Normally, it's not good when an athlete snaps under pressure.

But snapping is something freshmen hurdlers Tiffany Ofili and Joi Smith need to do - and they're good at it. Saturday at the non-scoring Harold Silverston Invitational held in Michigan's Indoor Track Building, both runners showed their talent for snapping their trail legs - the leg that must quickly come over and around - over the hurdles and dashing to get to the next one. They placed first and second, respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles. Smith - who scored a personal-best time of 8.77 - was both happy and relieved to see her hard work paying off.

"It felt way better, and I could tell because my practice was excellent this week," Smith said. "I knew it was going to pay off either this week or last week, and it did this week before Big Tens, which is a good thing."

With next week's Big Ten Indoor Championships looming and about half the team resting for it, the No. 9 Michigan women's track and field team set out with some definite goals in mind.

"We wanted to get some kids their last performances before the Big Ten and come out healthy and ready to run next week," Michigan coach James Henry said. "We held out quite a bit of our athletes because we've accomplished physically everything we wanted to. The other half just needed to get some fine tuning in."

The Wolverines especially improved in the field events, specifically the high jump and long jump. Ofili jumped a personal best of 19-3 1/2, earning a third-place finish. She won the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash, but Ofili said she was most pleased with her long jump performance.

In high jump, senior Jennifer Williams jumped 1.77m for second place. She said she didn't need a new personal record to reach her meet expectations.

"I had good attempts at what would have been a (personal record)," Williams said. "The last couple of meets I haven't been jumping well at the higher heights, and today I had two really good jumps at 1.82m. I feel like the last couple of meets my confidence has been down and I think after today it is back up."

In the sprints, Michigan gained confidence with victories from junior Chanelle Campbell, sophomore Serita Williams and freshman Amber Hay in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash and 600-meter run respectively.

The meet closed with the Wolverines winning the final event - the 4x400m relay. Smith led off and set a fast pace.

"It was wonderful," said Ofili of Smith's performance. "She did really well and it was a good race for her. I think we push each other so it was a fun meet, and the team did really well."

Henry was happy with Ofili and Smith's improvements.

"I think in every event you want people with good abilities, but similar abilities," Henry said. "Those two have similar abilities in the sense that they can push each other. Joi has finally stepped up, and I think by doing that it is also going to help Tiffany. That's our overall philosophy. You become better by helping others to become better through your performances."