Postseason Venues Dot Women's Cross Country Schedule
6/30/2017 1:02:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
• 2017 U-M Women's Cross Country Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The reigning NCAA runner-up and Big Ten champion University of Michigan women's cross country team announced Friday (June 30) the eight-race schedule for its 2017 campaign, which features multiple trips to each of the venues that will host postseason competition.
Led by returning All-Americans Avery Evenson and Gina Sereno -- two of the six runners returning from the seven-woman NCAA Championships roster -- Michigan will compete twice each at the sites of the Big Ten Championships (Bloomington, Indiana), the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Terre Haute, Indiana) and the NCAA Championships (Louisville, Kentucky), with two events in nearby Dexter, Michigan, rounding out the schedule.
The season will begin with the lone home event of the year, the annual Michigan Open (Sept. 1) at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter. Admission to the meet is free, though all vehicles are subject to a $7 daily entry fee upon entry to the park.
Two weekends later the Wolverines will get their first look of the year at the regionals course in Terre Haute -- the LaVern Gibson Championships Course, where they came within a single point of the national title last November -- with the inaugural Indiana State John McNichols Memorial (Sept. 16).
After a bye weekend, U-M next travels to Bloomington to preview the Big Tens course -- the Indiana University Cross Country Championships Course -- at the Sam Bell Invitational (Sept. 30).
Following another bye weekend, the Wolverines will compete in the climax of the regular-season schedule at the Pre-National Invitational (Oct. 14) in Louisville. Annually one of the top regular-season fixtures of the national cross country schedule and always held on the same course that hosts the NCAA Championships, this year's edition will be contested at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
Select members of the team will get a final tune-up for the postseason the following weekend with a return to Hudson Mills Metropark for the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Oct. 20).
The postseason begins one week later as the Wolverines will aim to defend their title at the Big Ten Championships (Oct. 29) hosted by Indiana University. Big Tens will be held in Bloomington for the first time since 2006, when the Wolverines claimed the team title led by individual champion Erin Webster.
That 2006 title -- the last in a string of five consecutive conference crowns -- marked the last time U-M won back-to-back Big Ten cross country team titles.
NCAA postseason competition will begin two weekends afterwards with the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 10) in Terre Haute. The Wolverines have claimed each of the past two regional titles and five of the last six.
The top two teams in the Great Lakes Regional standings will automatically advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships (Nov. 18) in Louisville. Michigan has qualified for each of the past 15 NCAA Championship meets -- the third-longest active streak in the nation -- and all but two years dating back to the 1988 season. The Wolverines have finished top-10 nationally in four of the past five seasons, headlined by a runner-up finish a year ago.
Summer Camps: The Michigan Cross Country Camp and the Michigan Track and Field Camp, open to male and female runners in grades 7-12, will be held July 9-12. For more information or to register online, visit MGoBlue.com/camps.
Players Mentioned
