Marching Fourth

By Jon Schwartz n Daily Sports Writer

The third man is usually the team's representative in the second pack, trying to push to the front as much as possible and close the gap between himself and the top runners. And the fifth man is the one that ties it all together by setting the team's pack time.

But the fourth man is often left without a role.

For Mark Pilja, Michigan's fourth runner, the goal is to shed the position that gives him no fame.

Pilja came to the Wolverines from North High School in Naperville, Ill., where as a senior, he was one of the nation's top recruits. Before Pilja set foot in Ann Arbor, Michigan's runners were well aware of the his impressive credentials.

"It was a big deal when we finally did sign him," senior co-captain Steven Lawrence remembered. "We were all excited about that."

But when Pilja started working out with the team, the new 'star' was not all that he was cracked up to be. The new face on the team made virtually no impact.

While Pilja's performance wasn't terrible, they were not what people were expecting from a 'star' runner..

Much of this, team members said, was due to an injury that he had been nursing over the summer after his senior year of high school. The ailment prevented him from training as heavy as he would have liked.

"I wasn't happy last season, but I had a poor base from the summer," Pilja said. "I don't think I was strong enough mentally."

Lawrence, for one, stood up in his teammate's defense.

"When you're not running well, you don't feel the competitive edge," Lawrence said. "You don't draw the same experience when you run poorly as you do when you run well."

The only race that Pilja was satisfied with his freshman year was the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, where he finished fifth for the Wolverines and 29th overall.

Coming into this season, Pilja was looking to prove, if only to himself, that he was better than what he'd shown as a freshman.

He succeeded, running as a steady fourth man all season long for one of the best programs in the country.

"We're really lucky to have a fourth man as good as Mark," Lawrence said. "On a lot of other teams in the country, Mark could be the one or two guy on the team."

Lawrence characterizes his teammate as easygoing, but after Pilja got a second chance at the course he owned last year at this past Saturday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional, the sophomore was hardly satisfied.

While the 25th-place finish was admirable in the 194-person field, Pilja was looking for much better results.

"My goal was top 15," Pilja said. "I have to make some adjustments. I have to run better than I did this week."

In the long run, as Lawrence pointed out, no one really cares about how anyone does at regionals. While he did agree that Pilja could have and probably should have run better, he noted that Michigan still has one race left this season for Pilja to redeem himself.

The real show is saved for the NCAA Championships, to be run this Monday in Bloomington, where Lawrence sees his teammate finishing in the 50-70 range.

"Nationals needs to be a big 'up' race for us," Pilja said. "You have to run well, so I'll get myself up for it."

Looking ahead to next year, Pilja is going to have to become the runner that coaches salivated over during the 1997 high school season.

With the impending graduation of the team's two stars, co-captains Lawrence and Jay Cantin, it's going to be up to the younger runners to respond in much the same way that this year's squad responded to losing Don McLaughlin, John Mortimer, and Todd Snyder last year.

"I think he and Mike (Wisniewski) will be finishing one-two next year," Lawrence said. "He's going to get in the mindset that he can run with the best guys in the country. The day will come when he'll be the number one man."

Outside of college, Pilja is considering participating in the Olympic Trials before he finally hangs up his shoes.

"Jay is an inspiration," he said, in reference to Cantin's attempt to represent Canada in the Olympic Games. "If I ever get good enough, certainly I'll try."

Pilja feels lucky to be on a team like Michigan, where he is running with some of the nation's elite. He compared Cantin and Lawrence to the coaches that he learns from all the time.

"I can just follow what they do, and I know they're doing things right," Pilja said. "Everything from training to pre-race preparation to actually racing, I just gauge everything off of them.

"They're my teammates. It's reassuring to run with them."

11-18-99