'M' women prep for nationals in California

Five days from now, Michigan students and spectators will be witnessing the spectacle known as the Naked Mile.

And while Tuesday's runners have been posing in the mirror all week to find their "best side," Michigan's women's track team has been preparing for something else.

This weekend, the Wolverines head out west for the second time in two weeks for not one, but two relays in California.

The team will first compete Friday in Pomona, Calif. This meet will be a low-key, relaxed competition in which the Wolverines can prepare for the Mt. SAC relays the following day.

And although most of the same teams will be participating in both meets, the atmosphere is much more intense at Mt. SAC.

DHANI JONES/Daily Although the Mt. SAC relays are not a team scored event, senior high jumper Nicole Forrester and the rest of the Michigan women's track and field team will use the event to prepare for nationals.

Mt. SAC "is not a scored meet," senior high jumper Nicole Forrester said. "It's more of a check to see where each individual is at. It's not as team-focused as the others."

Mt. SAC is an invitational elite meet where nearly 20 teams will be there to gauge where athletes stand in terms of qualifying for nationals.

"Last year, only one out of every five athletes qualified for nationals," Michigan coach Anne Marie Takacs said. "This year, UCLA, LSU, Arizona and Texas are probably the toughest competition."

Will the Wolverines be tough opponents? They proved themselves this weekend when they came out on top by one point over three other teams this past weekend in San Diego, without the aid of some of their top athletes.

"We have a really strong team," junior sprinter Lisa Ouellet said. "The coaches always emphasize that each meet in a stepping stone for the next. Improvement is what we want, and this weekend is a great opportunity to do that. This is an amazing opportunity, and we're taking advantage of it."

"Last week was a learning experience for us," junior sprinter Kenise Bocage said. "There were only so many people that we could put in and see how far they've come."

This weekend, Michigan will have to do without junior distance runners Julie Froud and Elizabeth Kampfe. Froud has been slowly recovering from a strained Achilles, and has missed all of the outdoor relays.

After her strong performance in San Diego, Kampfe is going to be taking the week off to train for her 10,000-meter race the following weekend at the Penn Relays, one of the biggest meets of the season.

"All of the big dogs are going this weekend," Takacs said. "The only people who aren't going are the ones who are redshirted or preparing for the Penn Relays. It's hard to go to three big profiles in a row."

In addition, Michigan junior throwers Julie Presley and fiancé Patrick Johansson will be returning to Mt. SAC for the first time as Division I athletes.

The two are junior transfers from Mt. SAC, and this will be a big homecoming for the both of them.

04-15-99