A third-place finish in Saturday's Spiked Shoe Invitational in State College might seem like a bit of a letdown for the Michigan men's cross country team - especially in light of the impressive first-place showing by the women's team.
But when the team scores were announced, James Madison the winner with 46 points, Georgetown second with 50 and Michigan third with 62, the mood was neither somber or jovial. Just another day at the office.
"We were kind of indifferent," co-captain Steve Lawrence said. "We knew that three teams were about the same going in and we gave it a good go."
James Madison? No offense to the mighty Dukes but Michigan has been a top 10 team for the better part of the 90s.
Make no mistake, Michigan wanted to win the meet - but third will do for now. The reason? The Wolverines are in the bulk of their mileage schedule right now and should improve as the season wears on.
"We will beat those teams by the end of the season," Lawrence said. "We aim towards the end and it really doesn't matter to us what we do early."
Junior Mike Wisniewski covered the 5.2-mile course in 25:46.78 - good enough for third place overall and first on the team.
"We performed well for the first time out," Wisniewski said.
Finishing second for the Wolverines was Sophomore Mark Pilja in 26:00.72, good for eighth overall. Jay Cantin, Steve Lawrence and Tom Coughlan rounded out the top five.
Last year, neither Wisniewski or Pilja ever finished with Cantin and Lawrence with much regularity. The finishes by Wisniewski and Pilja marked the second time in as many meets that the two have finished one-two on the team - a fact Wisniewski downplays.
"Steve and Jay aren't anywhere close to the fitness level they'll be at in a month," he said. The pack "should be a lot tighter after another month of training."
Presently, the Wolverines are training at an exhausting clip of 100 miles a week. When the season reaches its stretch drive, a la the Big Ten, regional and NCAA championships, the team will be down to 50-60 mile weeks.
Not to say Pilja and Wisniewski didn't earn their positions Saturday. Their emergence signals the end of an era at Michigan.
In the last five years, one or two superstars would snag the first two finishes in a meet leaving little slack for the rest of the team to worry about.
Nowadays, the Wolverines can ill afford to let anybody wait in the wings.
"Mark was a phenom in high school," Lawrence said. "There's no doubt in my mind that he will be a superstar here before too long.
"Mike wasn't a star in high school - he was a bit of a question mark last year but he came on strong in the end."
Lawrence further added that Wisniewski "had a good track season and it's carrying over to now."
The key, as is always the case in cross country, will lie with the fifth man - the last varsity scorer. Tom Caughlin captured the position Saturday, but the spot, and the team's performance over the season for that matter, is still in question.
"There are about four guys who are interchangeable at that spot," Lawrence said. "They all have pretty good ability and we're fortunate to have that."
And if all goes as planned, they will only get better as the season goes on.
(first place votes in parenthesis)
Team Pts. Prev.
1 Arkansas (10) 394 1
2 Stanford (5) 384 2
3 Colorado 339 3
4 N. C. State 338 8
5 Wisconsin (1) 335 6
6 Northern Arizona 289 7
7 Providence 279 10
8 Arizona 264 11
9 Oregon 242 5
10 James Madison 210 9
11 Michigan 190 4
12 Michigan State 174 12
13 Minnesota 157 24
14 Georgetown 142 19
15 Butler 140 16
16 Princeton 139 17
17 William & Mary 138 13
18 Alabama 136 -
19 Weber State 133 -
20 Iona 132 23
21 Arizona State 113 -
22 Dartmouth 105 15
23 Oklahoma State 78 14
24 Tennessee 63 21t
25 Iowa 62 21t
Also receiving votes: Missouri 32, Brigham Young 29, Washington State 29, Duke 23, Portland 18, Bucknell 17, Washington 17, Montana 13, Notre Dame 10, C. Michigan 7, South Florida 6, Southern Methodist 5, Colorado State 4, Miami (Ohio) 4, E. Michigan 3, Farleigh Dickinson 2, Villanova 2, Georgia 1, Navy 1, Ohio State 1.
09-20-99
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