All unopened birthday presents carry with them a certain sense of mystery and anticipation.
Will the gift be a success and perhaps contain a Nintendo 64 and an eternity of game-playing fun, at least until the next fad?
Or maybe the shiny wrapping paper will reveal only disappointment: a pair of wool socks knit specially by Grandma - she thinks video games are evil.
Well then, Saturday may just as well be Michigan women's track coach James Henry's birthday. The gift-opening will occur in South Bend, Ind., at the Mayo Invitational, where the Wolverines will prove to him whether they are worth the wait.
After Saturday's emotional loss to Eastern Michigan at the Michigan Interregional, Henry isn't sure how the Wolverines will respond.
"Well, I think that's going to be the $64,000 question, is how did (the loss) affect them," Henry said. "Psychologically, I know they were set back by it. I don't know how they're going to respond. I do know that they're continually down the practice path to improve themselves in the long run.
"What they will do when they get on the track will be something that I will be anxious to see."
A mix of new and familiar competition will give Michigan another unknown factor to deal with.
Although the meet will only be scored on the basis of individual athletes' performances, the Wolverines will face representatives from Notre Dame, Ohio, Purdue and maybe even their old adversaries, the Eagles.
Michigan competed against the Fighting Irish at the Red Simmons Invitational earlier this season, but this will be the first time the Wolverines race against against their Big Ten rivals, the Boilermakers.
The emphasis on individual placement may actually help the Wolverines regain their winning attitude after losing to Eastern Michigan.
"It's a non-scoring meet, but at the same time, our focus is on being much more mentally tough as we compete," Henry said. "The athlete's focus, of course, is that I want to improve my placing. I'm interested more in them improving their mental toughness."
Henry held team meetings yesterday as well as after Saturday's loss in order to rebuild team morale and promote his message of perseverance.
"There was a discussion following the meet stating that this was only a prelude to the Big Tens, so let's make our mistakes now and corrrect them in four weeks," Henry said.
Mistakes? The Michigan Interregional included outstanding performances by many of the Wolverines.
Sophomore Nicole Forrester placed first in the high jump for the third straight week.
Sophomore Sarah Hamilton destroyed the competition in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.89, an accomplishment indicative of what many of the distance runners were able to do Saturday.
Freshman Maria Brown came close to qualifying for nationals with a winning time of 24.42 in the 200.
Henry, however, still sees room for improvement.
"The mistakes I might think they have made and the mistakes they might think they have made are different," Henry said. "They think their mistake is that they did not win, they did not beat athletes that they should have beaten.
"That did occur, but some more important mistakes to me are making the height on the first attempt instead of the third attempt, getting a real good seed time going into the finals from the prelim, those are the things I look at as a coach that need to be worked on."
After yesterday's team meeting, Henry has nothing to do but continue to concentrate on training and wait to see what happens on Saturday.
"Now, looking more closely at the results, we will talk about the things that were discussed - how important it is to get a good performance early, how important it is to finish at the finish line very strong," Henry said.
"The question is: How will they respond to these instructions?"
FILE PHOTO
The Michigan women's track team heads to South Bend this weekend to compete in the Mayo Invitational.