'M' women rebound at Red Simmons Invite By James Mercier For the Daily The Michigan women's track and field team entered Saturday's Red Simmons Invitational with a sense of purpose. One week earlier, the team suffered a disappointing defeat to Indiana. A trip to Michigan State was only a week away. The team responded with an improved performance, and now looks prepared to take on the Spartans. "Last week we didn't compete as well as we could have," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We were a little timid, a little tense." The invitational at the Indoor Track Building provided the team with a chance to regain its confidence. The meet was a non-scoring event, but was important from a developmental standpoint. Several Wolverines responded with strong performances - Michigan athletes finished either first or second in all but five events. Henry felt that competing at home made the team more comfortable. "They were more relaxed today, and it showed," Henry said. "But we still need to get used to running away from home. "Next week in East Lansing we'll try to get better." The Wolverines ran well in the sprints. Senior Maria Brown won the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.85 seconds and finished second in the 60-meter dash in 7.50 seconds. Freshman Carly Knazze finished second to Brown in the 200-meter, then won the 400-meter in 56.47. Middle-distance competition featured junior Lisa Ouellet in the 600-meter run and senior Erica Murdock in the 800-meter. Both finished second, losing out to professional runners competing for Nike and Adidas. Ouellet, a cross-country standout, managed to shift gears and post a personal record time - despite not being 100 percent healthy. "I felt a little uncomfortable running the 600 meters," Ouellet said. "I've been a little under the weather, but being sick doesn't hit you in this event as hard as it does in cross-country. I'm extremely happy with the race." In the mile run, junior Katie Clifford had the best collegiate time. She finished second in 4:54.06, fewer than five seconds behind a Nike competitor. Senior Brandi Bentley took the long jump easily, outleaping the competition by seven inches. Freshman April Phillips won the shot put with a point total of 14.44. Former Michigan standout Katie McGregor, who now competes for Adidas, provided one of the day's highlights. In the 3,000 meters, she outclassed her competitors, lapping the field. With the crowd behind her, McGregor nearly set a building record, finishing nine seconds off the mark with a time of 9:18.57. KRISTIN GOBLE/Daily The Michigan women's track team played host and dominator at this past weekend's Red Simmons Invitational. Originally on page 3B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.