Kampfe, McGregor lead women harriers

Track is an individual sport - cross country is not. It is also not only a way for track athletes to keep in shape in the off-season.

"It's just something different," Elizabeth Kampfe said of the one-race, one-distance sport.

Only each team's top five runners score points: one for first, two for second and so on through fifth. The team with the lowest combined score wins. Individual accomplishments alone cannot carry a team to victory over the 5,000-meter course.

Michigan learned that in nearly every one of their races last season.

At the Big Ten championships, in Columbus, Katie McGregor won the race, but Wisconsin won the Big Ten title.

Michigan had three strong runners, Kampfe, McGregor and 1997 Big Ten freshman of the year Julie Froud. Runners who, in the outdoor season, run distance events, like the 10,000, 5,000, 3,000 or 1,500. The rest of their team was made up of predominantly middle-distance specialists.

And "it's a challenge for them," Kampfe said to run, a race that is more than six times longer than the 800 meters they're used to running.

Its not as if Michigan was seriously hindered by their lack of depth. The Wolverines took second at the Big Ten, and seventh in the nation.

They've set their sights higher for the 1998 season, a season that "could definitely be awesome," Kampfe said.

Two returning upper class runners could fill the all-important four- and five-holes. Michelle Slater and Marcy Akard, sidelined with injuries for last season, should be back for this season.

Akard has good credentials as a former cross country All-American.

"Michelle has had an awesome indoor and outdoor season," Kampfe said.

Allison Noe ran cross country in 1997, but in very few races. Kampfe said that she also has had a successful track season. And if Michigan can put together five solid distance runners for 1998, how would the Wolverines feel about that?

Awesome, of course.

09-08-98