Blue takes Big Tens

All season long, Michigan women's track assistant coach Mike McGuire has been stressing the importance of Big Tens. That paid off Sunday when the Wolverines claimed the Big Ten outdoor title.

"Big Ten's are still the most important thing for us," McGuire said after the Jesse Owens classic, where the team garnered many individual wins. He also added that Wisconsin and Illinois were looking real good at the time and that those teams would be tough come the Big Ten Tournament. He was dead on.

The Michigan women's track team totalled 129.50 points for first place. As practically predicted by McGuire, Wisconsin finished second with 117 points and Illinois third with 115.

Sunday didn't provide the team with any individual victories. But as this was a scored team event, even fifth- and six-place finishes mattered, and they provided much-needed points. The team won because, when it was clear that they wouldn't take fir

SARAH COLLINS/Daily The Michigan women's track team claimed the Big Ten title this past weekend in Columbus, beating out Wisconsin and Illinois.

st, individuals still gutted out their events, helping pile up the points to victory.

For example, in the 100-meter dash, Maria Brown and Kenise Bocage finished sixth and seventh, picking up three and two points, respectively. Tania Longe also provided eight points, with her third-place mark of 12.61 in the triple jump.

Katie McGregor, the indoor national champion in the 1,500, also provided a major lift to the Michigan effort on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday, McGregor's third-place finish in the 1,500 with a time of 4:22.97 was good enough to earn the team six points. She also finished second in the 5,000 with a time of 16:37.49, behind Angie Kujak of Wisconsin.

Saturday, she led the way for Michigan in the 3,000 with a runner-up time of 9:26.52. Michelle Slater and Lena VanHaren also provided points with their fourth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively.

Also on Saturday, Tania Longe provided the Wolverines with their only individual title of the championships. Her first-place long jump of 19-feet-8 3/4 inches earned the Michigan star the eighth conference title of her career.

While Sunday saw Wisconsin and Illinois challenge the Wolverines for the Big Ten title, the main competition for the team on Saturday came from Penn State, which finished the day with 41 points to Michigan's 46. Again, even the lowest of finishes mattered, as the competition was so hotly contested. Amy Johnson's eighth-place finish in the javelin with a toss of 100-10 and Brandi Bentley's sixth-place long jump of 19-2 were key scores for the Wolverines.

There was only one event Friday - the 10,000. Three Wolverines scored, giving Michigan a first-day leading total of fifteen points. All-American Elizabeth Kampfe led Michigan with a second-place finish of 35:47.02. Allison Noe and Tiffin Goodman also aided the Michigan cause with fourth- and seventh-place finishes.

As McGuire said weeks before, Michigan needed a team effort if it was going to win anything. The team got just that in Columbus. The result was a championship.

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