High mileage promises big results for men's harriers

Five Wolverines training upwards of 100 miles per week

If you want to know how hard the Michigan men's cross country team has trained over the last two weeks, look no further than one startling statistic.

The distance from Ann Arbor to South Bend, the sight of this Saturday's Notre Dame Invitational, is around two-hundred miles.

The distance covered in workouts by each of the top-five varsity Wolverines in the past two weeks leading up to the meet? Around 200 miles.

Why drive when you can run?

The Michigan men's cross country team has seen considerable mileage recently - running nearly 100 miles a week.

"We have five guys training upwards of 100 miles a week," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said. "We haven't had that much mileage in training for a long time."

Or at least not in the past five years - a period in which the Wolverines were consistently ranked among the national elite.

This season Michigan returns only two of its top five runners from last year's team.

Therefore, conventional wisdom might point to less mileage on average for each runner on the team.

But Warhurst is determined to squeeze every last drop of potential out of the Wolverines, and 100-mile weeks this early in the season is only the first step.

"You can't go into every meet ready," Warhurst said referring to the Wolverines most recent finish - fourth place at last weekend's Spiked Shoe invitational. "Everybody likes to beat Michigan, regardless of the sport.

"We are pointing towards the end of the season and that's why we've got so many guys running high-mileage."

Higher mileage is also building a foundation for what many observers didn't predict when the season started - a stellar pack-running strategy.

"Nobody expected it," Warhurst said, "but the way they're going we could run four guys within 30 seconds of each other."

Mike Wisniewski and Mark Pilja, a previously unheralded duo, have snatched the first two spots on the team in the early going, a surprising emergence.

Senior co-captains Steve Lawrence and Jay Cantin have started slowly in comparison, but according to Cantin, that's all part of the plan.

"It's just a matter of time before we run with Pilja and Wisniewski," Cantin said. "We're just trying to toughen up right now and get used to race pace."

Then there is the question of the ever-crucial fifth runner who will complete the varsity scoring.

There are four runners vying for the spot - plenty of horses in the stable - but as of yet no individual has established himself.

Not this week, anyway.

"This early I'm not really concerned about it," Lawrence said. "We're lucky to have four guys who can take care of that spot."

And while the position demands just the fifth-best performance on the team, it is possibly the most pressure-packed job in the sport.

"I only need one out of the four," Warhurst said. "They understand the amount of pressure involved with being the fifth man, and at least one needs to come through when it counts."

But, as Warhurst points out, that goes for everybody on the team.

"Cross country is a unique sport - it takes everybody. If you are the weak link in the chain, you snap everybody. If you're off a little bit, that's it - there are no quarters in this, no timeouts."

And no rest for the Wolverines, at least not right now.

JOANNA PAINE/Daily

09-28-99