Michigan
Nuttycombe Invitational
Depth, Pack Running Propel Michigan to 13th at Wisconsin
9/28/2018 4:57:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Madison, Wis. (Thomas Zimmer Championship Course)
Event: Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational
Distance: Eight Kilometers (4.97 miles)
U-M Team Finish: 13th place of 33 teams (388 points)
Top U-M Individual: Jacob Lee, 59th (24:04.8)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Oct. 13 at Pre-National Invitational (Madison, Wis.)
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
MADISON, Wis. -- In what was the first true test in a new era of University of Michigan men's cross country, the Wolverines availed themselves well in a 13th-place team finish amongst a loaded field at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday (Sept. 28).
Racing against national-level competition for the first time without last year's decorated senior class, the Wolverines followed redshirt sophomore Jacob Lee and sophomore Jack Aho as Michigan improved on its pre-meet standing as the 19th-highest-ranked team in the Championship Race field.
Lee and Aho, who were Michigan's Nos. 2 and 3 finishers in last year's "B" race at this meet, finished 58th and 61st Friday on the same eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) Thomas Zimmer Championship Course that will host the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 17.
Lee crossed in 24:04.6, just a step ahead of Aho in 24:05.4.
Michigan's No. 3 and No. 4 runners were even closer, as redshirt junior captain Ben Hill and redshirt sophomore Isaac Harding crossed in 89th and 90th with identical 24:24.1 finishing times. Redshirt junior Jordy Hewitt rounded out the five-man scoring lineup in 100th place, edging out 101st-place teammate true freshman John Tatter by a tenth of a second in 24:27.0.
Jacob Branch completed the Wolverines' seven-man lineup with a 127th-place effort in 24:39.3.
With all five Michigan scorers within 22.5 seconds of one another, the Wolverines had the tightest time spread of any team in the field between its first and fifth runners. In fact, with only 34.8 seconds separating No. 1 Lee from No. 7 Branch, the Wolverines' 1-7 spread was smaller than all but three other teams' 1-5 spread.
A late-race charge from Hewitt to keep that spread small gave Michigan five men inside the top 100 finishers -- with 101st-place Tatter nearly accounting for another. Though the Wolverines were ultimately 13th in the overall standings, they were among just eight teams in the field with five or more top-100 finishers. Only one individual place separated Michigan from being among five teams in the field with six top-100 finishers or more.
In the end, Michigan's improvement of six spots from being the 19th-highest-ranked team in the field (Michigan entered as the first team outside the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, equivalent to No. 31, with 18 top-30 teams in the field) to 13th-place in the race was among the biggest swings of any team in the field.
Only Purdue (unranked to ninth), Eastern Kentucky (23rd in the field to 11th) and Boise State (15th in the field to fifth) exceeded the Wolverines in besting pre-meet expectations.
Along the way, the Wolverines racked up crucial head-to-head victories against the nationally ranked likes of No. 16 Iona, No. 21 Michigan State, No. 22 Oklahoma State, No. 25 NC State, No. 27 Villanova, No. 29 Indiana and No. 30 Texas, as well as vote-receiving squads in Georgetown and Butler.
Those victories could come in handy if the Wolverines need to rely on earning an at-large berth into the NCAA Championships to return to Madison in November.
While the roster may have looked entirely different from last year -- only Harding and Hill ran in the Championship Race in 2017 -- the race strategy was very much familiar as the Wolverines methodically moved up the field throughout the duration of the contest.
Running amidst a densely packed field through the first two kilometers (1.24 miles), the Wolverines crossed through that first checkpoint in 25th place in what began as a 35-team race (two teams did not ultimately record final scores).
By the time the race reached its halfway point at four kilometers (2.49 miles), the Wolverines had moved up to 19th place. Big surges by Lee (119th to 80th) and Harding (136th to 84th) to join 81st-place Aho were the driving forces behind the improvement, as six of the seven Wolverine runners moved up through the ranks during that time.
Another two kilometers passed, and by the time the race hit the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) split, the Wolverines had climbed four more spots to 15th. Lee and Aho clawed upward in the field, checking in at 59th and 69th with just two kilometers left in the race, while the trio of Tatter, Hill and Hewitt all moved up between 12 and 13 spots to sit just outside the top-100.
Each and every Wolverine improved their standing in the field over the final two kilometers to propel Michigan to its eventual 13th-place finish. Lee and Aho held steady at the front, while Hill improved a whopping 20 spots to 89th and Hewitt jumped up 12 to 100th.
