Weekly Release #9

Upcoming Schedule
Fri-Sat., March 7-8 -- at Alex Wilson Invitational (South Bend, Ind.), 7 p.m./1 p.m.
Fri-Sat., March 14-15 -- at NCAA Indoor Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.) Noon/2 p.m. CST

This Week: Alex Wilson ...
The University of Michigan women's track and field team heads to South Bend, Ind., on Friday and Saturday (March 7-8) for the two-day, non-scoring Alex Wilson Invitational on the campus of Notre Dame. The meet is considered a last chance for those athletes who want to improve their national ranking for the NCAA Championships. Friday night's competition is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., while Saturday's action gets underway at 1 p.m. at the Loftus Sports Complex. Michigan athletes who will be competing in the Alex Wilson Invitational are pole vaulters Elizabeth Boyle (Northbrook, Ill./New Trier HS), Lynn Gasparella (New Hudson, Mich./South Lyon HS) and Anna Fisher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Gabriel Richard HS). On the track hurdler Robin Landfair (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS) will join the mid-distance threesome of Theresa Feldkamp (Lorain, Ohio/Amherst Steele HS), Jennifer Kulchar (Burton, Mich./Burton HS) and Jennifer Wendling (Chesaning, Mich./New Lothrop HS) as well as distance runner Andrea Parker (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS)

Last Time on the Track and in the Field ...
With their most points (129.5) since winning the Big Ten Indoor Championships in 1998 (133), the Wolverines defended their Big Ten team title with a 14.5-point victory over meet host Indiana in the Hoosiers' Galdstein Fieldhouse (March 1-2). It marked the Wolverines' third track and field team championship (2002 indoor and outdoor) and fourth consecutive running team title (2002 cross country). Leading the way for the Maize and Blue were Big Ten individual champions April Phillips (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS), Rachel Sturtz (Traverse City, Mich./Central HS) and Katie Erdman (Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac HS).

Phillips, one of three Michigan captains, got things started for the Wolverines with her first career Big Ten indoor shot put title, with an NCAA provisional mark of 54-2 on Saturday. In Sunday's action, U-M received its second individual title when Sturtz, another tri-captain ran a Big Ten Championships and school-record time of 2:06.02 for the second indoor 800-meter title of her career. Erdman, a freshman, gave the Wolverines their third event crown, crossing the finish line of the 600-meter run in 1:30.54. During prelims of the event on Saturday, Erdman set the 600-meter school record, clocking in at 1:30.33.

Earning All-Big Ten second team honors with runner-up performances were Stephanie Linz (Okemos, Mich./Okemos HS), high jump; Vera Simms (Mililani, Hawaii/Mililani HS), 400-meter dash; Rebecca Walter (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves HS), 5,000-meter run; and the distance medley relay team of Andrea Parker, Keri Kirk (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS), Sturtz and Chelsea Loomis (Traverse City, Mich./West HS).

Hail to the Victors Valiant ...
In the 2002 calendar year, the Maize and Blue captured a "Wolverine Slam" with Big Ten titles at the conference indoor and outdoor championships, in addition to adding the cross country title at the beginning of the 2002-03 academic year. To win a "true" triple crown an institution must win all three titles within one academic year. With its Big Ten Indoor title last weekend (March 1-2), the Wolverines have achieved two-thirds of a proper trifecta. Michigan only needs to defend its Big Ten Outdoor title to earn the triple crown for the 2002-03 academic year.  U-M achieved the "true" triple crown in 1993-94 with all three titles in the same academic year. The only other school to achieve this feat is Wisconsin, which has done so four times, most recently in 1996-97. As it stands now, Michigan has won the last four combined Big Ten titles in track and cross country.

Champions of the West ...
Michigan ran and threw to three individual conference titles last weekend at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, as senior tri-captains April Phillips and Rachel Sturtz won the shot put and 800 meters, respectively, and freshman Katie Erdman ran to victory in the 600 meters. It marks the second straight year the Wolverines captured three event titles. At the 2002 conference meet held in Penn State's Ashenfelter Track Building, Katie Jazwinski (1999-2002) won the mile run, Ursula Taylor (2000, '02) took the 600-meter crown and the team of Jane Martineau (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Mt. Pleasant HS), Vera Simms (Mililani, Hawaii, Mililani HS), Stephanie Hirtle (Salmon Arm, B.C./Salmon Arm SS) and Katie Ryan (1998-2000, '02) won the distance medley relay.

The Captains are Making it Happen ...
Senior tri-captain's April Phillips and Rachel Sturtz each earned a spot atop the awards stand at the Big Ten Indoor Championships last weekend (March 1-2) as Phillips won the shot put and Sturtz posted a victory in the 800-meter run. It was not the first time for either of them as Phillips won the outdoor shot put crown at the 2002 conference meet, while it marked the fourth time Sturtz walked up the steps to the 800-meter award stand. Sturtz has now won the 800 meters twice at the indoor conference championships (2001, '03) and twice at the outdoor meet (2001, '02).

