had 
been wary of putting athletes in 
the event until this year. 

They were waiting for the 

right group of guys. 

“We needed to have the right 

athletes in place to make (the 

distance medley relay team),” 
Sullivan said. “We weren’t going 
to waste a race on the DMR. We 
just weren’t at that place last 
year. This has been, historically, 
a great event for track and field. 
We have some of the fastest 
times ever in the country. It has 
been a really important part 
of our program. We wanted to 
build until we had a team that 
had a group of guys ready to 
compete for nationals.” 

But this season’s distance 

medley relay team was not 
expecting to do anything but try 
to secure a spot in nationals.

In Michigan’s indoor training 

facility, a board that is hung 
up lists off the records. Every 
Wolverine dreams of having 
their name up there. 

“I remember 

looking at the 
board 
and 

seeing it and 
thinking there’s 
not a chance in 
hell we’re going 
to beat that,” 
Munley said. “I 
saw the names, 
and 
I 
didn’t 

even have to 

look at the times, I thought, ‘That’s 
not happening.’ ”

* * * 

Barnett started off the race 

with a split time of 2:56.9. He 
passed the baton to Washington 
last among his competitors. Yet 
it wasn’t the fact that he was 
doing poorly, it was just others 
were doing extremely well. 

Washington was able to pass a 

couple of guys after completing 
his leg in 47.5 seconds, but by 
the time the baton got to Munley 
for the third leg, the Wolverines 
were battling to stay relevant in 
the race. 

“We were either the second 

to last or last,” Munley said, 
who finished his leg in 1:47.3. 
“There were some really fast 
guys (in the first two legs). We 
were competing with guys that 
were top in the nation. I was 
hurting (in the last 200 meters), 
but I was trying to get the baton 
to (Ferlic). Once I did I was like, 
‘Let’s see what you can do, I 
tried my best.’ ”

The final leg, run by Ferlic, 

was where the distance medley 
relay team caught up to the 
lead 
pack. 
Not 
surprising, 

considering the laundry list of 
impressive performances he’s 
had over his collegiate career. 
His name is almost synonymous 
with Michigan track and field. 

Ferlic’s strategy was clear: 

eyes forward, pass competitors 
and go fast.

“Before I got the baton, I was 

worried,” Ferlic said. “I had a 
little bit of self-doubt because 
the guys who were anchoring 
the other DMRs were dedicated 
milers. I was hoping to run 
four flat. And if we were that 
far behind, the pressure was on 
to run just that much faster to 
catch these guys. I didn’t know 
if I was able to do that. But I 
figured that we were here and 
we had one shot and I can’t have 
negative thoughts before I get 
the baton because then we’re not 
going to be in it.”

Ferlic has been angling to run 

a sub-four mile for his entire 
collegiate career, coming away 
disappointed in the Iowa State 
Classic, where he achieved his 
standing personal best of 4:00.50. 

But, while Ferlic has run a 

1,600-meter race in 3:55, 1,600 
meters isn’t a mile — it’s nine 
meters short. And those nine 
meters mean a lot to Ferlic, 
who refuses, understandably, to 
count 3:55 as meeting his goal. 

“As soon as I finished in third 

I was like, ‘Damn that actually 
went pretty well,’ ” Ferlic said. 
 

“But I still didn’t know the time 
until I saw it flash on the board 
and I saw 9:27, and I was like, 
‘Holy crap, are you serious?’ ” 

According to Barnett, there 

were whispers that the time was 
close to the school record set 
more than a decade before — but 
no one was sure. 

It wasn’t until they were back 

at their “camp” at the meet that 
Sullivan thought to look up on 
his phone what the standing 
record was. And when he saw 
the result, the entire distance 
medley relay team was in shock. 

“In a DMR, the legs are so 

uneven you don’t really know 
where you are in the race or on 
the clock, so you don’t really get 
a sense of what you’re doing until 
after,” Barnett said. “We were 
still on this high that we didn’t 
only hit a national time, we hit 
a really good national time and 
then to come off that … there was 
a lot of hugging and yelling.”

* * * 

A lot of the success has been 

chalked up to a culture change 
on the team, partly due to the 
new coaching staff of Clayton 
and Sullivan in their third and 
second years, respectively. 

Sullivan, who also serves as 

the Michigan men’s cross country 
coach, is noted, especially, as 
transitioning the team to a 
more 
inclusive 
environment, 

stemming 
all 

the way back 
to training for 
cross country 
season. 

