Michigan
Indiana Sam Bell Invitational
No. 4 Wolverines Take Down No. 14 Indiana at Sam Bell Invitational
9/30/2017 11:57:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Site: IU Championship Cross Country Course (Bloomington, Ind.)
Event: Indiana Sam Bell Invitational
U-M Team Finish: 1st place of 9 teams (37 points)
Top U-M Individual: Jamie Morrissey, 2nd place (17:18.6)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Oct. 14 -- at Pre-National Invitational (Louisville, Ky.)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The national No. 4-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team fended off a tough challenge from Big Ten rival No. 14 Indiana to win the Sam Bell Invitational on the Hoosiers' home course on Saturday morning (Sept. 30).
Redshirt senior Jamie Morrissey continued her breakthrough season with a runner-up finish to lead the Wolverines past Indiana in the team standings, 37-47, atop the nine-team field. Columbia was a close third with 52 points, followed distantly by Bradley (134) and Miami (Ohio) (140) to round out the top five.
The Maize and Blue will return to the same six-kilometer (3.73-mile) IU Championship Cross Country Course on Sunday, Oct. 29, to defend its 2016 conference title at the Big Ten Championships.
After finishing runner-up in both of her first two five-kilometer (3.11-mile) races to start the season, Morrissey kept her momentum going into Bloomington for her first six-kilometer race of the year. She covered the rolling hills of IU's home course in 20:36.69, faster than all but one of her 6K races from a year ago.
Only Indiana's individual winner Katherine Receveur beat her to the line in 20:14.08. But while the Hoosiers had the first runner across the line, it was the Wolverines who had all five scoring runners home first.
Junior Claire Borchers took sixth in 21:05.08, followed by eighth-place sophomore Madeline Trevisan in 21:09.47, ninth-place redshirt senior Gina Sereno in 21:13.31 and 12th-place redshirt junior Avery Evenson in 21:15.27.
Though Indiana was strong up front with three in the top seven, the Hoosiers could not match Michigan's depth with their fourth and fifth runners both crossing line after Michigan's sixth -- 15th-place redshirt senior Haley Meier -- in 16th and 18th.
Third-place Columbia showed similar depth to the Wolverines on the day with five in the top 15, but the Lions had no answer for Michigan's top-end power. Michigan's top four all finished before Columbia's second runner.
Like Morrissey, Borchers had a breakthrough run as the Wolverines' No. 2 scorer on Saturday. Only once in her two previous cross country seasons has she clocked a faster time over six kilometers, showing the gains she made last track season in moving up to No. 2 on the all-time school steeplechase list as an NCAA Championships qualifier are paying dividends on the trails.
The Wolverines will have an off weekend before heading to Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, Oct. 13, for the Pre-National Invitational and a sneak peek at the same E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park course that will host the NCAA Championships on Nov. 18.
Tweet of the Day 
2017 IU Sam Bell Invitational Champs ?? ?? #GoBlue #HailToTheVictors pic.twitter.com/XUgcQDSqQW
— Michigan T&F / XC (@UMichTrack) September 30, 2017
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