Phillips Shots Second Big Ten Title ...
Senior tri-captain April Phillips won her first career Big Ten indoor shot put championship when she marked 54-2 in the event last Saturday (March 1) at the Big Ten Indoor Championships hosted by Indiana. Phillips, who was seeded second going into the event, hit the mark in the prelims and the distance stood through to the finals, earning her second career shot put crown. The four-event school record holder (indoor and outdoor shot put, hammer throw and weight throw) earned her first conference shot put title last year at the outdoor league meet with an outdoor school-record toss of 51-4 1/4.

Phillips in the Nation ...
According to the most recent NCAA top performance list (March 4), April Phillips is ranked ninth in the nation in the shot put with a personal-best mark of 54-7 1/4 and 17th in the weight throw with a personal-best throw of 63-1 1/4.

Singing a Happy Tune ...
Senior tri-captain Rachel Sturtz won her second career Big Ten indoor 800-meter title last weekend (March 2) when she crossed the finish line with a Big Ten Championships and school-record time of 2:06.02. Her time broke Amy Wicus' (Wisconsin) 10-year-old championship record of 2:06.95, set in 1993. The time also broke Sturtz's two-week-old school record mark of 2:06.79 set in a victory at the Sykes-Sabok Challenge Cup (Feb. 15).

Sturtz in the Nation ...
With a Big Ten Indoor Meet and school-record time of 2:06.02, Rachel Sturtz has the run the 10th fastest time in the nation according to the latest NCAA top performance list (March 3).

She's Batting .800 in the 800 ...
When Rachel Sturtz crossed the finish line of the 800-meter run in first place it marked the fourth time she had won the Big Ten crown in the event. Sturtz, Michigan's most decorated 800-meter runner, has now won the event at four of the last five conference meets. She began the streak with a victory at the 2001 indoor league meet and then captured the outdoor title the same year. After a runner-up performance at the 2002 indoor meet, she defended her outdoor crown at the 2002 championships.

The Michigan 800 ...
Dating back to the 1999 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Michigan has claimed seven of the last eight 800-meter titles. Angie Stanifer (1996-97, '99) began the streak when she posted a time of 2:06.45 at Purdue. Lisa Ouellet (1997, 99-2001) made it two straight in the event, clocking in at 2:11.20 on the campus of Minnesota University. Sarah Hamilton continued U-M's dominance with a first-place 2:09.15 finish at Iowa during the 2000 outdoor season. Senior tri-captain Rachel Sturtz has won the last four 800-meter titles for Michigan with wins at the 2001 indoor (2:11.07) and outdoor (2:07.76) championships, as well as a conference title at the 2002 outdoor meet in Madison, Wis., when she crossed the line in 2:07.45. Her latest 800-meter crown came last weekend at Indiana when she set Big Ten Indoor Championships and Michigan school record with a time of 2:06.02.

Erds and Way ...
Freshman Katie Erdman wasted no time showing the Big Ten her speed in the middle distance races when she posted a school-record time of 1:30.33 in the third heat of the event preliminaries last Saturday (March 1) at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Erdman then returned to the track for the event final on Sunday (March 2) and clocked in at 1:30.54, nearly two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Minnesota's Shani Marks (1:32.61). Both times came in under Kristine Westerby's 1994 clocking of 1:30.64.

Two Straight in the 600 ...
With Katie Erdman's victory in the 600-meter run, Michigan has won the event at two consecutive Big Ten Indoor Championships. Last year, Ursula Taylor (2000, '02) became the second Wolverine to win the event when she posted a time of 1:31.49. Michigan's other 600-meter champion is Adrienne Hunter, who won the race in 1999 with a time of 1:31.96.

Left Foot Forward ...
At her first Big Ten Indoor Championships sophomore/freshman Stephanie Linz turned in a runner-up performance in the high jump, clearing a height of 5-9 3/4. Linz, who cleared a personal-best height of 5-11 3/4, is currently ranked eighth in the nation in the high jump according to the latest NCAA top performance list (March 4).

Jump Around ...
In their Big Ten Indoor Championships debut, Michigan's high-jumping pair of Stephanie Linz and Jennifer Kulchar helped the Wolverines defend their team title as the two finished second and third in the high jump as each cleared 5-9 3/4. It marked a personal-best jump for Kulchar as her previous high jump 5-8 3/4 above the ground.

Getting Closer ...
Robin Landfair again set a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles when she posted a time of 8.44 for a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Indoor Championships last Sunday (March 2). The fourth-place showing was a career-best Big Ten finish as her previous performance in a Big Ten meet was a sixth-place showing in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2002 outdoor conference meet. Landfair is now just 0.03 seconds off the Michigan school record of 8.41 set by Tania Longe (1995-98) in 1998.

Looking Ahead ...
For the first time since 1999, the Wolverines have three individuals and a distance medley relay automatically qualified for the next weekends (Friday and Saturday, March 14-15) NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The seven athletes who will be making the trip to compete in the Randal Tyson Track Complex on the campus of Arkansas University are: Katie Erdman (distance medley relay), Lindsey Gallo (distance medley relay), Stephanie Linz (high jump), Vera Simms (distance medley relay), Rachel Sturtz (800 meters and distance medley relay) and April Phillips (shot put). The men's weight throw begins Friday's action at noon CST, while the women's weight throw starts Saturday's competition at 2 p.m. CST.