McGregor leads Blue to second with record pace

Next up for 'M' harriers: NCAA Championships

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - How do you spell legend? In the case of the Michigan women's cross country team, it's M-c-G-R-E-G-O-R. As in Katie McGregor, who once again combined skill with smarts in a masterful performance at the Great Lakes Regional.

The senior captured first place Saturday, establishing a new 5K course record of 17:02 at the Bird-Gibson Recreation Complex.

She also led the Wolverines to a 53-point team score - good enough for second place behind first place Wisconsin (39 points). Their place was also good enough for an invitation to the NCAA Championships in Lawrence, Kan.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Katie McGregor cruised to a first-place finish at this weekend's NCAA regional.

McGregor dueled with Notre Dame's Joanna Deeter, in a rematch of the Wolverine Interregional, throughout most of the race. But this time McGregor came away as the victor, pulling away from Deeter in the last 1.000 meters.

"I was comfortable with the pace," McGregor said. "At different points we each felt a little better, so we each pushed a little more. I knew she would be out there, so we just sort of worked together."

McGregor's latest win was further evidence of her exceptional career.

"Katie always does her best and her best is usually winning," fellow captain and Michelle Slater said. "She raced well today."

Michigan coach Mike McGuire is accustomed to McGregor's big-meet performances.

"McGregor was her typical steady self," McGuire said.

McGregor's race strengthened her bid to become the first Michigan women's cross country national champion in school history. She finished fifth at the NCAA Championships last year.

Although McGregor's win was a rallying point for the team, it could not completely mask the disappointment that came with losing for the second time in two weeks to Wisconsin. The Badgers scored 39 points.

The Wolverines could not separate Wisconsin's top three runners - their goal since the Big Ten meet.

The final results didn't do the Wolverines justice as Elizabeth Kampfe finished a heartbreaking second behind Wisconsin's second and third runners.

"I'm a little disappointed," McGuire said. "We'd like to get a trophy out of Kansas and that performance won't do it. We didn't close very well in the last couple minutes of the race.

"We'll need to get that shored up because at the nationals there is going to be a lot more people going by us at the end of the race."

Following McGregor for the Wolverines were Kampfe (seventh,17:43), Slater (ninth,17:53), Lisa Oullet (17th,18:05) and Katie Clifford (19th, 18:09).

"We always want to win," Slater said. "But our official mission was to qualify for nationals and we got that accomplished."

For the better part of the season, McGuire has emphasized good pack running - especially among the fourth, fifth and sixth runners. Unfortunately, the team fell short of establishing the continuity necessary in big meets.

"It's like the stock market," McGuire said. "A couple of your stocks go up, a couple of your stocks go down a little bit. We'd like to get all five runners on an up note for this last one."

11-16-98