Women's Track
Michigan Intercollegiate
- By Doug Kurtis
Free Press Columnist

This Saturday, some of the most outstanding women track and field athletes in the country will be competing in Eastern Michigan University's Bowen field house in the 12 th annual Michigan Intercollegiate Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Central Michigan University, Detroit-Mercy, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Western Michigan University are some of the teams competing.

John Goodridge, EMU distance coach and meet director is using this event as part of an effort called "The Turnout for Women's Track and Field Campaign" to increase awareness for the high caliber talent in women's intercollegiate track and field that is present in Michigan and to further introduce it to high school girl's track and field athletes.   "We hope to see Bowen seats packed to watch three hours of exciting competition with some of the nation's best women track and field collegians combined with a team scored rivalry among Michigan's Division I universities" noted Goodridge.

Women's and Girl's Track and Field on the state and national levels has consistently been one of the three most popular sports for both high school and colleges according to MHSAA and National High School Federation sports participation figures.

Outstanding athletes competing Saturday include four University of Michigan women who currently are among the best in the country for their events. Katie Erdman is second in the nation at 800 meters, as is Erin Webster at 3000 meters, plus two of the top high jumpers Jennifer Williams and Stephanie Linz.

The 60 Meter Hurdles (Final at 1:55pm) promises to be a great race. CMU's Tamera Thomas (4 th nationally as well as 7 th in the high jump) will be challenged by Michigan freshman and Ypsilanti hometown favorite Tiffany Ofili along with Eastern's best hurdler Chrystal Dooley.

The 800 meter run will feature Erdman and Webster as well as freshman star Geena Gall.

Recent grads who have competed in past Intercollegiate Championships include Lela Nelson from Eastern Michigan University who won last year's NCAA Heptathlon National Championship and Michigan's Lindsay Gallo who ran the fastest 1500 meters in the nation last year by an American woman.

Admission is free. Field Events begin at 11am. Running events between 12:30 and 3:30.

Other recent running news:

Last Sunday at the Men's Half-Marathon Championship in Houston, Texas, Brian Sell and his Hansons-Brooks Distance Project teammates Luke Humphrey, Chad Johnson, Clint Verran and Kyle O'Brien won the team title, placing five athletes in the top-thirty.   Sell, the pre-race favorite, won his second national title. He ran a personal record 1:02:39 for second overall, just missing the national championship record of 1:02:32 set by Paul Cummings in 1987.

The Boston Marathon announced that it will be instituting a two-wave start this year. All participants will be staged and begin on Main Street with approximately 10,000 athletes in each wave. Hundreds of volunteers will escort runners from an expanded athletes' village at Hopkinton High School to their starting corrals. The starting time for the first wave of runners will be Noon, and the second wave will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Contact Doug Kurtis at Detroit Free Press, 600 W. Fort St. Detroit, 48226