Tracking the Wolverines at NCAAs: Friday
6/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
To prepare for the 110-meter hurdle final, Jeff Porter woke up at about 8 a.m. and grabbed some breakfast. At 10 a.m. he did his usual warm-up jog around the track and did some stretching before going back to bed. It must have been hard to sleep just hours before competing for your second national title of the year. Porter said that he slept in order to relax and take his mind off of the race. He then left the hotel at 3 p.m. to get iced down and go through more stretching with the help of U-M women's head coach James Henry and U-M women's assistant coach Arnett Chisolm.
Porter had an excellent race, placing fourth in the nation and earning the first outdoor All-America honor of his career and his third All-America performance overall. When his race was over, he immediately focused on the women's 100-meter hurdle final so he could watch his girlfriend, U-M women's hurdler Tiffany Ofili, win the national championship. Not too many couples can claim two national titles in one year. Porter planned on celebrating with his sister later on and stated that the day will live forever in his mind.
Coach Kaiser and Michael Whitehead showed up at the track at 11:30 a.m. and started to warm-up. Despite being one of the favorites to win the triple jump national title, Whitehead had a tough day and failed to qualify for tomorrow's event final. When the triple jump prelims were over, Coach K stuck around see how Jeff Porter and the U-M women would perform. The coaching staff didn't have any plans for the evening, especially since they are all feeling under the weather. The coaches are probably going to head straight for the hotel and rest up for the evening.
All of the middle-distance runners had the day off today. Andrew Ellerton prepared for tomorrow's 800-meter run final after waking up around 7 a.m. with a very light run just to stay loose. Afterward, he attended a breakfast press conference with Coach Warhurst and U-M women's 800-meter run finalist Katie Erdman. Even though Mike Woods was finished competing at the meet, he was still working hard. He ran 10 miles today (don't forget -- the cross country season is only a couple of months away). Woods, Ellerton and Justin Switzer grabbed some lunch together and then went over to the Nike headquarters to check out the new gear for next year. After that they went to the track to support all of the men and women athletes from U-M that were competing today. After the meet, Ellerton he planned on getting some pasta for dinner and getting a good night's rest since he will be running at 10:19 a.m. tomorrow.
Players Mentioned