“As a fifth-

year 
senior, 

I’ve definitely 
been through 
a lot and I’ve 
definitely seen 
the team go 
from 
a 
last-

place, not-taken-seriously team 
in the Big Ten to now possibly 
contending for a top-three spot 
in the Big Ten,” Washington said. 

But according to both coaches 

and Munley, the captains of the 
team have also stepped up to the 
line and have instituted team 
bonding events like cookouts and 
movie outings. Other changes 
have included switching the 
location of the athletes’ lockers 
frequently to prevent cliques and 
a whiteboard in the locker room 
that lets the athletes keep track 
of each other’s goals. 

“You can literally go there, 

read it and have that connection 
with that person,” Washington 
said. “And if you see them in 
practice, you can encourage it.” 

Added 
Ferlic: 
“With 
that 

culture 
change 
of 
going 

toward excellence and having 
everyone on the team expected 
to contribute, it kind of just 
increased 
the 
competitive 

atmosphere among all pockets of 
athletes on the team. Everyone 
now wanted to do their part to 
help the team be good. I think 
it united the team in a common 
cause. Instead of it being certain 
guys or one event group is good 
and the other isn’t as good, we all 
wanted to do well and motivate 
each other.”

Within the four distance medley 

relay team members, especially, 
the sense of camaraderie is 
palpable. The group joked that in 
15 years, they’re still going to be 
calling each other up asking how 
they are. 

Because, according to Barnett, 

“it’s a lifelong thing.”

“To look up on the board 

that’s up there right now and see 
the names that are up there, it’s 
pretty special to have a part in 
it,” Barnett said. “It’s special to 
be more of a piece (of the team), 
not just someone who was here, 
but someone who did something. 
I still have goals for the next 
couple years and stuff to get 
done. But it’s cool to actually 
leave that mark.”

And, 
according 
to 

Washington, they’re “tight.”

Unabashedly, 
the 
quarter 

informally thinks of themselves 
as a “misfit crew.”

* * * 

Despite the high the four 

have been riding, there’s no 
denying that the NCAA Indoor 
Championships, where they’ll run 
the distance medley relay again, 
looms large. The competition 
will take place March 11 and 12 in 
Birmingham, Ala. 

But if Clayton and Sullivan, 

particularly, have taught their 
team anything, it’s that each 
race 
should 
be 
approached 

individually and you can’t “make 
a race bigger than it is.” Sullivan 

preaches that 
no 
matter 

the 
setting, 

the 
distance 

medley 
relay 

will 
still 

always 
be 

4,000 meters. 

“I 
know 

at 
nationals, 

when 
I 
get 

the baton, I’m 
going to run 

until my legs break,” Munley said. 
“I have to do it for these guys 
because they’re working just as 
hard as I am for it. You never know 
what could happen, anything 
could happen on any given day. 
But I have to do my best and strive 
for my hardest, and maybe some 
good will come out of it.” 

It’s going to take a lot 

of practice, but nothing is 
impossible 
anymore. 
The 

four Wolverines have already 
displaced 
four 
national 

champions overlapped with two 
Olympians. 

“I don’t think people expected 

us four,” Washington said.

“We’re this weird dream team 

— we just ran faster,” Ferlic said. 

And nobody on the distance 

medley relay team is exactly sure 
how they did it.

COURTESY OF THE MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

Michigan’s distance medley relay team broke the school record with a time of 9:27.67 in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday.

“I saw the 

names, and ... I 
thought, ‘That’s 
not happening.’ ”

“We’re this 
weird dream 
team — we just 

ran faster.”

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Junior forward Alex Kile scored a hat trick in Thursday’s win at Minnesota.

Kile’s hat trick 
lifts Michigan 
over Gophers

By MAX BULTMAN 

Managing Sports Editor

MINNEAPOLIS — For the 

better part of two and a half 
periods, the Michigan hockey 
team 
was 

locked 
in a tight 
contest befitting of a series 
that could decide the Big Ten’s 
regular-season champion.

But with a furious scoring 

run late in the third period, the 
Wolverines cruised to a 6-2 win 
over Minnesota at Mariucci Arena 
on 
Thursday, 

vaulting 
into 

first place in 
the conference 
standings. 
Junior forward 
Alex 
Kile 

notched a hat 
trick 
with 

one 
goal 
in 

each 
period, 

and 
freshman 

forward Kyle Connor added two 
goals of his own in the win.

For a 6-2 game, though, 

Thursday’s contest was hardly 
electric for the first two periods.

