Weekly Release #7

Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 2 -- at Big Ten Championship (West Lafayette, Ind.), 11:40 a.m.
Saturday, Nov. 16 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (West Lafayette, Ind.), TBA

This Week
The No. 12 University of Michigan men's cross country team will return to competition Sunday (Nov. 3) at the Big Ten Conference Championships, hosted by Purdue on its new Varsity Cross Country Course in West Lafayette, Ind. Both the men's and women's championships will be held at the same course; the men's race will span 8,000 meters and is scheduled to start at 11:40 a.m.

BIG TEN LINEUP
Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS)
Tom Greenless (Milford, Mich./Milford HS)
Ryan Hesselink (Freeport, Mich./Thornapple-Kellogg HS)
Tarn Leach (East Jordan, Mich./East Jordan HS)
Sean Moore (Saline, Mich./Saline HS)
David Sage (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston HS)
Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt HS)
Brian Turner (Omaha, Neb./Millard North HS)
Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS)

Scouting the Conference
Michigan can assure itself that it will face some of the best competition in the nation in this week's Big Ten Championships. The No. 12-ranked Wolverines are hot on the heels of No. 11 Wisconsin in the national rankings with both teams having success in national meets two weeks ago. Although those two teams have combined to win the lion's share of conference championships in the not so distant past, several teams are poised to have breakthrough years. Over half of the teams in the Big Ten are ranked among the nation's top 30 programs, including Indiana (No. 18), Ohio State (No. 20), Michigan State (No. 23) and Iowa (No. 29).

At the 2001 Big Ten Championships ...
Michigan took second place at the 2001 Big Ten Cross Country Championships, hosted by Illinois on the Orange and Blue Course in Savoy, Ill., with 71 points, placing four runners among the top 20 finishers. Alan Webb (2001) was the conference champion, finishing first with a time of 23:19.9. Senior All-American Mike Wisniewski (1997-2001) placed fifth with his time of 24:03.2. Mark Pilja (1998-2001) and Tom Greenless rounded out Michigan's individual top 20 finishes in 16th and 17th place, respectively. Greenless' time of 24:28.9 was a personal best. Wisconsin won the conference title with 28 points.

Michigan at the Big Ten Championships
Since 1990, two teams have dominated the Big Ten Championships. The lone time in the last 12 years Michigan and Wisconsin have not finished one and two at the Big Ten Championships came in 2001 when the Wolverines finished seventh in Madison, Wis. Over that time the Badgers have won eight conference titles with the Wolverines capturing the other three in 1993, '97, and '98.

Previous Meet
The majority of the Wolverines took a break from competition to prepare for the Big Ten Championships. Several members of the Maize and Blue ran unattached last Friday (Oct. 25) at the Eastern Michigan Classic, held at Buhr Park in Ann Arbor. Alex L'Hereux (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Palm Beach Gardens HS), a junior on the Michigan men's track and field team, finished highest in ninth place out of the 52-runner field with a time of 25:23. Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS) and Andrew Bauer (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) placed 15th and 16th, respectively, posting times of 26:02. The EMU Classic was a non-team scoring event and most participants ran unattached from their parent institutions.

Setting the Stage: The Season So Far ...
Asics/Pacesetter NCAA Pre-Nationals C Michigan finished sixth out of 36 teams in the White Division at the Asics/Pacesetter NCAA Pre-Nationals (Oct. 19) in Terre Haute, Ind. The Maize and Blue was led by sophomore Nate Brannen in 10th place overall and freshman Nick Willis, who placed 15th. Both Brannen and Willis set new personal bests in the race.

Michigan Intercollegiate C Michigan placed second in the 4,000-meter race at the Michigan Intercollegiate (Oct. 11) in Milford, Mich. Michigan earned 26 points, falling short of Eastern Michigan's 12-point total, as both teams put five runners in the top 10. Brannen led the Wolverines in third place (12:17.1), while Willis placed sixth at 12:31.2.

Notre Dame Invitational C Michigan took second place at the Notre Dame Invitational (Oct. 4) with 80 points. Stanford, the nation's top-ranked squad, was the only team ahead of the Wolverines. Brannen led Michigan across the finish line for the second straight week, finishing seventh with a time of 24:38. Willis was next across the line in 10th place at 24:43.

