EAST LANSING - Fifty-three percent of the team score.
Seventy-one out of 135 total points.
Any way you look at it, the distance runners of the Michigan women's track team had more than their fair share of responsibility for the Wolverines' success at Saturday's Michigan Intercollegiate Championships.
True, Michigan did lose to Eastern Michigan by eight points, 143-135, but the Wolverines outscored the Eagles, 71-40, in the distance events.
Also keep in mind that distance races accounted for only five of the 15 events contested at the meet.
"It's nice to know that we were able to do our part and carry our load," freshman Elizabeth Kampfe said. "As long as we can do our part, then we'll come together (as a team), eventually."
Kampfe finished first in her only race of the day, the 5,000, with a time of 17:27.51. Saturday marked the first time Kampfe had ever competed in the 5,000, but she was pushed by her more experienced teammate, sophomore Marcy Akard.
Akard finished right behind Kampfe with a time of 17:28.86. Junior Eileen Fleck rounded out the Michigan sweep, giving the Wolverines 24 points for the single event.
Kampfe, Akard and many of the other Michigan distance runners are used to competing with each other. Their cross country season ended just more than a month ago, providing them with a sense of unity and chemistry beyond that of the track team.
"It's always nice to have a teammate so you can run it together," Kampfe said. "We've been practicing together since August, so you get to know through practicing who's your speed and who you can race with, so that helps."
The distance runners have been training especially hard in practice for the past couple of weeks. As impressive as they have been, they expect and demand improvement of themselves before the Big Ten and NCAA championships.
Sophomore Katie McGregor placed second and third in the mile and 3,000-meter run, respectively, but she was not completely satisfied with her performance.
"I think the efforts were out there today, but I think we just had a hard week of training," McGregor said. "We went and did the best we could do today - definitely not our best, but the best we could do today, which is all you can ask for.
"No matter what you run, it's never going to be good enough, but a lot of people are running far from their (personal record's). It's time to get rolling, and hopefully, we'll do that next week."
If sophomore Sarah Hamilton continues to improve, she will have nothing to worry about when Big Tens come around. Hamilton finished first in the 800 with a time of 2:13.89, while freshman Lisa Ouellet came in third.
Ouellet won the 800 at last week's Red Simmons Invitational, but Saturday she may have been feeling the effects of competing in the mile run earlier in the day, in which she also finished third.
Considering that Ouellet and McGregor probably did not run up to their full potential at the Michigan Interregional, the distance crew may prove even more dominant down the stretch. This is good news for a young Michigan track team, which will need consistent scorers as its large number of contributing freshmen continue to adapt to college competition.
"We're really young, both in the distances and across the board with the rest of the track team - it's a team that's going to grow," said Michigan assistant coach Mike McGuire, who is in charge of the distance runners. "We need our upper-class leadership. We need some people to come to the floor and be the coaches on the field."
McGuire has accepted the prominent role the distance runners will have in the fate of the Wolverines but cautions about placing too much emphasis on their importance - yet.
"We take pride in doing our part and making a contribution to the team," McGuire said. "There's an expectation that goes with the territory. We may have percentage-wise scored more points, but someone like (sprinter) Maria Brown can impact a bigger race right now better than a lot of people.
"It's important for us to improve as track athletes, so that when the next cross country season rolls around, we're that much more confident."
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Cross country. Track. Same thing? Nope. But for Michigan, the women who run for both teams are getting the same result with each: success.