University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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Scoreboard Women ' s track and Afield 3rd Big 10 Indoor lst Meet ield tdoor As part of the total team effort, sophomore sprint specialist Tanya Clay, right, contributed as the team leader in the 400 meter run and as part of the team-best Sprint Medley Relay team. Billed her end with a third place finish in the discus at i photos courtesy of Sports Information. ement Michigan Relays Red Simmons Invitational Eastern Michigan Invite Michigan State Relays Meyo Invitational Penn St. Ohio St. MSU Eastern Michigan Classic Silverston Invitational Big 10 Indoor Championship Texas Relays Miami of Ohio Kansas Relays Penn Relays Drake Relays University of Toledo Penn St. Ohio St. MSU Len Paddock Invitational Big 10 Outdoor Championship NCAA Outdoor Championship I I I I NTS NTS NTS NTS NTS 1st NTS NTS 3rd NTS NTS NTS NTS NTS NTS NTS 1st NTS S MlJI here leading the pack is junior Molly McCIimon, the national runner up the 5000 meter (outdoor) run and an indoor and outdoor Ail-american selection. Photo courtesy of Sports Information. A few of us thought deep down inside that we could win it all, said junior Laura Jerman. The hurdles was only one of the events she participated in as the Big 10 heptathlon champion. Photo courtesy of Sports Information. 338 Sports

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Scoreboar Front: Assistant coach Art Ace Adams, Toby Brzon-znowski, Bryan Santo, Eric Heinstchel, Head Coach Bill Freehan, Scott Timmerman, Scott Winterelee, Matt Copp, Pat Maloney, assistant coach Dan O ' Brien. Middle: Volunteer assistant coach Ed Turek, Jasen Livington, Chirs Newton, Heath Murray, Nate Holdren, Rodney Goble, trainer Rex Thompson. Back: Groundslceeper Eric Keil, Scott Niemiec, Scott Weaver, Mark Temple, Andy Wade, Brian Simmons, John Arvai, Matt Humbles, student manager Matt Hyde, student trainer Anne Wittenbach. -Bob Kalmbach Along with being honored as a First Team all Big JO selection, senior third baseman Matt Copp, far left, was the ipient of the Geoff Zahn Award given team MVP. Copp was also the hitter. Photo Information. In only his irst r on the team, first- year student Scotmfeaver, left, led the team with a. 378 ba ag average and 42 runs batted in. For performance, Weaver was selected 9the Big 10 Freshman of the Year .,m a Freshman All- American. Photo rte.s v of Sports Information. UC5 It If. I osAa to M r I orida 9-10, 6-17, 4-6, 11-5 iami 3-4, 1-8 issouri 4-5 Auburn 4-0 Missouri 0-1 Oklahoma 4- 10 Iowa State 4-3 Oklahoma 2-9, 9-18 Louisiana State 2-6, 8-9 Baseball 25-30 overall 13-14 Big 10 (7th) Alabama 4-2, 6-7, 8-5 Minnesota 3-7, 0-5, 2-3, 9-11 Eastern Michigan 4-8 Purdue 1-1 1,3-8, 2-3,0-14 Eastern Michigan 2-4 Saginaw Valley 4-1 Penn State 1-3, 8-0, 8-0, 16-7 Siena Heights 5-4, 5-2 Indiana 0-6, 2-1, 3-2 Ferris State 4-2, 3-2 Ohio State 2- 1,2-3, 10-13,6-3 Western Michigan 0-6 Detroit Mercy 6-3 Northwestern 24-2, 6-5, 12-3, 8-7 Central Michigan 11-3 Michigan State 1-10, 7-6, 4-2, 8-12 Sports 337

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A HEALTHY SURPRISE An injury -free women ' s track and field team surpised all with it ' s first ever Big 10 Outdoor Championship. b y Sam Garber JT or any athletic team the healtnof its I members can play a decisive role in the ouljome I of both a single competition and an entire sjson. An untimely injury to even one athlete could wreak havoc on the team ' s success. InjurieBiave Shad an unfortunate tendency to invacB the | women ' s track team and prevent it from reaching re hing Warn the end ! memers avoiaeiTiajor injuries, and the end result was the best season ever for a Michigan women ' s track and field team third place in the I Big 1 Indoor Championship topped only by a Big 10 Outdoor championship. Just like many other sports, the winner of | a track meet is the team that scores the most | points. With seventeen indoor events and twenty- three outdoor events, an easy way to score the I most points is to have finalists in as many events I as possible in order to maximize the team ' s scoring i capabilities. It is in this respect that the health factor can be crucial for a track team. As junior ! Molly McClimon said, Even one or two people hurt can really affect the team score. It is no surprise, then, that it would be I ideal for a team to be fully healthy heading into ( Conference Championship meets. Unlike previ- ous years, This year was the first time we had a full squad at the meet (Big 10 Outdoor Cham- pionship), said junior Laura Jerman. As a result, there was a great deal of depth in all events which provided scor- i n g opportunities in almost every event. It ' s not often that you can go to a very big competition and play every- body, but that ' s the way it worked for the Michigan (women ' s) track and field team, said Head Coach James Henry. Of course, each team will have strengt which it can rely on from meet to meet, and as has been the case before, the distance runners were this team ' s strength. As Henry said, We ' re always strong on distances; it ' s the backbone of our team. Indeed, McClimon and sophomore Courtney Babcock, both of whom specialize in distance, earned Indoor All-American honors while an- other distance runner, sophomore Karen Harvey, joined McClimon and Babcock as Outdoor Ail- Americans. Yet, while the distance runners provided their usual strong effort led by a Wolverine sweep of four of the top five spots in the 3,000 meter run, it was a full team effort diat allowed the team to capture the outdoor corWrence title. As Henry said, I think other memDOTs of our team contrib- uted more than what we nA lly have gotten (from them). Such strong conmcutions included senior Julie Victor ' s third-place fin fc the dis- cus, junior Richelle Webb ' s school record- performances as runner-up in both the 100 and 200 meter dash, and first-year student Linda Stuck ' s third in the high jump. Jerman, who was herself heptathlon champion, added, Everyone pulled their end. That ' s what made it a full team effort. After the first full day of competition, the team felt that it had a shot at winning the title. With finalists in almost every event, the team knew that it had the chance for valuable points to add to its score. Nonetheless, coaches were skep- tical that the team would be able to hold on knowing that heavily favored Illinois was close on its heels. As Henry said, I didn ' t think that we would hold on. As the points continued to come in, I was still a little skeptical as to when Illinois ' points would come in. Yet, Illinois ' points never came in, and when the dust settled, the Wolver- ines found themselves alone at the top with a total score of 150.5, a school conference championship record total as well as the third highest total ever in any Big 10 track Championship. Things just fell into place for us, said McClimon, winner of the 5,000 meter run, about the team ' s upset win. To say that the team was surprised that it had won was an understatement. Illinois had been heavily favored, so, as McClimon said, We maybe if we had a good meet we could j. The coaches even thought that was as s the team could go. However, there were some who a little more optimistic about the team ' s title hqPs. As Jerman said, A few of us thought, deep dowf kside, we could win it all. I was surprised that w von. It didn ' t quite hit me until the Illinois cMch said, ' con- gratulations, you did it; ' that ' s when it was starting to sink in, said Henry. Indeed, thShad done it. A fully healthy team had delivejp a healthy surprise it ' s first-ever Big 10 Outdoor Champi- onship. ;nitw iAh; eff utdoor Sports 339