The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/70103
BIG TENS: WOMEN'S TRACK Wolverines Post Impressive Individual Scores At Big Tens Neb., to compete in the Big Ten Indoor Championships Feb. 17-18, junior Rebecca Addison had no idea what event she'd be running. The middle-distance runner has switched between the 800-meter and mile runs this season, and no decision had been made about which she would compete in at the championship meet. Eventually, coach James Henry left it up to her. "I wanted to focus on something and know for sure what Just two days before the Wolverines traveled to Lincoln, I was running, but it was nice that he gave me the option," Addison said. "I don't think I'll be able to pick what I want to run at Big Tens ever again." Addison made the right choice, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.07 in the Wolverines' most dominant event of the meet. Junior Jillian Smith — Addison's team- mate in the distance medley — took second place (2:06.61), and freshman Brook Handler placed sixth (2:08.92). "I really wanted to win a Big Ten title. I'm really happy with that," Addison said. "I'm glad I got to run the 800 because I got to run with my teammate Jillian, and it was really fun to race with her again." Although Michigan didn't compete as a team at the sociate head coach] Mike McGuire has done an excellent job with all of our middle-distance and distance runners. They're the bread and butter of our program. They've always been the bread and butter of Michigan's program, and she carries out the tradition. "It's nice to see her pull off the victory. She earned it. The middle-distance racers carried the Wolverines in NCAA Indoor Championships March 10-11, Addison ran the 800-meter there, too, taking eighth place (2:08.62) and earning first-team All-America honors. "Rebecca is a hard-working young lady, " Henry said. "[As- " their seventh-place finish at Big Tens. Addison teamed with Smith, senior Brittani Williams and freshman Shannon Osika to win the distance medley relay with a time of 11:11.54, which smashed the Big Ten Championship meet record of 11:16.65 set by Michigan in 2009. Osika ran the 1,200-meter leg, Williams ran the 400-meter leg, Smith took the 800-meter leg and Addison rounded it out with the final mile. "Usually, it's really hard to run the relay because we all have our individual events, too," Addison said. "We're tired. But it was great to be able to run that fast, and we all felt great." It was the Wolverines' ninth straight distance medley relay title and their 10th in 11 years. Osika also placed fifth in the mile with a time of 4:46.97. "All the ladies in the distance medley, of course, did an outstanding job for us, Junior Rebecca Addison won the 800-meter run at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a time of 2:06.07. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS mances at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, they were disappointed in the seventh-place team finish — down from fourth in 2011. "We were hoping to be in the top division, "We fell short of that, as a team. That was my only disap- pointment. I thought we could be in that first division, but a couple things didn't go our way. It turned out to be an average meet for us, and we were hoping for a good one. "We need to focus on finishing in all aspects. We had a " Henry said. formance, especially as a freshman." Henry was also pleased with the shot put, where fifth-year " Henry said. "Osika had a great per- seniors Allison Liske and Emily Pendleton finished fourth (15.82 meters) and eighth (15.24 meters), respectively. Junior Ada Unachukwu placed third in the triple jump (12.62 meters), and redshirt junior Kiley Tobel took fourth in the pole vault (4.00 meters) to round out the Wolverines' top performers. Along with Addison, Tobel was Michigan's other first-team All-American after placing eighth at the NCAA Championships (4.20 meters). While the Wolverines saw some great individual perfor- 96 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2012 good season throughout the year. We improved every single meet, but Big Tens, we didn't have improvement across the board. In all our other meets, we've improved in nearly every event. "It doesn't make sense to do well when it doesn't count and then not do well when it does. We have to finish our events, finish our season." Michigan certainly has the opportunity to avenge the disappointing result. The Wolverines kick off the outdoor season March 23 at the USC Invitational and have trips to Atlanta, Palo Alto, Calif., and Knoxville, Tenn., before the Big Ten Outdoor Championships May 11. "It was definitely disappointing to get seventh, but we can do a lot better outdoors," Addison said. "As a team, we can all just get better. We can focus and make more of an impact in each event area." — Andy Reid