Women runners join men for weekend against Nittany Lions

This weekend, Michigan travels to Penn State in a matchup of two of the best teams in the Big Ten Conference.

The Michigan women's cross country team will be in State College for the Spiked Shoe Invitational, where the Nittany Lions are the host school.

This meet is the second competition of the season for Michigan. Two weeks ago, the Wolverines ran away from Michigan State in the Michigan State Invitational at Buhr Park. Paced by junior Lisa Ouellet, who claimed the top spot with a time of 18:01, the Wolverines took the top seven places in a dominating performance.

The primary focus for the Wolverines this weekend is to get familiarized with the Penn State course, which will be the site of the Big Ten Championships in late October.

LOUIS BROWN/Daily The Michigan women's cross country team will count on its strong freshman class to make up for the loss of Katie McGregor. The Wolverines travel to Penn State this weekend.

"No one on our team right now has ever run there," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "They have pretty good footing at Penn State, better than what we had two weeks ago at Buhr Park, so we're looking for a good, sustained effort."

McGuire was fairly pleased with the performance two weeks ago, but saw a lot of room for improvement.

"Given the conditions, we ran pretty well, but we have to run much better as the season goes on," McGuire said. "We've had two solid weeks of practice, and the pre-race anxiety should be less for the freshmen. We should be a lot better in our second meet."

Last year, the Wolverines could always count on Katie McGregor to lead the way. McGregor, a two-time Big Ten champion, made history when she became the first Wolverine to win the NCAA title. But she graduated, leaving a huge void. McGuire sees several possible successors to McGregor on this year's team.

"Lisa Ouellet has already shown that she is a lot better than she was last year. She could be a real front-runner for us," McGuire said. "A few others like Katie Clifford, Elizabeth Kampfe and Katy Radkewich could also step up this year."

Clifford, Sarah Hamilton and Angie Stanifer will be rejoining the team in State College after missing their meet two weeks ago due to illness. A large, talented freshman class will help the upperclassmen this weekend and the rest of this year.

"Lyndsi Gay and Jane Martineau are leading the freshmen right now," McGuire said. "The common link with all of the freshmen is that they've shown a good work ethic and a desire to get better. As long as they all stay healthy, the rest of them will also start to emerge."

Without a dominant runner like McGregor, McGuire said he felt that the Wolverines will have to focus more this season on running in tighter groups.

"We don't have another McGregor on this team yet, so we need to try and keep everyone close," McGuire said. "Naturally, the pack will split up a bit as people take the lead, but the most important thing for us is to get people in bunches. We're looking for balance and quality this year."

McGregor's departure leaves the Wolverines without a clear-cut number one runner. While this will at times pose a problem, McGuire said he felt that it could work out to be positive for the older runners.

"As the level of competition gets tougher, McGregor will be missed," McGuire said. "Next week, we'll be in Arkansas, and the top returning runner from last year's NCAA's will be there.

"On the other hand, now the number one runner can change from meet to meet. It's an impetus for everyone to step up."

09-16-99