Season Preview: 2017 Michigan Women's Cross Country
8/29/2017 3:23:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» Coming off the narrowest runner-up finish in NCAA Cross Country Championships history a year ago, the Wolverines enter the 2017 season ranked No. 3 nationally with two first-place votes and No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region.
» Though Erin Finn has exhausted her cross country eligibility, the Wolverines still return everyone else from last year's national runner-up squad.
» Led by All-American senior Gina Sereno, many of Michigan's national-level returners had breakthrough 2017 track seasons.
» Michigan currently holds the third-longest active NCAA Championships qualification streak of any women's team in the nation at 15 years.
Coming off the narrowest runner-up finish in the history of the NCAA Cross Country Championships with one of the strongest corps of returners in the nation, 26th-year head coach Mike McGuire and the national No. 3-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team are among the favorites for the 2017 national title.
Starting with the five-kilometer Michigan Open at Hudson Mills Metropark this Friday (Sept. 1) at 10 a.m., the regular season will all build toward the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 29 in Bloomington, Indiana, the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 10 in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 18 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Wolverine Bites
• The Wolverines will enter the season ranked No. 3 nationally with two first-place votes in the preseason edition of the National Coaches' Poll published Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). This marks the highest rank for the U-M women since entering the 2014 campaign as the preseason favorites. The Wolverines have been preseason No. 3 twice before: in 2006 when they finished third at NCAAs and in 1995 when they ultimately finished seventh. For reference, Michigan began the season No. 9 a year ago en route to its national runner-up finish.
• Though four-time All-American and reigning national runner-up Erin Finn has exhausted her cross country eligibility -- she will be back for one final indoor and outdoor track season -- the Wolverines still return two All-Americans, four scorers and six runners overall from last year's national runner-up team.
• This year's squad will be led by returning All-Americans Gina Sereno (30th at the 2016 NCAA Championships) and Avery Evenson (18th in 2016). The duo makes the Wolverines one of just four top-10 teams from a year ago to return multiple All-Americans (top-40 finishers). Only third-place Colorado returns more All-Americans with four, while national champion Oregon and fifth-place Stanford both also bring pack two All-Americans each.
• Along with Sereno and Evenson, the Wolverines bring back Madeline Trevisan (46th), Jaimie Phelan (65th), Jamie Morrissey (90th) and Claire Borchers (166th) from last year's national runner-up team. The six-returner total is tied for the most of any national top-10 squad from a year ago.
• That core group will look to lead Michigan to back-to-back Big Ten titles for the first time since McGuire's women reeled off five conference titles in a row from 2002-06, as well as aim to capture its third consecutive Great Lakes Region title. The Wolverines have won the region five of the last six seasons, and were tabbed the preseason favorites by the USTFCCCA on Monday to do so once again.
• Having appeared at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in each of the past 15 seasons, the Wolverines currently hold the third-longest active streak of NCAA Championships qualifying of any women's team in the nation. Only Stanford (24 years) and Michigan State (16) carry longer streaks at present.
Breaking Down the Roster
• Sereno is coming of a breakthrough track season that saw her earn three All-America honors, three Big Ten titles, and career-best performances in the 1,500-meter, mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter distances. In addition to her 30th-place showing at last year's NCAA Cross Country Championshps, she was also fourth at the Big Ten Championships and eighth at regionals.
• A former world-class triathlete, Evenson focused solely on running in 2016 and excelled as a result. After taking ninth at the regional meet and 14th at the Big Ten Championships, she stepped up to the No. 2 spot on Michigan's roster with an 18th-place finish at nationals. In limited action on the track this past year, she was 13th in the Big Ten Indoor 5,000-meter final.
• Few freshmen in the nation were better than Trevisan at the 2016 NCAA Championships. With her 46th-place finish -- just shy of the top-40 threshold for All-America honors -- Trevisan was the seventh-best freshman in the field. Her nationals run showed a proclivity for her to show up the biggest in the biggest moments after more moderate 22nd- and 35th-place showings at Regionals and Big Tens. Though she didn't compete on the track during the 2017 collegiate season, she ran strong during the summer with a 34-minute 10,000-meter run.
• Though she was the fifth-and-final scorer for last year's national runner-up team, Phelan was certainly came through biggest in the clutch after climbing nearly 40 spots in the field over the course of the final mile. She went on to earn first-team All-America honors indoors on the distance medley relay and claimed a dramatic last-to-first national title at 1,500 meters at the outdoor nationals.
• Morrissey is coming off a stellar track season in which she lowered her 1,500-meter personal best by nearly 15 seconds and also ran personal bests at 600 meters, 800 meters indoors and out, and in the mile. She led off the fifth-place distance medley relay team at NCAA Indoors, and advanced to the NCAA East Prelims at 1,500 meters outdoors. She finished top-25 at both Big Tens and regionals en route to a 90th-place finish at NCAAs.
• Borchers will be looking to parlay a historic track season into similar improvement on the cross country course. After crossing the line as Michigan's No. 7 runner during in November, she went on to become Michigan's second-best steeplechaser in school history during the outdoor season. After breaking the 10-minute barrier twice in the postseason, she took 17th at the NCAA Championships.
• Joining the Wolverines as a transfer from Georgetown is former Michigan high school standout Audrey Belf. As a freshman in 2015, Belf was 11th in the Big East, 15th at the Mid-Atlantic Regional and 106th at NCAAs as the Hoyas' No. 2 runner. She was a four-time state champion in high school, including two cross country titles.
• After catching fire at the end of the outdoor season en route to a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten 1,500-meter final and just missing the NCAA Championships at that distance, Haley Meier is shaping up to be a strong contributor for the Wolverines in her first cross country season in Ann Arbor. She clocked 2:10.05 over 800 meters and 4:15.65 over 1,500 during the outdoor season.
Players Mentioned
