Kevin Sullivan's injury could have done many things.
The bursitis behind his achilles could have put an end to the career of the Michigan distance runner - the latest in a string of injuries, his bad luck would have been enough to frustrate Gandhi.
It also could have simply slowed the redshirt junior down. Injury can ruin the best athlete, detracting not only from physical prowess but from confidence in one's abilities as well.
Sullivan allowed his injury to accomplish none of these things.
Instead, Sullivan did the accomplishing - finishing second in the 1,500-meter run at the NCAA championship meet, which took place June 4-7 in Bloomington.
Sullivan clocked a time of 3:40.70, a season-best time for the 1995 NCAA 1,500 champion. He lost to Arkansas' Seneca Lassiter by only .48 seconds - a feat all the more impressive considering his post-injury training amounted to only 14 weeks.
"When Seneca moved on me with 50 meters to go, I tried to respond," Sullivan said. "After a few meters my legs gave out on me, and I stumbled and just tried to get across the line. With three more weeks of training, I will be really hard to beat."
The other Michigan men's standout performance came from sophomore John Mortimer. Mortimer, who was seeded ninth going into the national meet, finished third in the 3,000 steeplechase.
"I was definitely happy with it," Mortimer said. "I was ranked ninth, so to come in third overall was an accomplishment. (Being ranked ninth) maybe took some pressure off, as far not being one of the top guys that everyone looked to, so I snuck in there."
A week and a half earlier, Mortimer easily won the steeplechase at the Big Ten championships. That was without facing Wisconsin's Pascal Dobert, however. Dobert, who chose not to compete in the steeplechase at Big Tens, won the NCAA championship with a time of 8:31.68 - exactly six seconds better than Mortimer's NCAA time of 8:37.68, a career best for Mortimer.
But the NCAAs weren't entirely successful for the Michigan men's team.
Senior Neil Gardner, the defending national champion in the 400-meter hurdles, managed only a sixth place in this year's 400 hurdles with a time of 49.96 - slower than his semifinal time of 48.18, which would have tied him for third in the finals. Gardner also competed in the 110 hurdles but failed to qualify for the final heat.
"I felt good before the race," Gardner said. "My game plan was to turn it on after the seventh hurdle. After the eight hurdle, I knew I didn't have anything left. I had a bad race. Unfortunately it was here, where it cost the team points."
The NCAAs also marked a time of mixed success for the Michigan women's team.
Sophomore Katie McGregor was forced to represent the Michigan distance crew alone, as teammate Marcy Akard sat out at NCAAs due to a stress fracture of her left fibula. McGregor came through in strong fashion - especially considering that she ran her event, the 5,000, for only the third time this year. McGregor finished eighth with a time of 16:16.05, beating her previous career-best time by more than 13 seconds.
After no-heighting in last year's outdoor NCAAs, sophomore Nicole Forrester finally lived up to her own expectations, placing fourth with a height of 6-foot 1/2.
"I'm satisfied," Forrester said. "The last time at nationals I didn't do anything even close to what I could've done."
UCLA's Amy Acuff took second place with a jump of 6-2 3/4 - a height Forrester reached at the Penn Relays earlier this season. Forrester said that bad weather conditions - particularly the rain - hurt her jumping.
"It's not an excuse, but I totally lost focus when it rained," Forrester said. "Last year at Olympic trials, it started raining and I slipped. I have a problem whenever it rains because of that."
The Michigan women's other star athlete didn't have as much good fortune, however.
After setting a Michigan record in the heptathlon and a Big Ten championship record in the long jump a week and a half earlier, Tania Longe finished 13th in heptathlon while failing to even make the finals of the long jump at NCAAs.
Longe said her impressive performance at Big Tens and her intense training afterwards may have led to her poor showing at the national meet.
"I definitely didn't have the same snap that I had at Big Tens," Longe said. "I can't say that I wasn't competitive, because I was, but it just wasn't there. I guess I was tired from Big Tens - I hadn't recuperated enough."
Michigan women's coach James Henry said he regretted working Longe in practice the week after Big Tens.
"Longe's such a competitor that as soon as she finished Big Tens, she said, 'Well, I need to do this and work on this,'" Henry said. "She got right back into training, and that took its toll on her. In retrospect, it may have been (best) not to train."
MARGARET MEYERS/Daily
Michigan junior Tania Longe furthered a streak of poor NCAA championship performances last week, placing 13th in the heptathlon.