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Wolverines take 3rd place in women's track

Outstanding senior leadership can only carry a talented young team so far. The Michigan women's track and field team discovered this at the Big Ten Championships, held Friday and Saturday at Wisconsin.

Illinois garnered 129 points en route to capturing the conference crown. Wisconsin just missed the title with an impressive 111-point performance. Michigan's 48 1/2 points placed it a distant third.

While none of the Wolverines earned first-place finishes, several athletes turned in noteworthy efforts. Senior Courtney Babcock finished second in the 5,000-meter at 16:47.96. That mark placed the five-time All-American just over two seconds behind Wisconsin's Kathy Butler (16:45.68), one of only two NCAA automatic qualifiers in the event.

"Butler's considered one of the top, if not the top, distance runners in the country," said assistant coach, Mike McGuire.

Babcock was also impressive in the mile, earning another second-place finish with an NCAA provisional-qualifying 4:46.61. Once again, Butler grabbed the gold, coasting to a 4:40.80 first-place crown.

Freshman Angie Stanifer established a new lifetime best in the 600 with a time of 1:32.84, good enough for third place. Fellow freshman Katie McGregor recorded yet another NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the mile with her sixth-place time of 4:50.51.

Sophomore Tania Longe accumulated 4,112 points in the pentathlon, including a 5-feet-10 1/2 second-place mark in the high jump. Longe leaped to 18-feet-6 and fifth place in the long jump, as well as 40-feet-5 1/2" in the triple jump.

Tearza Johnson, the reigning Big Ten champion in the 200, was denied the opportunity to defend her title. The senior sprinter was disqualified after a lane-line violation, but went on to a sixth-place finish in the 55 with a 7:15 effort.

In the 3000, sophomore Michelle Slater took sixth at 9:47.03. Again, it was Wisconsin's Butler who dominated the field with her third first-place finish (9:38.09).

Amidst the many solid individual performances given by Michigan athletes, it was, possibly, a team effort that provided the most inspiration.

Michigan's distance medley squad of McGregor, Babcock, freshman Sarah Hamilton and junior Lamika Harper teamed up for a second-place finish with their NCAA provisional-qualifying effort of 11:30.23.

Overall, McGuire notes, there were no real surprises.

"We had a couple of bad breaks," he said, "but those things can happen in a meet."

For many of the younger athletes, last weekend's championships offered them their first taste of fierce Big Ten competition.

Several athletes from rival schools dominated their fields with multiple victories. Along with Butler's triple crown in the 3000, 5000 and the mile, Michigan State's Chandra Burns, Purdue's Torissa Yasen, and Illinois' Dawn Riley were doubly devastating.

Burns dominated in the sprints, winning both the 200 (23.91) and the 400 (43.78).

Riley won the 55-hurdles (7.69) and jumped to a 43-feet-6 first-place finish in the long jump.

Yasen broke an all-time Big Ten record in the pentathlon, totaling 4,181 points, due in large part to her high jump victory (6-feet-1/2).

The team now turns its attention to the outdoor season beginning in late March.

"We know we have a lot of work to do," McGuire said. "We're going to put our nose to the grindstone and get that done."