For the past couple of weeks, the Michigan women's track team has had plenty of things it could've complained about - the weather has been cold and rainy, the training has been exhausting ... the list goes on and on.
But for all the things that aren't clicking for the Wolverines, for all the things that could have gone wrong, Saturday's Phil Diamond Invitational at Ferry Field proved surprisingly successful.
Michigan pulled in five individual victories and five runner-up finishes in a field that included Big Ten rival Ohio State, Mid-America Conference power Eastern Michigan, as well as many other teams.
One of the five individual wins came from sophomore Nicole Forrester, who placed first in the high jump with a mark of 5-foot-11. Saturday's victory is just the latest in a long streak of wins for Forrester, who hasn't lost this season.
After jumping 6-2 3/4 at the Penn Relays two weeks ago, a height of 5-11 isn't enough to leave Forrester completely satisfied. Considering the intensity of her recent workouts, however, the dropoff is understandable.
"I'm not too disappointed," Forrester said. "I haven't been tapering off my workouts yet and my back is still sore. I've been stretching constantly because I've been too tight, and I've loosened up a bit. At first I was annoyed that I didn't make (a taller height), but I realize I can't expect too much right now."
The few distance runners who competed in the Diamond meet also met success. Sophomore Angie Stanifer placed first in the 800-meter run while fellow sophomore Katie McGregor took first in the 1,500 with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:24.60. McGregor said the recent tough workouts actually help her performances in meets.
"No matter how hard we work in practice, I don't consider whether it's going to hurt or help my racing," McGregor said. "I think it would help more than anything - the harder you workout in practice, the faster you go in a race."
On the flip side, junior Tania Longe is just beginning to step up her competition since a recent hamstring injury, but Saturday she stepped up in a big way.
Longe dominated in almost every one of her competitions, taking first in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles while finishing second in the triple jump. To top it off, Longe's winning performance of 20-foot-4 1/4 in the long jump was good enough to qualify her provisionally for the NCAAs.
Michigan coach James Henry said he was pleased by the performances of Longe and her teammates. On the other hand, freshmen sprinters Maria Brown and Kenise Bocage, whose times in the 200 and 100 were slower than they expected, have to put their disappointment into perspective, Henry said.
"My responsibility as a coach is to inform them of what we just went through in terms of training," Henry said. "The person who it did not adversely affect was Tania Longe. I did not expect her to do as well as she did.
"Both Maria and Kenise were really down. We trained really hard this week and it's showing. They don't have the zip they want, but we'll start tapering the workouts after Thursday."
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Junior Tania Longe led the way for the Michigan women's track team at Saturday's Phil Diamond Invitational. Longe won the 100-meter hurdles and long jump.