2005 TFM at Penn Relays -- Day 3 Notes & Quotes
4/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
N O T E S
Michigan is the first school to sweep the distance relays at Penn Relays in six years and joins Arkasas as the only programs to accomplish the feat since 1980. Michigan won four relay events at the 1945 Penn Relays -- 4x880 yards, 4xMile, sprint medley, distance medley.
| | Willis, shown anchoring the DMR, was named top college male for relays for the second time in three years. |
Michigan previously set the Penn Relays' 4xMile record on two occasions, registering 18:25.6 in 1905 and breaking its own mark the following year with a 18:10.4 showing.
With three Penn Relays titles over the weekend, Michigan expanded its total to 43 relay crowns dating back to 1903. U-M passed Arkansas for the third-most relay champions in Penn Relays history. Only Villanova (88) and Pennsylvania (54.5) rank higher than the Wolverines.
Nick Willis also earned the Male College Athlete of the Relays in 2003 after registering the Penn Relays record for his 1,200-meter opening split (2:48.7) in the distance medley relay. Kevin Sullivan is the only other Wolverine to garner the distinction, earning the award in 1998.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On the 4xMile ... "Andrew is not accustomed to leading in a mile, so after the 4:05, I thought, 'We'll just go for the record.' When Mike took over and finished really strong -- 4:03 is not bad for a freshman -- he kept us in line for that collegiate record. Nick took it out in 57, finished at 3:56 and we were still right on. Nate ran a strong anchor on his own. It was nice to see 16:04 when that clock stopped."
On Rondell Ruff's opening 4x800-meter leg ... "All I could see was Ronnie go up in the air, jumping over the guy. I just thought, 'Here we go, we're going down,' but he recovered. He didn't panic, like some kids have a tendency to do when they try to make the ground up. He stumbled a bit, but he was very relaxed and stayed in the position he needed to be in. That's probably the reason that first lap was pretty slow. He took it in the backstretch, kept on going, and nobody could respond to it off of 58-second pace. That kind of stung everyone and stretched them out."
On Michigan's training plan ... "We're looking forward to later and what these guys are going to do at Big Tens and nationals. This will kick off our other training. We haven't geared our training to start doing a lot of speed stuff for another couple weeks. We'll kind of hold off as long as we can. These guys are pretty good about keeping me from getting a little crazy with the speed work. They're good at helping me adjust my thoughts about keeping them strong. You get kids that can run this fast, they obviously know something about their bodies and how they're training should go. They definitely have an input into what we should do, and that makes for a great combination."
Junior/Sophomore Nick Willis
On the Penn Relays atmosphere ... "The crowd really made the occasion that much greater. The experience I had two years ago with the distance medley -- and the joy I felt on the victory lap especially -- is right up there with my top athletic experiences. Today, it was equal to that. Part of it is not having to run the anchor, you get to cheer on your teammate at the end, and you get to feel the excitement with the crowd."
On attempting to break 16 minutes in the 4xMile ... "Time is a really fickle thing, and you can't control weather conditions or the way races are set up. You can control whether you race smart to win; time is just a result of that. You never come into the Penn Relays expecting the greatest of conditions, but I think the atmosphere balances that out a little bit. That's what makes records great, they're so difficult to run. If it was easy, it wouldn't be as great of an achievement. You need everything to click all together; today just wasn't the perfect situation."
On the importance of the 4xMile ... "I think the 4xMile is a greater sign as to the strength and depth of a program. It's not often you can get four guys ready for the same weekend, and had we sat someone out, we would have had two other guys ready to bring on. So, we have to give credit to those guys too, and our whole training group that been gearing up for this moment over the last six weeks since the end of the (indoor) championships."
On the 4x800-meter relay ... "I think our main motivation for this race was to help Rondell, because he's a strong leader on our team. He just missed the cut for the 4xMile team. Even though we were tired, we thought it would be unfortunate for him to come out here and not get a chance to win a watch. We really put ourselves out there for that, and he showed that he is one of the best in the country himself by leading his own individual leg. We just had to hold what he had set up for us."
On winning his second Male Athlete of the Relays honor ... "That just blows me away. I felt so unsure coming into this weekend. I felt really off kilter this weekend with final exams, poor eating habits and basically six days away from the track. I feel a little undeserved. The way my legs allowed me to run was just amazing."
Senior/Junior Nate Brannen
On his anchor leg in the 4xMile ... "I came into the last mile not really thinking we had a shot to break 16:00, but I knew we were right on with the collegiate record. So, I thought I'd get out hard and hold on, but the crowd just carried me through. Once I heard I only needed a 4:02, I kind of shut it down and did what I needed to get the record. I just absorbed the crowd; they got so into it. I just enjoyed the last 800 and possibly my last Penn Relays. Generally, I don't hear the crowd; this was probably the first race that I've heard everybody. I heard all our Michigan fans yelling my name, I heard random people in the crowd, so this was the first time I've actually absorbed everything surrounding me and took it all in instead of just running and zoning everything out."
On valuing the 4xMile victory the most ... "We've won a DMR before; that was the sweetest victory, the first one here. Yesterday was kind of icing on the cake, but today coming back was definitely a lot more exciting and emotional than yesterday's DMR win."
On the recent training schedule ... "Really, we haven't done a lot of speed. Our fastest quarter came last weekend when Willis and myself ran a 1,500 and closed in a 53. Our fastest quarter before late was a 56 in a workout. It's been a lot of strength. I'm sure most people have heard of "The Michigan." We've done a couple of those. It's been a lot of longer intervals, trying to hit four-minute mile pace, 60-second pace."
Junior Andrew Ellerton
On the 4xMile ... "I think we're pretty happy with the race. Our ultimate goal was to break 16 minutes; it didn't go quite as well as we had hoped. I fell off a little bit at the end. We're still pretty happy; we got the record. Breaking 16 mintues would have been icing on the cake."
Freshman Mike Woods
On the importance of this meet ... "It's been in my mind since I first got here to Michigan and cross country camp. We've been talking about it ever since, and it's just been one of the big plans of the year. It's pretty amazing to run this fast."
On his 4xMile experience ... "This was my first collegiate win. It was a good one to win. (Sean) Jefferson moved out a bit and kind of opened up for me, and I took the opportunity. The last time I took the move on the inside was at Big Tens, and that didn't end up so well. This time, I took the chance again, and it worked out great. I felt really good with about 200 to go, so I just went for it. I've been feeling really good lately with my training; I felt so strong."
Senior/Junior Rondell Ruff
On contributing to the 4x800-meter win ... "Watching the 4xMile was tough, because I felt I could have been out there contributing. I think it gave me extra motivation to go out there and show that I belong with the rest of the guys on the field. I wanted to go out there and prove myself, and I think I was able to do that. I think our performance this weekend shows the domination that we pose at the college level in the middle distance."
Sophomore Michael Whitehead
On his triple jump performance ... "I was a little angry at the beginning, because they didn't put me in the championship heat, and I felt like I'm a better jumper than they gave me credit for. It was important for me to do well this weekend, because it is a bit of a homecoming for me, and I just really wanted to perform at my best. They gave me the option of competing in the championship division, and I wanted to entertain the thought of winning both heats. I wasn't that happy with my championship division. I was tired; I had 12 jumps, basically in a row. Overall, I'm pretty happy though. I felt I was able to dig deep to do well in the clutch."
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
