Sections

Harriers dominate opposition at Colonial Relays

The colors of the wind were maize and blue in Williamsburg, Va., as the Michigan men's track team captured first place at the Colonial Relays.

The Wolverines paced the field with 42 points. Seton Hall followed in second with 31 points, Virginia Commonwealth in third with 26, Rutgers in fourth with 24, and Eastern Kentucky in fifth with 22 points.

Again, the weather was not the best for the Wolverines, but despite the cold and rainy conditions, the team prevailed. The relay teams and several individuals had strong performances for their first outdoor meet.

The 4 x 200-meter relay team of Andy Schoelch, Kevin Bowman, Jeff Wood and Brian Renaldi finished in fifth place in Friday's race. The distance medley relay team finished a respectable seventh with a time of 10:10.53 and the sprint medley team gave the Wolverines a boost by finishing fourth, a mere 4.63 seconds behind the first place team, Virginia Commonwealth.

The 4 x 400 team kicked Saturday off by finishing in second place. The team consisting of Bowman, Schoelch, Edzra Gibson and Damon DeVasher clocked in at 42.86 seconds just behind Nebraska.

The 4 x 1,500 team (Cory Brown, Jeff Beuche, Don McLaughlin and John Mortimer) followed suit by running away with second place with a time of 16:05.1.

The highlight of the events was the final event of the weekend, the 4 x 400 championships. The Michigan team of Wood, Renaldi, Todd Burnham and Trinity Townsend finished in first place at 3:13.5, two seconds ahead of second-place Buffalo.

"The competition wasn't quite what we expected because of the running conditions," Burnham said. "We were pleased because everybody put forth an effort that was expected to win the meet."

This weekend was also a high time for several Wolverines competing in the individual events as well.

Neil Gardner had superb weekend by clinching first place in two events. The Jamaica native won the 400 hurdles (51.18) and the 110 hurdles (14.24) even though he has a strong dislike for cold weather.

Brian Wildfong had a big day in the men's field events. He finished in second place in the shot put with a throw of 49-feet-11 1/2 inches and came back later Saturday afternoon to win the discus contest with a toss of 159-feet-7.

Other individual Wolverine finishers were Stan Johanning, fourth in the javelin, and John Mortimer fifth in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 9:06.9.

The weather was truly disturbing for Jon Royce and Damon DeVasher because, just like last weekend, the high-jump contest was canceled.