Among all top-100 finishers, Only Bradley's 96th-place Haran Dunderdale (+33 spots) had a bigger improvement over the final two kilometers than did Hill. Only 15 men in the top-100 finishers surpassed Hewitt's late-race surge.
The team title was claimed by No. 1 Northern Arizona with Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald claiming the individual victory.
In the "B" race run earlier in the day, Michigan further demonstrated its depth as a younger and less-experienced Wolverine squad took third in the team standings behind only No. 24 Princeton's "A" team and the "B" team for Northern Arizona.
The Wolverines posted 116 points behind the victorious Tigers' 48 points and the Lumberjacks' 56.
True freshman Gabe Mudel led the way as the 27th-place for the Wolverines in just his second-ever 8K race and his second in-uniform competition for Michigan, followed closely by 30th-place redshirt freshman Dominic Dimambro. The two crossed in 25:05.6 and 25:09.0, respectively.
Dimambro ran from the front early, sitting 19th at both the 4K and 6K splits, while Mudel made a move up the field later in the race. Mudel went from 33rd at the 4K halfway split to 16th at 6K before settling back to 27th over the final 2,000 meters.
Redshirt freshman Christian Hubaker was 40th in 25:22.7, redshirt sophomore mid-distance specialist Anthony Berry was 42nd in 25:27.3 and redshirt senior mid-distance runner Ryan Wilkie was just steps behind in 43rd (25:28.0) to round out the scoring lineup.
Full results for Michigan and team standings for the Championship Race can be found below.
Full Michigan Results
Championship Race Results
58. Jacob Lee -- 24:04.6
61. John Aho -- 24:05.4
89. Ben Hill -- 24:24.1
90. Isaac Harding -- 24:24.1
100. Jordan Hewitt -- 24:27.0
101. John Tatter -- 24:27.1
127. Jacob Branch -- 24:39.3
"B" Race Results
27. Gabe Mudel -- 25:05.6
30. Dominic Dimambro -- 25:09.0
40. Christian Hubaker -- 25:22.7
42. Anthony Berry -- 25:27.3
43. Ryan Wilkie -- 25:28.0
45. Kevin Hall -- 25:31.1
52. Lewis Tate -- 25:40.8
Championship Race Team Standings
1. #1 Northern Arizona - 46 points
2. #9 Wisconsin - 135 points
3. #3 Portland - 140 points
4. #5 Iowa State - 152 points
5. #26 Boise State - 160 points
6. #10 Colorado St. - 253 points
7. #17 Air Force - 267 points
8. #7 Colorado - 278 points
9. Purdue - 317 points
10. #14 Southern Utah - 332 points
11. #15 Washington St. - 334 points
12. Eastern Kentucky (RV) - 368 points
13. MICHIGAN (RV) - 388 points
14. #29 Indiana - 404 points
15. #22 Oklahoma State - 420 points
16. #25 North Carolina St. - 448 points
17. #16 Iona - 470 points
18. Georgetown (RV) - 471 points
19. #21 Michigan State - 510 points
20. #27 Villanova - 533 points
21. Tulsa - 536 points
22. #30 Texas - 544 points
23. Tennessee - 552 points
24. Charlotte - 591 points
25. Butler (RV) - 609 points
26. New Mexico - 617 points
27. San Francisco - 648 points
28. Penn State - 692 points
29. Illinois - 696 points
30. Bradley - 753 points
31. Penn - 768 points
32. Texas Tech - 859 points
33. Providence - 890 points
--- #6 Alabama - No Team Score
Up Next for Michigan
After a weekend off, the Wolverines will head back to Madison for perhaps the biggest regular-season meets in collegiate cross country history at the Pre-National Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 13.
Twenty of last year's NCAA Championships qualifiers and more than 80 teams overall will descend on the capital of the Badger State for one last mad dash at head-to-head at-large victories.
With such large turnout for the meet, it will be split into two separate -- but balanced -- races. Depending how the race assignments play out. the Wolverines could get one final look at conference foes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin in their final competition before the Big Ten Championships.
With such firepower in the field, a strong performance with large quantities of head-to-head wins could go a long way in helping Michigan's case for an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships -- on that very same course on Saturday, Nov. 17 -- should they not advance out of the NCAA Great Lakes Regional as one of the two automatic qualifiers.
After accounting for the 18 automatic berths to nationals (two for each of the nine regions), the remaining 13 berths will be selected on an at-large basis which puts regular-season performance at a premium. The more head-to-head wins the Wolverines can accumulate, the better they would fare in the selection process.
Players Mentioned
