Michigan
NCAA Championships
All-American Aho Leads Michigan to 19th Place at NCAA Championships
11/17/2018 2:28:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Madison, Wis. (Thomas Zimmer Championship Course)
Event: NCAA Championships
Distance: 10 Kilometers (6.22 miles)
U-M Team Finish: 19th place of 31 teams (483 points)
Top U-M Individual: Jack Aho, 35th (29:56.71)
Next U-M Event: Season Completed
• Complete Results (PDF)
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 20 University of Michigan men's cross country team completed its 2018 season with a 19th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday (Nov. 17).
Led by All-American Jack Aho in 35th place among three men who finished top-150 nationally in the 10-kilometer (6.22-mile) race at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, the Wolverines scored 483 points to finish ahead of Air Force with 498 points. Indiana was the team immediately ahead of Michigan in the standings with 469 points.
This marks the fourth time in the past five seasons -- the entirety of the era of head coach Kevin Sullivan -- that Michigan has finished top-20 nationally, following up on a 10th-place effort a year ago, a ninth-place showing in 2015 and an 11th-place result in 2014.
The team national title was claimed by Northern Arizona with 83 points.
Joining Aho, who debuted in this meet a year ago as a true freshman, in the top 100 was another first-year Wolverine in 79th-place John Tatter in only his second career 10K cross country race. Tatter was the eighth-best freshman in the field.
Ben Hill closed strong to finish 132nd, followed closely by 172nd-place Jacob Lee and 175th-place Isaac Harding to round out the five-man scoring lineup. Jordy Hewitt was 198th and Jacob Branch placed 213th.
With a premium set on getting out strong early in a race with such a big field, the Wolverines fared well through the first two kilometers. Led by Aho near the front of the field in 19th and everyone else grouped up in the chase pack, Michigan crossed through in 14th.
By 4.1 kilometers, the Wolverines were still in the thick of the race, checking in as the 17th-best team through that intermediate point. Aho was still firmly in the front of the field in 38th, just six seconds off the lead, and he was joined in the top 100 by Tatter. The freshman moved up 23 spots to take over as the Wolverines' No. 2 runner, a position he would hold for the rest of the race.
Ultimately, however, the Wolverines lost a fair amount of ground over those 2.1 kilometers, dropping back a combined 63 spots.
They gained back some ground heading into the 6K split, where they checked in 18th. Michigan netted back 14 spots as Tatter continued to move forward another 10 spots to 83rd and Lee began a second-half surge with an eight-spot jump to 174th. All the while, Aho continued to run strong out front for the Wolverines, moving up two spots to 36th as the lead group continued to stretch out.
Michigan neither gained nor lost any positioning over the penultimate two-kilometer split between 6K and 8K, checking in 18th. Michigan's top four all made steps forward -- Aho up two to 34th, Tatter up another seven to 76th, Hill up seven to 141st and Lee up three to 171st -- though it was evened out by a 19-spot drop by Harding.
Aho, Tatter, Lee and Harding all held their ground over the final 2K in the top 100, losing just a combined six spots, while Hill finished out with a strong kick to run down nine competitors over that stretch. Only 27 runners among the 252 finishers made bigger gains than did Hill in the closing stages.
Michigan Results
35. Jack Aho -- 29:56.71
79. John Tatter -- 30:28.13
132. Ben Hill -- 30:55.85
172. Jacob Lee -- 31:16.18
175. Isaac Harding -- 31:18.88
198. Jordy Hewitt -- 31:38.30
213. Jacob Branch -- 31:54.53
Team Standings
1. #1 Northern Arizona -- 83 points
2. #2 BYU -- 116
3. #4 Portland -- 160
4. #8 Colorado -- 178
5. #7 Stanford -- 201
6. #6 Washington -- 213
7. #5 Iowa State -- 220
8. #3 Wisconsin -- 240
9. #13 Colorado State -- 309
10. #9 Boise State -- 342
11. #16 North Carolina State -- 342
12. #15 Wyoming -- 371
13. #27 Oklahoma State -- 378
14. #10 Notre Dame -- 401
15. #12 Oregon -- 407
16. #21 Eastern Kentucky -- 430
17. #14 Ole Miss -- 431
18. #24 Indiana -- 469
19. #20 MICHIGAN -- 483
20. #17 Air Force -- 498
21. #19 Southern Utah -- 523
22. #23 Princeton -- 557
23. #29 Villanova -- 577
24. #25 Bradley -- 580
25. #17 Arkansas -- 602
26. #11 Syracuse -- 603
27. Texas (RV) -- 630
28. #26 Iona -- 634
29. #22 Purdue -- 702
30. #28 Tulsa -- 777
31. Florida State (RV) -- 845
Michigan will open the indoor track and field season Saturday, Jan. 12, when it hosts the Wolverine Invitational at the U-M Indoor Track Building on the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus South Complex.
Players Mentioned
