Michigan
NCAA Pre-Nationals
Career Bests Help Wolverines to Sixth at Pre-Nationals
10/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The University of Michigan men's cross country team earned a sixth-place finish in its division with 201 points at the Asics/Pacesetter NCAA Pre-Nationals today (Saturday, Oct. 19), placing two runners in the top 15 of the 36-team White Division. Sophomore Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS) was 11th out of 244 competitors with a time of 24:21.6. Freshman Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS) placed 15th, helping the No. 21 Wolverines keep pace with the race's top five teams.
Brannen led Michigan's runners across the finish line for the fourth straight race, setting a new personal best by 18.4 seconds in the process. Following the Michigan sophomore across the finish line was Willis, who also broke his previous record of 24:34 with his result of 24:27.9.
The Maize and Blue also received strong performances by senior/junior team captain Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt HS) in 40th place and junior Tom Greenless (Milford, Mich./Milford HS) in 55th position. Stanko continued the Wolverines' torrid pace across the finish line, falling just 0.4 seconds off of his career-best time. Greenless also ran well, posting the fifth sub-25:00 finish of his career.
Earning 87 points, No. 3-ranked Colorado won the White Division title with the race's top three individual finishes. Michigan remained within striking distance of the top five, just 14 points behind No. 9 Weber State (187) in fourth place and four points away from the fifth-place finisher, No. 7 Georgetown (197). No. 1 Stanford outran 34 other teams in the Blue Division, scoring 21 points in its win.
The Wolverines will run closer to home next Friday (Oct. 25) at the Eastern Michigan Open in Ypsilanti, Mich. The race is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Top 10 Teams
1. Colorado 87 2. Iona 125 3. Central Michigan 148 4. Weber State 187 5. Georgetown 197 6. MICHIGAN 201 7. Michigan State 239 8. Ohio State 245 9. Montana State 250 10. Iowa 344
Top Individual Finishers
1. Jorge Torres, Colorado 23:34.8 2. Steve Slattery, Colorado 23:54.9 3. Edwardo Torres, Colorado 25:57.7 4. Lyle Weese, Montana State 23:57.8 5. Christopher Toloff, Michigan St. 24:08.0 6. William Kemley, Belmont 24:09.0 7. Rod Koborsi, Georgetown 24:14.5 8. Tristen Perlberg, Central Mich. 24:16.1 9. Jake Flynn, Central Michigan 24:18.0 10. Peter Riley, Iona 24:19.5 11. NATE BRANNEN, U-M 24:21.6 12. Mike Smith, Georgetown 24:22.4 13. Richard Kiplagat, Iona 24:23.6 14. Ed Moran, William & Mary 24:26.0 15. NICK WILLIS, U-M 24:27.9
Other Michigan Finishes
40. Nick Stanko 24:43.6 55. Tom Greenless 24:52.7 80. Brian Turner 25:07.4 98. Tarn Leach 25:14.7 115. Ryan Hesselink 25:25.2
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On the expectations for the team before the race ... "I think that most of the guys were pretty disappointed, but when you examine everything I think things will look a lot better. I think the guys will be surprised with how they kept in there with higher-ranked teams."
On the bigger picture ... "All in all, we were sixth in our race and probably could have taken third or fourth in the other race, just comparing the times some of those teams ran. So when you piece things together we were pretty close to being in the top 10 teams here."
On the team's strategy ... "We ran pretty conservatively at the start, and I think we learned our lesson that if you want to place a guy in the top five or 10 guys you've got to run aggressively and keep up with the lead pack. We kind of stayed back, but now we have the experience for regionals and conference races that we need to finish at the top of those."
N O T E S
Michigan sophomore/freshman Sean Moore (Saline, Mich./Saline HS) and junior David Sage (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston HS) ran in the Men's Open division of Saturday's Asics/Pacesetter Pre-Nationals. Moore finished seventh overall with a personal-best time of 25:07.5. Sage was 15th at 25:24.5.
Contact: Andrew Ladd (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
