Freshmen lead Blue at Eastern Open

By Arun Gopal

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan women's cross-country team kicked off its' 2000 season on Saturday with the Eastern Michigan Invitational, a non-scoring meet contested at Buhr Park.

The meet was an opportunity for some of the Wolverines' younger runners to get some competitive experience. The hot, humid conditions on Saturday morning provided a tough challenge for all of the athletes involved and gave several unheralded runners a chance to shine.

"We ran a lot of our kids that redshirted last year, some people that were looking to emerge into being some solid contributors this year," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "I thought, for the conditions, we did a pretty good job."

Colleen Lange, who completed the 5,000-meter race in a time of 19:36, which was good for fifth overall. Following Lange across the finish line were fellow redshirt freshmen Rachel Sturtz and Nicole Johnson - who placed eighth and ninth, respectively - and sophomore Andrea Steinhoff, who came in tenth.

"Overall, I was happy," McGuire said. "I thought they competed. The big thing is, when you get conditions like this, you find out who your competitors are, who's tough and who's not. For the first time out, dealing with these weather extremes, I thought we did a good job handling it."

The youngsters in the Michigan lineup will be expected to assist a corps of returning veterans who led the Wolverines to a second-place finish in the Big Ten last year.

Paced by seniors Lisa Ouellet, Katie Clifford and Julie Froud and juniors Katie Ryan and Erin White, the Wolverines are looking to rebound from what - by Michigan standards - could be considered a subpar year.

Although the Wolverines had a solid runner-up showing at the Big Ten Championships, they placed just 15th at the NCAA Championships. Michigan had trouble replacing 1998 NCAA champion Katie McGregor and fought bouts of inconsistency all year.

But, a new year brings a chance for redemption, and the Wolverines sound determined to make a return to past glory.

"Realistically, our goal is to be in the top two in both the Big Ten and the region, and be a top ten team nationally," McGuire said. "We kind of took it for granted for years about being in the top ten nationally, and we haven't been the last two years, so those are some focus goals that we have.

"A lot of it is going to center on staying healthy and focused, and on kids like the ones in this race stepping up."

NORMAN NG/Daily

The Michigan women's cross country team is looking to improve on last season's 15th-place finish at NCAAs.