Big Ten meet just the beginning of rivalry for Michigan

STATE COLLEGE - At Saturday's mens' Big Ten Cross Country Championships, teams and fans spanning across the conference were in attendance.

Unfortunately, no one told the other eight teams that it was actually the Michigan-Wisconsin meet - rather, war. In truth, though, Saturday's meet was only round one of the battle.

Some might call it cockiness, others realism, but the teams' coaches, Ron Warhurst of Michigan and Jerry Schumacher of Wisconsin, feel that this past meet and the ones to follow are solely for the purpose of pitting the two leaders of the Big Ten against each other.

"No one else can touch us," Warhurst said. "It's going to be us and Wisconsin again next time."

The Badgers and the Wolverines have a mutual respect. The two teams have been at the top of the Big Ten conference and the Great Lakes region for the better part of this past decade. And they are both well aware of the challenges posed by their opposing competitors.

"Michigan's a great team," said Matt Downin, Wisconsin senior and individual champion at the meet. "Every year, it's us and them. They always come and they always race hard."

Little was expected of Michigan at the start of the season, in comparison to Wisconsin, who was returning their entire starting seven from last season.

Michigan showed its abilities in the regular season, but it all came down to whether Michigan could compete with Wisconsin in this meet.

It came down to two miniscule points.

"We ran better than we did last year, comparatively," Michigan sophomore Tom Caughlan said, "with guys that weren't supposed to be half as good."

The championship meet came down to the wire. To those involved, it was a carefully planned battle waged by Warhurst to prove his runners' true abilities.

"He's a 'Nam vet," Caughlan jokingly said. "I think that plays into his mindset."

Caughlan's explanation has a glimmer of truth. Everyone around him, including Warhurst, smiled and nodded in agreement when Schumacher first attempted to describe the race.

"It was war," he said. "That was great."

From there, Warhurst was thankful that he will never have to worry about seeing Downin again.

"Congratulations," Warhurst told the Wisconsin star. "I'm glad you're out of here, but that was great."

All three men were trying to get themselves ready to face each other again in two weeks at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet. Both teams will stop at nothing to point out that the relationship between the two teams is quite good.

"Every single one of them, including Coach Warhurst, are great guys," Schumacher said. "It's very serious, and afterwards, we sit back and relax."

"They're good guys," Michigan's Steve Lawrence said. "We still know that they're our arch-rivals, though."

Only the top two teams at the regional meets qualify for the nationals, but Warhurst and Schumacher seem to have little doubt that by the time that the NCAA Championships in Bloomington come around, they could be facing a decisive round three.

11-01-99