CHAMPAIGN - At last weekend's Big Ten track championships, the Michigan women's team came close to upsetting favored Wisconsin, but in the end the Wolverines fell short, losing by only 10 points - 121-111.
With only the 5,000-meter run and the 4x400-meter dash remaining, the Wolverines and the Badgers were in a first-place tie at 98 points.
In the 5,000, Wisconsin's distance runners put an end to the Wolverines' dream of a Big Ten title. Wisconsin runners Kathy Butler, Angie Kujak and Sara Fredrickson finished first, second and fifth, respectively. For the Wolverines, Katie McGregor finished fourth, followed by Marcy Akard (sixth), Julie Froud (seventh) and Kathy Hollbacher (eighth).
In all, the 5,000 gave Wisconsin an insurmountable 11-point lead going into the final event.
Tania Longe led the way for Michigan, accounting for 29 points. Longe took first in the heptathlon, third in the 100 hurdles, fourth in the long jump and triple jump and sixth in the high jump.
In the heptathlon, Longe finished with a Michigan record 5,861 points - an impressive 550 points ahead of second place Beth Reid of Purdue. In the long-jump portion of the heptathlon, Longe jumped a Big Ten outdoor championship record 6.60 meters.
"I knew I had it in me," Longe said of her performance in the heptathlon. "Everything needs to be there, and it was this weekend."
After dominating the heptathlon, Longe finished a disappointing fourth in the long jump with a jump of 6.11 meters - 0.49 meters less than her jump in the heptatholon.
"I was really, really, really, tired," Longe said. "That's why I just couldn't pop one out."
Michigan's only other Big Ten individual champion was Nicole Forrester who took first in the high jump, clearing a height of 5-foot-11 1/2. Although Indiana's Nathalie Belfort and Illinois' Stacy Grant also jumped 5-11 1/2, Forrester took first place because she was able to clear the height in less attempts.
"I knew I had to do that on my first attempt," Forrester said. "At the indoor Big Ten's I goofed up my first jump and ended up knocking (the bar) down. It came back to haunt me."
Michigan's distance runners also had a strong meet. Along with her fourth-place finish in the 5,000, McGregor took third in the 3,000 and 1,500. In the 10,000 Hollbacher took fourth and Froud fifth.
Michigan's sprinters had an up-and-down meet. In the 100-meter dash, Maria Brown finished fourth followed closely by teammate Kenise Bocage at fifth.
In the 4x100 relay and the 200 dash, the Wolverines could do no better than seventh.
Despite coming close, the Wolverines were disappointed with the final outcome.
"I think that we had the personnel to win, but we didn't." Henry said. "The team is dejected and they're really upset that they didn't pull it off."