Mortimer follows wrong route, wins Open anyway

By Evan Braunstein
Daily Sports Writer

While the Michigan men's golf team was holding tryouts, the men's cross country team hosted a meet. The only thing unusual about this is that both events were held at the same place.

The Wolverines placed three runners in the top four Saturday at the Michigan Open, held at the Michigan Golf Course. The meet was non-scoring and served mostly as a warm-up and a chance to solidify the roster, much the same as a preseason football game.

Anyone can compete in an open meet, and consequently, many Wolverines ran unattached, allowing the team to enter as many runners as it wished.

"I don't think (this meet) really has any bearing on our season," Kevin Sullivan said. "It was kind of a warm-up, but it was more for trying to figure out which guys are going to be running each week."

Despite some unexpected heat and a few wayward golf balls, John Mortimer grabbed first place in the eight-kilometer race. He finished with a time of 26:26, despite a slight directional error.

"Mortimer went the wrong way up there," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said. "I told him to take off his sunglasses so he could see the white line."

Pushing Mortimer the entire way was former Wolverine All-American Gerard Donakowski, who tied Mortimer for first place. Sullivan, who seemed to be holding back most of the race, showed a glimpse of his three-time All-American form with a late surge to finish a close third at 26:33. Tom Snyder came in fourth at 26:51.

Sophomore Steve Lawrence and senior Don McLaughlin crossed the finished line 19 seconds later, followed by Tom Stamboulian.

"None of us were out there killing ourselves," Snyder said. "But it's hard to take it too easy on this course."

This race decided which runners will compete in the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kan., on Sept. 13. Warhurst said he had a good idea of who he will send.

"The top five people are going to Kansas, and I'm going to make a designation as to who the next seven are going to be," he said. "I pretty much knew who the top five or six people were" beforehand.

The 85-degree heat, however, was a problem for many runners, with at least one Michigan runner collapsing from exhaustion. The Wolverines do not get many chances to train in warm temperatures, so they suffered the consequences Saturday.

"The course is tough, and on top of that the heat sucks," Snyder said. "As soon as I found out it was going to be 80 (degrees) this afternoon, I just started chugging down the water. Other than that there's not much you can do."

This was the first meet for many freshmen, and the conditions make their debut any easier. Mike Wisniewski was the top rookie, finishing eighth with a time of 27:41.

"We've been training hard for two to three weeks, and a few guys did not respond well to the heat so they were not up in the top 10 or 12," Warhurst said.

"I thought Sam Dorri would run a little bit better, but I think the heat got to him, as well as redshirt freshman John Bustic. Other than that, everything was standard."

09-08-97