McGuire hopes for top 15 finish

After a long season that included more peaks and valleys than the Himalayas, the Michigan women's cross-country team has finally reached the summit: the NCAA Championships.

The Wolverines will be running against the cream of the crop this Monday in Bloomington, Ind. for the right to call themselves "national champions." While the national tile may be unattainable for this season's young Michigan squad, a strong finish is certainly not out of the question.

"I think that a Top-15 finish is a reasonable goal for us," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "We're going to have to run like we did the last two meets, but we're capable of it."

A big key for Michigan will be the health of junior all-conference honoree Lisa Ouellet. At the NCAA Regional Championships last weekend, Ouellet was bothered by the residual effects of the flu and ended up as Michigan's third finisher.

"Ouellet's much better now," McGuire said. "She wasn't really sick, but it affected her performance. She's had a good week of practice; the nine days off between regionals and NCAA's have been good for her health."

In years past, Michigan has always been one of the favored teams at the NCAA Championships. For example, last year's 11th-place showing from a team that boasted the NCAA champion,

champion, Katie McGregor, was a "major disappointment" according to McGuire.

This year, the stakes are somewhat different. Michigan is not as strong as they have been, so some of the pressure is off.

"There's a little bit of a feeling that we don't have anything to lose this time," McGuire said. "Where things went wrong a year ago, our runners have had a year of experience to learn from their mistakes. The main thing is keeping your head in the game, because it can make the difference between finishing four places higher than expected or placing lower than you expect."

As one of the favored teams, Michigan has always had the focus of trying to win the NCAA title. Simply qualifying for the NCAA Championships has usually been taken for granted, but not this year.

When Michigan got the all-important phone call from the NCAA Selection Committee notifying them that they had received an at-large berth, there was a sense of relief among the team members.

Winning the NCAA title is pretty much out of the question this year, but that doesn't mean that the Wolverines won't be ready when today's meet rolls around.

"There was an initial feeling of relief, because we had that air of uncertainty about whether or not we would get in," McGuire said. "But I talked to them after we found out, and stressed the importance of continuing to focus on the task at hand.

"We're not a top-five team, and if we go in thinking that we are, then we'll finish 20th. What we have to do is understand that we're 17th, and then we have to try to improve on that."

The Indiana course provides a stern test to the field today. Michigan already ran there once, at the Sam Bell Invitational, so the layout isn't unfamiliar.

But, as the old saying goes, "Familiarity breeds contempt."

"This is the toughest course we're going to run all year, except for our own," McGuire said. "Generally, what slows you down isn't so much the hills as it is the soft footing, but there's been no rain this year. Last week, the course in Terre Haute was hard as a rock.

"Bloomington hasn't had any rain either, so the course is again going to be hard. As a result, this is going to be a fast race."

Michigan will run the same seven who participated in Terre Haute: Marcy Akard, Katie Clifford, Julie Froud, Elizabeth Kampfe, Lisa Ouellet, Katie Ryan, and Jeanne Spink.

These seven, along with alternates Angie Stanifer and Sarah Hamilton, know that they need to be at their best to do well in Bloomington.

"When we went to regionals, we just put our seven best runners on the line and saw what happened," McGuire said. "This is going to be the biggest, most talented field of the season.

"Our runners have to go out and keep competing and working. You just can't quit."

11-22-99