8 — Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines carry momentum
into Notre Dame Invitational
Coming off a second-place finish
at the NCAA Championships for
cross country last November, Erin
Finn hasn’t lost her step.
The senior ran away from the
rest of the field in the 3,000-meter
race at Saturday’s Notre Dame
Invitational in South Bend, Ind.,
winning with a time of 9:07.24 –
the fastest time in the nation so far
this season.
Finn’s victory helped lead the
No. 12 Michigan women’s track
and field team to a first-place
finish in its first scored meet of
the regular season. With a score
of 113 points, the Wolverines
bested a field consisting of
DePaul,
Louisville,
Michigan
State, North Carolina, Notre
Dame and Virginia, finishing 24
points clear of the second-place
Cardinals.
Finn was not alone in her
efforts as Michigan asserted its
dominance in the distance events.
Five of the next six finishers in
her race were also Wolverines,
including redshirt junior Gina
Sereno, fifth-year senior Kira
Garry and redshirt junior Avery
Evenson, who finished second,
fourth and fifth respectively.
Along with Finn, Sereno and
Evenson comprised the top three
runners for a Michigan cross
country team that finished second
at the NCAA Championships last
fall.
Senior
Jamie
Morrissey,
another returner from the cross
country team, added to the
Wolverines’ point total with a win
in the 800-meter race, setting a
personal record of 2:06.44 — a
top-10 time in the nation — while
junior Claire Borchers took third
in that race.
“We’re kind of riding that wave
of determination and effort that
we were during cross country,”
Finn said. “We’ve got work to do
and we’re doing it, and we’re going
out and earning it every time we’re
out there.”
Michigan also had success
in
shorter-distance
races,
as
freshman Jade Harrison won
the 400-meter race with a time
of 55.46. Harrison improved on
her time from last week by nearly
half a second while remaining
unbeaten so far in her short
collegiate career. And in the final
event of the day — the 4x400-
meter relay — the Wolverines’
team
of
Morrissey,
Borchers
and juniors Sydney Badger and
Meghan Marias recorded a time
of 3:44.39.
Other key performances for the
Wolverines included freshman
Torisa
Johnson,
who
placed
third in the 60-meter dash in
7.59, and freshman Julia Hall,
who improved upon her college
debut by two seconds, finishing in
1:33.23 to finish second in the 600-
meter race. Junior Jaimie Phelan
took second in the mile race with
a time of 4:48.17, with sophomore
Holly Petrusson close behind her
in third.
Sophomore
Emma
Bauer
cleared a career-high height of
3.85 meters to place second in
the pole vault, while sophomore
Jeryne Fish and junior Aaron
Howell were third and fourth,
respectively, in the long jump.
In the weight throw, freshman
Courtney Jacobsen and junior
Bailey Baker placed fifth and
sixth, both recording personal
bests in the process.
With only two meets under the
Wolverines’ belt, Michigan coach
James Henry recognizes the need
to continue gaining experience,
though the positive atmosphere
surrounding his team is a good
sign for their development.
“We’ve got good chemistry
going on,” Henry said. “We’ve
got a mixture of veterans and
young kids, and (the veterans) are
working very hard to keep the
young kids relaxed.”
Finn iterated a similar tone as
her coach. She believes that the
early results have been promising,
but the Wolverines’ best is yet to
come.
“The (main objective) of today
for me and all my teammates was
to go out and get a good effort in,”
Finn said. “We ended up running a
little bit slower than we wanted to,
but the effort was there.”
Michigan rolls Crimson Tide
In the Michigan men’s tennis
team’s first dual match last
year, the Wolverines suffered
a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to
Kentucky, leaving the team in a
rut at the onset of its season.
“After we lost that first match
last year, it took us a while to
get the confidence going,” said
Michigan coach Adam Steinberg.
“When you get the first one under
your belt, the guys feel good.”
This year, the Wolverines had
different plans. No. 21 Michigan
(1-0) shutout Alabama, 4-0, in its
regular season opener Saturday
evening. The match gave the
Wolverines a change of scenery,
as their showdown with the
Crimson Tide (2-1) took place
outdoors at the United States
Tennis
Association
National
Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The victory puts Michigan
one step closer to eligibility
in the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association
National
Team
Indoor Championships. With one
win to their name, the Wolverines
need just two more match wins
next weekend at the ITA kickoff
against Oklahoma to earn a spot
in the championships.
On Saturday, junior Davis
Crocker secured the win for
Michigan at the No. 6 singles
position, defeating his Alabama
opponent in dominant fashion,
6-2, 6-4. Crocker finalized the
win in style, slamming a series
of
crosscourt
forehands
and
backhands, and sealed the deal
with a deep backhand volley past
his opponent.
The Wolverines claimed the
doubles point with the wins
of their No. 2 and 3 doubles
duos.
At
the
second
spot,
juniors Runhao Hua and Alex
Knight won quickly, 6-1, while
at the third spot, sophomore
Myles Schalet and senior Tyler
Gardiner eked out a 6-4 victory.