Michigan struck first when 

Kile capitalized on a turnover 
from 
Minnesota 
defenseman 

Ryan Collins directly in front of 
the Golden Gophers’ net. Collins 
lost control of the puck while 
surveying the ice in front of him, 
and Kile made him pay, burning 
Minnesota goalie Eric Schierhorn 
on a bang-bang play.

“That’s a tough play,” Kile said. 

“Sometimes the ice gets chippy, 
and the puck just kind of rolled 
off his stick. Kind of feel bad for 
(Collins), but the puck was right in 
the slot and I just faked backhand, 
went forehand, and it actually hit 
off his stick into the net.”

It was a big break for the 

Wolverines, who finished the 
period with a 9-6 edge in shots 
on goal but were able to cash in 
only once.

The second period was a 

different story. Minnesota came 
out firing, outshooting Michigan, 
8-1, in the first eight minutes of the 
second despite missing on a pair of 
nifty chances directly in front of 
senior goalie Steve Racine.

“We knew they were going to 

come out hard,” Racine said. “I 
think the first might have been 
one of our better periods all year, 
and they hadn’t played in a little 
while, so I think they were just 
getting their legs under them.

“We did a good job weathering 

the storm.”

Racine kept Michigan steady 

all game, stopping 31 of 33 shots 
and preserving a slim lead while 
the Wolverines’ offense tried to 
get going.

Minnesota’s 
Justin 
Kloos 

and Darian Romanko both had 
chances to tie the game early in 
the second, but Racine stoned 
Romanko with a big left-pad save, 
and Kloos couldn’t thread the 
needle while streaking to the net 
from the right boards.

The 
Wolverines 
weathered 

the Golden Gophers’ storm until 

their offense capitalized on its 
first big chance of the period. 
With Michigan on a power play 
12:22 into the period, Kile tapped 
home his second of the day off 
a rebound from junior forward 
Tyler Motte — whose goal streak 
ended Thursday at 12 games. 
Schierhorn poked the puck away 
from Motte as he neared the goal, 
but it went straight to the waiting 
stick of Kile, who roofed it to give 
Michigan a two-goal lead.

“He’s one of our gifted scorers,” 

said 
Michigan 
coach 
Red 

Berenson. “The thing I like about 

him 
is 
he 

scored 
those 

blue-paint 
goals. 
Like 

where did all 
those 
goals 

come 
from? 

Right 
near 

the 
crease, 

right in tight, 
rebound, 
second-

effort goals. That’s where you’re 
sticking your nose into the danger 
areas and you’re paying the price 
to score goals.”

Going into the break, Michigan 

still held that lead, but the final 
outcome was hardly decided.

That changed sharply halfway 

through the third period. With 
9:49 left, a fight broke out deep in 
the Minnesota end. Michigan’s 
Brendan 
Warren 
and 
Justin 

Selman were sent off for roughing 
after the whistle, and Minnesota’s 
Nick Seeler and Jack Glover were 
awarded matching penalties. But 
Glover was also given a penalty 
for cross-checking, giving the 
Wolverines a man advantage.

Michigan made the most of the 

power play, going up 3-0 when 
junior 
forward 
JT 
Compher 

found Connor all alone on the 
right side of the crease for an easy 
goal with 8:06 to play.

Kile added his third tally of the 

game with just over five minutes 
remaining, tapping in a rebound 
for his 14th of the season, and 
junior 
forward 
Max 
Shuart 

scored another with just under 
four minutes left. Then, with 
2:58 to play, Connor got loose on 
a breakaway, beating Schierhorn 
to go up 6-0.

Moments 
later, 
Minnesota 

defenseman 
Steve 
Johnson 

scored the Golden Gophers first 
goal of the game, ending Racine’s 
bid for a shutout. Michigan’s 
defense collapsed with the huge 
lead, and Tommy Novak scored 
for Minnesota again with 1:32 
left to spoil an otherwise strong 
outing from Racine.

The Wolverines were more 

than happy to emerge with the 
conference lead, regardless of 
the lost shutout.

“This wasn’t a 6-2 game,” 

Berenson 
said. 
“Certainly, 
it 

could have been a different game 
had Steve Racine had not made 
some key saves at key times in the 
game. … I just thought the score 
didn’t indicate the game. They’re 
a better team than that, and we 
were lucky at times, and our 
goalie had to make a difference.”

MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA 

6
2

“I think the first 
might have been 
one of our better 
periods all year.”