Central Collegiate Invitational C Michigan earned a win in its first scored meet of the 2002 season at the Central Collegiate Championship (Sept. 27) at Buhr Park in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines earned 22 points in the 11-team meet. Taking five of the top seven finishes, the Maize and Blue was led by sophomore Nate Brannen in second place at 25:22. Rounding out the top five were sophomore Tarn Leach and Nick Stanko, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in 25:23.

Returning to the Big Tens
The Wolverines boast a lot of Big Ten experience in this year's squad. Six runners competed at the 2001 championship race and two of those runners are returning for their third trip to the Big Ten's biggest race. Junior Tom Greenless is the Maize and Blue's most experienced runner, boasting two prior races under his belt, including a 17th-place finish last year. David Sage has also competed in both conference championship races since his freshman year (2000).

North/South Connection
Whereas sophomore Nate Brannen has gotten used to seeing his name among the top finishers, freshman phenom Nick Willis has had less time to get used to the collegiate success his Canadian teammate has grown accustomed to. Nevertheless, Brannen and Willis, a native of New Zealand, have combined to become a powerful one-two punch for the Wolverines this season, finishing as Michigan's top two runners in three of the four races in which they have both competed.

Tarn's Turn
Sophomore Tarn Leach is poised to have a successful Big Ten Championship, having lowered his 8,000-meter personal best in three straight meets to begin the year. In the fourth race, Oct. 19's NCAA Pre-Nationals, Leach was right on pace with his best time at 25:14.7. Leach lowered his time by 13 seconds at the Notre Dame Invite (Oct. 4) to 25:10. Leach topped his 2001 personal best by 10 seconds in the Wolverines' first meet of the season at the Spartan Invitational (Sept. 22) and then lowered it another 21 seconds, from 25:44 to 25:23, in his third-place finish at the Central Collegiate Championship (Sept. 27).

No Longer Green Around the Ears
With two Big Ten Championships on his rsum, junior Tom Greenless has shown the habit of saving his best races for the conference meet. Last season as the third Wolverine to cross the finish line, Greenless earned the personal-best time of 24:28.9 in his 17th-place finish. This season, as with last, Greenless' times have begun to drop into the sub-24-minute range.

Head Coach Ron Warhurst
When head coach Ron Warhurst took over the U-M cross country program in 1974, he proved his merit immediately by winning the Big Ten Championship in each of his first three seasons. Since then he has gone on to guide three more teams to titles in 1993, 1997 and 1998. For his efforts, Warhurst has been honored as the Big Ten Coach of the Year four times, in 1990, 1993, 1997 and 1998.

An Eye on the Polls
No poll was released this week (Oct. 28). In last week's MONDO Cross Country Poll (Oct. 21), Michigan jumped nine spots after a successful weekend at the Asics/Pacesetter Pre-Nationals. Michigan is currently fourth in the MONDO Great Lakes Regional rankings.

MONDO NCAA Division I Poll (10/21/02)

Rank, School Points Prev 1. Stanford (13) 448 1 2. Arkansas (2) 433 2 3. Colorado 424 3 4. Northern Arizona 405 4 5. Oregon 381 5 6. Iona 365 16 7. Eastern Michigan 358 6 8. Central Michigan 333 19 9. Weber State 305 9 10. Brigham Young 297 10 11. Wisconsin 286 8 12. MICHIGAN 260 21 13. Georgetown 257 7 14. Colorado State 233 12 15. Minnesota 229 13 16. Villanova 216 11 17. Providence 210 15 18. Indiana 189 17 19. Butler 164 20 20. Ohio State 162 -- 21. North Carolina State 146 14 22. Montana State 141 26 23. Michigan State 131 -- 24. Dartmouth 122 27 25. Arizona State 84 22 26. Alabama 76 -- 27. Oklahoma State 82 25 28. Utah State 46 -- 29. Iowa 41 -- 30. LaSalle 38 --

Also receiving votes: Texas 15, Princeton 13, William & Mary 8, Notre Dame 6, Washington 4, New Mexico 3, SMU 2, Nebraska 1

A Look at Whats Ahead
The Wolverines continue their string of championship meets at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships. The Maize and Blue returns to West Lafayette, Ind., and Purdue's Varsity Cross Country Course, the site of this week's Big Ten Championships, for the race. The top two teams will receive automatic bids to the 2002 NCAA Championships.

Contact: Andrew Ladd (734) 763-4423