Men's track edged by Hoosiers

Saturday's meet at Indiana demonstrated the leadership and strength of the Michigan men's distance squad and the inexperience of the sprint team.

The men's track team came up short this weekend in its attempt to defeat the Hoosiers. Indiana outscored Michigan, 77.50-72.50, in an emotional and close meet.

The return of captain and All-America Kevin Sullivan was overshadowed by Michigan's disappointing loss, and the sprint teams' inability to capture any first-place finishes in their events.

Kevin Sullivan made his debut this weekend on the indoor circuit, with first-place finishes in the 800-meter run (1:53.91) and mile run (4:04.08).

"Kevin's performance was, as usual, outstanding," Michigan coach Jack Harvey said.

"He supplied the team with valuable points and leadership."

While Sullivan was the star of the meet, Jay Cantin and John Mortimer emphasized with their performances why the Michigan men's distance team is one of the best in the country.

Mortimer followed up last week's NCAA qualifying performance in the 5,000 meters with a victory in the 3,000-meter run (8:23.75).

Cantin, who was a valuable member of this fall's cross country team, re-emerged this weekend as one of the countries best mile runners - with a NCAA provisional qualifying time, and second-place finish in the mile, with a time of 4:05.69.

"Cantin was one of the top performers at Indiana," Harvey said. "He ran an impressive time, and it is great that we have another qualifier for nationals along with Sullivan."

While there were no surprises regarding the performance of the distance team, the sprinters failed to earn enough points to win the meet.

The dual meet permitted sprinters to double up in events. This allowed the coaches to see how the athletes would respond to the mental and physical pressures of running back-to-back.

Kevin Bowman and Brian Theisen continued to improve, but Indiana sprinter Russell Brooks captured first-place finishes in the 55- and 200-meter dashes.

Junior Kevin Bowman placed second in the 55 (6.57) and third in the 200 (22.47). Senior Brian Theisen ran impressive times as well, placing second in the 200 (22.41) and 400 (49.59).

The inexperienced sprint team is still struggling with the pressures of Big Ten competition.

"I think it is going to take a little more time and practice," Bowman said. "Most of the sprinters just need one good race to boost their confidence and show them that they really can run with the competition."

Bowman said doubling up events, "wasn't really that difficult, and it showed a lot of strength in our runners."

01-20-98