Michigan
Greater Louisville Classic
Wolverine Weekly: Pre-Greater Louisville Classic News and Notes
9/26/2018 4:17:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» The No. 10 Wolverines continue to ramp up the competition level as the countdown to the postseason nears a month. Michigan will square off with its toughest opponent of the year thus far in national vote-receiving SMU.
» Michigan will look to build on the strong pack-running it demonstrated in its decisive win at the Nebraska Greeno/Dirksen Invitational two weekends ago.
» Much of the Wolverines' top lineup will be in action again, including top Greeno/Dirksen Invitational finisher Hannah Meier.
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Sept. 29 -- at Greater Louisville Classic (Louisville, Ky.), 10:15 a.m.
Live Results
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The next stop on the No. 10 University of Michigan women's cross country team's road to what it hopes will be a sixth top-10 NCAA Championships finish in seven years will be a familiar one, as the Wolverines return to the site of its most recent top-10 finish for the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday (Sept. 29).
Coming off a successful debut of its most complete lineup to date at Nebraska two weekends ago, Michigan will get its first look at its most formidable foe yet in national vote-receiving Southern Methodist as it aims to recreate and build upon in Louisville the pack-running strategy that served it so well in Lincoln.
Leading Michigan through the relatively flat and fast five-kilometer (3.11-mile) course at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park -- a venue at which Michigan has run three of the past four seasons -- will be many of the team's top runners through this point of the season.
As many as nine of them will compete in the top race of the day -- the Gold Race -- at 10:15 a.m., with the rest of the lineup taking to the trails for the Blue Race at 11:30 a.m.
Hannah Meier, the runner-up at Nebraska who led seven Wolverines in the top-10, enters as the top finisher from last week to lead a group that also includes track All-American twin sister Haley Meier, cross country All-Americans Avery Evenson and Anna West, track All-American Claire Borchers, FloTrack's No. 6-ranked freshman Camille Davre, IAAF World U20 Championships steeplechase finalist Alice Hill, and Kathryn House.
Together, they will take on a field comprised primarily of southern NCAA Division I schools. SMU -- ranked No. 30 a week ago, but now only receiving votes in the poll -- will be the Wolverines' most direct opposition, along with five of the top 15 teams from the NCAA South Region in Mississippi State (regional No. 5), Vanderbilt (No. 7), Auburn (No. 11) Middle Tennessee State (No. 13) and Belmont (No. 14).
The field also includes the Southeast Region's No. 8 Eastern Kentucky, No. 11 Kentucky and No. 14 Louisville; the South Central Region's No. 7 Arkansas State; and NCAA Division II's No. 10 team Hillsdale.
This will be the Wolverines' second scored competition of the season. For a breakdown of how team scoring works, click here.
Of the Wolverines' three scored regular-season meets -- at Nebraska two weekends ago, this weekend and Louisville, and two weekends from now at Wisconsin -- this is the only competition run at a venue that is not hosting a U-M postseason meet.
Nebraska will be the site of the Big Ten Championships in a month's time, while the NCAA Championships in mid-November will be held at Wisconsin.
The Wolverines do have a history of success in Louisville, however. Michigan was ninth at last year's NCAA Championships hosted at this same venue, and it claimed Greater Louisville Classic titles in 2015 and 2016, as well as a Pre-Nationals title in 2015.
The Wolverine Lineup
Michigan is back in action for the first time since two weeks ago notching a decisive victory over South Dakota, 20-96, in its first scored competition of the year at Nebraska. The win came as Michigan focused on running as a cohesive and responsive pack, with only 14 seconds separating top Michigan finisher Hannah Meier and her twin sister Haley Meier as the fifth-and-final scorer.
Hannah was second overall, followed by third-place Evenson in her 2018 debut, fourth-place Davre, fifth-place Borchers and sixth-place Haley Meier. West and House were strong as Michigan's No. 6 and No. 7 runners in seventh and ninth, overall.
When the event ended, only 14 seconds separated the two Meiers and the full scoring lineup in between, and only 21 seconds elapsed between Hannah Meier and House at No. 7.
Those seven will compete in the Gold Race at 10:15 a.m. against the meet's top competition. Potentially joining them in the field will be Hill and first-year Wolverine Jessi Larson.
The second wave of Wolverines will compete in the Blue Race at 11:30 a.m. Led by Audrey Belf, the group will also include Rachel Coleman, Meg Darmofal, Micaela DeGenero, Jena Metwalli, Raquel Powers, Faith Reynolds and Julia Vanitvelt.
This weekend will mark Michigan's second competition within the NCAA Championships at-large qualifying period that began during the second weekend of September.
The Wolverines will have another opportunity to pick up some potentially valuable head-to-head victories. Should Michigan not finish top-two at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional to secure an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships (Michigan has only finished third or worse at regionals four times since the turn of the new millenium), they would need to rely on those head-to-head wins to advance to nationals as one of 13 at-large selections around the country.
The Team, The Team, The Team
• Led by reigning Great Lakes Region and Big Ten Coach of the Year Mike McGuire, Michigan is ranked No. 10 in the new Week 3 edition of the National Coaches' Poll and No. 2 in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Rankings announced Tuesday (Sept. 26) and Monday (Sept. 25), respectively, by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
• This marks the eighth year in a row Michigan has been ranked top-10 nationally at some point during the season. Only one other team in the country (Stanford, 24 years in a row) has a longer active top-10 streak than the Wolverines.
• This week marks the 136th consecutive edition of the National Coaches' Poll that has included Michigan in its top-30, a streak surpassed only by Stanford. Among Big Ten teams, Penn State is next on the list with 28 consecutive appearances.
• Only No. 7 Wisconsin is ranked higher in the National Coaches' Poll among Big Ten teams, with Penn State and Michigan State right behind the Wolverines at Nos. 13 and 15. Also representing the conference in the national poll are No. 19 Indiana, No. 23 Minnesota and vote-receiving Ohio State.
• Michigan is ranked even higher nationally in outside media rankings. Both Dyestat/Runnerspace and LetsRun.com have tabbed the Wolverines as the No. 7 team in the land, with Flotrack pegging Michigan at No. 8.
• The Wolverines have claimed five of the last six regional titles and are in the midst of the third-longest active NCAA Championships qualifying streak in the nation at 15 years running. Never before has a women's team in the Great Lakes Region claimed four consecutive regional titles, but the Wolverines -- winners of three straight -- will look to change that in 2018. The top two teams in the region will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships.
• This marks the 16th year in a row Michigan has earned a top-30 national rank to start the season. Of those 16 years, Michigan has gone on to outperform their preseason rank at the NCAA Championships in nine of those seasons.
• The next edition of the rankings will be announced Monday (Sept. 17) and Tuesday (Sept. 18), respectively.
The Course
Name: E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park
Distance: Five Kilometers (3.11 miles)
Max Elevation: 708 feet
Min Elevation: 670 feet
A Look Ahead
Saturday, Oct. 13 -- at Pre-National Invitational (Madison, Wis.), 10 a.m. CDT
Friday, Oct. 19 -- at Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Dexter, Mich.), 5 p.m.
Players Mentioned
