The season continues for the No. 9 Michigan women's track and field team as they host the Wolverine Open at the Indoor Track Building this Saturday. The team will be making final preparations for the Big Ten Championships next weekend in Columbus.
The team had been planning to send some members to Colorado Springs for the Colorado Springs Classic on Friday. But logistical problems prevented the team from flying to Denver. So the entire team, along with the entire men's team, will participate in the Wolverine Open in dual-meet format.
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| LOUIS BROWN/Daily Tiffany Hodge and the rest of the Michigan women's track team will host several Michigan teams this weekend at the Wolverine Open. The Open gives the Wolverines their last practice run before the Big Ten championships. |
"We'll rest up for Big Tens at home," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We are going to use this meet to get focused for the Big Ten finals."
Henry expressed some displeasure with the team's performance at the Cannon Classic in Indianapolis last weekend.
"We weren't pleased with last weekend," Henry said. "We'd been on fire for about the last two years, and last week we were lukewarm at best. We had some good individual performances, such as Nicole Forrester's win in the high jump, but overall it was a subpar meet."
Women's distance coach Mike McGuire echoed many of these sentiments.
"Last week was a little misleading," McGuire said. "We had eight people at Notre Dame (at the Meyo Invitational), and they ran better as a group than the people in Indianapolis.
"The kids are happy we're home this weekend. They're looking forward to putting up some better times," he said.
Both coaches emphasized the need for the team to improve this weekend.
"I'm hoping that last weekend was just the quiet before the storm," Henry said. "We need to solidify our footing and rebuild some confidence at the Wolverine Open."
"We will be looking to get after it this weekend," McGuire added. "This is our final tune-up for Big Tens, and we need to be better."
While stressing the need for improvement, the coaches also applauded the team's progress from the beginning of the season up until last weekend.
"I've been extremely pleased with the year," Henry said. "This has been a real blue-collar team, and we've gone to business all season.
"After what happened last weekend, I've been happy with our practices this week. We've had a good attitude and a good work ethic."
"We think last week was just a little blip on the screen," McGuire added. "Up until then, we had had a good year."
The Wolverine Open will run all day Saturday. Field events are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., with track events slated to start at noon.
02-12-99
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