Schalet and Gardiner were neck
and neck with their opponents,
but broke serve to take a 5-4 lead
before holding Schalet’s serve to
win.
Michigan then steamrolled the
Crimson Tide in singles, acquiring
all three of its singles wins in
straight sets. Schalet, Knight
and Crocker outperformed their
opponents at the No. 3, 5 and 6
singles slots, respectively.
While Crocker’s win sealed
his team’s victory, there was
still room for improvement to
be found across three other
matches. The No. 1 doubles team
of seniors Jathan Malik and
Kevin Wong were tied at 5-5
with their Alabama opponents
when their Michigan teammates
clinched
the
doubles
point,
ending the doubles portion of
the match.
Malik and Wong would face
the same fate in their singles
competition. Malik was down,
3-6, 5-5, at the No. 1 slot, and
Wong held a slight advantage of
7-6, 1-1 over his opponent at the
No. 2 position when both matches
were called off.
Steinberg
viewed
these
matches as too close, and sought
more endurance on the courts
throughout the competition.
“I would like us to be a little
more aggressive and better as a
team,” Steinberg said. “I feel like
our energy dipped a bit [in the
match].”
Though Steinberg hopes to
see more from his team, the
Wolverines’ Saturday sweep is
a promising sign for what is to
come in their upcoming season.
MEN’S TENNIS
ANNA MARCUS
Daily Sports Writer
Ellis leads ‘M’ to dominant win
Joe Ellis had already broken
his own program record in the
weight throw on his second
attempt at the Notre Dame
Invitational. For good measure,
on his sixth and final attempt,
he surpassed it again.
The
sophomore’s
winning
throw of 22.02 meters helped lead
the Michigan men’s track and
field team to a dominating victory
at the same competition where
the Wolverines claimed their first
victory in a scored meet under
coach Jerry Clayton last season.
The
Wolverines
finished
well ahead of the seven-team
field
consisting
of
DePaul,
Louisville,
Michigan
State,
North Carolina, Notre Dame
and Virginia, racking up 133
points and finishing 47 points
ahead
of
the
second-place
Cardinals.
Six Michigan athletes took
home individual victories in
their events, but Ellis’ record-
setting performance — the
second-best mark in the nation
— was the highlight of the day.
“(The record is) a validation
of the hard work that me, coach
Clayton and the rest of the guys
have put in,” Ellis said.
Junior
Drake
Johnson
has established himself as a
consistent force in the 60-meter
hurdles. Johnson, who doubles
as a running back, finished in
7.95 seconds to win the race,
and has now set career-bests in
both of his meets this season.
Also in the sprint category,
junior
Khoury
Crenshaw
claimed victory in the 60-meter
dash with a time of 6.75, tying
his personal best. Participating
in his first 400-meter race of
the season, sophomore Taylor
McLaughlin won with a time
of 47.02, while freshman Alex
Schwedt finished close behind
him in third place.
The 800-meter race yielded
more positive results for the
Wolverines. Junior Brennan
Munley
entered
the
race
holding the third-fastest time
in the nation at that distance,
but was overcome at the finish
by senior Ned Willig. Willig
finished with a time of 1:50.13,
just 0.24 seconds ahead of
Munley.
“The times were good, but
the way (Willig and Munley)
competed to place and score for
the team was outstanding as
well,” Clayton said.
Michigan runners made up
five of the top eight finishers in
the mile race, with sophomore
Chase Barnett leading the pack
by running a time of 4:07.33 to
finish in second place. Junior
Austin
Benoit
and
senior
Ben Flanagan were the other
Wolverine scorers, crossing the
finish line within a second of
Barnett. Junior Micah Beller
bolstered
the
Wolverines’
distance corps with a time of
8:17.98, good for second place in
the 3000-meter race.
The Wolverines also saw a
standout
performance
from
senior Steven Bastien to win
the long jump. Bastien, who
also competes in the heptathlon
and 60-meter hurdles, leapt
7.57 meters, a personal record
for him. Junior Kevin Stephens
Jr.’s triple jump of 14.93 meters
placed him second in that event.
But above all the individual
triumphs,
the
first
scored
meet of the season provided
Michigan an opportunity to
show the progress it has made
in uniting as a team throughout
Clayton’s tenure. While the
Wolverines featured winners
in a wide array of events, the
newfound team chemistry has
been equally as important to
Clayton as the improvement on
the track.
“This team is starting to
really jell and this has been
occurring for about a year and
a half now,” Clayton said. “(The
athletes) really make an effort
to learn the other events so they
know and are really starting to
cheer and support each other.
“When I came here that
wasn’t always the case, but now
distance runners and sprinters
and field events, they’re all one
team instead of segments, and
are really supportive of each
other.”
JAKE SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
KEVIN ZHENG/Daily
Senior Erin Finn claimed a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter race Saturday.
This team is
starting to
really jell
JAKE SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer