Harriers taper for Big Ten Championships

By James Mercier

Daily Sports Writer

With the Big Ten Championships on the horizon, Michigan men's cross country coach Ron Warhurst wasn't about to take chances. In the Eastern Michigan Classic on Friday, the Wolverines sent only their secondary squad to compete.

The Wolverines competed on a warm, sunny afternoon, but conditions remained far from perfect.

"The course was a mess," sophomore Ryan Hesselink said of the Rolling Hills Metropark in Ypsilanti. "It was really bad ... it was basically nothing but hills."

The Michigan runners competed individually, not as a team. Hesselink managed to negotiate the 8,000-meter course well enough to take second place with a time of 26:24. Freshman Brian Turner and senior Nate Hoffman took third and fourth with times of 26:30 and 26:33, respectively.

Hesselink's performance was a pleasant surprise for Michigan. Injuries have prevented Hesselink from competing for much of the season.

"This is only the second week I've been running," he said. "I've had to come back and get into form after the injuries, but I ran fairly well. The course was tough to run on, but I think it was good preparation for the conference meet."

Hesselink was one of the few Michigan runners slated to compete in this Sunday's Big Ten Championships who also ran on Friday. Most of the other top runners sat out the Classic.

"We're tapering now, and our top guys are going to focus on the Big Ten meet," Warhurst said beforehand. "This gives some of the younger runners a chance to get some experience against a weaker field."

A sign of things to come?

Next Sunday is the men's cross country Big Ten Championships in Madison. Fifteen consecutive conference titles have been won by either Michigan or Wisconsin. In 1999 the Badgers finished first over the Wolverines by two points, the smallest margin of victory in conference

history.

Wisconsin is this year's favorite, ranked sixth in the nation and competing on its home course. Michigan, No. 16 Michigan State, No. 18 Penn State and No. 24 Indiana are other top

conference contenders.