The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/279958
OLYMPIC SPORTS transition," Barnes Arico said. "We are super close to being where we want to be. Now, I would like to just get one of these games. "We're improving each and every contest." The Wolverines (18-13 overall, 8-8 Big Ten) did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the season wasn't over just yet. Michigan was set to play Stony Brook in the Women's National In- vitation Tournament March 21 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. MEN'S TRACK FINISHES 11TH AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS Under first-year head coach Jerry Clayton, the Michigan men's track and field team isn't where it wants to be, yet. But the Wolverines are build- ing toward the level of success they want to achieve in the future, and it takes time. At the Big Ten Indoor Champi- onships (Feb. 28-March 1), Michi- gan finished in 11th place with 23.5 points. Conference champion Wis- consin tallied 122.5 points. Since finishing second in the Big Ten Indoor Championships and third in the Big Ten Outdoor Champion- ships in 2009, the Wolverines have not finished better than eighth place at either of the meets. Their 11th- place finish this year marks the worst in school history. "When you're in this situation, what I told the team is that you can only look at the things you have con- trol over," Clayton said. "What they had control over is attitude, effort and focus. From an individual stand- point, we had the goal of trying to set personal bests or season bests, and the second thing was for everyone to try to finish ranked higher than they were coming into the meet. "We had a lot of personal bests. We had a lot of people finish higher than they were ranked coming in. On pa- per coming into the meet, we were at 13 points, so we scored almost dou- ble that — those are the things we have to build on. There's no question that the events fit us better outdoors, the way we're set up as a team, and we look forward to that." In the 60-meter hurdles, seniors Er- ick Gavin and Herman Washington both set personal bests. Gavin took fifth place in the event final (7.91 sec- onds), with Washington taking sixth place (7.92 seconds). "One of the things I can do as a senior is show everybody you can step up and do what you need to do to support your team," Gavin said. "I think Herm and I did that together. I'm happy that I came up with a higher ranking than I came in at, but it would have been really nice to be on that podium." Redshirt sophomore Mason Ferlic had a very productive meet, setting a personal-best time in the 5,000-me- ter run, placing seventh in the finals with a time of 14:00.68. Ferlic and redshirt junior Morsi Rayyan both set personal-best times in the 3,000-meter run. Ferlic finished in fifth place (7:56.6), with Rayyan right behind him in sixth place (7:57.08). ❑