Men's track nishes ninth

MADISON - All season long, the Michigan men's track and field team hid its inexperience by using strong freshman performances to succeed in small-time meets against small-time teams. This weekend at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the Wolverines had nowhere to hide, and their inexperience showed, when they finished ninth out of the ten teams participating.

"The guys just didn't get hyped for this meet," freshman sprinter Ike Okenwa said as he looked across the track at the jubilant winners from Michigan State "We were all pretty nervous."

Okenwa was a non-factor in the meet. Thanks to an ankle injury that nearly kept him out, he ran the 60-meter dash heavily taped and finished with a noticeable limp. He was held out of

Top men finishes 60-meter hurdles: Jon Cohen, t-5th 600-meter run: Jeremy Schneider, 5th Mile run: Jay Cantin, 1st 5000-meter run: Todd Snyder, 4th Triple Jump: Oded Padan, 4th 3000-meter run: Todd Snyder, 3rd

"I didn't get out of the blocks well," Okenwa said. "I can't make

any excuses for myself though. I just didn't run well."

Despite Okenwa's injury and the team's finish, there were several bright spots that left the young team encouraged for next season. Most of these came from upperclassmen that had competed in the meet before.

Junior Jay Cantin was the Wolverines' sole winner. He captured

the Big Ten mile crown and nearly qualified for the NCAA championships by posting a time of 4:05.

"Michigan's won this event six years in a row, so winning just

seemed like the right thing to do," Cantin said.

Another junior, and Michigan's most consistent runner all year

long has been Todd Snyder. He finished fourth behind three Spartans in the 5,000 and met the provisional standard to compete in the NCAA's.

In addition to the experienced upperclassmen, some freshman bested their nerves to succeed. Two of them hail from outside of the United States.

Swede Patrick Johansson shattered his personal best by three feet on his way to a second place finish in the wacky thirty-five lb. weight throw.

"I am really happy," Johansson said. "I did real good today."

The other foreign freshman was Israeli jumper Oded Padan, who had a good feeling about the meet.

"I'm definitely in the mood!" Padan said as he headed off to

compete.

On Saturday, Padan scratched out of the long jump and did not

place. He savaged the meet on Sunday by taking fourth place in the triple jump with a distance of 51feet, 1 inch.

American freshman Jeremy Schneider joined his classmates with a strong performance. He placed fifth in his specialty, the 600.

"Going from fifth place in my class B state meet to fifth in the

Big Ten's is pretty exciting. I think I held back a lot though. I was

pretty nervous."

The word nervous seemed to be on everybody's lips as Michigan's freshman struggled to compete with the rest of the Big Ten's more experienced athletes.

"I was incredibly nervous the first time I was here," Snyder said. "I still think the freshman did awesome. It just shows promise for next year."

Snyder isn't the only Wolverine excited for next year's season.

Another is assistant coach Ron Warhurst, who very well may be head coach next year, replacing the recently retired Jack Harvey.

"We're gonna be a whole lot better next year," Warhurst said. "I

guarantee that next year in the Big Ten's we place three guys in the 5,000 and three in the 3000."

For now, visions of the season to come are all the dejected team

on to. Thinking about this weekend just leads to confusion.

"I don't understand what happened," Okenwa said. "We've been

beating [Michigan St.] all year."

Although the meet didn't go as well as the team would have hoped, there are many positive performances from the rest of the season that the Wolverines can take with them to the outdoor season. After all, an entire season can't be based on one weekend.

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